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

Ramalamadingdong Merrily on High..!

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The Tolbooth in Lanark, Scotland is an amazing venue used for various events by the local community including a Christmas Shop by the Tolbooth Artists group.

This year we had a bit of a hiccup with a lockdown brought into force a few days after the start of the Christmas Shop but we are now about to re open on Friday 11 December at 10am – yay!

Here are a couple of my paintings for sale at the Christmas Shop – these were 2 Swaledale rams at the Highland Show in Edinburgh last year who knew how to strike a pose! I really missed visiting the Highland Show this year, but hopefully it will be on again in 2021.

Anyway – I’ll finish by wishing you all a Happy Christmas and much improved New Year – stay safe xx

Swaledale Starry Night 2
Swaledale Starry Night 1

Twitter Art Exhibition 2020

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This year’s Twitter Art Exhibition is taking place 3-15 April in Myrtle Beach, California in aid of Horry County Disabilities and Special Needs.  I’ve taken part in TAE for the last few years as I think it’s a great way of raising money for the chosen charities.  Artists connect with others via Twitter, the charity raises funds and the buyers at the art exhibition buy very affordable mini artworks – it’s a win win situation!

If you live near Myrtle Beach, why not check it out?

Here’s my donation to this year’s exhibition – ‘Leo’ acrylic on card.

Leo – acrylic

Pug Dug Making An Exhibition Of Himself

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We visited the Paisley Art Institute Annual Exhibition last week and wow what a fantastic selection of artwork there is.  It was very well attended at the preview and there was a great buzz at the venue.  The ex-supermarket location was spacious and well lit with plenty of room to manoeuvre around the viewers.

I was delighted to spot my little pug, sharing wall space with other small paintings by artists I greatly admire.  I hope he enjoys his time at this exhibition and maybe, just maybe, he might be lucky enough to find a new home.

Paisley Art Institute 131st Open Art Exhibition – 2019

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Following on from my delight at having a painting selected for last year’s Paisley Art Institute’s annual exhibition which consequently sold, I am absolutely chuffed to bits to let you know that I have been selected for this year’s PAI exhibition too.

‘Pug Dug’, acrylic on canvas panel, will be taking part and I couldn’t be prouder!

Exhibition runs from 7 September – 20 October 2019 at the Piazza, Central Way, Paisley, PA1 1EL, Scotland.

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‘Pug Dug’

 

 

King of the Jungle

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‘King’ is my latest acrylic painting and I think I must be going through a zoo phase.  Following on from chimps at Edinburgh Zoo, I recently took a lot of reference photos of animals at the Loro Parque Zoo in Tenerife, during a holiday on the island.

The result is this portrait of a slightly sad looking but still strong animal who seems to be telling us that wherever he is placed, he will always be a King of the jungle.

‘King’ acrylic on canvas

National Pet Day

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I think we all need a bit of cheering up now and again in this mad, mixed up world of ours and how better to thank our four (and two) legged friends who always bring a smile and provide unconditional love, than with a day to celebrate them.

Happy National Pet Day!

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Chimpanzee Part 2

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This oil painting is a more ‘formal’ version of an earlier study of one of Edinburgh Zoo’s chimps called Louis who lives amongst the group in the Budongo Trail at the zoo.  I added the wooden platform Louis was perusing the world from and a sky blue background to give a bit of interest, but hopefully the viewer is taken in by the gaze of this wonderful primate.  What’s he thinking?

‘Louis’ – Oil on canvas, 30x24cm.

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Chimpanzee

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Been a wee while since my last blog so thought I’d share the latest little oil study of a Chimpanzee at Edinburgh Zoo, who I couldn’t walk past without taking a few photos.

I posted this pic on social media and was delighted to be messaged by the Chimp’s keeper – his name is King Louis….the chimp, not the keeper!

I’m now working on a larger canvas version of Louis – hope you like him.

Paisley Art Institute – Part 2

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Back in May, I blogged about having a painting accepted for the Paisley Art Institute’s Annual Exhibition in Glasgow, well I’m very happy to let you know that my little ‘Siamese’ painting actually sold.  This is the first time I have entered a major exhibition and was knocked out to have a painting accepted, but the icing on the cake was when I visited the show with a friend, only to find a small red dot on my label!  Yay!

The gallery was extremely quiet and echo-ey so my friend and I had to do silent ‘whooping’ and slow motion jumping up and down so as not to disturb any of the viewing public!!

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