Optimism

One of the meanings in flower language for this golden Anastasia is optimism. I bought this single flower from a shop in St Pancras train station in London last week. There is a definite art to presenting flowers and this florist wrapped my flower with flair and expertise, it was amazing to watch her at work.

Optimism
Oil on canvas board 6"x6"
Available please contact me on
azraiqbal2000@hotmail.com

Souvenir

“Love is a promise, love is a souvenir, once given never forgotten, never let it disappear.” -John Lennon

Souvenir
Oil on canvas board 6"x6"
NFS

Reworking of Hope

I've decided to rework this painting because,  I tried a colour I don't usually use for the background and I wasn't entirely happy with it. I think this works much better.

Hope
Oil on canvas board 6"x6"
SOLD

Sunflower in Blue

This is another painting I completed about three weeks ago and didn't post. There is an abundance of sunflowers in the shops and they are definitely compulsive painting.
 The weather is magnificent at the moment, lots of sunshine but there is a slight chill in the air which heralds Autumn. I've been so busy with work and family and home that my painting has taken a backseat temporarily. I'm hoping to try different mediums, it was one of my resolutions, nine months have flown by, which I always say is a good thing because its in hard times, or in boredom that time stands still and every minute drags.
As far as my art journey is concerned, yes I would like things to move quicker, to improve my skills, but one thing I'm learning to do is go with the flow and enjoy it as much as I possibly can.

Sunflower in Blue
Oil on canvas board 6"x6"
SOLD

Independence

The last exhibition I entered is now under way and today I shared the stewarding with a fellow artist. I enjoyed the day, met a few visitors to the gallery. Here is a selection of work that was entered, the first photo is most of my work.
I think everyone made a valiant effort to promote the exhibitions but on the whole it was not a great success. Sadly it is more to do with the economic climate at the moment, but it makes me more determined to keep trying, this is just another step on this artists journey.

My painting for today is another rose!! My husband bought me a mixed bouquet yesterday, the roses were magnificent and I had to paint one to begin with.

Independence
SOLD

Orange Roses in Blue

I painted this little one about two weeks ago but did not have time to post. Sometimes a painting comes together like a dream without any problem at all, this is one of them. Its already sold to a very nice buyer in Italy and is winging its way there as I write.

Orange Roses in Blue
Oil on canvas board 6"x6"
SOLD

Hope

Hope springs eternal in the human breast;

Man never is, but always to be blessed:

The soul, uneasy and confined from home,

Rests and expatiates in a life to come.

Alexander Pope, An Essay on Man

Hope
Oil on canvas board 6"x6"
Available please contact me on
azraiqbal2000@hotmail.com

Golden Dreams

The essence of creating a painting for me is a golden dream. We all have hopes and dreams and I wish everyone the best of luck in achieving them.

Golden Dreams
Oil on canvas board 6"x6"
SOLD

The Cliffs at Etretat After Claude Monet

This months challenge for  Painting from the Masters is a beautiful painting by Claude Monet. I thoroughly enjoyed painting this one, thanks for the challenge Karen D'Angeac Mihm.

The Cliffs at Etretat After Claude Monet
Oil on oil painting paper 6"x6"
NFS

Rays of Sunshine

Its been raining all day and the temperature is a cool 17C . This is my kind of  weather, I love the sound of rain, the damp air and the look of greenery as it gets washed. I love the puddles on the pavements and sitting in the car  watching the rain run down the windscreen...... I could go on....and on.  : )
I loved painting this sunflower today, I had fun with both brush and palette knife.

Rays Of Sunshine
Oil on canvas board 6"x6"
SOLD

Sunflowers

 "And the yellow sunflower by the brook, in autumn beauty stood." ~ William Cullen Bryant

Sunflowers
Oil on canvas board 6"x6"
SOLD

A Gift Freely Given and A Small Apple Painting

Our neighbours give us figs from their garden every year and they are so sweet.

 I hadn't painted since Monday and usually after a break its quite hard to get back into the frame of mind, but last night I set everything up and within a couple of hours I felt satisfied that I created two reasonable paintings. I began feeling very frazzled and dissatisfied with life, by the end of the two hours I felt like a different person, relaxed, happy and as if the cares of the world were far away.


A Gift Freely Given
Oil on canvas board 6"x6"
Available please contact me on
azraiqbal2000@hotmail.com

A Small Apple Painting
Oil on canvas board 4"x4"
SOLD

Shelter

Shelter means so many things, a good friend in time of need, respite from the harsh rays of the sun at midday or a space in life where everything is calm.

Shelter
Oil on canvas board 8"x8"
Available please contact me on
azraiqbal2000@hotmail.com

I started oil painting last year without much of the equipment that is commonly used. Instead of using a panel holding easel I stick my canvas board to a piece of hardboard with blue tack. I can paint all around the edges and take photos without getting myself covered in paint.


canvas panel with blue tack

A Trio of Reds

Red delicious apples have to be the most paintable apples around, they have all the most gorgeous reds and great highlights.
Before I started blogging  it was so incredibly hard to get inspired let alone paint. Now I find myself with an endless list of subjects I would dearly love to paint if I had more time. Its a blissful state to be in. I do have the occasional wobbles, like any artist, where its hard to pick up a brush, but that's more to do with losing confidence in my own ability and wondering if I really have it in me to succeed. I'm often reminded that the journey is more important than the destination, and that is true ninety percent of the time. However there is that ten percent that says I have to make this my sole profession. For me success is to be a full time artist and to be able to pay the bills and live comfortably from my art.

What does your art mean for you my friends?

A Trio of Reds
Oil on canvas board 6"x6"
SOLD

Plums 'n' Pansies

I bought these English plums especially to paint together with pansies from my garden. Pansies are the most hardiest, deceptively delicate looking flowers and I love them. They remind me of my mum, she is tiny but very tough and is my absolute hero.

Plums 'n' Pansies
Oil on canvas board 6"x6"
SOLD

Winter at The Lake and A Little Strawberry Painting

I can't believe its been over a week since I posted last!!
I hope all of you have been enjoying this long hot summer. Personally I love rain and cool weather, especially how the landscape looks so lush, sparkling and green after a downpour.
After a week of extra work I've finally found time to paint. Yehhhh!!
On a particularly hot day I looked through my winter photos and painted this scene. The second painting is a simple sweet English strawberry.

Winter at The Lake
Oil on canvas board
SOLD


 

A Little Strawberry Painting
Oil on canvas board 4"x4"
SOLD

Glad To Be......

I fell in love with these gladioli, especially since they were on sale... £1.69 for six stems. The reds in these flowers are so beautiful and trying to do them justice was not easy but I enjoyed the process.

Glad To Be...
Oil on oil paper 8"x5"
Available please contact me on
azraiqbal2000@hotmail.com

White Roses in Green Jug

I am seriously beginning to panic about the three exhibitions that are coming up next month!! I have been so busy with my other jobs that painting has taken a back seat. The next two weeks are all I have to get some serious painting done. Less if you consider drying time, although if I really get pushed I might paint some in acrylics.

White Roses in Green Jug
Oil on canvas board 8"x8"
SOLD

Grace

Happiness cannot be travelled to, owned, earned, or worn. It is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace & gratitude.” - Denis Waitley

Grace
Oil on canvas board 8"x8"
SOLD

A Very Dangerous Beach After Jack Vettriano

 

This is my entry for Karen D' Angeac Mihm's  blog Painting from the Masters.
Karen very kindly gave me the choice this month and I chose a painting by one of my favourite inspirational artists Jack Vettriano. This a cropped version of the original. Our cat Toni loves acrylic paints and cannot leave me alone when I use them, she nearly always ends up with paint on her nose or tail.

Toni with a green dot on her nose.
This is a photo

The weather has been amazing the last week, we've had rain, sunshine and even a few rainbows. I hope you are enjoying the weather wherever you are.

A Very Dangerous Beach After Jack Vettriano
Acrylic on watercolour paper 13"x9"
Available please contact me on
azraiqbal2000@hotmail.com

Daisies and Apricots

I painted this last month but forgot to post and I've been so busy painting some large canvases  in acrylics for a fundraiser that oil painting will have to wait for a few more days.
This daisy painting has sold to a very nice collector in America.

Apricots and Daisies
Oil on canvas board 8"x8"
SOLD

Nectarines in Green Dish

Nectarines in Green Dish
Oil on canvas board 5"x7"
Available please contact me on
azraiqbal2000@hotmail.com

People are often unreasonable and self-centered.
Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of ulterior motives.
Be kind anyway.
If you are honest, people may cheat you.
Be honest anyway.
If you find happiness, people may be jealous.
Be happy anyway.
The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow.
Do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have and it may never be enough.
Give your best anyway.”
~Mother Teresa

Get With The Beet

I tell myself to keep trying ,keep painting and looking for challenges............to get with the beet. :  )

Get With The Beet
Oil on canvas board 8"x8"
SOLD

Long Hot Summer

The first lot of roses this year have been munched up by greenfly, the second time around this is the first bud that has survived..... until I picked it.  :  )


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XRskJbM9uw
I hope you enjoy this song by The Style Council.

Long Hot Summer
Oil on canvas board 7"x5"
available please contact me on
azraiqbal2000@hotmail.con

Keeping Cool

With the heatwave at the moment these geese had the right idea.

Keeping Cool
Oil on canvas board 8"x8"
SOLD

A Dozen Pink Roses Challenge No. 12 Its a Wrap

Farm Fresh
Oil on canvas board 7"x5"
Available please contact me on
azraiqbal2000@hotmail.com

Our local farm is a short drive away and the produce is so tasty, so different from shop bought. These onions are so sweet and delicious in salads.


I took a photo of this bunch of roses while still in the plastic wrapper. Trying to get the texture of plastic was certainly a challenge and I enjoyed it very much.

Its a Wrap
Oil on canvas board 8"x8"
Available please contact me on
azraiqbal2000@hotmail.com

A Dozen Pink Roses Challenge No. 11

I am determined to get as far as I can with the roses challenge so here is a charcoal, marker, and coloured pencil drawing of a pink rose in a vase.
It helped to take a break and although I felt a little lost with charcoal it was fun to try. The last time I used charcoal was when I was at school. Back then I never went anywhere without my sketchbook, b pencils and charcoal, I so wish I had kept up the habit.

Making a Mark
Charcoal, marker and pencil on watercolour paper
10"x8"

Heatwave

Heatwave
Oil on canvas board 7"x5"
SOLD

We are in the middle of a heatwave and these gerbera daisies are the perfect colour to represent how I'm feeling at the moment!! I might have to get up and do a rain dance. Lol


A Pair of Pears

My husband bought this pair especially for me to paint..

A Pair of Pears
Oil on canvas board 8"x8"
Available please contact me on
azraiqbal2000@hotmail.com

...ahhhh

Together

I bought this glass dish from a charity shop a while back and when I arranged the aubergines and sprouting onion it looked good enough to paint. The dish is bluey purple and the glass has a wavy pattern which makes it even more difficult to paint, and there was my challenge.

Together
Oil on canvas board 8"x8"
Available on DPW auction
 

A Little Grape Painting

Still off roses....ha...ha....

Its the season of salads and fresh fruit and these grapes provided the perfect little subject.

A Little Grape Painting
Oil on canvas board 4"x4"
SOLD

June Sunset on Leagrave Road

I'm taking a break from my challenge for a day or so just to refresh my mind from all those pink roses!! Maybe you can have too much of a good thing.
I captured this fleeting sunset with my trusty little camera and was itching to paint it. The buildings on the left hand side are very busy car repair workshops and houses on the opposite side.

June Sunset on Leagrave Road
Oil on canvas board 8"x8"
Available please contact me on
azraiqbal2000@hotmail.com

A Dozen Pink Roses Challenge No.8, 9, 10

Ten paintings of pink roses later and I'm wondering if  I've bitten off more than I can chew!!
I shall keep going though and maybe this is what I need to  push myself that little bit further.
The condition of my roses is not so good after a week of hot weather, I've taken plenty of photos though.

Free Spirit III
Oil on canvas board 4"x4"
Available please contact me on
azraiqbal2000@hotmail.com

Pink Rose in Blue Pitcher
Oil on canvas board 4"x4"
Available please contact me on
azraiqbal2000@hotmail.com


 

Roses in Bluebird Dish
Oil on canvas board 6"x6"
Available please contact me on
azraiqbal2000@hotmail.com

Free Spirit II & Sweetness ( A Dozen Pink Roses Challenge No. 6 &7 of 30 )

 

Sweetness
Oil on canvas board 8"x8"
Available please contact me on
azraiqbal2000@hotmail.com

All the colours I love , all the elements of a rose....petals, leaves, stems but melted altogether, with a touch of sky.

Free Spirit II
Oil on canvas board 12"x10"
Available please contact me on
azraiqbal2000@hotmail.com

Free Spirit ( A Dozen Pink Roses Challenge No. 5 of 30)

This was a fun little painting. Only 25 to go !

Free Spirit
Watercolours and  marker on heavy watercolour paper
4"x6"
Available please contact me on
azraiqbal2000@hotmail.com

Pink Roses and Limes ( A Dozen Pink Roses Challenge No. 4 of 30)

I loved painting this one!!
 I just looked at the pink roses and the limes and they went so well together.

Pink Roses and Limes
Oil on canvas board 8"x8"
SOLD

Pink Parade (A Dozen Pink Roses Challenge No. 3 of 30..... hopefully)

This is my third painting of my beautiful bunch of roses. I hope to try different mediums and styles along the way .

Pink Parade
Oil on canvas board 8"x8"
SOLD