Editor's Choice

The Side, with Snow (Oil on canvas, 36 x 36 ins)

I recently heard from The Artist magazine that they'd like to feature this painting as their Editor's Choice in the April edition. Of course I agreed, so more when the time comes.

Editor's Choice

I mentioned recently that my painting, Wee Scotland Shop, had been chosen as Editor's Choice for the October issue of Leisure Painter. Here's a scan of the magazine entry.

Shop News

Wee Scotland Shop (Oil on canvas, 12 x 12 ins)

Things are very quiet here, as you must have noticed. I'm doing a lot of reading and thinking as what passes for the summer goes by, but not much in the way of painting. I suppose a rest is a good thing and will no doubt prepare me for some kind of Great Leap Forward.

Meanwhile, I've learned that this painting has been chosen as the "Editor's Choice" in a national magazine (more on that in due course). As I thought this might be of interest to the Di Rollo Gallery where the painting is on display, I sent them an email. By return I learned that, coincidentally, the painting has sold.

Suddenly, the rain outside seemed to take on a rosy glow.

Seeing the Wood for the Trees

Sawrey Farm (work in progress)

Back to the Club today where I was hailed as some kind of hero for my page in Artists & Illustrators. This was, of course, deeply embarrassing and I busied myself with painting out the background trees from the Sawrey Farm picture.

I think this is a big improvement and leaves the painting almost complete. A bit more work on the upper parts of the trees and I may make the sky a little more complex in colour (without destroying the overall flattish quality, I hope).

I'm in the A&I

A while ago I submitted this image to the Artists & Illustrators Magazine for consideration for their Portfolio section. I heard nothing more from them and forgot all about it. Imagine my surprise, then when I was told I was in the April edition!

Special thanks are due to April Jarocka who first drew my attention to the possibility of submitting work to the magazine and then for telling me I was in it! Without her timely heads-up, I might have missed it altogether.

Not so Down in the Valley

"You should get out more." Everybody says it, though mostly in a Postmodern, ironic sort of way. I say it myself, but rarely to myself. Anatole France said, "If fifty million people say a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing," which is worth a moment's consideration; but more to the point, he also said, "It is good to collect things, but it is better to go on walks."

I decided to test his theory today and set out for the Valley once again. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, and it was a beautiful day.....

Trudging back from the Valley in the dark some four hours later, I felt I was able to consider the project in an even-handed way. Even-handed, because in my left I carried a bag of books from Borders; in my right, a bag of groceries from Sainsbury's. In my mind I carried thoughts from the walk, and as anyone will tell you, they were the most valuable of all. If they don't tell you that, you should thrash them soundly until they admit it is so.

What were the books? Books to change my life. Books to put me on the path to order, success and happiness. Nut books, in the words of my friend Doctor Pam (who swears by them) But not your run-of-the-mill everyday nut books like,Men are From Mars but Women Moved my Cheese. I sat at the table used by the man who'd committed to memory the Illustrated Karma Sutra on the previous day - though I was careful to sit in a different chair - and looked through a bundle of potentially life-changing books.

I came away with Why Am I So Disorganised? - Sort Out Your Stuff by Dr Marilyn Paul; Getting Things Done by David Allen; The Creative Habit by Twyla Tharp; and another which I shan't tell you about (and no, it isn't the Illustrated Karma Sutra) I also bought a magazine glorying in the improbable title of Turps Banana.

The David Allen book is something I just had to read. I did some research on the Interweb yesterday, finding out what I could about the books I thought I might want to buy. In the course of my research, I came across David Allen. David Allen is a phenomenon. I've never heard of him before, but try Googling his best known book Getting Things Done - or better yet, the way it's become known, GTD - and you'll find around 20,300,000 hits. It's like a religion, with the GTD acolytes vying with one another to find the best software to accommodate his "43 folder" system (which he himself advocates putting into, well, folders). Who knew so many people were in need of advice on Stress-free Productivity?

Tomorrow: what I bought at Sainsbury's. No, really...... tomorrow: what I thought about on my walk. Well you'll just have to wait, won't you?