Turmeric and lemon

These little spice jars are a favourite of mine to paint. I finished the spice in them years ago and now use them to store pigments. It is actually indian yellow depicted here but it looks identical to turmeric, so I've taken liberties.

Arrangement in blue and white

I worked this pastel on a sanded pastel paper made by Tim Fisher, which was an exciting departure for me. I will often produce an underpainting before I start to pastel but I usually prepare the surface myself and it is the finest of the tooth of this paper which made it such a great surface to work on.

Oil sketch of Becky

The thaw has started and normal life begins once more. Simple pleasures, such as my weekly session at the scout hut, painting along like minded chums can resume again. I have really missed it, so it was great to be able to get back into my stride this morning. Our model today was Becky;I had less than two hours to get this down.

Panama hat

The girl in the hat is actually my daughter Tori. The panama hat was just asking to be painted and an absolute gift to the painter. It brings back memories of summer days, which seem far away as the snow lies thick outside the studio. I have been holed up for nearly a week now but I am really enjoying having this time to work without having to rush around here and there as I usually do. No cabin fever yet.... :)

Brown glass and Orange

I am pretty well holed up in my studio at the moment due to the wintry conditions outside, the snow lays fairly thick and it is icy out there. I am being fairly productive working on some gallery pieces etc. but another positive is that it has allowed more time for reflection; you know the sort of thing.....where I'm heading with my painting, how I want my work to develop etc. I set up a still-life this afternoon having decided I ought to do more daily paintings in pastel. This would be a way of using all my off cuts of 'la carte', being a bit more economical whilst putting them to good use. This is the result of my efforts. I really enjoyed myself with this one and I hope you like it too. I plan to do more until all those off cuts are used up, another bonus is there are no brushes to wash this evening:)

Chunky Cut

This small study was done to put into practice some of the pointers covered in Carol Marine's artbytes. The artbytes are available on the Daily Paintwork site and some are free but even at $10 - $15 offer excellent value for the amount of information they deliver. I would never normally cut my oranges into these chunky bites but they make excellnt shapes fof painting which is probably why Carol has always done it! No flies on that gal!

Jamjar of Chillies

I am coming to the end of my stay here in Trinidad and the one thing that is in all dishes and sold in all the vegetable stalls are chillies, especially the scotch bonnets. I find these particular chillies quite a challenge to paint, with all the different facets. The jamjar was one of the few vessels I could lay my hands on in my husband's somewhat spartan kitchen.

Old Bag

This was one of those paintings that seemed to come together without too much effort. Attempting the texture of the teabag was a challenge, but sometimes less is more. What do they say about creating something beautiful from the mundane... not bad for an old bag:)

Orchid, green jug and physallis

Due to dubious weather conditions here in Trinidad I have had to give up on the beach and I've been busy in the laundry room (my makeshift studio) to produce this small panel. Glass is a favourite of mine as I love the abstract quality it affords, flowers are always my nemesis (almost drove me to an early sundowner), and the cloth is acting as an entry point for the composition. As 'painting cloth' is this weeks challenge on DPW I thought I would enter, even though the cloth is only a minor player here.