Brief Moments of Happiness
I began this still life by thinking purely about visual composition, simply looking for shapes, colours and textures amongst the various items collected in the studio. Once arranged I felt dissatisfied that there didn’t seem to be a narrative to…
Paintbrushes and Pigment
This unexpected little still life only happened because my portrait model couldn’t make it for our sitting. I toyed with going home or reading a book, but once I got started I really enjoyed working on this. What began as…
Tete-A-Tete
A little Sunday afternoon painting of miniature Tete-a-Tete Jonquillas with a couple of walnuts… just for the randomness and challenge of painting them.
Lemon in Grey
This was very nearly wiped out, but I felt it had just enough going for it to save it. That said, it’s not satisfactory and I suspect I will paint something else on the other side of the panel –…
Royal Institute of Oil Painters Annual Exhibition
I’m very pleased to announce that two of my still life paintings have been selected for this year’s Royal Institute of Oil Painters Annual Exhibition. To quote the press release… The Royal Institute of Oil Painters is the only national…
Memento-mori with Cadmium Yellow
Having visited a lot of exhibitions lately that feature long since departed artists, it’s obvious to state that, in the end, it’s the work that endures. (Well, for the good ones anyway.) I don’t consciously create work with this concept…
Pick and Mix Still Life
Five little alla prima paintings from my Easter holiday. I did others too, but they were all culled. Each painting has a very slightly different surface – some gesso, some linen, some slippy, some absorbent, and so on. This meant…
Year end, new work
After too much fussing and tweaking, I have finally reached a resolution on this larger still life painting that I started before Christmas. It was an organic-ish composition whose foundation item was the brown bag. On the day that I…
Three Colours Red
After several false starts, this still life painting of a dead partridge turned out OK in the end. My main problem initially was the composition. I was given a brace of birds and first strung them up together from their…
Fun with Little Sprats
A very quick sketch of some sprats (as they thawed after several months in the freezer). I wanted to work quickly and expressively, with larger brushes and simple mark-making that is also descriptive. I also painted this grouping, but I…
