Painting for Gallery In The Square, Usk, "Usk In Bloom."

This is my finished painting of the Nags Head Pub entitled "Usk In Bloom." I delivered it to Gallery In The Square today for their exhibition celebrating 40 years of the Gallery. I have since framed it, which makes it look even better. It was still very wet when I delivered it. There were some brilliant scenes of Usk in the Gallery, lots of different scenes and lots of talented artists to celebrate their 40th anniversary. Well worth a visit.

New poppy painting

This is one of my Poppy paintings on the new style background. I think it works quite well and I will definately be using this on some more paintings.

New technique for my backgrounds

This is a technique I have been working on for the backgrounds of my flower paintings. I have been using acrylic paint for this as it dries quicker than the oils, therefore allowing me to proceed with the next stage of the painting much sooner. As you can see from the photographs I start by painting the whole canvas in yellow, then a couple of coats of a light green, quite watered down so I can build up a couple of layers. After that has dried I splash the darker green paint onto the canvas, then lightly drag a large bristle brush up the canvas to create the final effect. I have just finished 2 paintings of poppies where I used this technique on the background and am quite pleased with the results.

White and purple pansy oil painting

This is the third in my series of oil paintings of pansies, white and purple. Always a challenge getting the shadows and creases right on white, knowing when to stop with the shading. I think I have managed to keep the delicate appearance of the petals, without over doing the shading. It's still quite shiny on the photograph as it's still drying.

Second pansy painting.

The second of my pansy paintings, again, not a good photograph. As a set they look great together.

Finished orange pansy painting

This week I have finished 3 oil painings of pansies. This is the orange one, it is very shiny as the oil paint is still wet, also the flash doesn't do the picture any justice. Still this is one of the selection that will be exhibited in my next exhibition at Craft Renaissance, Kemeys Commander, near Usk, from 27th October. This will be the first time I have exhibited at Craft Renaissance and it will be great to see what the response is. 

Himalayan Blue Poppy

This is a Himalayan blue poppy. Not sure if I will  do a painting of this as it's not a British wild flower. It would be great to paint though.

Mum and Dads Flowers

This is a photograph my Dad has just sent me of the wild flowers in their garden.

Pretty, delicate violets

Pretty, delicate violets that return each summer in my garden. I always pick the dead heads off so more flowers keep coming for longer.

Rudbekia Flowers

These beautiful rudbekia flowers were looking lovely last weekend in my Mum and Dads garden.

Mc Donalds Garden Centre, Llanfoist

These are a selection of flowers at McDonalds Garden Centre in Llanfoist, near Abergavenny that I photographed a couple of months ago. I bought a tray of pansies which I am in the process of painting today. I am doing a set of three ready for an exhibition at a gallery near Usk, Craft Renaissance. The exhibition starts on Sat. 27th October, so I need to finsh them as soon as possible so they have drying time. One of the drawbacks to painting in oils.

More Wild Poppies

During the weekend at my parents house I took these photographs of these wild poppies in their garden. They were part of a packet of wild flower seeds that I bought my Mum for her Birthday last year. Both of these will be great references for my future wild flowers paintings, I have quite a good collection of different wild poppies for reference. I didn't realise how many varieties were out there.

Stargazer lillies

These are the gorgeous stargazer lillies that have opened while I have been in France. They are my favourite flowers partly because of the colours and partly because of the scent. I have grown these so I can sketch, photograph and eventually produce some paintings of them. I planted 3 bulbs originally, but only one came to anything. I think the other 2 were eaten by slugs or snails.

Buddaha With overgrown Ivy

Back from France, this is one of the photographs of the garden, a bit overgrown but lots of beans, tomatoes, lettuce and cucumber. My stargazer lillies have started to open too, need to do some sketches and photographs while they are in bloom.

Brittany Bicycle

I love this bicycle, just leaning against the wall by a shop in the village of Gouarec, Brittany.

Gorgeous Flowers In Gouarec, Brittany

 

This is one of the many gorgeous floral arrangements in the village of Gouarec, Brittany. There are lots of them and everyone seems to take pride in the look of the village. There are splashes of colour everywhere.

French Wild Poppies in Brittany

 These are two different photos of wild poppies I have taken today in Gouarec, Brittany.

The orange ones have appeared today in the wild flower patch at the bottom of the garden. It seems to change each day with new ones opening each time I look.

The red poppies were in an overgrown, unkempt garden, (of which there are very little around here). All the houses have beautifully tended gardens usually with the bluey purple hydrengea bushes and pretty colourful window boxes. 

French Wild Flowers

Today we went to a beautiful lake, Lac De Guerledon, just outside Gouarec near to where we are staying. These lovely wild flowers were on the footpath, I will have to look them up in my wild flowers book when I get home. 

Wild flowers in Brittany, France

After a gruelling ferry journey from Plymouth to Roscoff yesterday, todays beautiful French countryside in Brittany makes up for it. These lovely wild flowers are at the bottom of the garden where we are staying. There has been talk of fields of sunflowers, so I am really excited about finding these whilst I am over here.

A Little Bit of Sunshine

A little bit of sunshine.

Lavender

I am off to Brittany in France on Saturday and I am really hoping for a chance to photograph some lavender fields over there. So I will be blogging from France after Saturday. I am also hoping for some inspiration for paintings whether it's the landscapes or of course lovely French flowers.

Pansies Painting

I have been working really hard on my pansies painting today as I have to finish it before going away on Saturday. It needs time to dry ready for a wedding on 1st September. I am pretty happy with the colours on the petals now, tomorrow I will need to add the very dark colour in the centre.

Birch Tree

This is a copper birch tree at Raglan garden Centre. I love the colour of the bark in the sun. Really unusual, I've not seen one like this before. Fantastic colours. Would make a great painting.

Sunset, Woolacombe, North Devon

Fantastic sunset in Woolacombe, North Devon last Sunday.

Clover on the coastal path in Woolacombe

This is a view from the coastal path in Woolacombe, North Devon. We were down there for the weekend, staying in Lynton. The weather was brilliant with lovely clear, blue skies and lots of lovely sunshine. This is a shot taken of some beautiful purple clover with the sea in the background.

Pink and Purple Hydrangeas

One of the photographs I took at Raglan Garden Centre on Monday of the beautiful pink and purple hydrangeas.

Pansies Painting

I have been hard at work in the studio today putting the first coat on my pansies painting which is for the commissioned wedding present. This coat is done in acrylic paints then the next one will be done in oils. I prefer working in oils as the drying time is longer which is great for blending colours. I always feel a sense of urgency painting in acrylics as they dry so fast. Saying that, I do actually need to paint with a sense of urgency as this painting has to be finished by the end of this month.

Summer, Inspiration Overload!

Great day today despite rain again nearly all day. Went to Raglan Garden Centre to their camping section, then into the garden bit where the rain stopped long enough for me to photograph calla lillies, lavender and lots of beautiful pink, purple and blue hydrangeas. Some had giant flowers on the plants enabling me to get some really close up shots of the flowers. This has definately inspired me to create a painting of large close up hydrangeas. Summer is becoming an inspiration overload for my creative juices, every day there are new subjects for my ideas, it's great. But, even better than the garden centre was, on the way home I found my perfect reference for my wild poppies painting. I had seen a couple of stragglers on wasteland, but these beauties in a wheatfield  were just what I wanted. I think I will be in hibernation over the winter months in my studio painting.

Celtic slates

These are 2 slates I airbrushed today with a celtic cross design. I will be putting these on our website shop in due course. Great to do some airbrushing, I haven't done any for ages. I think the vibrant colours work really well with the slate background.

Yellow flag iris

 Yellow flag iris on a canal side. As part of my nature paintings I am going to develop the idea of having a dragonfly by a yellow flag iris like this one. I love the gorgeous, vibrant blue of the emperor dragonfly and it will work really well against the yellow and green.

Foxglove

Todays photograph is taken on a walk along the canal near to where I live. Foxgloves are so vibrant and beautiful, especially when there is a huge mass of them on a hillside or in a woodland. Apparently they are poisonous though. I will be painting this in the future as part of my wild flowers collection.

Mum and Dads garden

These are two photos taken last month in my Mum and Dads garden. Lovely delicate Welsh poppies and purple allium.  

Thistles

I went back today to take reference photographs for a future painting. I love the beautiful purple of the thistles. They will be a challenge to paint but will be a brilliant subject for my wildlife ideas. The rain stayed away for most of today and it poured down just after I took my photographs.  

Poppies at Nature In Art

These are a couple of photographs I took at Nature In Art, Twigworth, Gloucestershire last week. Two years ago I photographed the same poppies and have recently completed a painting of them. Last week I was there enquiring about having my work there or being an artist in residence for a week. I met a wildlife artist, Frances Whitman who was artist in residence that week. She was very helpful and her work was brilliant, mostly big cats (lions, tigers) also elephants in a realistic style. I asked her about joining The Wildlife Art Society International as she is a member and she said my flower paintings would have to be of wild flowers rather that cultivated. So I am on a mission to paint a few more wild flowers. I have been studying thistles and some beautiful flowers I saw on a walk tonight which I will be photographing tomorrow if the rain stays away. 

Lillies

These are lillies that I have grown in my greenhouse. After my pansies painting I am hoping to work on a large piece with a selection of lillies, so these photographs will be crucial. Usually by the time I get around to drawing them from life they are past their best and the petals have started to fall off. So I tend to work from photographs. 

New Blog

Hello, welcome to my new blog all about my paintings which are mainly of flowers and nature. I will be updating my blog most days with paintings in progress or photographs of things that have inspired me.

This week I have been comissioned to do a painting for a wedding gift. The painting will be based on the photograph I took in Abergavenny last year of some gorgeous purple pansies. Pansies are one of my favourite flowers so I am really going to enjoy painting them. The wedding is on 1st September so I need to get on with it as it will need about 3-4 weeks drying time to make sure it can be wrapped.