Sky and clouds

My latest sky painting, of clouds sailing by on a summer day. It's was great fun painting this, very cheering.
(Please click on the image to see a larger view.)
It's a 12 x 16 oil painting on a deep canvas, and you can see it at http://www.etsy.com/listing/79885582/sky-clouds-original-oil-painting-12x16

Spring hilltop

The hilltop skyline and Hunting Tower at Chatsworth, seen on a fresh spring day. I thought a long horizontal format (8 x 16 inches) would be useful for this oil painting, which shows soft grey clouds sailing past. The trees are just starting to show some spring colour.

The Hunting Tower was constructed in the 1580s for Bess of Hardwick, as a summerhouse and possibly for the ladies to view hunting in the park at the foot of the hill (though it does seem to be a long way from the flat riverside area).

You can see this painting at http://www.etsy.com/listing/79889318/spring-hilltop-original-oil-painting

Holkham beach, Norfolk

I was in north Norfolk at the weekend and visited Holkham beach, where the final scene in 'Shakespeare in Love' was filmed. This is a wide sandy beach, with huge skies, and I've painted three rapid oil sketches. The first shows the approach to the beach, which is through pine woods and saltmarsh. The second shows a rainstorm that we were caught in, and the third shows a shower out at sea. The tide was out and basically all you could see was miles of sand. These are very simplified paintings, aiming to give an impression of the drama of the scene, and I've produced them in preparation for a finished painting to be done some time in the future.
They can be seen at my shop at http://www.azuredayart.etsy.com