Studio Update

Done a bit more in the studio on these two pieces on paper think they're cooked now anything more would just be fiddling with the paint.

Just back from a short stay in North Wales so I haven't had much time to post new work. I have posted some drawings from the last visit. I hope to get started on some new pieces this week for the summer show in Parkgate on the Wirral.

Daily Painting

Left the studio pieces to dry and give me time to assess their progress and make a few notes on how to move on. This left me time to have another taste of daily painting in the studio set up. Setting out to do a single session painting really does require all my concentration. This effort took me just over 2 hours. I sat on my rucksack seat and used the pochade box on a tripod...practice for the great outdoors in the comfort a warm studio is the best place to iron out any problems that can occur outside, but obviously not all. Just to finish off I added a little to the two apples picture I did previously...should have turned it to the wall or put it away this prevents further fussing and fiddling although I think this extra work didn't detract too much from the original. No painting tomorrow, delivering work for the London Art Fair which is next week

Studio Update 2

Came across a couple more oil sketches from Kynance Cove that I thought I had left in Cornwall so I decided to start these two new pieces. To be honest I got a lot further in this first session than I normally would have. Some days it just clicks and your in that zone where even the accidents add a little to the work. Anyway I decided to press the save button on these pieces and let them dry before I attack them again.

Studio Update

Been working mainly on studio pieces this week, hence the lack of an update. Both pieces are really close to being done so I think it's best to turn them against the wall for a week or so and have a fresh look then. This usually stops any fiddling and overworking on my behalf. Alternatively I turn to working on something completely different so tommorrow it's a studio still life or drag myself out with the pochade box and paint what comes my way.

Art Classes

Just started teaching the new terms 10 week painting courses, one in acrylic and one in watercolour. Although the classes draw me away from my own work I still enjoy teaching them as it gives me a chance to think about my own practice and how to articulate the processes involved. Ive attached a couple of examples that I painted for class demos. The paintings have to be completed in the two hour session so the students have to be quiet kean and disciplined....as for my own discipline could these count toward the painting a day?

Painting a Day

Took time out today to try a small studio study to test some new Michael Harding paints. Set a time limit of 90mins to do a small study after coming across lots of traffic about the Daily Painters. Yeh I know they've been around for a while now but it was just my turn to discover them. Although I am used to the practice of finishing a painting in a single session I really admire the discipline involved in committing to such a schedule that demands it every day. Food for thought though as I paint most every day anyway...just don't always complete a single piece unless it is a plein air study. I usually find that in the studio I can be working on up to 4 or 5 works at a time so taking time out to commit to one finished piece could be difficult...quite fancy it though, there's a certain buzz about this type of working practice that is quite different to the stop start process of the studio based stuff. Watch this space.