Blue Tit II

As promised I've tried my loosening up exercise.

Blue Tit
5"x7" Oil on stretched canvas
Available £20 plus £5 post within UK,outside UK £10 shipping

I would just like to take this opportunity to say how much I appreciate all your comments.Its what makes blogging such a brilliant experience. : )

Blue Tit

I've decided to do a little experiment.I'm posting this picture and then I'm going to paint on top of it in a much more impressionistic style which is what I admire most.My intention every time I start a painting is to loosen up but I guess old habits die hard.

Blue Tit

Also I'm adding a few pictures of a recent trip to London.I love what someone wrote on this notice board and the underground on a quiet day!

Pink Rose

Pink Rose
Oil on stretched canvas,5"x7".
SOLD

I've been preparing for a craft show which is running for four days next week.I have to show my paintings and also demonstrate , hopefully sell a few as well.I've managed to paint a small one this evening just to remind myself that its the process of painting that I love.If I could pay someone to market and sell  them it would be money well spent!!

Fruits and fabric

Fruits and Fabric
5"x7" Oil on stretched canvas,no need to frame
Available £20 plus £5 post within UK,outside UK £10 shipping.

I don't think I've ever been so tired as I have today but as soon as I picked up a brush I felt better.

Blossoming

Blossoming
7"x5" Oil on stretched canvas,no need to frame
Available £20 plus £5 post within UK,outside UK £10 shipping.

Remember to be gentle with yourself and others. We are all children of chance and none can say why some fields will blossom while others lay brown beneath the August sun. Care for those around you. Look past your differences. Their dreams are no less than yours, their choices no more easily made. And give, give in any way you can, of whatever you posses. To give is to love. To withhold is to wither. Care less for your harvest than for how it is shared and your life will have meaning and your heart will have peace.”

Quote by Kent Nerburn.

Dream House

This is my dream house, unless I win the lottery or a very rich collector goes mad for my work there is no chance at the moment of me affording this house.
It was a rainy day and I only managed to take a couple of photos from the car,but this gives you an idea of the wonderful design.I've just googled "art deco house on Old Bedford Rd ,Luton" and some brilliant pictures came up.

Oh well ,I can dream.........

Reds

Reds
12"x10" Oil on canvas panel,ready to frame.
SOLD

The reds in this composition called to me.

Spring On A Branch II

Spring On A Branch
5"x7" Oil on stretched canvas
SOLD

These beautiful little birds have a nest in the tree in front of our house.Last year about this time a nest was blown out of the tree and two chicks were hopping around our garden.We kept them in a box over night in case the cats got them.During the day I had to run out a few times to chase the magpies away,they are partial to these little birds.The parents kept them fed and by the end of the next  day they were ready to fly and left.
After the chicks had flown both parents sat on our fence and gave us a little song as if to say thankyou for looking after our babies!

In The Pink

In The Pink
Oil on stretched canvas,no need to frame
SOLD

There is no greater pleasure than to paint on a rainy afternoon.Reading a good book with the sound of rain outside come a close second.

Wild Ones

Wild Ones
7"x5" Oil on stretched canvas,no need to frame.
SOLD

I have a small patch in my garden that I have deliberately left to grow wild.There is mustard,dandelions,clover,bluebells and many other little flowers that are beautiful and surprisingly fragrant.This patch is a haven for bees and butterflies.I try to grow bee friendly plants as much as possible.In Luton and probably many other towns I have noticed that front gardens have been replaced by paving to make room for cars. It is still possible to keep pots of bee friendly plants like lavender,they do very well.

Art Deco Rose

My favourite era is art deco and if I had the money I would buy this beautiful house about ten minutes drive from us.Its on sale at the moment and it is a dream,the windows and exterior are all art deco.I think I will take a photo one of these days to show you.

Art Deco Rose
7"x5" Oil on stretched canvas,no need to frame
SOLD

I am still valiantly painting roses that I had left over from last week.I decided to try a slightly different style,I think Tamara De Lempicka might have approved of this one.

Fruity

Fruity
5"x7" Oil on stretched canvas, no need to frame
SOLD

A tree is known by its fruit; a man by his deeds. A good deed is never lost; he who sows courtesy reaps friendship, and he who plants kindness gathers love.

Saint Basil

One green bottle

One Green Bottle
9"x8",Oil on canvas,ready to frame
Available £20 plus £5 post within UK,outside UK £10 shipping

I find myself obsessed with trying different techniques for painting roses.This style is very close to how Carol Marine does it ,only she does it ten times better!

Strawberry Season

Strawberry Season
5"x7" Oil on stretched canvas
Available £20 plus £5 post within UK,outside UK £10 shipping

The British strawberries are something else,they are sweet and just melt in your mouth.

Lily on Scarf

This is something i painted about six months before I started my blog which makes it about two years old.Looking back to how I tackled fabrics then and now I feel my style has changed quite a bit!!

12"x10" Acrylic on canvas,no need to frame.
Lily on Scarf
Available £20 plus £5 post within UK,outside UK £10 shipping.

Fruit 'n' Flowers

Fruit 'n' Flowers
8"x9" Oil on canvas ,ready to frame.
Available £20 plus £5 post within UK,outside UK £10 shipping.

I've painted this piece of fabric a few times before in my compositions .For this composition I thought it has just the right colours to compliment the pears and grapes.

Chillin'

Chillin'
8"x9" Oil on canvas,ready to frame.
SOLD

When I saw these two chili peppers my eyes lit up.They curled together in the most relaxed way,there was only one name for them.

Spring on a Branch

SOLD

This is based loosely on a British bird called a chaffinch.The leaves just sprouting helped me to decide on the name.

Persistence

SOLD

Success is almost totally dependent upon drive and persistence. The extra energy required to make another effort or try another approach is the secret of winning.
Quote by Dennis Waitley

Roses and Lily Vase

Roses and Lily Vase
8"x9" Oil on canvas
SOLD

The vase,or pitcher was no problem.The roses took hours!! You would think that painting a subject over and over would make it easier,maybe with certain subjects but roses are hard every time.

Single Rose II

A rose is the visible result of an infinitude of complicated goings on in the bosom of the earth and in the air above, and similarly a work of art is the product of strange activities in the human mind.
Quote by Clive Bell.

Single Rose II
5"x7" Oil on stretched canvas,no need to frame.
Available £20 plus £5 post within UK,outside UK £10 shipping

Dales

Dales
5"x7" Oil on stretched canvas
Available £20 plus £5 post within UK,outside UK £10 shipping

I started this painting from a photo and half way through I lost the photo.They say things happen for a reason,so I carried on and much of the detail has been left out simply because I have no choice.

Painting is a blind man's profession. He paints not what he sees, but what he feels, what he tells himself about what he has seen.

Quote by Pablo Picasso.

Purple

I'm not sure what this flower is called but its purple..haha

Purple
5"x7" Oil on stretched canvas,no need to frame
Available £20 plus £5 post within UK,outside UK £10 shipping

I kind of relaxed and let this one happen,I'm not sure if thats a good thing or not ?? Anyway,its good to paint.

Bird II

Bird II
Oil on stretched canvas,no need to frame
Available £20 plus post within UK,outside UK £10 shipping

From cranes,geese, swans to these small birds ,I love painting them all.I love the poetic quality there is to birds,their ability to fly brings to mind how we can let our minds soar to whatever height we choose.

Red Pepper

My bluebells are out !!!
 They always bring back memories of a school trip when I was eight.We were taken to a bluebell wood and it was a delight for the senses,the heady fragrance and the colours were just mesmirizing.I am lucky to have such a memory.

Red Pepper
Oil on stretched canvas,5"x7"
Available £20 plus £5 post within UK,outside UK £10 shipping

This pepper and dish looked like they were made for each other,I had to paint them. : )

Solitude

Conversation enriches the understanding, but solitude is the school of genius.

Solitude
Oil on stretched canvas,5"x7"
Available £20 plus £5 post within UK,outside UK £10 shipping

Quote by Edward Gibbon

Song

A bird doesn't sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song.

Song
5"x7",oil on stretched canvas,no need to frame.
Available £20 plus £5 post within UK,outside UK £10 shipping.

Lou Holtz quote.

A Journey

"I believe that life is a journey, often difficult and sometimes incredibly cruel, but we are well equipped for it if only we tap into our talents and gifts and allow them to blossom."

A Journey
9"x12" ,Oil on stretched canvas.
SOLD

Les Brown

Update on Travelling Chicken Challenge

Nan Johnson of Art Is Not a Thing has set up a new blog to keep in touch with my travelling chicken http://travel-chicken.blogspot.co.uk/.

So far it has travelled from the UK to Illinois to East coast and now its on its way to California!!
Karla Uphoff and Nan Johnson have both painted beautiful versions of the chicken,so do check it out.

Unravelled

Unravelled
12"x9" Oil on stretched canvas,no need to frame.
SOLD

These ranunculus have been slowly unravelling from their tight buds ,a bit like me over the years. Lol.

A Single Rose

A single rose can be my garden... a single friend, my world.

A Single Rose
Oil on canvas panel,5"x7" ready to frame.
SOLD

Leo Buscaglia

You Are What You Eat

You are what you eat
Oil on stretched canvas,5"x7",no need to frame.
SOLD

This is what I keep reminding myself!!!

Pet Me

Pet Me
Oil on stretched canvas
No need to frame
Available £20 plus £5 post within UK,outside UK £10 shipping

This weeks DPW challenge is to paint someone or something lying down.I have been wanting to paint Toni our kitten since we got her,but I lacked the confidence to try.Yesterday I took the plunge and gave it my best,it was easier than I thought it would be.I often find that the more I'm afraid of a subject ,it usually is not so bad.Its all a matter of practice.

Spring Meadow

I can't believe its been nearly a week since my last painting!! Its been a week of mundane tasks,interruptions and a blankness where there should be inspiration.

Spring Meadow
Oil on canvas,ready to frame
Available £20 plus £5 post within UK,outside UK £10 shipping

I finally made myself start with something fairly straight forward,sometimes as you're driving past a scene just sticks in your mind .Even if you forget the details ,somehow you can fill the rest in.

I love the English weather in April,there's rain,hail,and sparkling sunshine.My pansies are doing so well I took something colourful pictures.

L'Amour

I've been taking a little break from painting in order to catch up with the less fulfilling tasks in life.I did find some time for sketching and hopefully today I will paint.
I was watching this pair in the garden and found them a worthy subject!

These flowers are a lovely deep purple and just starting to bloom,I think they're called nicotiana??

At One

This bird looks so peaceful and at one with nature.

He is richest who is content with the least, for content is the wealth of nature.

At One
Oil on canvas panel ,10"x12"
Available £30 plus £10 post within UK,outside UK £15 shipping

Socrates

Cheeky

This little fellow flies around our garden sometimes and I wanted to capture his cheeky expression.

Cheeky
Oil on stretched canvas,5"x7"
SOLD

I'm still finding my way around oils and it lends particularly well to this kind of brushwork,although acrylics with the use of a retarder(as my good friend Jean Nelson has said) would have the same effect.To make the best of both mediums is my ultimate goal,as I am already comfortable with acrylics I would not want to lose that.

We are Family

Onions come in all shapes,sizes, colours and flavours.I like to think that people around the world are all family too and that there is more good in the world than bad,otherwise it would all decend into chaos.

We Are Family
Oil on canvas panel,5"x7",ready to frame
SOLD.

I am finding the artist community especially ,nurturing and supportive and I know without this support I would have found it much harder to keep going.
So, bless one and all.

The Travelling Chicken Challenge

Recently I got in touch with my good friend Karla from "Karla Uphoff Fine Art" and asked her if she would like to take up the challenge of painting a little ceramic chicken I bought and used in one of my compositions.She loved the idea and she has painted an amazing version.Do check it out on her blog.She in turn has offered it to one of her friends and now the little chicken is on its to the East Coast to  Nancie and her blog is called Art Is Not a Thing . I would like to add that Nan has come up with the perfect name for the challenge .

I hope this chicken travels a long way and brings together  many artists.

Nectar

“She is mine own,

And I as rich in having such a jewel

As twenty seas, if all their sand were pearl,

The water nectar, and the rocks pure gold.”

Nectar
Oil on Stretched canvas,7"x5"
Available £20 plus £5 post within UK,outside UK £10 shipping

William Shakespeare quote.

More Sketches

I'm getting into the habit of carrying my sketch book with me everywhere I go.I was sitting in the car waiting for my husband  to have some dental treatment done( I hate waiting rooms) and I had a great time sketching.An hour flew by,although the people nearby did give me some funny looks.They might have thought I was on a stakeout or something!!