'Into the Buttercups'

This one has a title now and is not far off finished. Not quite sure where the buttercups came from... I messed on and on with the background trying to go for a blurry kind of grass but it really wasn't happening! I think I ended up dabbing spots of yellow on to blend in to the grass to warm it up a bit and before I knew it they were in a field of buttercups.

They look quite ghostly at the moment waiting for glazes of browns and blues to go over the highlights I have added to their coats. They should be dry enough to work on again tomorrow but I'm (weather permitting!) setting off for Badminton so it will probably have to wait until I get home on Monday now.

'Dark Horse' went down to £170 today, week 5 of the auction...

More on the new Dales painting...

My internet supplier has randomly cut a load of it's customers off whilst changing servers over or something and we are one of the lucky households affected! I miss it, and feel so cut off! Posting this courtesy of another weak wifi signal my laptop seems to pick up now and again.

Typically bad timing as I had several items on ebay finishing, AND it is the last few days of Sally Martin's 100 paintings which I have been following avidly. Not to mention the fact I waste way too much time on Facebook generally! I'm not very happy :(

Anyway, it has been another quiet week or so on the painting front but have managed to get a few more layers on the new Dales painting (above), and the little commission. Pleased with both of them so far. I don't think my heart was really in the Dales painting for the first few layers, which is perhaps why I have not been all that productive (along with teething babies and sleepless nights!), but all of a sudden it seems to be coming together so I have regained my enthusiasm for it! Rubbish photo of it above which makes it look much 'flatter' than it is...about halfway through now I think; just roughed in the background so next stage will be to tidy up the ponies where green paint has gone over them (esp the mare's mane) and then get to work with my tiny brush working on all that hair in the fluffy coats. Would be nice to end up with one more painting to enter for the SEA exhibition, the deadline for which is just around the corner now, so fingers crossed this one turns out well!

Really looking forward to attending Badminton XC day on Sunday! Sally Lancaster and I will be there with friends, armed with our cameras! We will definitely be popping into the British Horse Society stand while we are there, to see how the Drawing the Line campaign is going. We have both donated paintings to be auctioned for the cause; you might be able to see them if you are there as a selection of donated artwork is going to be on display.

The dutch auction of 'Dark Horse' rumbles on... it is now down from the starting price of £260 to £190, will drop to £170 on Friday...

Finally some paint on canvas...

I have had a fairly unproductive few weeks painting wise, courtesy of a teething baby! Poor Henry has not been happy at all and clingy babies really aren't conducive to painting, especially not when they insist on only sleeping on your lap during the day, and you paint with solvents, and also have a (nearly) 2 year old! Thankfully he is back to his usual cheerful self now so it's back to work (until next time).

As luck would have it I had kept my painting time completely free of commissioned work this month, in order to ensure I had time to complete my entries for the Society of Equestrian Artists Annual Exhibition so it hasn't been too stressful! Having managed to get plenty of original work done this year I do have several paintings to choose from but standards are going to be even higher than usual this year and competition even tougher so I'm still going to try and produce one more potential entry- just started a new original, above. Back to the Dales ponies, and based on photos I took last month. 24" x 18" oil on linen.

I also have a commissioned 8" x 8" mini painting on the go which is just about to have a base layer of paint applied. After a few weeks of doing nothing it feels great to get some paint on canvas again!

The dutch auction of 'Dark Horse' continues on my website... down to £210 at the moment and will drop under £200 this Friday. Further details available on my site. Had a few e-mails from international buyers enquiring about shipping costs so hopefully it will sell soon.

Whilst I haven't been able to paint much I have been on a few excursions with my camera, you can see the photos on my Facebook Page, link to the right >>

Not much else to report other than the fact I am VERY excited about Badminton XC day!!!!

Dutch Auctions

It has been great having this blog to look back on during the 15 months I have been updating it... my work has improved A LOT! That's a good thing of course, good for me and also good for buyers of my work because it means my paintings hopefully increase in value as I continue to improve and carve a name for myself.

One thing that is not so good is that, to me, some of my work rather quickly looks dated and paintings that I was proud of as little as 6 months ago are outshone by my more recent work to the extent that I know I probably won't exhibit them this year... which kind of leaves me with a number of paintings which are just going to end up stacked in my painting room! Soooo... time for a clear out!

I am going to sell most of my 2009 original work via my website using a dutch auction type system. It's very simple- one painting for sale at any one time, the price drops every week until someone buys it!

First up is 'Dark Horse', starting at £250 - you can find details on the Current Dutch Auctions page of my website.

Please spread the word if you know anyone who might be interested in a bargain painting!