Gwendolyn Hope-Battley

I enjoy the way the beautiful outdoor scenes make me feel. Being surrounded by the natural world provides me a tranquil feeling that I like to convey on canvas. Painting nature gives me peace and connection to the world and its creator.
Navigating the outdoor world allows me to experience the sights, sounds and scents of the season. It enables me to observe the way the sun creates light and shadows. I can also see the true values, tones and hues of warm and cool colors. I study the natural world and I paint it.
Photographing the scenes assist me in recalling my mood and memory of the location. While I’m painting in my studio, I can recreate the experience on canvas. Each time I access my memory of a location, I am reminded of the mood I was in while at the natural site. As I paint the memory of delightful outdoor scenery, I experience calming sensations or vibrant energy. While in my studio, I recall my feelings when I was on the landscape site. I imagine all the sensations that I had. Sometimes I make the whooshing and crashing sounds of the ocean or the rustling sound of the trees in the wind while I paint. I choose colors that elicit a sense of calm or energy for me such as tranquil blue hues and rich energizing reds.
Painting in oils is thrilling. Oil paint allows me to have the flexibility of blending and reworking colors. I like to paint on gallery wrapped canvases and extend the landscape all the way around the edges of the canvas. I begin my painting by sketching the scene directly onto the canvas with paint. Then I paint large areas using a thin layer of the dominant color in each section. Last, I love to add lots of colors and details.
I will continue to seek gorgeous outdoor scenes to paint. I’m always looking forward to expressing myself in paintings, so that I may recall these fond experiences and share them with viewers.