Category: Recent Work

17 May, 2016

The Development of a Painting

I thought I’d show the stages I went through in the development of this little painting of Lower Largo in the bonny county of Fife, which I painted for my nephew and his wife. It was very refreshing to take a break from creating black & white designs for my adult colouring book (which I hope to publish in the autumn) and re-acquaint myself with brushes and paint. It reminded me of how much I enjoy the physicality of mixing and putting paint on canvas just as much as analysing the tones and colours required. And that elusive quality of painterly-ness that I strive to achieve, still dances frustratingly – just out of reach!

The photos speak for themselves, so I’ll ditch the descriptions and let your eyes teach you all you need to know.

Lower Largo, Acrylic on Board, 9″ x 18″ (approx)

My Daler-Rowney “Stay-Wet” Palette. A great invention!

3 August, 2015

Waterlily

I’ve spent a very enjoyable couple of days on & off, painting this beautiful lily that is gracing our garden pond at the moment. This is a mixed media painting – watercolour, white chalk and white gouache paint. I’m afraid the delicate, lucid tones of the stamens eluded me! Which points up the fact that Art only imitates nature, it can never portray accurately the amazing delicacy and subtle nuances of light that we see with our eyes. As Picasso famously said: “Art is a lie which makes us understand the truth.” in other words my painting, or anyone else’s for that matter, can only be an approximation; we have to find an equivalent in paint or whatever medium we work in, that will at best enable us to mimic on paper or canvas the effect of light .

“Waterlily” Watercolur on Arches paper, (9″ X 6″ (approx)

“Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these…” (Matthew 6:28,29)

Prints of this work are available via

“Redbubble” or “FineArtAmerica”

26 May, 2015

Goldfinch

Every now and then we get a visit from these lovely little birds in our garden. Their markings and colours make them immediately recognisable. I really enjoyed painting this little beauty.

“They make the most use of our gardens at the same time in late spring every year – between returning from their wintering grounds and the start of breeding, and at a time when natural food resources are at their lowest. More interestingly, this finch is increasingly using garden bird feeders, this may be because natural resources are in steady decline or more gardens are offering niger seed and sunflower hearts, which are both high energy foods that Goldfinches seem to prefer”. (Garden Birds UK)

31 January, 2015

Cottage, Isle of Lewis

I saw this cottage when Norma and I were on holiday in the Outer Hebrides a few years ago. The rusty red corrugated iron roof on the shed caught my eye, as did the light glinting off the dry-stane dykes. The washing flapping in the breeze tells us that this was “a good drying day!” Fortunately the weather was kind to us and we have very happy memories of our stay in the hamlet of Ness, away up on the Northernmost tip of Lewis. The people are so friendly and the landscape is quite unique. Well worth the ferry trips necessary in order to get there!