Blog

Great opening reception at the AGG yesterday evening. Check out the show by 4 local artists called "When We Were". The artists are Scott Abbott, Janette Hayhoe, Jessica Masters, and Kathleen Schmalz. The show runs from yesterday until August 27 so do take some time and check it out. It's happening on the second floor of the impressive gallery.

Actually it's time for a painting inspired by a landscape to turn into an abstract. I'll just start painting and see what develops.

Done and delivered. Just completed a pen and ink drawing of the Aberfoyle Mill. A client wanted to commemorate her wedding there in 2016. I hope it brings back wonderful memories for many years to come. It was a joy to get back to pen and ink after so many acrylic portraits. Please someone - anyone - ask for more black and white pictures. My favourite medium.

Saatchi is now able to provide prints of my works, framed and unframed. They would be unsigned so subsequently less expensive than the signed, limited-edition prints that I create. Saatchi quality is very respected, so they provide good value for money. They also have an interesting feature that allows you to see the effect of various size prints, with and without frames, as they would appear on a wall in a actual room. The result is very useful.

I've uploaded a couple of my latest paintings to Saatchi Art on-line. They have a quality reputation and handle all aspects of the sale, including arranging for delivery. Check out their site, just google Saatchi Art. The works are priced in US dollars, so they match the prices on my site which are in Canadian dollars. So now there are two ways to buy - through them, or through me. Pictures that are in galleries must still be purchased through the gallery.

I've added an abstract to the site, called "Water lanes, St. Martins'. it can be found in a new gallery entitled "abstracts", which kind of makes sense. This is the first of a series of paintings - in acrylic on canvas - that will depict a time and place. The colours will be real, but the picture will be something else entirely. I want the viewer to get the sensation, or the feel, of the location. I really am attempting to dig deeper into the essence of the natural world, rather than the representation of the surface reality. I hope it appeals to some of you.

A couple of portraits have been completed and delivered on time and placed under the tree. One was of a young child and the other was a collage of images of a dog and his human. Both portraits were done from a series of photographs. The child was acrylic on stretched canvas, and the dog was on watercolour paper and done in charcoal pencils (2H to 2B). Fun to do. I hope their new owners are happy. See the results in the Portrait Gallery of this site. Happy Christmas everyone.

Weather is good and the inspiration for pictures is great. It is great to be back in the island where I hand-delivered a portrait. This particular portrait was of a dog, not a human, so I'm not sure whether the little guy was happy with the result or not. Oh well, at least I know that he's always happy to get a treat.

The courier did their job and a new painting of the High Street in St. Peter Port has now been delivered to Sula Gallery. After a little post-travel stretching it should be up on the wall very soon; ask Hayley or Graham when you will be able to see it. It's a bit unusual, showing shoppers back-lit by the sun as they walk down the hill. The painting uses two complementary colours - purple and yellow - playing off each other.