Roy Connelly

I have work in two exhibitions in London at the moment.  ‘London Seen’ is a group show of London paintings at Llewellyn Alexander Fine Paintings.

‘Venice in Peril’ is also a group show,  in this case featuring paintings of Venice.  This popular annual exhibition, at W.H. Patterson in Albermarle Street, helps to raise funds for restoration projects in that most beautiful city.

At Venice in Peril there are works by Ken Howard, Auguste Bouvard, Ivan Lapper, David Sawyer, Robert E Wells, Roy Connelly, Jonathan Trowell, John Stillman and other talented artists.

London Seen features Tom Coates, Bruce Yardley, Roy Connelly, Liam O’Farrell, Terry McKifragan, Robert E Wells, Fraser King and others

If you fancy seeing both wonderful cities in a day, its only a short 20 minute walk between the two galleries.

London Seen Llewellyn Alexander Fine Paintings
11 January – 10 February 2010

Venice in Peril W. H. Patterson
13 January – 5 February 2010

The paintings above show the view from Riva Degli Schiavoni in Venice with San Giorgio on the left and the Doges Palace (under scaffolding) on the right,  Santa Maria Della Salute is in the distance.

Below that is a view of Cleopatra’s Needle by the River Thames in London.

A couple of photographs from my latest trip to Pembrokeshire.  The top one shows Broadhaven beach covered in snow and below it you can see me painting in the Preseli Hills – very well wrapped in layers of fleece and Gore-Tex!

I spent the yesterday painting the snow at Harefield, Great Missenden and  somewhere in the Chilterns (above) – warming up in the car as I travelled between locations. 

The wet snow was mixing with the paint on my palette.  Titanium white soon resembled ice cream and my brushes froze but it was a good day.

I will post some photos of the paintings later.

Exhibition preparations were put on hold yesterday because it snowed.  I spent the whole day out painting instead of framing and labeling pictures.  The painting above was one of five.  It measures 16 x 20 inches and is in oil on board.

Last night I painted the wonderful German Christmas market on the Southbank in London.  Here you can see a couple of small paintings on my easel.

The plan was to paint in Trafalgar Square at night after the rain.

The rain stopped for just long enough for me to set up and start painting.  But, 25 minutes into the picture the rain became so heavy I had to pack up.  You can see how far I got in the picture above.

Above: Rain water on my palette.

The New English Art Club (NEAC) annual open exhibition opens on Friday 27th November.  I am pleased to once again have work in this prestigious show.  Early exhibitors in this exhibition include Claude Monet and Edgar Degas along with Walter Sickert, James McNeil Whistler, John Singer Sargent and Philip Wilson Steer.

Above: Stainforth Autumn Morning, oil on board, 4×10 inches.

If you can’t make along in person or want to make sure that special picture doesn’t get bought before you get there, most of the paintings in the exhibition can be seen and purchased online now. 

Above: Newgale Beach, Pembrokeshire. 8 x 20 inches, oil on board

I was back in Pembrokeshire, West Wales, last week.  And, being a plein air painter, there was a lot of weather to contend with.  Frequently the best painting weather – ie. when it wasn’t actually raining – came in the last hour or so before dusk. But working fast against the fading light in wild locations is one of the great things about being a landscape painter.

Above: Me painting after sunset on a calm evening at Newgale.

We visited artist Naomi Tydeman and walked our dogs on the beach and out to Monkstone Point at sunset before an unforgetable dinner.   Later in the week we met up for a meal with thriller writer Scott Mariani at his country house in a secret location in the wilds of West Wales.

I snapped this shot of the figure above walking across the sand or was it the sky at Newgale Beach. Below is another view of the same wonderful beach. 

Waterloo Bridge, oil on board 10 x 20 inches, 25.5 x 51 cm. Sold

The painting above is one of sixteen of my oil paintings of London, The River Thames and Surrey that will be on show in London for the rest of the month.

Eight Man Show
Llewellyn Alexander (Fine Paintings) Ltd
2 – 28 November 2009

Featured artists:
Roy Connelly
Lisa Graa Jensen RI
Chris Kendrick
Tina Morgan SWA
Liam O’Farrell
Steven Outram RBA
Richard Sorrell NEAC PPRWS
Tessa Shedley Jordan

Gallery Open 10am to 7:30pm Monday to Saturday:
124 -126 The Cut, Waterloo, London SE1 8LN UK

(Opposite the Old Vic Theatre and just 2 minutes from Waterloo Underground and mainline station) Tel: 020 7620 1322/1324

 Visit the gallery website for more details.

Earlier this week I was painting the River Thames at Strand on the Green.   The top picture shows the painting a couple of minutes after I started.  I have used very thin paint to draw in the basic composition. 

The middle photograph was taken twenty minutes later.  With a dramatic and fast moving sky I needed to work quickly to capture it.  The trees are a little more solid but the river is still almost untouched.

The last photo shows the painting an hour later.  The trees and river have been worked on together, with a little more work on the sky. By this point the day was starting to brighten up and touches of blue were appearing in the sky.  It was time stop as I did not want to end up with one scene painted on top of another.

I was working in oils on an 8 x 16 inch board.   Click on each image for a larger view.