‘Next Cab Off The Rank‘

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In Liverpool, where I grew up, this is a phrase used to mean ‘on with the next thing’ often quoted by the late, great Paul O’Grady. Well the next ‘cab’, or exhibition, for me is a first… I’m taking part in the very popular Herefordshire Arts Week (H.Arts) 2-10 September and it’s quite exciting!

In our little village of Leintwardine, the historic grade 1-listed 12th century St Mary Magdalene church will be playing host to a collective of 16 creatives who will be showcasing their work from art, ceramics, woodwork, bronzes, millinery plus more. Most work will be for sale too.

Here’s a small selection of my animal paintings that will be available.

Come and visit – there are two venues in Leintwardine – venue 119 which is Lou Lothian’s beautiful pottery and venue 120 the above mentioned collective group in the village church.

Details of all venues and locations around Herefordshire, can be found on the H.Arts web site – just click this link… http://www.h-art.org.uk

See you there!

Standing Highland Cow 108x108cm
Resting Highland Cow 80x80cm
Green Eyes 61x61cm

Fresh Fields … New Opportunities

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I can’t believe it’s been almost 12 months since I last posted on my blog, but it has been a busy period! Since last December, we have sold our home in Scotland and moved 200 miles south to our new home in Herefordshire. Moving during a pandemic has been… well, challenging shall we say, but we are now settled in a lovely village with a friendly community.

Although I miss my pals up north, it has meant that we are now closer to family and will see more of them.

Fresh fields mean new opportunities and I’ve now got my studio set up and cracking on with commissions and other work, meeting new people and getting involved in art societies as well as village life.

I’ll be posting much more regularly than in the past year, so watch this space!

In the meantime, here are a few recent works which have been produced in my new space.

Quadruple Portrait – Acrylic on Canvas
Head Study – Pencil on Paper
Sheepdog Pup – Pastel on Pastelmat

The Frame Game

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I’ve been having a sort out in the studio.  This is always dangerous to my bank account, as I clear out brushes that need replacing, dried up tubes of paint that need replacing and creased paper or damaged canvases…that need replacing!

It didn’t stop there, I started looking at paintings that I haven’t got round to framing and decided that one or two, or three would look more presentable if they were.  This is always a tricky decision for artists. Should you leave them frameless so that the buyer can choose a suitable frame according to their tastes or interiors.  Or do you bite the bullet and invest in a frame to give the artwork a finished feel and ‘ready to hang’ option?

Well, after biting the bullet, here are some before and afters to let you see the difference.