I have decided that this is now finished so it will go into the gallery.  I think it has about 10 layers on it.  The only colours used in the end were Sap Green, Titanium White, Naples yellow, lamp black and raw umber for the background.  The painting is actually very flat as I have a very bad habit of not showing any brush marks at all.  How strange because all of my very favourite artists always show their brush marks.  I think I will be taking this with me when I am at Art On The Railings at The Newbold Comyn Arms on 30 May 2010.

 

I've started yet another flower painting, I think it might be the last but who knows.  This is just the underpainting at the moment as I only started it yesterday.  The colours I am using are titanium white and lamp black with background of raw umber and the bit in the middle is raw umber too.  I love these flowers, when my father died I had the whole wreath made of these so they mean something to me too.  I have also put a couple more coats on to the other one which is below.  I have introduced a small amount of yellow to the lower half of the flower on that one.

 

Just finished Charlie, this is oil on canvas 16"x20".

 

Forgot to add this one yesterday, this is the start of a painting of a dog I know called Oscar, he is a Tibetan Terrier. All I have to do on this now is the eye and add some more more white layers around the nose.  Then I will put his name on his label.

Today I have just added another layer of white and put some more paint on to the background.  I had a bit of an accident too, I had the raw umber paint too thin and I managed to get it running right through the white of the flower, so had to remove that, think it will be ok.  I will carry on eith layers of white until it has the right depth and then will start to add just a little yellowy white to the lower part of the flower.

I have got a small amount of work done today.  In fact I was almost late for the AGM of Coventry and Warwickshire Society of Artists.  Got a little tale to tell about that too, I rushed out of the house forgetting to check where exactly the venue was but when I arrived in the village I saw a few cars arriving at the school so I thought, "that's where it is", parked up and went inside.  It was all set up for someone's birthday party so I had to back out the door with great haste.  Finally found where it was, I have been nominated as the publicity person so, here is the link to CWSA as we need lots of new artists to come and join us.  It was the best thing that I did last year, paid my £12 for a whole year's membership and I ended up exhibiting a few times.  Got lots of lovely feedback and met some really brilliant people.  They are celebrating their centenary in 2012 and have been given space at The Herbert Gallery in Coventry to hold a huge exhibition so it's worth joining just to be a part of that, me thinks.

Anyway back to today's work, I have been building up the layers on this Calla/Arum Lilly that I have been doing.  Still using monotone on the flower bit but have managed to start laying colour on to the stem.  Colours I am using are titanium white, lamp black and sap green.

 

 

Yes I've started yet another one, the others are still too wet to work on.  This is of a Calla or Arum Lilly.  This again is just an underpainting and will now have layer upon layer of white added until it gets to the right colour.  I have just started this with raw umber and titanium beige.  I haven't done any flowers before so this is a bit of a challenge, still trying to find where I want to be although I do quite like doing all of these different things.

I have also been working on the others but I will only put the dog on here today (see below).  Colours used for the dog are raw umber (a favourite of mine), yellow ochre, titanium white and burnt umber.

 

You guessed it!  I've started another one, I now have five on the go at once, hopefully I'll get them all finished.  This one is of a very regal King Charles Spaniel who has an eye problem (they look in different directions) but I think he's a lovely dog so I will carry on and hopefully put his character into the painting.  Still on going with the others too so might have an update on those in the next couple of days. 

Saturday I took three paintings over to The Herbert Gallery in Coventry and, I'm keeping everything crossed that they get into the exhibition.  All I can say is that there were a LOT of artworks going in there and the quality looked awesome so I'm not sure at this stage.  I will let you know later this week, if you dont hear then it was a no and I shall be too grumpy to say, lol!

 

Well today all I have been doing is tidying up previously shown paintings so I wont bore you with putting them on here again. The dog painting called Scruff has got a thick tuft of fur over one of his eyes and this had got very muddy, so I had to leave it to dry and today I was able to start going over it again.  My Homage To Tim Burton is just being tidied up and darkened a little more.  Actually I think I will bore you and put both of them on here. That took some doing, the pictures are below, at least I think they are you never can tell with this!

I have got some other news, I said last week that I had put a painting into Saatchi Online Gallery Showdown for a laugh.  Well that painting got 1031 votes, I was gobsmacked to say the least, 1031 different people who took the trouble to click on my painting and vote. So I've entered another one now which starts of 22 March. lets see how it goes.

At the end of this week I have to take 3 paintings over to The Herbert Gallery in Coventry, West Midlands (UK).  From that I am shooting all over the county with different paintings, I hope I end up taking them to the right places.  I will post pictures of where they. 

PS: I can't find out how to answer comments so Spiketail35, thank you for that lovely comment, it's much appreciated.

I think he's done now although I might black his pupils a little more I'll see how I feel tomorrow.  This is oil on canvas and only 16"x12".