Martin Truefitt-Baker
artwork

Crickhowell Open Studios has just finished for this year. A big thank you to everyone who came to see my studio. I hope you all enjoyed it and you will visit again next year. It was great to meet and talk to people about my work. A very tidy Studio...It will be 12 months before its this neat again, I can't find anything! #oilpainting #painting #print #landscape #BreconBeacons #crickhowellopenstudios

Trees the on side of the mountain track to the quarry on Mynydd Llangatwg. The path is worn deep into the ground and must be very old. The stones walls have fallen at the sides, or maybe these are piles of stone that has fallen from the wagons. Trees are growing along either side now, on top of the stones and must have been there for a very long time. The sun was just burning through the mist. Oil on linen 40x50cm. #oilpainting #tree #winter #painting #seasons #Crickhowell #B

I'm just starting to edition my latest print 'The Fox on the Mountain'. It is a simple four colour reduction print. I've been wanting to do something that includes one of the stanted and contorted trees from the local hillside as part of a linocut print for a while. It is quite rare to see a fox towards the top, I've seen them much more often in the valley nearby. I've added a few pictures of the design and printing. #tree #winter #print #Lino #landscape #wildlife #birds

I'm chuffed to bits, my painting 'Twisting Tree' has been longlisted for the Jackson's open painting prize. I'd been looking at some of the excellent work submitted and thought it was a long shot. Over 5,000 entered. Update, it didn't make the shortlist but I'm still pleased that it got noticed. #painting #seasons #Crickhowell #landscape #Llangattock #tree

Today I have been painting and talking to visitors in the Oriel Cric Gallery from 10 till 5. An enjoyable and interesting but tiring day. #gallery #tree #landscape #Crickhowell

Yes it's my favourite tree again! When I started out to walk up the hillside it was bright and crisp. By the time I got to the view over the valley it was cold and very windy. A couple of Red Kites were flying into the wind along the edge of the old limestone quarry and the sky was threatening rain. I stayed for about an hour, that was more than enough. The painting was finished in the studio. #oilpainting #winter #BreconBeacons #RedKite #tree #Llangattock #landscape #Crickho

This is a painting I've just finished in the last couple of days. This is only the second oil painting, I've now completed, after returning to the medium after 30-ish years. It is from the first big fall of snow of this winter and is of my favourite tree up over Craig y Cilau. I just wasn't hardy enough to complete this painting on the mountain (wimp!)and my studio has a very nice and efficient log burner. I've painted the same tree several times now in the last few years. No

Familiar subject...unfamiliar medium. My first oil painting for a few decades. I'm quite pleased with it. The brushstrokes are more defined but the edges are softer because of the 'wet on wet' technique. 30x24cm on linen. #winter #BreconBeacons #Llangattock #landscape #seasons #Autumn #tree #oilpainting

I'm really pleased to say that my work is part of a fantastic looking exhibition for the New Year at Oriel Cric in Crickhowell. I have 14 paintings on show along with a lot of excellent new work by Tim Rossiter and Louise Collis. The colourful and vibrant exhibition also includes painting by Lee Wright and Rhian Symes among others. The exhibition runs from this week until the 9th of March. You are all warmly invited to 'meet the artists' from 2pm on Saturday 12th of Janua

Autumn Tree. The Bracken in November was such a bright orange/red in the frosty morning light. This small (30x24cm) acrylic on linen painting will be part of the Cric New Year exhibition that starts next week. #Autumn #gallery #Llangattock #exhibition #landscape #Crickhowell #wildlife #seasons #BreconBeacons

2018 was a year of painting trees for me. Some have already gone to good homes and some will be on show in the Cric New Year exhibition. And most of my linocuts have been of animals #winter #BreconBeacons #summer #gallery #Lino #exhibition #Llangattock #print #wildlife #Autumn #Crickhowell #birds #painting #seasons #landscape #usk

Frosty Tree, Sugarloaf mountain in the distance. Acrylic on Linen, 70x50cm. Probably finished. This will hopefully be one of my paintings on show in the Cric Gallery (Crickhowell) in the New Year. Update. Finished? Ha! I woke up this on this bright frosty morning and I wasn't happy with the grass in the foreground. Changes made. #BreconBeacons #exhibition #landscape #seasons #winter #Crickhowell #Llangattock

Red Kite from above, flying over a snowy early morning landscape

A summer painting of Agapanthus and Fennel flowers, birds and bees.

I've recently completed another largish reduction linocut print. It is of a Barn Owl, not one of the most common birds in the area (I think this part of the Beacons is at the edge of its territory)but one of my favourites. I've been doing some paintings of the hedge in winter very close to my house. I like the silhouette made because at some time in the past the hedge has been 'layed' and the sharp edge and sides, from where Chris the farmer has expertly trimmed it for many y

I'm very happy to say that I've had two pieces of work accepted for Crickhowell Open Art Competition at Oriel Cric Gallery. One is my recent print of an Otter and the other is the acrylic painting of the hedgerow close to my house during the recent snowy weather. The Exhibition is launched on Friday 25th May and continues until 7th July 2018. It is always full of work of the highest standard and well worth a visit, either as part of the Open Studios weekend or if you are in t

With all of the wintery weather we've been having it has been nice to walk some of the lanes and look over the hedges at the landscape. I've decided to make several pieces of work based on them. I really like the silhouette of an old laid hedge with the diagonal branches and then the newer upright shoots, trimmed and distorted at the top where they are cut each year. I'm still not sure. A smaller sketch on an offcut of mounting board. ....and I've also started a lino print us

Cric gallery in Crickhowell have three of my paintings in their spring exhibition starting today. Two of them framed and ready to go. The article in the 'Art Share Love Wales' magazine #gallery #exhibition #landscape #stilllife #flowers #Crickhowell #seasons #painting

Otters have been sighted in the River Usk, in the valley where I have my studio space, for several years now. I’ve only been lucky enough to catch brief glimpses out of the corner of an eye. I’ve heard stories in past years of them swimming under the bridge in Crickhowell(Wales) and keeping people in the beer garden entertained. A friend, Dutch, a keen photographer and fisherman was lucky enough to get some good pictures while out fishing one day and was kind enough to let me

I was very happy to see my art and that of other artists on show show at the excellent Craft Renaissance Gallery. Very busy this afternoon for the 're-launch'. Hopefully I shall be showing a veriety of work there over the next few months. Thank you to Hele and Rob and everyone for putting this all together. https://www.facebook.com/CraftRenaissance/… #Lino #fish #exhibition #usk #gallery #print #landscape #wildlife #birds