Exhibition in October

Starts 02 October

From the Poppyfield

This is from one of the photographs mentioned in Sitting in a Poppy Field / Basingstoke Poppies. It was a rainy day when I painted this.

Acrylic on box canvas, 20 x 26 cm

25 September 2013
SOLD

School Mural update

Passing enthusiastic child: "It looks just like a picture of our village."
Me: "It is a picture of our village."

New Book - teaser and special offer

I'm just putting the finishing touches to a new volume of paintings. The lefthand Hurlers painting was crucial to Rock, Canvas, Painting Knife, but there's room for something painted with a brush, too, and that's one of the finishing touches I'm working on ...

I'm hoping to take advantage of Blurb's "Flash Sale" - 25% off for the rest of September.

And should you also wish to get money off at Blurb, you will need to know the discount code, which is 25AUTUMN. Offer details here.

More Hurlers

At Easter, we visited Bodmin Moor's Hurlers; in July I painted some of them. The painting seemed lonely, and seemed to need a companion piece It's taken me a while to get around to doing it, but I've finally painted a second Hurlers piece.

School Mural Project: First wall done

I took new photographs today; it was overcast, which was better than against the light!

I think Watership Down is finished, now, and The Heart of the Village is coming on.

LEGO Minifigures 84: Cowgirl

The cowgirl seems to looking for someone - I wonder if it's her friends, the cowboy and the indian?

Acrylic on canvas, 7x7cm

'Scuse me while I paint the sky

School Mural Project: We have paint!

The morning was (tolerably) dry, I wasn't at work, and the paint (System 3 acrylic) had arrived... so I made a start.

St Peter's in oil

I was pleased enough with my recent sketch of St. Peter's that I decided to use it as the basis of an oil painting (made with a knife, as ever). And here it is - St. Peter's church, Tadley, Hampshire.

Oil on natural colour linen canvas, 30 x 30 cm
17 September 2013

The last of the Gladioli

The real flowers are wilting now, but the painted ones never will...

Red Gladioli

A small, quick study with a fairly small palette: cadmium red dark (hue), cadmium orange (hue), lemon yellow, phthalo blue, titanium white - and signed with a white chinagraph pencil.

Acrylic on canvas, 7x7cm

The Rodney Lawrence Trust Launch Event

I took my art stall to the rather excellent launch event of a local children's charity yesterday. The event was so local that we walked there, with the majority of my stuff on a trolley. I sold a few things, distributed a number of cards and leaflets, and had a lovely chat with the local clergy about my painting of St. Mary's. I shall be giving the church a license to use the image, perhaps as a postcard, to help fund the upkeep of the building.

Gladioli

I was given some flowers earlier this week. There was only one thing to do... paint 'em!

Both acrylic on canvas, 7x7cm

Footbridge at Gaily Mill - SOLD

This footbridge forms part of the public footpath past Gaily Mill. It's a lovely cool place on a warm summer's day.

Acrylic on canvas, 7 x 5"
11 September 2013

St Mary's in a Fairy Tale - SOLD

This is our local church, St. Mary's, but doesn't it look just a bit like a fairy tale castle? I took the source photograph on a lovely evening in July this year and I only heightened the colours a little; the façade fairly glowed in the setting sun's light.

Acrylic on box canvas, 20 x 26 cm
09 September 2013

SOLD

Dipping into Watercolour Sketching

Above: Tadley Common, with and without cattle. Both ~ 20 minute lunchtime sketches.
Below: 15 minute sketch of fields near Kingsclere.

Watercolour is a dashed tricky medium.

Instrumental Abstraction

I usually paint figuratively (that means that I paint pictures. Of things. Generally, they are things that I can see). But this is an attempt at an abstract painting. It started as paint left over on the palette from another painting; the colours didn't suggest anything in particular, so l just tried arranging then in a manner that pleased me. The results are reminiscent of an underwater scene, I think.

George & Horn

This is an old coaching inn in our village. I made a sketch yesterday and painted this from the sketch.

Acrylic on canvas, 7 x 5"
07 September 2013

Digital paint and pencil

I've recently been exploring the possibilities of digital art, from a non-iPad perspective. I have a small, inexpensive tablet and pen that I can use with my laptop; it came complete with a freeware drawing application called Artweaver, which has a variety of brush/pen/mark options.

Old Harry

Another Dorset picture, also from the beach at Studland, also based on sketches.

Corfe/Kirrin

This is a view of and from Corfe Castle. Corfe Castle is the name of the splendid ruined castle and of the pretty village; together, they guard the entrance to the isle of Purbeck in Dorset.

Purbeck from Studland

A little palette-knife oil based on a sketch made on Studland beach, Dorset.

Oil on board, 7x5"
03 September 2013

Hot Wheels! Introducing #PaintSeptember

After #DrawingAugust comes #PaintSeptember. This is my first painting of the month - a 7x9 cm acrylic of a toy car.

SOLD