When Life Gives You Lemons…

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Sometimes, a rubbish day turns into a nice day.

Our village woke up to house alarms battling with the dawn chorus this morning, signalling a power cut which lasted until late afternoon.

This resulted in a mad dash with a friend to the nearest ‘powered up’ café for a caffeine hit and then leaving housework aside (no hoover, washing machine or steam iron in use, yay!) and settling down to paint (no electricity needed, double yay!!).

This little seascape study was the result. As the saying goes ‘When life gives you lemons, make lemonade’!

Paisley Art Institute

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When I decided to change my career and become a self-employed artist a few years ago, little did I think I would be selling my paintings and undertaking commissions, but even more surprisingly did I ever think I would be taking part in a prestigious art exhibition!

This painting, ‘Siamese’, from a photo reference by Charlotte White, has been accepted into the Paisley Art Institute’s 130th Annual Exhibition and I can’t tell you how chuffed I am 😁

Lily

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This Unison pastel painting on Pastelmat is of my studio assistant, looking pensive.  I like slightly unusual poses of animals to work on – candid shots can produce interesting portraits.

Pastelmat paper by Clarefontaine is a slightly unusual surface to use, almost like a very, very fine sandpaper so that the ‘tooth’ of the paper texture holds the chalkiness of pastels.  I found it a tricky paper to use to start with but the more I use it the easier it gets and the end result makes for a smooth pastel painting, great for details.

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TAE18

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This year’s Twitter Art Exhibition in aid of Pegasus Riding For The Disabled is taking place in Canberra, Australia from 7-29 April 2018 (extra details can be found on the TAE18 website).

So with that thought in mind, I set out to paint a little French Bulldog on a postcard size piece of mountboard. He’s called ‘Ozzie’ and he’ll be up for sale along with several hundred other postcards that artists around the globe are donating

Hope he sells and helps raise funds for this great cause.

Em’s Bengal

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This cat is not exactly my niece’s cat but she spotted it in the garden of her London flat and sent me the pic. Bengals are a fabulous breed, quite exotic and regal looking. They also make great subjects to paint, all those markings!

Dylan

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This is Dylan, a commission recently completed for a friend’s birthday of her beloved Springer Spaniel.  He was great fun to do as he has an amazing rock star hairdo!

Oil on canvas to give a soft, hazy effect.

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Well Hello Dolly!

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Here’s a photo of a recent commission of Dolly, a young golden cocker spaniel who was a delight to paint.

Her owner sent me really good crisp photos to work from, always a bonus!

The best part was getting to meet the model when the client arrived to collect the painting. She’s such a cutie 🐶💕

National Dog Day

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On Saturday 26 August, it is National Dog Day – celebrating our canine friends all over the world.  With that in mind, here is a collection of a few of my paintings of pooches who are awaiting their forever homes… or walls!  A mixture of breeds and all lovely characters who make, or have made, our lives just that bit more fun.

Something Different…

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Life is all about trying something new, different or out of your comfort zone, so with that in mind, I set about painting my first skull.  I was given a Herdwick ram skull as a gift (hmmm?!) from a friend who had found it whilst out on a walk in the Lake District (U.K.).

Herdwick are a tough breed of sheep well known in the Cumbrian fells and their beautiful wool is used in carpets as well as clothing.

The painting was given to the skull presenter for her birthday…..thankfully, she loved it!

Herdwick Ram Skull

 

 

 

Magnus Has Landed

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Well the big old fella has touched down in Vienna and is now safely hanging on his new wall.  Lovely to receive feedback and a photo.  Happy New Home Magnus 🐮