Fireplane in a frame ... and in an exhibition!

I recently submitted a few paintings into a local Open Exhibition and was fortunate enough to have had Greenham Common Fireplane selected for inclusion.

Watership Down and Ladle Hill: Drawing Pencil

I really wish that Derwent had come up with a better name for these lovely pencils. They call them "Drawing Pencils", or, sometimes "Soft Drawing Pencils". Which could easily apply to a 4B graphite, say. (Aren't all pencils for drawing with? Even the H family - which I generally shun - are intended for drawing. Very precise drawing.)

I don't think that there is any graphite in these pencils. They are smooth and waxy and come in a range of muted, natural-seeming colours (the range is quite similar to the Sennelier "Nature" box). I now have the tin of 24 colours, which I think is all of them. I already had the earth-toned tin of 6, which I used for Study in Yellow. It's nice to be able to hint at blues and greens, and I think that the full range of colours suit this subject, which is from a photograph taken at around 5:30 pm earlier this month, when the sun was on its way down and the hillsides were in shadow.

Here's a slightly earlier, sketchier version in the earth colours:

Drawing on A4 paper

EDIT: There's a painting, too...

LEGO® Minifigures 55: Artist ("Ceci n'est pas un peintre")

Elements of this figure may be familiar from my avatar (profile picture). This fellow is, quite apart from being a fellow (which I am not*), rather more of a traditional sort of artist than I am. So I decided that he wouldn't suit the clinical whiteness of my default ceramic tile background, and I put him on top of my old wooden palette (which is, of course, for use with oils). He seems, from his clothes, to be a messy painter, so it's fitting that there is paint residue on the palette... which I think makes a good floor for his studio.

Acrylic on canvas, 7 x 7 cm
FOR SALE

Judge a Book by its Cover

Just short of a year ago, I painted the first LEGO minifigure painting. I never really expected the series to get anywhere near as big as it has done; there are now 54 paintings, all 7 by 7cm square, all acrylic on canvas.

LEGO® Minifigures 54: Man with Flower

Is this fellow the gardener? Or does he have a romantic gift for one of the LEGO ladies*? You decide - but I know which side of the garden fence I think he stands.

This will be the last LEGO painting for a while, but you can expect some related news shortly.
EDIT: Actually, there will be two more.

Acrylic on canvas, 7 x 7 cm
FOR SALE

*Or gentlemen, of course. Wouldn't want to make assumptions!

LEGO® Minifigures 53: The Lady of the House

Another of my daughter's LEGO figures; I think that this lady - and her house - arrived together in the big pink box of LEGO that started her collection a year or two back.

Acrylic on canvas, 7x7cm
FOR SALE

LEGO® Minifigures 52: Fireman

I've been meaning to do a fireman for ages... ever since I painted the Policeman. Today, I asked my son if I could borrow a LEGO fireman; he took this fellow out of his car and then thoughtfully gave me the car as well. So, I included it in the painting. It seemed like a good, colourful, idea.

Acrylic on canvas, 7 x 7 cm
FOR SALE