The sun has got his hat on....

Taking maximum advantage of the recent sunny weather, I decided to prep 3 boxes of canvases. All have been given 2 coats of flesh toned gesso and are ready for any of the June students who wish me to supply their portrait canvas for them. My patio had every sunny inch taken up with lines of canvas drying out. I'll be sending out an announcement to the Valerie Stewart students later this week incase you'd like to order your canvases in advance. Valerie also wants to extend an invitation to anyone who is interested in dropping by when we have the portrait seminar. Drop-ins will be on the 5th & 6th June, afternoons only. It'll give you an idea of what we've been doing and how we are getting along. It might even tempt you to sign up for a 2011 portrait seminar. I still have availablity for this 4 day oil painting portraiture workshop, details can be found HERE.If you are unable to attend the seminar but wish to learn Valerie's technique you might be interested in her DVD's. A single portrait demo DVD is a bargain at just £16; the intensive 6 DVD set is just £145. Details of the DVDs can be found HERE. As I was in a portrait frame of mind I decided to finish off this fella (yes, it IS a fella). I might just keep this guy for myself....... Regular readers will know I've learned to create these portraits simply by following Valerie's DVD tuition. This is my 7th ever oil portrait and the second portrait that I have completed without having to refer to the DVD's. You can find a larger version of this painting by clicking HERE.

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.