!Happy New Year!

'Soup Ladle and Bowl'

6" x 6"

oil on board

It's very nice to be wielding a paintbrush again after ten days break! The break was longer than anticipated but it was worth it...it's been a great Christmas with some brilliant moments! One of those moments was spent at Lincoln Cathedral attending the carol service on Christmas Eve...the choir was spellbinding! 
I hope you too had a memorable Christmas  
Best wishes for a Happy New Year and good luck with your new year resolutions whatever they might be!

'Poinsettia'

'Poinsettia'

10" x 12"

oil on board

Click to bid

In celebration of Christmas I have painted my Poinsettia. It feels almost indulgent painting such wonderfully rich crimsons and cadmiums and so beautifully accentuated by the deep complimentary greens...a vibrant contrast and a perfect combination! I scaled up a little for this painting so that I could portray the leaves life-size. 
It's a busy busy week but I won't be hanging up my brushes until Thursday evening, then I will have to get down to the Christmas prep! 

'Mince Pie and Coffee'

'Mince Pie and Coffee'

6" x 6"

oil on board

Click to buy

I seem to have eaten more than my fair share of festive mince pies just recently! For the last couple of weeks we've managed to munch our way through quite a number in our 'run up to Christmas' classes! So I thought it appropriate that I should make a painting of the humble but very traditional mince pie! I spent an hour and a half on the painting Wednesday afternoon and finished it this afternoon (no painting yesterday as I finally went Christmas shopping having decided that I couldn't procrastinate any longer!) I'm happy with the painting and at last am becoming used to painting on a small scale. It's been tough to acclimatise to scaling down as my natural way of working has always been large (at one time I was working to the scale of 12' x 4'.) But making small work has alot going for it, it's fun and not so precious as it's quicker to make and therefore you're always moving on to the next piece...and that means more practise and more practise means of course faster progress.  

If you're celebrating this weekend, have fun!!

'Pomegranate and Fork'

'Pomegranate and Fork'

6" x 6"

oil on board

Click to buy

Phew...this one took all my powers of concentration! The inside of pomegranates is something I'm not that familiar with and on cutting it open I realised just how complicated it is! But...oh so beautiful! Literally crammed with colour and pattern. I hope I've done it justice. 

'Spotted Umbrella with Apple'

'Spotted Umbrella with Apple'

6" x 6"

oil on board

Click to buy

Sadly I have to say goodbye to my lovely spotted umbrella :( It has without a doubt seen better days. But I must say, it has served me well. (Thinking back to the water-logged non-summer just gone it's no wonder it's worn out!)  I'm happy with the painting. It's the first one I've made using my new shadow box. The box keeps the light constant so it's now not a race against time as the light moves round or disappears altogether! 

A fun afternoon mono-printing!

Today I was making preparations for a mono-printing workshop that I'm running tomorrow and when I was putting together the equipment and materials I couldn't resist but ink up a plate and make a print or two myself! I love the way mono-printing has so much potential for experimentation!...and it's fast!  I used an earlier drawing from 'Dance Series' as a starting point and quite quickly developed a series of prints. At the moment they're all over the floor drying off! 

'Pomegranate and Spoon'...done!

'Pomegranate and Spoon'

8" x 8"

oil on board

As promised, here is the completed version of 'Pomegranate and Spoon', finished this morning with glorious morning light filling the studio through the window. Now I have to get down to preparing and painting frames for the two pieces going into the LAS show at Stamford as they have to be delivered on Thursday...not that I'm cutting it fine of course!!!!...but I really must get a move on with it now...so no more procrastinating!

Work in progress - Pomegranate and spoon

'Pomegranate and Spoon'

oil on board

8" x 8"

I was hoping to complete 'Pomegranate and Spoon' this afternoon but I didn't quite make it. However, before the light failed totally I took a photograph at its almost complete stage. Look out for the finished version early next week. In the meantime have a great weekend!

In the Afternoon Sun

'In the Afternoon Sun'

5" x 7"

oil on board

NFS

My apologies for not being very communicative lately, but you know how it is...sometimes you seem to take one step forward and 6 back! Last week was one of those times and less said about it the better!

This little painting was made from an image taken with my phone camera. I took the photo last summer during our visit to the Bio-Park in Valencia. It was an extremely hot day (43C) and I was properly wilting at this point! Whereas Chloe (in the painting) was still as bright as a button and totally unfazed by the whole heat thing!  Ohhh to be young!! 

Photo without glare!

'Baubles in a Dish'

6" x 6"

oil on board

Click to buy

As promised here is a shot of yesterday's painting without the glare of the artificial lamp light. I took this one in natural light although I was still restricted to photographing indoors as the teeming rain prohibited me from taking the painting out of doors which is where I prefer to photograph work. 

By the way...there were some very interesting pieces emerging from the class this morning. Can't wait to see how they develop next week! 

'Baubles in a Dish'

'Baubles in a Dish'

6" x 6"

oil on board

It's a little early for Christmas decorations I know!!..but these are some of the props I'm taking in tomorrow for my class. They will be working with a Christmas theme for the next project and exploring mixed media and as I was sorting out the props and packing them ready to take in, I had an insatiable desire to paint these gorgeous complimentary red and green baubles! My apologies for the 'not so great' photograph but because of the lack of natural light I used artificial light and the camera picked up some reflections on the paint surface. I will try and post a better one tomorrow.

Green Apple with Jug...and Poinsettia!

'Green Apple with Jug'

6" x 6"

oil on board

Click to buy

Today I made a little alteration to this painting and added some leaves of a Poinsettia. I kept noticing the empty space above the jug and felt that there was something missing in the painting. I adore Poinsettias for their colour...and the magical touch of its red brings the painting alive. 

Class drawing!

These are some of my dedicated Wednesday class members. I must say they are a brilliant bunch, they have a go at anything I throw at them!! Today we began with a drawing from life of a foreshortened hand which sounds straightforward enough until I tell you that I asked them to draw with one eye closed! (Closing one eye flattens foreshortened shapes and helps make the shapes easier to identify). We later moved on to drawing 'Feet Under the Table with Bags' with the idea of creating a long collaborative piece. You'll see images of some of the work below. (My apologies that the photographic quality isn't so great...still trying to master the phone camera!) The work had a few continuity issues when we pieced it together but with a little adjusting this could make a great painting! My thanks to everyone for a successful morning's work!

'Green Apple with Jug'

'Green apple with Jug'

6" x 6"

oil on board

I'm always impressed by the 'greenness' of Granny Smith apples, it makes them look so fresh. I used burnt sienna as a ground colour which still peeps through in places and helps to bring warmth to the painting and I introduced lemon yellow back into my palette to capture the cool greens of the apple. The uncropped 'duo' of objects standing alone and isolated from each other seems to work in this piece.  

Potted Plant

'Potted Plant'

8" x 8"

oil on board

Click to buy

I've included glimpses of this plant and its pot in previous paintings so today I thought I'd paint all of it and let you see the whole thing as the colour of the flower is such a wonderful muted pink.  I've been busy teaching this week, my regular Wednesday class, a life drawing workshop and a class with the ladies and gents at Knaith Park. Everyone has worked really hard and there's been some great outcomes! So well done to all of you.

'Turquoise and Blue'

'Turquoise Bracelet on a Blue Cloth'

6" x 6"

oil on board

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My painting for today...'Turquoise Bracelet on a Blue Cloth'. In this painting I was exploring the 'clash' of the blues. My camera hasn't quite picked up the full contrast of the warmth of the blue of the cloth against the coolness of the turquoise. It's an intriguing colour combination because although there is a definite 'clash' between the blues, at the same time, they also each enhance the richness of the other. 

Chloe's Corner

Chloe's Corner

I've just been tidying Chloe's bits and pieces from yesterday when she was over and thought as I was putting it away how packing such an immense amount of stuff into such a small space was a work of art in itself! So here you are, a very quick drawing of 'Chloe's Corner'! 

Self-portrait in felt tip and gel stick pens

Self-portrait

 felt tip and gel stick pens

8" x 10"

I've been experimenting with water soluble felt tips again. I was the only model available so I'm afraid it had to be a self-portrait! This post has to be short and sweet as I'm off to Norfolk right now to a birthday celebration! 

A tricky painting!

'Tea and a Chocolate Digestive'

oil on board

6" x 6"

Click to buy

Staying with the 'food' theme, I began this painting yesterday and finished it this afternoon. I have to tell you though that it turned out to be a tricky painting. Why is it some pieces go like a dream and some are just...well, plain argumentative! Yesterday the plant pot was white, but I concluded today that the painting was too white and I changed the colour of the pot to pink which I'm now satisfied with. So here you have it, 'Tea and a Chocolate Digestive'...how very British!

Eggs at Lunchtime

'Eggs at Lunchtime'

oil on board

8" x 12"

SOLD

I seem to have a 'food' theme going on at the moment! This was lunch today or should I say the remains of it. I do love egg shells so when I saw them left on my plate I was inspired to paint them! This painting took about two hours. There's no fear of overworking it now as it's all been cleared up and washed up! 

Homemade plum jam!

'Plum Jam'

6" x 6"

oil on board

Click to buy

This gorgeous plum jam was a gift from a neighbour...yes, another gift! I know, I'm very lucky to have such kind neighbours who provide me with lovely things to eat AND subject matter to paint! I don't think I've mentioned this before but at the moment (the last four paintings) I'm using a much reduced palette of Cadmium red, cadmium yellow, ultramarine blue and titanium white and I'm surprised at how little I have to compromise on colour. Before I begin a painting I mix a lump of bistre (very dark grey). This is useful as a base for greys (particularly useful for flesh colours) as it can be adjusted easily towards warm or cool grey. It can also be added to a mix to mute or darken the colour. I would recommend exploring a very limited palette as you are forced to push the pigments to their limit, so you learn alot and quickly.

Just to change the subject... I would like to thank the ladies in my class today for working so hard with the project I set. We were working with tonal values matching colour to tone and they were sticking, cutting out, collaging...there were some very successful results so well done to all!

'Sasha on the beach' small version

6" x 6"

oil on board

Click to buy

Remember in an earlier posting I mentioned that I was thinking of making a very small version of a 48" x 48" painting? Well...here it is! I painted it this morning. It was an interesting exercise as it was like working in reverse of the conventional way, by making the final outcome first and the prep study second. And of course, this little version was very, very much quicker to execute than the larger version! 

Delicious Biscotti!

'Delicious Biscotti'

8" x 8"

oil on board

.

SOLD

So this is the painting I made yesterday afternoon when I ran out of light before I could take a photograph. I was almost working in the dark by the time I'd finished and I had a surprise this morning when I looked at the painting because where I thought I had painted green in the foreground it turned out to be bright yellow! All I had to do though was tone it down and cool it off a bit because I quite liked the yellow. So there you have it...the classic happy accident!

By the way, you can thank my neighbour Jo for this painting as she kindly gave me a present of biscotti on her return from her trip to Italy. They looked so gorgeous in the packet I had to paint them! 

'Sasha on the Beach'

'Sasha on the Beach'

oil on stretched canvas

48" x 48"

Before I could photograph today's painting which I was working on this afternoon, I completely ran out of daylight. Consequently, that painting sadly will have to wait to be posted until tomorrow. I dug this one out of the archives. It's been such a rainy afternoon I thought it might help to transport you to warmer climes...actually this was Mablethorpe believe it or not! It's a a painting I've been thinking about making a smaller version of. This is a 4' x 4' version and I thought it would be interesting to go to the other extreme of 6" x 6". I will post it when it's done.

Bronze Pot with Apple and Plum

12" x 16"

oil on stretched canvas

Click to buy

Yep...my brass pot is actually bronze! I discovered that when my husband saw the title of the painting and was horrified that I had described his beautiful bronze pot as brass!  So...there you are...you learn something new everyday!  
I did in the end return to the painting although I said I wasn't planning to. I added more colour to the area at the back which looked slightly unresolved and dull and I also revisited the 'bronze' pot. I am now done with it and the painting is finished.  

Brass Pot, Apple and Plum

'Brass Pot, Apple and Plum'

oil on stretched canvas

30cm x 40cm

   Stage 1

Stage 2

This painting was an interesting one to make as the surrounding area is much darker in tonal value than my other recent paintings. I like the rich red of the apple against the purple and blue and I also like the similarity in hue of the plum on the purple cloth. I began the painting yesterday and spent about two hours working on it (I had to stop when I ran out of light).Today I spent about another two hours on it and arrived at stage two. I'm not planning on a stage 3 but will look again in about 48 hours to see if anything jumps out and hits me in the eye! It was a much slower process today as I was employing a more 'careful approach'. I tried to be economical with brushstrokes but at the same time retain some of the spontaneity and freshness in the brushwork. 

Thumbnail drawings

This is a page from my sketchbook. The drawings are examples of thumbnails (4cm x 6cm) that I produced for my class today. I try to encourage (bang on a bit if I'm honest!) the use of thumbnails as a means of preparation for a painting. So today for practise and using viewfinders (another useful tool), we dedicated much of the morning looking around trying to find interesting and unexpected compositions and I must say everyone managed to produce some great little thumbnail drawings...some even found the exercise therapeutic! 

Felt tip drawings

I was lucky enough to be given some art materials this afternoon...how exciting! and as I was going through them I came across some very colourful children's washable felt tips. The range of colours in felt tip sets are generally limited and a bit garish and in this pack I only had eight colours which consisted of bright pink, red, yellow, two blues, two bright greens and a brown. Nonetheless I thought I'd see what I could do with them. The challenge was to introduce some degree of subtlety into the colouration. Although the extreme brightness of the colours can be a disadvantage, at the same time, even when water was added to the colours, they kept their vibrancy, much like ink does but unlike watercolour which has a tendency to dry lighter. They were definitely interesting and fun to use...I would recommend them! 

Sasha and Doug at the exhibition

'At the Show'

oil on board

6" x 6"

Click to buy

This is a painting of my daughter and husband made from a photo that I took with my phone camera at the exhibition opening last week at Gallery at St Martin's. It was a great evening with a great turnout. The wine kept flowing and needless to say a merry time was had by all! Thanks to all those of you who came along and who helped to make it such a successful evening. And thanks too to the other artists in the exhibition Janis Mitchell, Jo Slone, Jenny Hammerton and Carol Butler...it was a pleasure to 'hang' alongside you! 
Getting back to the painting...this is the smallest figure painting I have attempted but I'm happyish with the outcome and plan to do more as I enjoyed introducing a bit of narrative into the work. There was quite alot to include in the composition. I wanted to keep it painterly and on such a small scale it became even more about mark-making and the old adage that I'm always spouting in my classes, 'less is more'. 

Chloe looking very serious!

The above drawing is a 15 min study of Chloe, my grandaughter that I did yesterday. I captured her with her very serious face as she watched something on TV. Usually it's difficult to pin her down for more than 5 mins as she is always on the go like every 9 year old! So I took the opportunity to attempt a study and then worked very quickly. I also did a very quick pencil and watercolour study. It's always a challenge trying to capture a likeness in a very short time period but I find that if I don't let 'likeness' monopolise my thinking and keep focused on putting down what I see in front of me then I more often get a result in capturing something of a likeness. I tend to do alot of looking and mental noting before I put any marks down on paper especially if the sitter is someone I don't know that well. For me portraiture is a fascinating subject as it's not just a record of the sitter's appearance but also a visual interpretation of a person's inner character. It's almost magical and brings a tremendous sense of satisfaction when a portrait emerges that captures both the outer appearance of the subject and their true inner nature. 

Pepper with Lemons

'Pepper with Lemons'

oil on board

8" x 12"

SOLD

Sorry this painting has been a long time coming. I managed to finish it Tuesday but was too late to photograph it. Then Wednesday I was teaching in the morning and wasn't feeling too brilliant when I went in. By the time I returned home I was feeling like rubbish so didn't do much of anything that afternoon. I think it was probably a mild virus which today...hooray!...seems to be going. Tomorrow I'm in Gallery at St Martin's all day invigilating our exhibition (last day Saturday). Look forward to seeing you if you can pop in.

Pepper still-life

First stage with artichoke extinguished!

8" x 12"

I started this painting at around 4.45pm this afternoon. I borrowed an artichoke from the kitchen not realising it was part of tonight's dinner! I was happily painting away when I heard an irate voice from the kitchen enquiring very loudly whether anyone had seen the artichoke! I was already losing the light (it's become very overcast this afternoon) and knew I wouldn't have time to finish the painting today, so reluctantly I relinquished the artichoke and replaced it with two lemons. In total I spent about 30 mins on the painting and had just enough time to mark in the lemons before the light failed completely. I'm not sure I'll be able to get back to it until Tuesday as we're hanging the work for the exhibition tomorrow, but as soon as it's finished I'll post it for you. My aim in this particular painting is to produce an outcome in as few brushstrokes as I can manage so that every brushstroke counts. It's a useful exercise to avoid overworking a painting. One thing I've realised this afternoon is that I'll have to organise some proper lighting with daylight bulbs for the winter months or I'll either be painting in the dark or have to stop halfway through the day!

Exhibition at Gallery at St Martin's

'The Return of Peredur - 2'

charcoal on creased and scored paper

This is one of the pieces I'm putting into the exhibition '5 Artists' at Gallery at St Martin's. It promises to be a very interesting exhibition showing a broad range of work from the five artists participating. You'll find details of the show on the invitation below. Please come along to the private view and join us in a glass of wine (or two!) If you can't make the private view then I will be in the gallery all day Friday 21st September...I would love to see you and have a chat.

Gallery at St Martin's is situated in Garmston St (even though the postal address is Hungate) at the rear of The Cheese Society. 

Gallery at St Martin's

37b Hungate

Lincoln

LN1 1ET

'Days after the Wedding'

'Days after the Wedding'

oil on stretched canvas

40cm x 30cm

SOLD

I haven't been able to blog for the last few days as I've been catching up on 'stuff'. You know the kind of thing...emails, paperwork, exhibition preparations, preparing for forthcoming classes etc, etc, etc, and...since being back from Spain, I've attended two weddings, one of which was my son Charlie's...and what a brilliant day it was!! We were fortunate enough to be able to bring home some of the wonderful flowers which of course after a few days slowly began to show signs of wilting...very sad (but at the same time interesting to paint!) So I decided it was time to paint some of them to keep alive the memory of the occasion before they faded away forever :( 

Invitation to an exhibition!

You are warmly invited to:

'Figuratively Speaking'

Harding House

Steep Hill

Lincoln

1st September - 6th October 2012

Open: Monday - Saturday 10am - 5pm

Sunday 11am - 4pm

Artists include:

Lyn Lovitt 

Maggie Cullen

Ann Stoker

Angelo Murphy

Ron Harrison

David William Sampson

Kevin Wallhead

The drawing above is one of my pieces that is showing in the exhibition 'Figuratively Speaking', details of which you will find at the top of the page. For those of you who haven't been before, Harding House is near the top of Steep Hill. The gallery is a lovely space on the first floor of the building. There's parking nearby in Castle Square and you'll find plenty of little cafes to treat yourself to coffee and a cake or two after you've been to the exhibition! So why not make an afternoon of it! I hope you will be able to visit the exhibition and feel free to send me your comments, I will look forward to receiving them. 

Back from Spain!

Pics from Spain

It's good to be back blogging...I've missed you all! It was a great trip and as promised I've brought back some pics to show you. These photos are from one of the processions during fiesta week in Castello de Rugat. This is the traditional procession of the Moors and Christians, my favourite procession of all! It celebrates the driving out of the Moors way back in the 13th Century and the celebrations have been going on ever since! It's very dramatic with bags of atmosphere and very loud band music and even louder drums...and the costumes are absolutely stunning! Unfortunately, my phone decided to give up on me as I was taking the photos (a screen problem, apparently common in that kind of phone so they tell me now!) but luckily my daughter arrived in the nick of time and I was able to use hers. The weather there was extremely hot (low 40's centigrade) and we were all melting rather whilst watching this procession. Fortunately, I had my trusty fan with me, which I might add, when in Spain I don't go anywhere without! At the bottom of these pics I have put a link to a short BBC documentary video about the Spanish tradition of the festival of the Moors and Christian. The celebrations in the video are in a town called Alcoi which is not far from our town of Castello de Rugat. So if you're interested, I would recommend that you click on the link and have a look. 

LINK -  http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningzone/clips/the-moors-and-christians-festival-in-alcoi/687.html