Oil sketch of Tom

After many months away, it was great to join the old crowd that meet weekly at the Scout hut. This was my efforts at the end of the session.

Rioja Richard

​Richard is a good friend and we enjoyed an evening in his company drinking Rioja. need I say more..... ;-)

Builders Break

I am still busy working on commissions and plans for the re-build of our house (destroyed by fire in February) have resulted in my somewhat sporadic posts here. Our builders are due to start in November, which we really look forward to, although I imagine the noise in my little studio may encourage me to venture out to try my hand at more plein-air work. On the other hand, if this pastel is anything to go by, I may find there is plenty of rich pickings to be found right here! ​This is Viktor, a polish builder, who has been kept busy this summer working at my daughter's property. I liked the way he covered his balding head to protect it from the hot sun, and his overall shape and gesture was just asking to be captured......

Demo at Hethersett

I am being kept busy with portrait commissions, not to mention the house re-build so I am not very active with my blog at the moment. This pastel was a demoI did recently for the Hethersett Art group here in Norfolk. It features the usual criminals : glass , citrus (for its saturated colour note) and the essential light and shade :-) The demo was part of a celebration so it had to be completed within a two hour session which included a coffee break. A great group and a lovely lunch afterwards! Thank you Grace for the painting of me hard at work!

Lemons with dutch bowl

​I have been looking forward to paint this bowl for some time but my earlier efforts were thwarted. It was a Christmas present with some crocus bulbs, which I duly planted. They were just coming into their own when we had the house fire, and were left sitting swimming in water (for a long time) before being rescued; the bulbs were past hope but the bowl was intact . Today is the day the bowl finally got painted :-)

Arthur

This is my latest painting of my friend Arthur. Some of you will remember him in my painting' Veteran'. I got to know him well during that time which resulted in us making a lunch date once a week in his sheltered accommodation. I bring the sandwiches and he has the teapot warming ready for my arrival. At nearly 95 Arthur still manages to live independently and I was keen to paint him in his own surroundings un-posed. This oil measures 16 x 30 inches.

Sunflowers

I've had a short break with my new born grandson and returned home to find that these​ sunflowers were just asking to be included in a still-life, I've never actually painted a sunflower before, (a terrible admission to make) and I now know why they are such a popular subject; they have characters of their own! It feels good to be back in the studio :-)