Alan Daysh

I'm landscape painter from England and now I'm working on a complete landscape series of small oil sketches. Each painting is usually painted on location or finished in the studio and I have limited the size to a standard 18 x 12 cm format. The aim is to use colour and tone to represent something undefined, something that is usually too simple to recognise.

In order to really explore the landscape I’m working in three different ways. Just experimenting with light, tone, colour, line and texture to create the finished object. In a way these are all abstract paintings filled with distance. Using the same small format I work with either a palette knife, brushes or cloth. Often the scene and conditions dictate what technique to use.

I'm influenced a lot by the oil and watercolour sketches of JMW Turner. He spent a lifetime exploring the atmosphere of the landscape and for me the simplicity of his sketches really conveys a sense of truth and wonder. Even in his old age Turner believed he was still a pupil learning something new about the landscape.

A few years ago I stumbled upon an exhibition of Niclolas De Stael in Le Havre while I was on holiday there. I knew very little about his work but I thought it was stunning. Small, semi abstract landscapes that were all about the simplicity of colour and tone and the texture of the paint on the canvas. I started using just a palette knife for some paintings to convey something direct and simplified about the landscape. I really like the finished surface of these works, the palette knife creates strong strokes of colour that sometimes blend with and sometimes form strong lines with colours around them. 

If you would like to own a part of the series, please contact me and I will be happy to discuss any questions you might have.