Les Thomas – the painter's progress

I know I’ve neglected this blog for some time now, so here is a new painting fresh off the easel. I recognise that my style of painting hasn’t changed, and neither has my mental attitude and approach to painting. With this in mind, I have been considering in which direction I would like my work to develop. I am trying to be more generous in my application of oil paint, use larger brushes and to enjoy the qualities of the medium for its own sake and allow the paint to do its own thing and to embrace the ‘happy accidents’. I do feel I no longer want to be so rigidly attached to the forms I see in front of me, and to explore my feelings more, feelings of actually being out there in the landscape – the sounds, the smells and the warm sun and the cool salty breeze on my face – the total immersive experience. Eventually I hope to develop a more personal aesthetic, rather than focussing on making an objective topographical record of what I see in the landscape.

I have been experimenting with mark-making in my sketchbook and a looser style of  drawing using a variety of tools and materials, and now need to translate that into paint – more of that to come soon.