Monday 26 February 2024

Laying Cable


 Laying Cable
(acrylic on canvas board, 8 x 8 in)

If you're a painter, are you ever surprised by how your paintings turn out? I know my many interests feed into my work and with this I probably detect the influence of children’s book Illustration. A good deal of this must be to do with the switch to acrylic paint which lends itself to bright clear passages of colour.

Saturday 3 February 2024

WIP - Heritage / Glasshouse

 


WIP - Heritage / Glasshouse
(Acrylic on canvas board, 10x12 in)

A new one started yesterday. I expect the sky will become less apocalyptic as it progresses. The mausoleum is in the grounds of the Gateshead Heritage Centre (AKA St Mary's Church) and sits boldly in front of the modernist Sage Music Centre , recently renamed The Glasshouse. If there are moirĂ© patterns on the image, I apologise - it's an effect of the canvas but will be gone in the finished painting.

Friday 2 February 2024

Kwik Fit


Kwik Fit
(acrylic on canvas board, 12 x 10 in)

So many little changes before I was satisfied, but now I think I am. I wonder if you can tell I’ve become interested in David Inshaw and Tristram Hillier? I love the clarity of their work and acrylic definitely lends itself to that approach.

Friday 12 January 2024

WIP - Kwik Fit

 


WIP
(Acrylic on canvas board, 10x12 in)

Another venture into local urban scenes. I spotted the potential of this garage on a trip to the podiatrist - it's just across the road from his premises. Early days, but I think it'll work.

Wednesday 10 January 2024

Top Tape

 


Top Tape

(acrylic on canvas board, 8 x 10 in.)


My first painting of 2024, a modest subject: a derelict shop I came across last year in Cambridge. 

Sunday 24 December 2023

Merry Christmas!


Christmas Lights
(Acrylic on mountboard, 9 x 9 in, greeting added digitally)


Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all my Reader!
 

Wednesday 22 November 2023

Iron Box


Iron Box
(Mixed media, 12x12 in)

Yesterday I waved goodbye to this textured wall painting, off to its new home with a collector in Germany. I wish every day could be so much fun, but today I'll be doing my tax accounts.

 

Tuesday 14 November 2023

Stevens of Boston


Stevens of Boston
(Acrylic on mountboard, 25x25 cm)

Another foray into the world of shops and stalls, this one in Cambridge. When I came to do the painting, I looked up the florist online and was sorry to learn that Adam Stevens, "the Flower Man of Cambridge" had died. I hope no-one is offended by my making an attempt at putting him into this small painting, using a photograph I found in the local newspaper.


 

Saturday 4 November 2023

Chained Up


Chained Up
(Mixed media on board, 30x30 cm)

Well, this one fought me at several points, but I think I won through in the end. Another addition to my “Textured Door Series”. For more of these, please see the Portfolio on my website.

Wednesday 25 October 2023

Forgotten Dreams


Forgotten Dreams
(Mixed media on board, 30x30 cm)

Another textured door painting started some time ago, finally brought to fruition by some creative thinking and an old stencil. I first used that yacht stencil when I was in junior school!


 

Sunday 22 October 2023

Fresh Fruit


Fresh Fruit
(Acrylic on board, 25x25 cm)

I thought I’d finished this in 2019, but it turns out I hadn’t. I have now (I think).

 

Saturday 14 October 2023

Greek Doorway


Greek Doorway
(Mixed media on board, 12x12 in)

Completed using some of the billboard scraps collected in Verona as well as acrylic and crackle paste. I think I find this kind of textured painting more satisfying than any other because there’s always a little thrill at seeing some of the unexpected results of this process.


 

Billboard Scraps

 


A good haul from the old billboards of Verona. Last month on a walk round Borgo Trento, the Art Deco area of Verona, I was delighted to find a few billboards with umpteen layers of old posters ripe for the picking. When I got them home, I was a bit disappointed because they are mostly quite faded, but they’ve proven very useful as collage elements on the painting I was working on today.

Thursday 5 October 2023

Staithes Harbour


Staithes Harbour
(acrylic on canvas, 12x12 in)

Yesterday, I put the finishing touches to another painting that's hung around the studio for a long time, waiting to be finished. It was, I think one of the first, if not the first painting begun when I switched from oils to acrylics. Now to find a suitable frame so it can be shown in an exhibition.

Sunday 1 October 2023

Crab Pots, Staithes


Crab Pots, Staithes
(Acrylic on canvas, 12x12 in)

Yesterday I moved an old painting out of the way, and found this one hidden behind it. It’s in a nice black frame and dated 2017 and although I can tell it’s been displayed somewhere, I have idea where or when. Anyway, I like it and if you do too and are interested in buying it, please get in touch..


 

Sunday 24 September 2023

Verona Side Street


Verona Side Street
(Markers in A5 sketchbook)

My first urban sketch in a very long time. I intended to do more of this in Verona, but one of the problems I found was that the side streets are very narrow and most of the interesting parts of buildings were high up. It's quite difficult trying to stand in a busy street (all streets turn out to be busy when you're not looking!) looking upwards.

 

Saturday 9 September 2023

Boats in Harbour


Boats in Harbour
(Acrylic on watercolour paper, 12x12 in)

Another painting begun some months ago, finished off at Gateshead Art Society yesterday.

Friday 8 September 2023

Aberdeen Trawler


Aberdeen Trawler
(Acrylic and collage on board, 12x12 in)
SOLD

Another painting dusted off and finished today, ready for the winter shows. Although it didn't sell at exhibition, I'm pleased to say that it sold afterwards to a collector in the USA who'd seen it online.


 

Thursday 7 September 2023

Whitby Harbour


Whitby Harbour
(Acrylic and collage on canvas, 24x12 in)

Autumn and Winter exhibition season draws near, so I figured it was time to dust off and finish some work begun but not completed. I last worked on this one in October 2020 and really, there was little that needed doing.


 

Sunday 3 September 2023

Evening at the Coffee Shop


Evening at the Coffee Shop
(Acrylic on canvas board, 12x12 in)
‘Art is never finished, only abandoned’, said Leonardo Da Vinci, allegedly. Time to stop fiddling and sign off on this one then.

Friday 25 August 2023

WIP - Evening at the Coffee Shop


Coffee Shop WIP.
(Acrylic on canvas board, 12x12 in)

I missed last week’s demonstration by Michael Ewart at the art club last week but I understand he painted a cafĂ© scene. This week’s challenge was to paint a similar scene and because I like to use these challenges to, well, challenge myself, I dug out some photos I took around the turn of the century. I tried to make something of them while at University but failed. I’m more optimistic about this new version though the multi figure composition has me out of my comfort zone.

Tuesday 22 August 2023

Buskers


Buskers
(Acrylic on canvas board, 8 x 10 in)

The result of a suggested theme at Gateshead Art Society. The buskers were spotted on a wintry Charles Bridge in Prague, and very good they were too.


 

Thursday 10 August 2023

The Artist in his Garret


The Artist in his Garret
(Acrylic on board, 8 x 8 in)

I’ve been tidying the studio, uncovering unfinished paintings and finishing some. This is one of them, and no, that isn’t me! It's another that probably fits into the Major Players (and Walk-On Parts) series.


 

Tuesday 8 August 2023

The Commuter


The Commuter
(Acrylic on canvas board, 8 x 8 in)

While thinking about how to progress a painting on the desk, I thought I’d put the finishing touches to this bit of fun. It's a small painting that fits into my series of Major Players (and Walk-On Parts) that one day I'd quite like to show together.


 

Thursday 3 August 2023

Munchies


Yummies
(Acrylic and collage on block canvas, 24x30 cm)

Another building portrait of curious Newcastle architecture. I love the disjunction of the cheap and brash modern fascia with the fake medievalism above.

Monday 24 July 2023

WIP - Munchies


WIP - Munchies
((Acrylic and collage on block canvas, 24 x 30 cm)

New painting begun, but lots to do on it. And some staffage to consider. Wandering around Newcastle, I took a few photographs of buildings and looking though them at home I was taken by the curious mix of the old and the new.


 

Thursday 13 July 2023

Passion 4 Fruits


Passion 4 Fruits
(Acrylic and collage on canvas board, 8 x 10 in)

Another small painting building portrait, this time of my favourite local greengrocers shop. I love the vernacular architecture, especially the attic window.

Thursday 6 July 2023

Mixed Reception


Mixed Reception
(Acrylic on board, 8 x 8 in)

I finally finished this small painting that’s been lying around for almost a year. It's based on a photograph I took from a roof terrace in Trogir.


 

Monday 3 July 2023

Stadakis


Stadakis
(Acrylic and collage on board, 8x8 in)

Another painting I recently tinkered with and have now photographed.