Leaves Under a Swing

I was pushing my youngest son on a ‘birds nest’ swing in the local playground one sunny autumn morning in 2022 when I distractedly noticed the fallen leaves lying beneath the swing. The strength of the colour I saw, and in particular the contrast between the autumnal colours in the leaves and the rich, sunlit…

Where’s Bert?

This painting, made in summer 2016, depicts a Humboldt penguin colony. It is based on reference photos taken on a trip to Gweek Seal Sanctuary in Cornwall on a beautiful summer’s day in May 2013. Three of the penguins occupy themselves on dry land whilst their friend takes a dip. The painting was made in…

Baby on Board!

It’s been six months since the arrival of our baby boy Robin and the time has hazily flown by. With a baby around the house it’s unsurprisingly been difficult to find the time to paint, let alone blogging and the like. The foundations for this painting were laid last year, shortly after Judith and I…

Beyond the Madness

I was asked last month to make a painting demonstration for a group of non-artists. Given a challenging time limit of not much over half an hour in which to complete the demonstration I unwisely chose too complex a subject – chrysanthemums in a glass vase. My approach to the early stages of painting can…

Leaving it to Memory

This landscape study was made today in Daler-Rowney Georgian oils on 10” x 12” canvas. It was painted from photographs taken on Sunday on a Wirral Walking Festival event – Storeton Village History Walk  – and took a little over an hour to complete. According to our Wirral Archaeology walking guide, who I’ve no reason…