Green Jug

This pastel study of a green jug together with heritage beets and oil bottle is on 'la carte' support. I use this for the majority of my pastel pieces as it holds plenty of pastel and I like to use it fairly thickly. I love using the Terry Ludwig pastels for the thickest passages and also his set of intense darks which in my experience are unrivalled.

Constant companions

This is my entry in the DPW Challenge, 'a painting to include the primary colours'. I use these pigments constantly: ultramarine blue, yellow ochre and light red oxide. I have started to replace light red oxide with terra rosa which makes some lovely pinky notes on flesh for portrait. Cerulean blue also works well to dull down the reds and makes some good greens with the yellow ochre. The title suits this study because that is what they are.

Jam jars

Last week was hectic teaching a City & Guilds (oil painting) summer school; hence I was unable to post anything. This little study is a 'quiet' still life, not a great deal of colour, but as a fellow painter said to me, sometimes restraint can be a positive; I'm not sure my family agree, they are my harshest critics! What do you think?

Cream Tea

It was the final class of my Tuesday Painting Group for the summer term. We had hoped to venture forth and paint plein-air but the weather drove us indoors once again. To celebrate our last session we had planned a cream tea, scones and jam kindly made by Janet and clotted cream brought in by Eleanor. Our set up ended up as the Cream Tea; I hope they all enjoyed painting it as much as they did tucking in during the break!

Cornflowers

Cornflowers are such a great summer flower. Their colour is gorgeous and they never fail to lift my spirits. I painted these little beauties in the studio this morning when it was raining heavily outside. I created my own little bit of summer!

Croissant, Coffee and Conserve

This is another still-life with a breakfast theme. These are almost as fun to set up as they are to paint. The only drawback is that the smell of the hot croissant (it has to be warm to get the desired crumb effect) and the buttery aroma sends my little cat crazy. She usually curls up on a chair in the studio when I'm painting but with all this temptation in the shadow box, I spend more time controlling her than I do painting! When I painted the hot cross bun earlier this year I had to complete it with all the butter licked off the top. Sometimes it is really funny and othertimes it is infuriating, it all depends on how the painting is going...... so, what does that say about me?!

Oil Sketch of Adam

This oil sketch of Adam was painted from life over two sittings during the weekly session at the scout hut where I paint with a group of fellow portrait enthusiasts. We have been meeting for nearly ten years now, having worked in several locations during that time. It is great to have the opportunity to paint together on a regular basis, at a reasonable cost and the only break in sessions is over the christmas week. The model for this sketch is a tenant to Phil who runs the group. Adam was a great sitter, I really enjoyed painting him.