27 Feb 2009

The Dome and Wharf. The Millennium Dome is now called the O2 Stadium. I was fascinated by the spikey skyline caused by the Dome supports alongside the spikey cranes that are constantly working on the Isle of Dogs around Canary Wharf.
Click on the image, or click here to see details.

26 Feb 2009

The looming deadline for delivery for my next exhibition has given me the extra push that I need to get another larger canvas finished. This one is 18"x24" again. The painting was well past embryonic stage when I started this morning, but even so I am pleased that it reached finality so quickly.
This will also be added to our portfolio of 'Painting a Day' limited edition prints.
Click on the image, or click here to see details.

25 Feb 2009

Canary Wharf at Night. Another larger than usual, half finished, painting that I have been working on encouraged by the imminent deadline for delivery to the Blackheath Gallery. Last one to leave puts the lights out!

24 Feb 2009

Hong Kong. I visited Hong Kong a little while ago for the first time. It is an incredible place with staggering contrast between the high rise buildings and the jostling excitement in the streets below. The painting is 18" x 24" on canvas.

23 Feb 2009

'London Sunrise' is looking east towards Tower Bridge and Canary Wharf.
This 24" x 32" painting is bigger than recent work. I started it some weeks ago and only now found courage, time and inspiration to finish it. Just in time for the upcoming exhibition at Blackheath Gallery.
I am adding the image to our portfolio of 'painting a day' limited edition prints.
Click here, or on the illustration above, to see details.

22 Feb 2009

Back to the studio and more work for the Blackheath Gallery Spring Exhibition.
This painting is another take on the recent snow on Blackheath.
Blackheath is where the London marathon run starts.
The church sits above the village, quite exposed, with glimpses of the mega-corporate-Mammon-worship giant across the Thames in Canary Wharf.
The Gallery is actually nestled down below the heath in the aptly named Tranquil Vale.

21 Feb 2009

I am finalising some new paintings destined for exhibition at the Blackheath Gallery in London.
This one is a topical update of a previous painting that I did of this church on Blackheath.
It will be on sale at the gallery soon.
Meanwhile we will add it to the portfolio of limited edition prints that goes with our 'painting a day' project.
The prints are 5"x7" on paper, edition size 25 only worldwide forever, and for sale for £24 each.

Click here to see my 'painting a day' limited edition portfolio.

20 Feb 2009

Old friends artist Michael Tickner and his wife Alice [Lions Bay Art Gallery] from Vancouver came to stay. So we took yesterday off from studio work and took a trip along the coast to enjoy ancient architecture in Chichester cathedral. Alice saw this Barn Owl sitting on a fencepost beside the road.
Obviously most of the conversation over the last few days was about art and 'painting a day'.

19Feb2009 White Egg

A big white egg in a stripey egg cup for breakfast.
Great with toast soldiers and marmite. Mmmm!
Click on the image to go to our website to see prices etc.

18 Feb 2009

Today we are showing another painting by Fran. This a small canvas, just 3"x4".
A brown egg in an egg cup. Do brown eggs taste better than white eggs?
Click on the image to see price etc.

Many of our paintings are also available as 'limited edition archival prints'.
Each edition is strictly limited to just 25 prints, worldwide forever.
The price for each print is £24 plus carriage and tax where required.
Have a look at the choices on our website www.crabfish.com

17 Feb 2009

Colin is back in his studio. Here is the first of a commissioned series of flower paintings.
The painting is 8" x 10".

Click on any of our images to see more details on our website, www.crabfish.com.

You can also look at www.crabfish.com to see the range of prints that we are publishing.
The new images taken from this 'painting a day' blog are all limited editions with just 25 copies of each one.
The square pictures are printed 6" x 6" on paper, and the rectangular paintings are 5" x 7" on paper.

16 Feb 2009

And another one! The two strawberry paintings are both 6" square acrylic on canvas.

15 Feb 2009

Fran has painted a strawberry.

14Feb2009 St Valentines Day.

Ah! Two ripe apples side by side. Just right.
Click on image to see details.
Also available as a limited edition print.

13Feb2009

Or do I prefer this one? I just like them all. This is another 8" square canvas.
Click on the image to see details.
Also available as a limited edition print.

12Feb2009

I like this one very much. The painting on canvas is 6"x8".
Click on image to see details.
Also available as a limited edition print.

11Feb2009

This 8" square painting shows a squash and a bottle.
Click on image to see deatils.
Also available as a limited edition print.

10Feb2009

This 8" square painting is the second in Fran's new series of kitchen still lifes.
Click on image to see details.
Alsao avaiable as a limited edition print.

9Feb09

I am writing this on 14th February, St Valentines Day. You are probably wondering where the last few days paintings are. I am sorry to say that I have been very busy sorting out the orders from the last show. No actually I am not sorry at all. It was great to get such a super response to the first airing of 'Painting a Day' pictures. So I am glad that it has meant such a pile of work developing the administration process.

However, all is not lost!

While I have been busy, my other half, the wonderful Fran Slade, partner and inspiration, mother of my children etc. has been painting new paintings herself.
Over the next few days they will be appearing on this blog.

Here is the first one;
Click on image to see details.
Also available as a limited edition print.

8 Feb 2009

I have been sorting out the orders from the Spring Fair before I can get back into the studio. I sold 22 original paintings ... yippee. Here are the last ones that I did on the last afternoon when it was really quiet. They are both 6" square canvases.

7 Feb 2009

Back home and recovering, sorting out the orders and kit from our show, and updating this blog.
Here is the third of the snow scenes that I painted while in Birmingham. One morning the sunrise was a wonderful dramatic, colourful event as we drove into the show and this scene stuck in my mind. This is another 8" x 10" canvas.
Click on the image to see more details.
The painting is also available as a limited edition print.

6 Feb 2009

More snow overnight as forecast. I went through four blizzards and freezing fog during the return journey. Here is a picture taken while stuck on the motorway in yet another holdup.
Not very inspiring, and thats another reason why there is no painting today!

5 Feb 2009

The last day at the Spring fair is often very quiet. Add on another media panic about weather conditions, and a recession, and it is bound to even more quiet. Tumbleweed rolled by, and the exhibitors sang hymns to rouse their spirits.
I painted a Venice picture based on a previous one. Different colours, smaller image, and looser brushwork.
Actually all three of us in Artreo, that is what we call our little communal business arrangement, have had a rather successful show. Mike and Kate have both taken good sale orders and opened new accounts with galleries and publishers. So have I. We have strengthened our relationship with our existing gallery owners and art dealers. The slower pace of the exhibition this year has meant that we have had time and space to have deeper conversations with visitors. The feedback on my new small originals has been extremely good. I have two new distribution offers, an overseas lead that has been poised for years seems to be going ahead, and I have been approached by a very interesting new publisher.
Crisis! What crisis?

4 Feb 2009

Wednesday was a bit busier again. So far the show has been very quiet on two days and moderately attended on the other two. Here is the second snow scene from yesterday.
This will be another candidate for a limited edition print to go with the previous one. I will be posting these later after I have completed the print, proof and publish process. You can see the prints so far here.. www.crabfish.com

3 Feb 2009

Another very quiet day as the country gets over 'new ice age' panic. So I painted another snow scene and a London diptych. [That is a pair of pictures side by side in common language, ... we arty folk have special names for things]. So that is three paintings which makes up for the day that I missed, and gives me a day in hand. Here is a picture of the whole booth with my companion artists Mike Embden and Kate Osborne. We share the costs and workload, but I am the only 'painting a day' madman with a self imposed schedule. Look how relaxed they are.

2 Feb 2009

Ye Gods! The radio and TV news is grim. London has been cut off by thousand feet snowdrifts and avalanches. The whole of the southern England is buried deep in blizzard conditions. No-one is allowed to leave home, all work is cancelled and all schools and hospitals are closed.
Actually it snowed overnight and it looks very pretty outside. There was indeed an 18 year record of snowfall in the south-east and even though we all knew that it was coming the roads have become blocked and trains and buses cancelled. So Monday which is usually a very busy day at the SF was very quiet. Visitors from the north were OK and London visitors who stayed over from Sunday were OK. So I painted a snow scene inspired by the 25 minute journey in from our Bed and Breakfast. Then sold it straight away with delivery after the show. [note the red dot :-)]. I will make a limited edition print of this one because everybody liked it as a souvenir of the day that the UK ground to a halt.

1st Feb 2009

Dire warnings of imminent bad weather and the credit crunch have affected visitor numbers to the opening day. I managed to paint a London scene from my memory bank. There was some very flattering comments from gallery owners and I made several sales from the collection of small paintings. Note the red shoes, which were new and a bit tight. All part of the self sacrifice and pain that goes with professionalism in the art world.

31 Jan 2009

Saturday morning, load car with exhibits for International Spring Fair at NEC Birmingham UK, drive to Birmingham, set up exhibition, collapse exhausted at B&B. No time to do a painting so I will have to make it up tomorrow when the Fair opens and I exhibit and demonstrate 'a painting a day'. This picture shows my part of the booth with sketching easel ready for the rush of visitors when the show opens at 9am on Sunday morning. The two big Venice pictures are prints on canvas of new images from last year. All the small paintings are originals, most have appeared on this blog during January.