Roses n Pearls

Another quick effort, objects sitting on my shelf, in this case an old coffee jar with a few roses in it and an old string of pearls. Painted from life.

Roses n Pearls, Oil on Canvas 18"x 24"

Still Life, Quick Painting in Oil

Ok here's a quickie, by my standards anyway. Taking a break from the paintings that take a long time. This one of my easels, jar of clean brushes, tube of paint and a bottle of sherry. That is how it all begins.

Quiet before the Storm, Oil on Canvas 16"x 20"

Another Oil Portrait

This is what I have been working on for the last couple of weeks, time flies when you aren't waiting for paint to dry!

Sam, Oil on Canvas 20"x 16"

Portrait in Oil

         This is one of the pieces I am working on. A Portrait of a beautiful girl. Zakiya is my babysitter and very kindly agreed to let me paint her portrait. I am hoping if I blog about it, that will give me the push I need to finish it. Sometimes the creative instincts flow, other times, like this past few weeks it feels like I am trying to force blood from a stone. All I know for sure is that a day without painting is a miserable one, soon as I paint, draw or sculpt it feels like a great big mean noisy pteradactyl has lifted off my shoulders.

Zakiya, Oil on Canvas 18"x 24"

Painting Leaves

This is another quick one, longer than I would have hoped but I decided to use a glaze and for that I needed the first layers of paint to dry. I found a leaf, dry, dead I suppose but in its demise it caught my eye. Dry yet the colours seems so vibrant. I like to paint from life, it is so much more rewarding than working from photo's. So I stuck the leaf to the wall in front of my easel and painted it. I am happy with the result. I have been thinking a lot lately about solitude, and how I find being an artist is very much a solitary pursuit. This painting is more about solitude than a sketch of a dry leaf. Artist and subject, all else fades away for the process.

I Stuck a Leaf to my Wall, Oil on Fabriano Paper, 19"x 14"

Expectations, Revelations and Complications

Painting figures using oils, still all new to me. Somehow it gets under your skin, into your brain and sits there..challenging you, pushing you. I want to rush and rush and finish but it does not happen that way. You battle and struggle and try to get comfortable. I Love painting figures, I Hate painting figures...at least once a week I want to quit painting altogether, then it draws me back like a drug I cannot exist without. I need models, real people. I often see a person on the street and would love to ask them to sit for me, but I never do...I feel like some kinda art pervert freak. People think I am strange, not sure if I care about that.

When a painting is near completion I have to at least have visualised the next one, if I don't have a planned next move I feel anxious, disturbed. I would love to know if other artists suffer for their work as I sometimes do...frustration is me!

Expectation, Oil on Canvas 18"x 24"

Yesterday, Oil on Canvas

Yesterday, Oil on Canvas 24"x 18"

As usual a bit more to do, it is the final touches that take me so long to do. Not sure why that is. All I know for sure is that after the London Riots this week, I feel less like words and more like dissapearing into my head and seeking solace in my happy place, if I can find it.

My Newest Figure Study in Oil

Not quite done, a few tweaks here and there and that's it. Whew, I need a holiday.
The Paint is still very wet and a Title eludes me.

Oil on Canvas, 18"x 24"

With Love From the Sketchbook of Lucy

Lucy Helene Caine nee Firmin

Lucy Helene Firmin is my great grandmother. My hero and one brave lady! She comes from Greater London but lived in France and travelled back and forth from Southampton to the coast of South Africa. Along her travels she sketched and painted in true Victorian style and I am lucky enough to have in my possession one of her sketchbooks which dates from 1901 to 1935...perhaps there is an Artistic gene?

Painted in July 1886

Orchids, Oil on Canvas quick painting

Orchids, Oil on Canvas 24"x 18"

Quick painting, hrmph..like I really have a choice! Being a single parent and fitting in some artwork is difficult. But I manage, all it requires from me are some small sacrifices, like..social life, shopping, gardening, a life, sleep, personal hygiene and sanity, to name a few.
         I am predominantly working on figure paintings at the moment but thought I would do a quick painting of my orchid while waiting for layers on the new figure to dry..and with a bit of luck a wallop of inspiration to smack me in the noggin.