Our central heating packed in on Saturday. This morning was very cold and frosty. While it was being fixed I took the opportunity of showing my appreciation for our woodburning stove by sketching it. What you don’t see in this drawing is that I have the kettle heating on top of the stove to make a cuppa. Our cat Xena is snoring in the other chair on the right. On my feet I am wearing my new cosy slippers.
I enjoy doing paintings of people concentrating on their craft. Chefs are great subjects for this. The Chef was cooking at a market stall in Dundee city centre. This was one very large paella pan!
I have been away on a short break to Dunkeld. On the Sunday night “The Troot Tour Two” were playing in the lounge. The sketches are taken from my sketch book. It was really enjoyable sketching away to the music. The second sketch was done over an acrylic wash.
I have been busy preparing for Pittenweem. My holiday in Venice has inspired a number of paintings for the show. As usual I will have a varied selection of my latest work, some of which can be previewed on my web site. Visit my Pittenweem Arts Festival 2011 page to view them.
This is a detail of a new painting I have just finished. About one month to go until the Pittenweem Arts Festival.
I am aware I have not posted for a while. I have been busy preparing for the Pittenweem Arts Festival. Here is another painting of Venice. The trip has given me so much inspiration.
This is a small oil painting of a night time scene in Venice. We were really lucky with the weather which made it very enjoyable exploring all the lanes and canals.
I am just back from a fantastic holiday to Venice. What a beautiful city with so much to offer. I did quite a lot of plein air sketches to try to capture the atmosphere of the place. These will help when it comes to do some studio paintings. The weather was sunny and warm which enabled me to get around and about. My bag with my art materials was a little on the heavy side. However it was better to have them with me as inspiration came in the most unlikely places.
I have not fully cropped this image to show what colour of pastel paper I used. I often use the edges for testing colours as I work on the painting. The paper I used was Sennelier La Carte Pastel paper. It has quite a rough sandpaper texture which grips the pastel really well.
I received a delivery of new art materials and just had to use them straight away! The result was this painting. I used my new large brush and some of my new colours of Daler Rowney acrylic inks. I was lost in the activity and swept away by the joy of the moment. Hopefully the energy comes through in the painting.