A littel oil painting today

Still enjoying painting in my days off from illustrating and I used this as an excuse to treat myself to a lovely bunch of tulips, hyacynths and ranunculus. I've pushed myself a little further to work in oils on paper for this one but I've not gone as far as I intend to outside my comfort zone - I enjoyed capturing the colours and details too much to loosen up yet but I will! A lovely way to spend a cold Jaunary Sunday afternoon. Back to the drawing board today for 'real' work!

Christmas robin and haw berries

I had to do a Christmassy one today to keep my agent happy - Loved painting this wee robin and you can't get more Christmassy than a robin redbreast with red berries :)

Today's painting - Dorry on the beach

Dorry gazing out to sea

Really enjoyed painting this one - it was very zen painting the water with all its colours, foam patterns and reflections! The colours were a challenge - I love the change of hue and value where the wet sand reflects the sky, and spotting where the light is seen through the tops of the ripples, producing warm glowing greens. That's something I've always liked about seascapes and it was great to have a go at it myself!

Today we've gone floral!

I love this pairing of poppies with sea holly - they complement each other beautifully. I spotted them in a garden somewhere (it might have been Hidcote) and always had an idea of painting them so here it is - tricky but it gives an idea of it!

Today's painting - Denis having a snooze

Not long after we rehomed our ten year old ginger male cat, Denis (formerly 'Treacle') he began to test out various comfy spots around the house for snooze potential. The back of the sofa in the garden room is a favourite with just the right mix of warmth, company and safety from the dogs!

I've always avoided painting our own pets up to now mainly because I'm a perfectionist and felt I would never do them justice. But this daily painting regime has freed me up - this is another wee 6" x 6" painting in acrylics on Fabriano HP paper - I'm comfortable working in this medium as it's what I use for book illustrations but am starting to paint in oils more and more and will have a go at some little daily oil paintings very soon - the first 12 gesso boards arrived today so I'm good to go! Will also be trying a looser style but for now am doing what comes naturally.

Little Daily Painting

Just about to start trying my hand at daily painting - a new approach for me but something that's growing in popularity among artists as a way of producing lots of fresh exciting work and avoiding artists block! I'm working on a book project at the same time so I don't know how many days I'll manage to do it, but I love the idea of producing a piece of work that I will finish in one go, and not return to days later and fiddle with it! It's wee, just 6" square, and that's new for me too. This first painting is of Ninewells Wood in the Wye Valley, a favourite dog walking spot of ours

Ninewells Wood