'Market - Saturday Morning' finished

20" x 30"

oil on canvas panel

Click to buy

I think I've pretty much finished this painting now. I'll check again tomorrow incase there's something I've missed.  I've spent three sessions working on it. You could probably carry on forever with a studio painting like this but you have to call a halt at some point and sooner rather than later before it becomes overworked and laboured. Some of the fruit and veg are invented because the boxes that were visible were mostly filled with vegetables in plastic bags and I wanted more colour. That's the magic of being an artist...if you don't much like the reality around you, then you can change it!! 

Ice Cream on a Winter's Afternoon' finished

8' x 8"

oil on board

Click to buy

I've finally finished the Ice Cream painting. I resolved all the bits that I mentioned in my previous post plus a couple more. The alterations have improved the painting and made it easier to read so I'm  happy with it now. :) By the way...you can see one of my portraits all beautifully framed up if you click here  The link will send you through to Ashcraft Framing who can always be relied on to do a brilliant job! Have a great bank holiday weekend!

'In the Rain' finished

8" x 8"

oil on board

SOLD

All I needed to do to 'In the Rain' today was to finish the windows in the far building, redraw part of the umbrella and add a detail to the bag on the right and that was that! 
And now in answer to a request from Vic, a fellow blogger, here is an image of my studio in the roof complete with cat of course who, as I have mentioned in previous posts, is my ever faithful companion!

'Notre Dame' in charcoal

'Notre Dame'

80cm x 60cm

charcoal on paper

I used an old photograph that I took a long time ago to make this drawing, in the days when there were only reels of film and disposable cameras! In those days our films were sent away to be developed and all we could do was cross our fingers and hope...hope that we got our own photos back and not someone else's! It's hard now to imagine a world without digital cameras, phone cameras and instant results! I have to say making the drawing (this is the second version by the way) brought back some great memories of being in Paris. The one thing I remember above all else was the creative and artistic graffiti dotted about everywhere...wonderful stuff! 

Not sure whether we'll be snowed in by tomorrow. At the moment it doesn't look too bad out there. But whatever it's like, we'll be venturing out as we have our grandson's first birthday party to attend, so come what may we will get there somehow!!

Have a good weekend whatever the weather!

Trip to Castello in Spain

oil on stretched canvas 

40cm x 50cm

This is where I'll be from Monday for nine days. You've already seen a small version of this painting a few weeks ago. This one is the original and I painted it before the pathway was re-surfaced with shiny new stones, so this is the historical depiction! While I'm there this year, the almost week long fiesta will begin. This is when the whole neighbourhood goes  just a little crazy!! Fireworks, processions, more fireworks, more processions..plus open air concerts that don't begin until midnight! I'm going to try and blog whilst I'm there and send you some pics of the celebrations...the colours and costumes are wonderful. However, I can't promise as I'm relying on my phone and I'm not sure whether it will work until I get there. So fingers crossed that it does but for now...hasta luego!

Castello complete!

'Castello in Spring'

oil on board

6" x 6"

Click here to buy

Here we are, as promised, the completed painting of 'Castello in Spring'. For some unknown reason, it has proved a difficult one to photograph. I don't know whether it was me or the camera but it took me ages to get the settings right...even set on automatic didn't work. But never say die, and after a multitude of attempts I got there in the end! By the way, our house is the one nearest to you in the foreground.