This weekend I am going to be painting at my easel at home in Melton Mowbray. This time of year here in Britain it can be pretty dark and damp, but we Brits don’t get too down about it, if we’re not booking our hols somewhere hot we are dreaming about what we will do once a tiny touch of sun starts to tentatively appear in the winter grey

I have been having a go at Pyrography this week. This means using a hot tool similar to a soldering iron to burn an image on to wood. It’s also really fun and warms you up!!
I will also be adding to my paintings in bold bright colours.

Inspiration in pastels - this imaginary beach scene should see me through the bleak January days!

Hi everyone,
Painting at my stand this weekend was really nice as I have been busy teaching adult learners for a while and was starting to wonder if I should give up on the portraits
For now though I can carry on, but in September things will be busy again with teaching. So I may be able to change my focus and have more options to pick and choose what I paint.

I am letting this loveable little chap dry back now, after working on him on Saturday in oils.
Looking forward to maybe adding to my prints this week and making some new cards to sell.
I will post them for you here with an exciting free offer for you
Soon!

Lastly, some of my art group members are so talented I had to post this. We have been working on water colours and oils recently - their cloud paintings are fab!

This is a lovely little cat which I am going to be working on today in oils - just a little painting which will be ready for the weekend - see the results, here, later in the week where I will also be publishing my other commissions...

So Hi, here we are in May and what a busy time I’ve been having with commissions still coming in and lots of teaching fun too all over Leicestershire meeting lots of lovely people who share a passion for their art. Juggling the two has been much easier than I expected, but with so much to do it’s been a while since I have been blogging! Let’s start with a few picks of my most recent paintings and a little of the paintings in my art groups.

This is Barney I was able to have a little artistic freedom with the background and loved playing with the colours here. Always accurate with Barney’s spots though- the owner was very happy with it.
Next l painted a big bear like Newfoundland I think some of the colours from the previous painting crept into it.
Followed by a Labrador sadly I was unfortunate to make a mistake while quoting for that one and forfeited the price by £20 (my mistake) and not a very nice customer for refusing to accept paying anymore for it, mean cow!
A couple of lovely little cats portraits followed on with cats doing what cats do best and finally a couple of contrasting German Shepherds Zack and Bear with some lovely colours.
See what you think!

Really great fun meeting Julia who is a very talented artist she just needed a little advice on painting fur and adding the finishing touches to her pet portrait.

Christine busy on a lovely pen and wash drawing.

A student portrait shows how to transfer a photo to a canvas using a grid to copy accurately.

At last finished! A real labour of love for this talented lady I could see she really loved escaping into this lovely scene of a beautiful view painted in acrylics.

I have been busy with some really lovely commissions lately which people will be wrapping up for Christmas. The above is a case in point. The red works really well with the black and white in the painting. I put the two pets together for the client. Something which I often do so I can make it look quite natural for you too if that’s the effect you’re looking for.

Love paintings of sausage dogs! My portrait of Archie here went down well with his owner. It’s got a nice summertime feeling.

This image of Kim was kind of different. Kim was around about 30 years ago and you can see how even working from a very old photo I can ge quite an awesome result!

Lastly for now this is maybe cat overdosing but my client wanted to surprise her lovely sister with portraits of all her cats on one canvas. So with a bit of artistic license I have arranged them together like one big happy feline family!

Hi you lovely people isn’t the weather brilliant at the moment had to hit the beach to dabble our feet in the old briney this week before it all goes again!
That’s not to say I haven’t been splashing a bit of paint around at home I’ve had a couple of smashing commissions and sold a few of my paintings too! Brilliant!

This is Roscoe a lovely little chap on display at my pop up shop.

Handsome Glen (£89.99) in his frame which Is £30 just to give you an idea of how ridiculously cheap I am!

Just for a change and because one of my VIP customers asked me I also had a go at painting some flowers recently. Blow me if it didn’t sell immediately! I love painting seasonal flowers so you may be seeing a few more in future.

Another one that I didn’t really want to say goodbye to was Duke, but I have sold this painting to his lovely owner as a surprise Father’s Day prezzy. It a real beaut.

Anyway back to the beach... next time paintings of hares and a Great Dane to show you. Have fun with your art everyone x

Today I had a lovely day painting meeting customers and hearing all your doggy and puddycat news.

So here’s the cute little fella I started today and following from there are a few others which have been fun to do over the past few weeks. I hope you are feeling fine dear reader and enjoying the summer sun and all the things that make you happy.

This next one was really fun and is based on my old cat Riz who loved flowers and the garden in summer.

Next is a lovely old boy another Collie who looks lovely out in the fields enjoying himself.

Hi everyone! This is the framed portrait of Lightning which I painted for a lovely lady at Christmas as a gift for her sister. I am so glad she is happy with it. I love painting horses. Oil paint seems to really capture their colours.

This weekend l painted a little portrait of Mr fox- the only way to enjoy fur is to admire it on the beautiful creature it comes from. I am slightly in love with foxes!

Another painting I have just about finished is this one it’s still wet, I like the way you can really see his profile.
Well time for me to get back to my easel bye for now x

It’s nice to think of the summer days at this chilly time of year. When we can get out there for walkies without first pulling on layers of clothes. Hopefully these little faces will warm you up! These are some of my most recent portraits enjoy.