I have had to drop all the others for the time being and complete this commission.  It is the brother of a gentleman in Leamington, who died aged 19 during WWII.  The only image he had of him was an old sepia photograph so I have had to go from that.  The hat is also quite difficult and I am having to do some research to try to find out what it looks like.  The white things on the top there are the buttons that are on there, I would imagine they are brass but I will have to look for them.  Very sad, I have visited Ipres in Belgium where there are lots of war cemetaries and it is so sad to see all the ages of the men that died there, or should I say boys?  I started it yesterday and below is the monotone image that I did then.

This is what I got up at the weekend in Leamington Spa.  This was the first time that I had done anything like this and I thoroughly enjoyed the experience, so much so that I am going to do it again.  It was great to meet so many different people and lots of other artists.  Lots of my business cards were given out and I got three commissions, so it was really worth doing.  I think that all artists should have a go at it, much better than being holed up in the studio.  We were also really well looked after by Starbucks who brought us lots of coffee (for FREE!) and Strada kept coming out with plates of pizza and garlic bread.  Also the camaraderie between all the stall holders was very special and made such a lovely atmosphere.

I only gave myself a week's notice of doing this so wasn't best prepared and only had the original works to take.  On the Saturday I hadn't taken enough stuff with me to fill the whole stall so it was a little bit sparse, this was the picture that I took on the Sunday.  What I also didn't do was indicate on the paintings that they were the originals and, because they do not have any texture they do look like prints.  On the Sunday I wrote on the tickets that they were oils on canvas.  That made it look like I was the most expensive but it was a learning curve.

The next one will be on 24th September at Regent Court Shopping Centre, Livery St, Leamington Spa and I will be there too.  By the way, if you are an artist/photographer or sculptor and you are also interested in having a stall go to www.artstrail.co.uk and book up, the more the merrier.

I started this painting on Friday but was so distracted by something else I forgot to take pictures of it to put on here.  So here it is, it is going to be a plastic bag full of pears.  I have had to do the background before I put the bag on and that is why they are in strange positions.  I have used a lot more colours than normal in an attempt to get the skin of the pear to look right and the paint has almost been stippled on to them.  Sap green, yellow ochre, lemon yellow, titanium white all on the pears.
Below is the very start of the painting, I dont sketch

I have painted a "post it note" on to this painting, why I hear you ask?  It was too boring as it was so I've added a bit of fun.  I have deliberately painted the note on to the painting and not on to the breakfast because I want viewers to think that someone has stuck it on there.  I am looking for something to write on to it too, lots of ideas but I'll surprise you all tomorrow as that's when I hope it will be finished.  I have also painted some oily blobs on it but they are not very visible on the photo because they are so pale.

Wow, what a week I'm having, it's brilliant.  I went back to painting live at Gallery 150 yesterday, after a week's holiday, and found out that both of my paintings had sold.  I was also lucky enough to meet both of the buyers which made my day, week, fortnight, year!! I was so excited yesterday that I forgot to take a photo of the work that I had done, so ended up missing a day. 

I think I have almost finished this painting now, I have just got to mess it up a bit as it looks a bit to pristine.  So expect some blobs of fat and bits of tomatoe and juice around it.  I am also struggling a bit with the bacon so have returned it to the start (it looks a bit raw at the moment).  I think this is about it's 5th layer now.  It is also quite a lot bigger than I normally do and that might be why it's taking me longer. 

It's starting to get there now but still got a couple more layers of colour to add.  I'm thinking of doing a gingham table cloth behind the plate at the moment, just to make a change from the dark background.

Colours that I am using are: yellow ochre, burnt umber, raw umber, cadium red (hue), alzarin crimson (bacon) and titanium white.

Once again I had a lovely day painting at Gallery 150, Leamington Spa.  I really enjoy doing it and meeting so many different, lovely people that come in. 
I have started to add colour to the food now and this is the first layer done (only half of the bacon is done at the moment though).  The mushrooms are all wrong but I will have another go at them tomorrow.  I might have to add a slice of black pudding aswell as there is a gap which is a bit too big on the plate.  I had to go and buy a tomato today because I couldn't remember exactly what they looked like, thought it was too hard to do so turned one of them over then managed to get the second one looking like it should anyway.  My favourite bit at the moment is the puddle of tomato ketchup.

I had to carry this, on it's plate, all the way through Leamington to the gallery today, what a mess by the time I arrived there.  Beans were everywhere, my egg had broken and got followed by a couple of dogs (the animal variety I might add).  Still I got there and was able to sort it all out.  On this there are 2 mushrooms, 2 halves of tomato, 2 sausages, 1 piece of bacon (not so keen on that), 1 fried egg and some beans.  This is just the underpainting, it will be coloured later.  I have also got to sort out the plate, I must remember to buy some masking fluid this time. 

Another thing that I had to do today, under durress from the Gerry Smith of the gallery 150, was sit outside and paint "plein air".  Never ever done that before but it turned out all ok.  I think I have to thank Gerry Smith for making me step into the unknown, each time I do it another milestone has been achieved, I feel more able to work in public and my confidence is raised more and more. 

My latest offering and the one that I started work on in Gallery 150 on Friday.  I also was in Torquay from Friday evening until Monday evening so it hasn't taken as long as it might first seem.  I like the berries but I dont like anything else on it.

I started as I always do with the raw umber and titanium white underpainting until I thought that the depth was right.  Now I have added the first layer of colour.  I have used cadium red (hue) which is a very bright red, almost orange really.  I was going to use one of the crimsons but that didn't look quite right. 

What's the nicest thing about working in the gallery?  It's meeting the people that come through the door, I already met lots of new people since I started doing this a couple of weeks ago.  Today was really busy right from when the doors were first opened. 
I didn't get very much done today, only managing to put another layer on the one side.  Some people see other things in this painting that I haven't.  Some see a footballer with his arm outstretched, others see a profile and others see the continent of Africa (or America it was one or the other).  I think that's brilliant I like it when that happens.  Hope you all had a good day today, it's been a very hot one here.
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