'The Diva'

Another little ebay painting! 7" x 5" oil on canvas board. You can find the auction on ebay here, 1p start and no reserve. Think I might live to regret putting this on one but nevermind! The oainting is of Louisa Lockwood and The Diva warming up for the dressage phase of Bramham Horse Trials last month. Have very much been enjoying these little paintings!

SEA pre-selection results arrived in my in-box this week, of my 6 entries 2 recieved 'yes' votes ('Winter Beach Polo' and 'Wandering') so I shall be taking them both down to London later in the month to be passed in front of the selection panel. Fingers crossed! In previous years Friends of the Society (of which I am one) were permitted just 3 entries, it was changed to 6 this year (although a maximum of 3 paintings could still actually be hung)- I'm so glad it changed and that I took advantage of it as had I submitted just 3 I would not have entered the only ones that the panel liked, I preferred my other entries! I understand that there were a great deal more entries this year compared with last so I am very pleased indeed to get 2 past this stage.

Magic mini painting

The ebay auction of 'Waiting' finished yesterday, reaching £91 in the end which I was very pleased with! The second of these small postcard sized paintings went on ebay last night, a little painting of Magic, a beautiful Dales stallion from the Nipna Stud not far from here. I never ever ever tire of painting the Nipna ponies, they are just so wonderful! You can find the auction here.

Commissioned work continues to keep me busy, I am very lucky to have some really gorgeous horses to paint at the moment!

Available on eBay

Here's a slightly better photo of 'Waiting'. I think the colours in reality are somewhere between this photo and the last one I shared!

Bids are currently up to £22, there is no reserve and the auction ends on Thursday 24th June at 7:10pm UK time.

Link to the auction here. If you know anyone who might be interested please pass on the word!

More Mini Originals

I have decided to create more postcard sized paintings, the first of which is pictured above: 'Waiting', 7" x 5" oil on canvas board. You might recognise the subject, I have painted him before!

I am really busy with commissions at the moment which is fantastic, but means I miss having the time to work on my own paintings... little postcard sized things I can tinker with while I'm waiting for commissions to dry between layers etc though so they fit quite nicely into my schedule! I was lucky enough to purchase several of Sally Martin's little 7x5 oils as part of her 100 paintings in 100 days and I just love them! Was interesting hearing how much Sally felt her 100 little paintings had taught her; with a baby and a toddler to run after I sadly don't have the time to commit to such a big project but I hope to churn out one a week or so and use them primarily as trials for bigger painting ideas. They'll all be sold on ebay with bids starting at 1p- I figure the ones that make the most are likely to be the ones worth doing on a bigger scale!

Just need to get a decent photo of this little polo pony to list him on ebay with, proving tricky as ever!

'Sweet Disposition' FINISHED

24" x 18" ( 61cm x 46cm), oil on hardboard. Really loved painting this one! The original plan was to paint it in 'black and white' using only a mixture of burnt umber and french ultramarine, and titanium white (which I did) but I had decided this after I had began work on the support which had a base layer of burnt umber and white (kind of a pinky pale coffee colour), and it showed though the final painting in places- which I liked- so I added a bit more of it to the main highlights to bring it all together and give it a bit more depth and a touch of warmth.

First time using hardboard and I love it apart from the fact it is so darn heavy!

Another beach polo painting on the go...

Decided to treat myself to painting an image I have wanted to paint since I photographed some polo on the beach in January. Promised myself I wouldn't do any more headshots as original paintings as they can be tough to sell, but I'm making an exception for this little chap!

I think the lovely light and the challenge of that spotty winter coat are what appeal to me, and as an added challenge I'm going to paint it in black and white... or at least a mixture of french ultramarine and burnt umber used with titanium white.

Today is the third day of work on it, so far I have roughly sketched in the coat, marking out spots and the direction of the hair, added some detail to the face, glazed some shadows over the top, and blocked in the background. Was hoping to get the background done alla prima but I was overworking it so I'll need to go back to it later.

Really enjoying it!

Great week!

I have had a busy but great week! Firstly, I finished 'Into the Buttercups' (above); the photo as ever is rubbish (will definitely get this one properly scanned as the colours are so washed out in my photos) but it looks nice in the flesh!

I had a FANTASTIC day at Badminton on Sunday and enjoyed seeing my donated painting 'Arabian Filly' on display in the British Horse Society stand there. Hopefully it will make plenty of money for the Drawing the Line campaign! You can see some of my photos of the XC on my Facebook page.


I'm pleased to report that 'Dark Horse' sold on Friday so the next painting on my clear out list has gone up for auction on my website. As before, the price will drop each Friday by £20 until the painting sells. 'Frosty Morning Ride' is the current painting, pictured below.

The next week or so will be spent tidying up and finishing potential SEA entries in order to get photographs/scans done and my entries for the exhibition off before the deadline... this year is going by so fast!