'Two Pots and a Mirror'

'Two Pots and a Mirror'

6" x 6"

oil on board

My grandaughter bought me this little pot out of her own pocket money :)

Then she asked me if I would paint it! So here it is, just for her, two pots for the price of one! I like using mirrors for the abstract shapes they can create, but not round ones I've decided...they're very tricky! It's been an interesting exercise exploring once again all the different tones and colours of grey you have to use to achieve white. Half closing the eyes is an invaluable way of identifying values, I can't recommend it enough.

My entry for an exhibition.

'Looking Back'

50cm x 40cm

I took my entry over today for submission to the open show at Ropewalk Gallery in Barton-on-Humber. This piece, 'Looking Back', is from my 'Modern Woman' series in which the image has been scored into the paper without any preliminary pencil marks. It's a very risky way of working as the image made with the scored marks only becomes clearly visible when charcoal is applied over the surface of the paper. I then work with the resulting image. It's risky but exciting to work in this way as it provides an element of unpredictability and the freedom and opportunity to move right away from the starting point. You can see another piece from the series, 'British Girl in Turkey', if you go to my Facebook page and look at the cover photo at the top of the page. Click here for the link.

Hope you're all having a great bank holiday weekend!

Study in graphite "Statuette of Joan of Arc'

12" x 8"

 'Joan of Arc' is one of my favourite possessions. She's made from parian marble and is beautifully white. I had a lovely afternoon drawing her.  

'Tomatoes and Pan'

10" x 12"

oil on board

Click to bid

I painted 'Tomatoes and Pan' this afternoon. It took approximately two and a half hours to complete. I imposed a time limit again and didn't go over it and I'm happy with the result. It's certainly not overworked and that's the way it's going to stay, and to make sure, the things have been put away and the tomatoes will be eaten within an hour! 

Commission of Henry

12" x 16"

oil on stretched canvas

This is 'Henry', the commission I was working on during last week. I'm hoping I've captured him. I only had a photograph to go on. There were no sittings and I've never met Henry so consequently couldn't work from memory either. I'm now awaiting a verdict to see if I'm anywhere close to accurate! Will keep you posted as to the outcome!

'Pots with Pear in Dish'

10" x 12"

oil on board

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I set a strict time limit for this painting. I didn't want to spend too much time on any one part and end up putting in too much information and subsequently tightening up. My time limit was two hours which was easy to set as two hours was the only amount of time I had to work so I couldn't go beyond it even if I wanted to...this seemed a good plan. All went well and I was just giving myself a pat on the back for achieving what I'd set out to do when I realised I'd left out the reflection of the blue and white pot! Duh...! That was yesterday afternoon. Today I painted in the weird and distorted abstract reflection and strengthened some of the values. 

I don't think it's important what objects you paint, the importance lies in the way in which the light falls on them. Sometimes you can suddenly notice something that you've passed many times previously which had stayed invisible until that moment just because the light is falling on it in a different way. Changing light alters our perception of what is around us and provides an opportunity to translate that visual excitement into paint. Sometimes I feel very privileged and lucky being an artist.

'Alexander' revisited

8" x 8"

oil on board

SOLD

The last few days I've been busy on a commission in between working on a painting for a future exhibition. This morning I've been varnishing paintings and I've reworked the right eye and eyebrow (on the right as you look at the painting) in 'Alexander'. It's something that's been bugging me for a while so today I decided to put it right and be done with it!