A choice of colour

I'm quite pleased my daughter took my camera as she has added a beautiful collection of photos of herself to my memory card. One of them in particular is just asking to be turned into an oil painting project too. As promised, I now have a photo of the monochromatic seascape in the black/grey/white tones. I'll be offering this as an alternative choice of colour in the upcoming painting classes. (Class details , dates and locations can be found HERE) You can see a larger version of the painting in the Class Subject Gallery HERE.

Home Grown

Alan, finishing work early, has been pottering in the garden this afternoon. When he's outside, he quite often 'visits' me via my office window. You never know when his head will appear or what he might wave in front of the window. I was pleasantly suprised with his window antics today. He'd unearthed a bucket full of carrots that I'd completely forgotten about. I'd planted some close to the hedge and didn't think they'd amounted to much. I was wrong. There's enough there to make about 4 pints of carrot and ginger soup. OMG...........just when I was going to get the saucepan out he's returned to my window waving 2 handfuls of parsnips! Looks like it's going to be a vegetable soup now. I'm off to get these cooked up. They will do nicely for Saturday's private students.

A different kind of commission !

Last Monday I had a massive baking session. My daughter, Soha, took the 2 sponge cakes into work the following day as is the office custom for birthday girls. They were sliced up and by 10.30 in the morning they had both gone. In an email she said 'The cakes went down well - everybody loved them and said what a good cook you are'. She later said that one chap reckoned it was the best cake he had ever tasted. As I sit here checking my emails after today's workshop I have to giggle - you see, I've just received my first cake commission! Soha writes 'The bloke who said your cake was the best that he has ever tasted wants you to make him and his wife one…he’s Indian and his wife is moving here from India 30th March, he said in return he’ll get her to make you some somosas and bhajis.' Well, exchange is no robbery '

Tantalising Smells........

Just before today's Pop Art workshop I spied the egg bowl, looked at the kitchen clock and decided I had just enough time to throw the ingredients for a spicy fruit loaf into the breadmaker - which immediately took care of 2 eggs. Consequently, 3 hours into the class we were painting along to the heavenly smells of warm bread, fruit, cinnamon, nutmeg and mixed spices. Unable to resist, the loaf was sliced while it was still hot, served with lashings of butter and a hot cup of tea. I'm trying really hard to resist as I know I can't stop at one slice. I'll be running another Pop Art workshop on Thursday 29th April - details can be found HERE. I can't promise more spicy fruit loaf though, but there's normally a bit of home baking served up to students.

Seeing as it's St Patrick's Day, I'll leave you with a Pop Art Portrait of one of my favourite Irish Celebs.

Seascape Painting Workshop

I have a seascape painting class coming up (see HERE for class details) and I've been asked if it's possible to paint this in black and white instead of blue and white. The answer is 'YES'. And as soon as my daughter returns my camera I'll take a snap so you can see what the greyer tones look like.

Anyone lost a chicken?

Late yesterday afternoon I heard words I hadn't heard in a long time. As I opened my front door to my neighbour she said 'Chicken loose........'. Our girls have been pretty well behaved for months so I was surprised to hear they have been going on advewntures. 'It's a red one', said Deb. I was more than curious as a fox took both our red ones a few weeks ago. Sure enough, pecking in a garden a few doors down was the spitting image of Goldie. It wasn't her, I thought it might be too good to be true. She was easy to catch, tempted by a handful of grain. She's scratching away in the back garden as I type and I'm thinking if we can find one more stray we'll have a nice even half-dozen again. But...if anyone knows of any missing chickens in the Capel area do give me a call as we probably have your bird. Meanwhile, we've called her Goldie 2 and we'll look after her until (if ever) she is claimed.

Painting Class for Art Group

I had a lovely drive to the village of Fressingfield on Monday. For about the last 20 minutes of the journey I was surrounded by pretty, rural countryside with chocolate box cottages - and to top it all, the sun was shining brilliantly. The ladies of the art group there enjoyed an oil painting lesson. Learning the many special effects we can make with various brushes, they all returned home with lovely paintings (and all so different too). The venue was right next door to the pretty Fox and Goose Pub. It's rumoured that Johnny Depp was in the area a few years ago, house hunting. It seems that while he was scouting for a home in the area, Johnny went into to popular Fox & Goose Inn. But he didn't have a reservation and all the tables in the 18th century inn were already taken. If it were me, I'd make room - wouldn't you?

Crack on

I think my daughter's birthday celebrations are now over......... We enjoyed a surprise party in town last night, laid on by several of Soha's friends. Of course, this meant a slow and groggy start this morning, but once I'd fully woken up I felt ready to crack on with our little friend, Harry. After making some slight adjustments to his features I really do think I can leave his face alone now and concentrate on his hair and clothing. Saddened that I am coming to the end of this portrait, I already have some idea as to who I will paint next. I've decided to try and have an oil portrait on the go ALL THE TIME.

Not long now - ----

It's exciting times for me as communications with Valerie Stewart, our renowned guest tutor from the States, increases. The Valerie Stewart Portrait seminar, which will be taking place in Capel St Mary early June this year will soon be underway. Details can be found HERE. Valerie wishes to make you all fully aware the seminar carries a 100% satisfaction guarantee - or your money back. For those of you who have expressed an interest in this exciting 4 day workshop but not yet paid your deposits, please make sure these are sent off in the next few days to guarantee your place. Just a quick re-cap - over the course of the 4 days you will paint 2 portraits (or 2 heads on one portrait). The subject is your choice and can be a family/friend or a celebrity. For those of you who have booked and paid, you'll probably want to be thinking about who you'd like to paint and making sure you have crisp and clear photographs of your chosen subjects. It's not long now, is it?

Eye Eye !!!!

This week I hope to refine quite a few more of Harry's details. His skin tones were laid in a while back and his lights and darks were softly added. I find I'm watching Valerie's DVD's less and less as I'm getting quite familiar with the technique now. As I paint I know she'd accuse me of fiddling - which I do a lot. In fact, before I started work on Harry's face I decided to give him a complete glaze of soft colour to tone down some of the flesh tints, making for a lighter and brighter skin tone. I worked on the teeth and mouth area. I've been sculpting the nose shape and adding the apples to Harry's cheeks. I'm just taking a break and thought it might be a nice stage to share with you. Here you can see one eye done and the other eye is yet to be refined. Just a few shadows and softening really makes all the difference, don't you think?

Portrait Commission - oils

Work continues on my oil painting commission - no - not the nude couple !! I was asked to paint this portrait last year, but didn't feel quite ready.Now, with a few more portraits under my belt I feel more than ready to take on such work. I'd like you to meet Harry. Some of my students, who have been taking classes at Apollo House, have been witnessing the progress first hand. (And they all think Harry is an absolute angel.) Interestingly, when I showed students 'Stage 1' of the painting beside the photo, many would say 'leave it right there'. Stage one of Valerie's Portrait Painting technique is the underpainting. Just a few details and shadows in a single tone. Simple, yet really effective. My customer was over the moon when she received this progress photo, several weeks ago.

Facebook contacts

For those of you familiar with Facebook, you'll be well aware of how it's possible to find people from your old school / workplace / etc. Recently on Facebook I found the son of probably my oldest and dearest friend, Jacky. Jacky and I were buddies from the age of 4 right up until the time I left the UK for the Middle East. We kept in touch by letter as best we could - but at the age of 16 our teenage years soon lead us our seperate ways. It was one of the hardest things, returning to the UK some 7 years later, married and with a daughter, trying to pick up where life had left off.

A couple of weeks ago I sent a message to Jacky's son giving my contact details. Just as I was pulling cakes from the oven, the phone rang. A rather posh lady asked if she was speaking to Sue Warne, the Artist. She asked if I would consider a portrait commission. I was all ears, as you can imagine, having been busy recently with oil portraits. She explained she would like a portrait of both her and her husband - BUT - she would like to portraits to be nude. As I turned the commission down I was thinking about other artists who I could refer the work to.

And then the giggling started........................ You guessed it, my phone call was from my long lost buddy - and what's more, we're both free on Wednesday. So, I'm really looking forward to a catch-up and a trip down memory lane - without any of my portrait brushes within range!!

Contemplating 'Contemplation'.....

As Saturday's class was finished just after lunchtime, I decided to clean up the brushes and carry on painting. I had several versions of 'Contemplation' that I'd like to fiddle about with. I've taught this painting a total of 3 times alone last week and I only paint enough in my step by step demo to give students the idea. So, after class I spent several hours working on my demo paintings, adding fine details, trees, twigs, branches to a total of 7 Contemplations. Some are on mini canvases - 6 x 8 inch, some are on medium canvases - 10 x 14 inch and some are on canvas paper - 12 x 9 inch. If you'd like to grab yourself a bargain or are thinking about a (mother's day) gift for someone these are available at greatly reduced rates. The 'minis' will be sold for £20 each, the 'mediums' will be sold for £30 each and the 'canvas paper versions' will be sold for £25 each. If anyone would like one, let me know what size and I'll email you the photos of the paintings so you can choose which one you'd like. The original version of this painting is available for £75. I've a few propped up on a radiator to speed the drying process......

Sold - to the lady with the Gondola!

During last Saturday's class, Alan brought in a total of 5 fresh eggs. They were sold to a student within minutes - probably the quickest display of manufacturing and sales I've seen so far. They are all destined for a baking session so they've been sold to a lady after my own heart. Our painting subject was the second stage of 'Venetia', the gondola sunset scene. I'm going to run this 2 day class again in April for anyone who would like to do it. (Details HERE) Although it's painted 'wet on wet' style, there are a lot of different techniques involved which gives us a much finer and detailed finish.

Learn to paint Portraits in Oils - With Valerie Stewart

Last week I received some very exciting news from the States. Our guest Portrait tutor, Valerie Stewart, has booked her flights. Valerie will be accompanied by her husband and they'll be enjoying a break in Europe. This now means the Apollo Studio will be available - so if there are any students who have not yet booked accommodation who would like to stay here, it's available for the duration of the Portrait Seminar. I still have availability on this class - it's not too late to book a seat for Valerie's first time teaching in England. Over the 4 days you will paint 2 portraits of your choice. All details can be found HERE