Bargain!

These are the five inexpensive knives that my husband bought out of curiosity from eBay as a set. I got a bit of acrylic on the handles when I used them to paint Family Circles.

This is a first-impression review. I can't tell you if they will last as well as a more expensive knife.

The build quaity is, overall, adequate. The handles are, I think, low quality soft wood (my Winsor and Newton knives look like they have hard wood handles), and are already sporting a few dings. The blades are reasonably flexible and work well, but they have a few sharp corners that I am wary of. The ferrules aren't as tidy as those on dearer knives.

This, for comparison, is a Winsor and Newton knife. It's not one of my favourites (they are at the studio and this one was loitering at home), but it does possess the superior build quality that you'd expect for a knife that cost about the same as all five of those shown above...

But that price won't break many piggy banks. This particular knife can be acquired for under £4, as can may others in the Winsor and Newton range.




Conclusion:
It is worth shelling out for a selection of nicer knives, but the Chinese set will provide an introduction if you're feeling impoverished, and you get to play around with a few different shapes while you're at it. Filing the corners lightly might be a good idea if you do go for cheap and cheerful; it is quite possible to cut yourself, and the canvas may also be at risk...

Family Circles

This was painted mainly to try out a set of cheap Chinese panting knives that my husband bought on eBay from China. The Russian Dolls were loitering in the dining room where my daughter had left them and they presented themselves as a subject... quite an interesting subject, I thought.

Brrm - commission

A still life commission with tricky perspective.
Acrylic on canvas, 30x40cm

Spectrum

Spectrum, oil on canvas, 30 x 90 cm

This is another painting made during my Open Studio hours. I revisited an image that I have used before, a photograph taken in Micheldever Woods. The older painting is shown below.

Micheldever, oil on canvas, 20 x 50 cm, SOLD
[October 2013]

Obviously, the new painting is larger, but it also seems to be a lot brighter. I don't think that it is merely a difference in lighting when taking the photograph; I do seem to be gravitating towards brighter colours lately.

I have two more days of being 'Open' before the scheme finishes on Monday 25 May. 

Ding Dong (Ultramarine)

That really is the name of this place; Ding Dong engine house and mine on the moors at Penwith, Cornwall - close to Men-an-Tol.

The ultramarine is modified in places by red, but not, I think, enough to destroy the "flat" effect.

Ding Dong (Ultramarine)
Acrylic on canvas, 30 x 40 cm

Old John (Ultramarine)

An attempt at "flatness". Or, if you prefer, a railway poster style image. With ultramarine as the base dark.

Old John is a folly in the fabulous Bradgate Park in Leicestershire. This was painted (with brushes) from my own photo.

Acrylic on canvas, 30 x 40 cm

Lone Stone - SOLD

To stylise or not to stylise, that is the question. Do both!

The stone - and the tree - is at Avebury. The curly foreground vegetation isn't.

Acrylic on box canvas, 30 x 30 cm

SOLD