13 May 2009 Second thoughts, and second opinions.

In the cold cruel light of day, especially the day after, I am having second thoughts about the painting on yesterday's blog.

The folk who watched me paint the City Skyline picture were very complimentary, and I was pleased when I got it home, and when I posted the picture and told the story on the blog.

BUT, I am not so happy with it now.
It seems a bit over fussy and complex for a small 8"x10" painting. There is too much squeezed into it.
Also the colour is a bit drab, and although reasonably true to the actual scene, I feel dissapointed that it doesn't convey the excitement of the truly spectacular view across the Thames.

So, shall I work on this painting and simplify it, adding colour and contrast etc to get it right?
Or, shall I sigh and shrug and paint over it?
Or shall I bite the bullet, stay excited by the potential of such a super view, and re-do onto a bigger more suitable size canvas in my studio?

Your opinion would be greatly valued.
Please will you click on the comment link below and let me know what you think.

12 May 2009 City of London

I went up to London to deliver pictures and visit a couple of the galleries that sell my work.
And, met up with an old buddy Martin Aynscomb Harris who has been an inspiration since early years. I used to admire his work in Heals Gallery in Tottenham Court Road when I was just starting out as a professional artist. Then our paths began to cross through mutal dealerships.
Now, forty plus years on, we are often shown by the same galleries in London.
We met by chance, had a drink together, and talked about trade stuff and the price of fish etc.
It took time, and was great fun.
So I didn't actually get into paint-a-picture mode until quite late in the afternoon.
It was windy and so I hunkered down in the lee of Tower Bridge and painted this view of the City of London skyline across the Thames.
8"x10" acrylic on canvas board.

11 May 2009 Hot stuff!

Here is another little [6"x8" on canvas] kitchen painting.
The lemon pieces were left over from todays lunch.
Smoked salmon and home grown hot green leaf salad.
I bought the chillie this morning from a local turkish food store.
This is where I usually find the best big fat garlic bulbs, and the chewy bread that I painted a couple of days ago.
Then I saw a single bright red scotch bonnet among a tray of green ones.
Such a bright inviting colour .... but.
The scotch bonnet chillie is a dangerous thing.
This one will go into tomorrows dinner!

10 May 2009 Cheese

The second day of the second weekend during the Open House month, and Shyama and I were holding fort on our own because Fran was away at a wedding.
Jeremy Sales who won our prize draw on 3rd May came along with his wife and chose to take a free print of Shyama's 'Looking Up'. [see picture].


Meanwhile I started a second still life in the kitchen, [see picture two], but it wasn't finished by the time we opened the doors at 11 am, so it remained on the table for most of the day. I grabbed opportunities between visitors to do a bit more here and there.


Finally finished it about 4 pm, then ate the cheese, tomato, and olive. The bread had gone hard.

The winner of the prize draw was Kate Lewis, from Lewes.

9 May 2009 Kitchen Table

Yesterdays winner in our Artists Open House prize draw was Vanessa Cooper from Brighton.

Four other things came together yesterday.
1. An email from The Flint Gallery in Norfolk asked me to take part in a future exhibition featuring still lives. "Had I got any still lives?"
2. Fran is away for a family wedding up country leaving me on my own to amuse myself overnight .
3. During yesterdays busy Open House I had been grabbing snacks from the kitchen without putting away the bread after me. The loaf shape was intriguing.
4. My new pochade is a mini-studio, and could be got at quickly.

So, after yesterdays visitors went home, and I had popped round to see a couple of other exhibitions in the evening, I just thought that I wanted to paint this picture.
So I did. It is a 6"x8" canvas.
What fun! Ain't life great?

8 May 2009 The shrinking small world.

One of my enjoyable tasks as Master of The Fine Art Trade Guild is to sign membership certificates. Yesterday I did this for new members in Bejing China, and Queensland Australia.
Then my email auto robot told me that I had sold a copy of my e-book 'How to Make a Living as an Artist' to an aspiring artist in Florida USA.
To cap all that I received an order from our website for 'Busy River', one of my London Gold limited edition prints. The order came from The Cayman Islands. We printed, certificated, and sent it same day. [See picture.]
I have never visited Bejing, Queensland, Florida, or Grand Cayman, and I dont really know where The Cayman Islands are! So how did all that happen?
The mind is obliged to boggle at the speed and scope of modern international business.
How could we have explained all this to our grandparents?

7 May 2009 Card Spinner

Today I am going to introduce you to our card spinner.
One of the most effective assets that an artist can have during the month of 'Open Houses'.
Our ' handmade' cards are a super product that visitors really crave.
We sell them for £3 each, or 4 for £10.
The cards featuring Trevor the Cat are always a winner during Open House.
But we found that our stocks of popular images had run right down after last weekend.
Panic!

So Tuesday morning I asked Philip, our local printer from The Brighton Print Centre, to help us out.
I am prompted to write about this, because good old Philip, has delivered more card blanks right on time.
The cards are not actually blank, because Philip prints the back of the card with a monochrome mugshot, potted biography, and contact details. We create the 3"x4" giclee image and stick it onto the front.
Philip's prompt delivery means that we can now print more giclee prints, stick 'em to the blank cards, sign them, put together cards and envelopes, stuff the clear bags, and stick on sticky lables, so that we can top up the spinner after last weekends sales.
Ready for the coming weekend.