’The Grand Persian’ oil on board 15cm squared. For sale £115 framed during the event £125 framed afterwards. Please contact me for details.

’Grandma’s Rose Bowl’ oil on board 15cm squared. £110 framed during the 30 day challenge and £125 framed afterwards. *** if anyone buys this I will be giving the money to my friend Mandy who may lose her home due to treatment for cancer.

As the roses I got for Valentines Day faded I felt I had to paint them, so I set up a still life and gave myself a challenge. Flowers are something I enjoy painting but I do find them tricky and sometimes start over and over again. This was my lovely Grandma’s rose bowl and I think of her every time I use it, so it brings back lots of happy memories of love.

’The Mystic’ 15cm Squared Oil on board £105 framed during the 30 day challenge ,after the event £125 framed. Contact me for details.

’Street Tiger’ oil on board 15cm squared £100 including frame. This price is only applicable during the 30 in 30 event. Afterwards all paintings will be £125 framed. Please contact me to reserve.

The picture above is a better representation of the final piece although it’s much brighter in real life. Getting correct colours in photos can be quite tricky!

i almost didn’t get this one done but I was determined, so I put on my coat to paint in the garden room this evening. I’ll post another photo tomorrow as the light isn’t great. It’s called ‘Tummy Trap’ oil on board £95 framed during the 30 day event then my normal price of £125 framed afterwards. Contact me if you’d like more details.

’Scrumptious’ because he is! I just want to cuddle him! Oil on board 15cm squared. Scrumptious is now SOLD

I’m on the committee of an art group called Network Arts. The group invites artists to run workshops for us 10 times a year. I created these paintings at a workshop given by Northants artist Lee Burrows. Here’s a little about the process.

1. A huge still life was set up. It was full of shapes and unusual objects with deliberately little colour.

2. I made a line drawing of some of the shapes, I like to simplify the objects and look at the gaps between them. Lee suggested turning the page as I drew to create more interesting relationships and mix up the composition.

I did many drawings, quickly and loosely.

3. I had my 4 boards ready to paint. Some had a stained layer of colour and one of the boards was just white. I drew out the drawing using charcoal across all 4 boards. I don’t have an image of just my drawing but this photo shows a little of the drawing as I started to add paint. You can see the orange and the yellow were actually the colour of the primed surface and you can also see some of my charcoal sketch marks.

4. I used a mixture of burnt sienna and phthalocyanine blue to give me a dark nearly black colour, to paint over the lines. Once the lines were painted I then used some earth colours (siennas and umbers) plus white to start blocking in areas intuitively. I deliberately pulled in areas on the lines to mix with the earthy paints , giving a tinge of blue to the edges.

5. Once I had got a little paint on the boards, I separated them and treated each one as an individual, allowing instinct to inform my decisions of colour choice and which lines to keep in the painting and which lines to paint out.

I really enjoyed this process and you’ll no doubt see me use the technique and in some of the other paintings I do this month. What I love about workshops is that every time I either attend one or run one , I learn or relearn a technique that can push my work in a different direction.

I used some of Lee Burrows earth colours, which I believe were Windsor and Newton and my own set of Michael Harding oils, the cadmium range, which are delicious!

some links for you.
www.networkarts.co.uk
leeburrowsfineart.co.uk/
www.michaelharding.co.uk/

Another abstract ‘Birdcage and Frame’ Oil on Board 15cm Squared £85 unframed price during the challenge , price afterwards £125 Framed. Contact me to reserve.

So here I am at day 12. These abstracts we part of an exercise at a workshop I attended at the weekend. I’ve really enjoyed doing them. Using nagative shapes to inform me, I let instinct guide me on what to paint in and what to paint out. It’s very freeing.
This is oil on board 15cm squared. £80 unframed for the duration of the challenge, then £125 framed afterwards. To buy please contact me.

Day 11 ‘Teazle’ oil on board 15cm squared £80 unframed during the challenge, price after challenge is £125 framed.