The Chicken's Bridge

6x8" oil on canvas board. $45. Available here

Well, this was a fun and interesting piece to paint! I took the photo during a trip to Yorkshire a couple of years back - as we were driving past a little farm half-hidden by trees, I noticed a chicken crossing the bridge over the river. It struck me as a great image, and I promised myself I'd try to paint it one day. But it scared me for a long time because it's quite a complex composition, and I wasn't sure how to handle the building in the background. All those windows! Scary... Then I had a brainwave.

I said in a previous painting I'd found a new trick for windows; here it is in action! I've found it's easier to paint the window-area with a dark colour, and then scrape out the lighter lines with a colour shaper. It took a few tries to get right, as I learned to handle the new tools, but I had a lot of fun with them! They were also useful for adding texture to the brick walls, and the highlights on the chicken.

Cloud Shadows

6x8" oil on canvas board. $45. Available here

Will I ever get tired of painting these skies? I think not! In this one, I particularly tried to focus on the shadows - both those on the undersides of the clouds, and the shadows the clouds cast on the landscape below them.

Off Into The Waves

6x8" oil on canvas board. $45. Available here

So, this unquestionably turned out a bit cheesy, which isn't really my thing. I prefer landscapes that you can project your own mood onto. But I guess flipping through all those old photos made me a little nostalgic! I questioned myself the whole way through about whether to paint out or leave the figure. I left it, deciding I was happy with how it was painted. Even without it, the painting has a similar mood - that 'memory of a happy summer holiday'  feeling. I think the colour palette is what does it! I might try another version sometime that's a bit more toned-down.

I'm happy with this painting - but I definitely surprised myself with how it turned out, because as I say, it's not the kind of image I'd usually seek to create. Still, I hope it strikes a chord with people!

Sunset Over The Waves

6x8" oil on canvas board. $45. Available here

While flipping through old family photos, I came across a fantastic one of light hitting the waves as the sun set. I've always wanted to try capturing that 'sparkle' of light on water, and this was the perfect opportunity. I upped the contrast slightly from the original photo, to create a more dramatic and atmospheric composition, and enhanced the purple, which I hoped would complement the golden sunlight.

The wave in the foreground was probably the hardest part, getting all those little strokes to pull together convincingly. But I'm really happy with the result, and I hope you enjoy it too!

St Michael's Mount From Long Rock

6x8" oil on canvas board. $45. Available here 

As the weather gets warmer, I always feel more like painting seascapes. However, living in a landlocked county, there's no conveniently-close beach for plein air work. So I dig in my archive of photos for ones I haven't used yet...

This was painted from a photo I took quite a few years ago during a family holiday to Cornwall. I really like how the seaweed on the beach came out!

Crossing the Meadow

6x8" oil on canvas board. $45. Available here

Another May plein air, this one in a different meadow near home! I was determined to try and capture the warmth of the day. But that warmth meant I had to work quite quickly, because I was becoming exhausted from sitting in the sun!

The windows were easily the hardest detail to get right; I think I had to wipe them and re-paint a few times. I've found a better technique for doing windows now, which you'll see in a newer painting I'll upload soon. In the mean time, though, I'm satisfied with how they came out here.

I also challenged myself to add a figure, one of those things I rarely do - but whenever I do, people tell me I should do it more! So it must work out all right. I hope it did this time.(Also, again with the bright buttercups - I love when they're in bloom and I'm so glad I caught them in some paintings this year!)

A Return to the Meadow

6x8" oil on canvas board, $45. Available here

Here's a plein air sketch I completed in late May. It was a lovely warm day, so I went to one of my favourite painting spots. I like returning to the same view each year, to see how differently I approach it this time around. I seem to be going a month earlier each time, though! The original was August 2016, and then I returned in June 2017.

I was very lucky when I arrived; there was a pleasantly shady spot on the path, and the grass was full of colour! There were big swathes of beautiful yellow buttercups catching the sun, and the little shed at the end of the meadow was cast mostly in shadow. The painting came together quite quickly, and I had a lot of fun working on it! It's interesting how it seems to combine the bolder and more confident brushwork of the August piece with the brighter colours of the June one. And how I've shifted the shed to the left this time around.

Coloured Glass Challenge

6x6" oil on canvas board. $40. Available here

For this week's challenge. I love coloured glass, the way the light shines through it and you get a combination of reflections and highlights. I realised as I was painting that you can see the lightbulb's shadow through the lightbulb itself!

This is still drying; I'm uploading it now (11 April) so I can submit it to the challenge but please bear in mind it will need additional drying time before it can be shipped.

Gospel Oak

6x6" oil on canvas board. $40. Available here

I'm finally starting to feel up to painting city scenes again! I went through a bit of a block for a while, and they just weren't working out - but I'm hoping that's clearing up now. The other night I was feeling brave and decided to do a painting from a photo taken in London last summer. The composition made me a little nervous - the railings, the placement of bridges - I was worried they'd confuse the focus. But I stuck with my instincts and painted the scene anyway, and I'm actually really pleased with how it came out!

Hello Avocado

6x6" oil on canvas board. $40. Available here

...I haven't tried painting you before! In fact, I'm managing quite a few painting 'firsts' lately, which is fun. I went for a much cooler colour palette here, to contrast all the reds and warm purples I've been doing lately, but I tried to keep things bright and cheerful; I'm pretty pleased with how it came out. 

Beetroot and Blood Orange

6x6" oil on canvas board. $40. Available here

It's not often I get to do it, but I love using all three secondary colours in a painting! But on this occasion, I had just the subject matter; the blood orange, which I was eager to paint again, and beetroot. The leaves were an interesting challenge; I found myself treating them in an almost abstract way while blocking in the lighter and darker areas.

Red: The Sequel

6x6" oil on canvas board. $40 Available here

I had so much fun with my first 'Red' painting I did another! This one might be even more vivid- the pops of green help. I was excited to paint all of these elements; the blood orange, which I'd never tried before, was great fun. The deep, mottled colour is so striking! The kiwi is a rematch - I'd tried painting one before and it came out terribly, but I think I've conquered it this time! Chilli peppers are always fun to paint, though I tend to handle them very gingerly. I am not a fan of spicy things personally! I just love the shape and colour. And cherry tomatoes, my old friends, I'll never desert you...

As with the previous works, this artwork is still a little wet at time of posting (11th April) and may need additional time to dry before being shipped.

Limited Colour: Red

6x6" oil on canvas board. $40. Available here

How about this for a splash of colour! Red is one of my favourites, but I don't actually use it lots in painting - mostly in little accents here and there. So I was a bit uncertain about how a big swathe of it would work out... But I love it! It's so powerful and bold; the small size of the canvas board stops it from being too completely overwhelming, I think. I was planning to add small touch of a contrasting colour, but once I'd settled on the arrangement, I actually felt it would look better without.Please note that at the time of posting (6th April) this painting is still wet; I would not be comfortable shipping it for a week or two, until I'm happy it's completely dry. However I'm putting it up early so I can submit it to the Weekly Challenge page.

Limited Colour: Turquoise

6x6" oil on canvas board, $40. Available here

A more on-theme submission for the weekly challenge- this time using one of my favourite colours to paint with! I didn't have too many items this colour- I used a sketchbook and a shirt for backdrop, a translucent plastic plate to sit the jug on (the jug was bought in a charity shop purely for painting, and I love the shape of it!) and a spool of embroidery thread.I threw in the orange scissors as my one small thing that's a different colour, and I am really pleased I did; they balance the cool colours out. Please note that at the time of posting (6th April) this painting is still wet; I would not be comfortable shipping it for a week or two, until I'm happy it's completely dry. However I'm putting it up early so I can submit it to the Weekly Challenge page.

Red Onions Aren't Actually Red

6x6" oil on canvas board. $40. Available here

I loved this week's challenge, all about using limited colours in a composition. I really wanted to do a painting based around the colour of a red onion, which is not red at all, but a dark purple-brown. I decided to introduce the little green Haworthia plant as my 'one small thing' that isn't. The colours got a little bit more varied than I intended as I worked on it, and then I added a green marble, so it got away from the theme a bit - but I'm still happy with it. Please note that at the time of posting (6th April) this painting is still wet; I would not be comfortable shipping it for a week or two, until I'm happy it's completely dry. However I'm putting it up early so I can submit it to the Weekly Challenge page.

Back To My Roots

6x6" oil on canvas board. $40. Available here 

I like painting root vegetables! For my first college painting assignment, my composition was a still life including two onions - one brown, one red. They're always fun, trying to capture their shine and the way their skin peels off in layers. This was my first time painting a parsnip, though!

Lemon and Cherries

5x7" oil on canvas board. $40, Available here

I was in the mood to do something kind of traditional to get myself back into using oils - I'd been having a bit of a block. I decided to try doing a simple still life against a dark background, and found that I loved how luminous it made the lemon look! I had fun trying to suggest the texture of the lemon's skin with careful brushmarks.

Before Dinner

6x8" oil on canvas board. $45. Available here

I went downstairs one day and found these lovely leafy cabbages sitting on the counter. I can never resist painting them, but I had to paint quickly, before mum came downstairs to cook dinner and needed them back! I'm really happy with how this turned out, the veins on the leaves were great fun to capture.

Three Cranes

5x7" oil on canvas board. $40. Available here

I love these old-fashioned cranes! Complex to paint, but the shapes are so powerful and distinctive. As we were leaving the Docklands, the sun was just beginning to sink, and when I glanced back and saw it behind the cranes, throwing them into strong contrast, I knew I'd be painting the scene. I'm really pleased with how the water came out in this image!

The o2 From The Air

6x8" oil on canvas board. $45. Available here

This is a view of the o2 at Greenwich Peninsula, London... as seen from the Emirates Air Line, a cable-car route which travels over the docks. It gives a fantastic view out over the city. The day we took it was almost blindingly bright sun, and the buildings cast long shadows over the water. I was entranced by the colours!