I’ve not been doing much drawing or painting of late. The one painting on which I have sporadically been working (a relatively large painting of Kew Gardens from a photograph I took a few years ago) seems to be taking an eternity. When paintings take so long they tend to wear down my energy and enthusiasm. Hence this painting of some sunflowers, which serves as a respite from the Kew Gardens painting and a chance to work from life.

I don’t think I’ve ever painted sunflowers before. When I saw some in Sainsbury’s the other day I thought now might be a good time to give it a go. As I wanted to produce this painting quickly, I chose to use acrylics. It’s painted in my usual Impressionist influenced technique. The (Daler) canvas is approximately 20″ x 16″ (50 x 40 cm). I started the painting yesterday and completed it today – around 7 or 8 hours work in total.