Trick or Treat

I was busy carving pumpkins today. Did you know that they are technically a berry? Didn't feel like it whilst I was hacking away with what is now a blunt bread knife trying to get the tops off.....anyway I digress......

The doorbell rang and the postie delivered a mysterious parcel...all the way from Illinois. I should explain that I have joined the Society of Secret Fairies or SOSF for their Autumn Gift exchange.
Its a lovely idea. You are matched with a fellow blogger and the idea is to gather lots of unusual and tempting goodies to make up a surprise box to send.

My Secret Fairy is Sarah. And my secret box was a cornucopia of Halloween goodies. What a lovely treat.

There were stickers (which Maddy immediately swept off with), skeletons (now adorning James' bedroom), notelets, pen, notebook, incense, smellies, special halloween socks and a fine pair of halloween oven gloves, and some very exotic looking chocolate (chillie flavoured no less...I shall be enjoying some of that when the kids are in bed later). And a lovely card.


Thank you so much Sarah. Your parcel brought a real smile to my day...and watch out for that postman.

Sketching

The other weekend, I took my children, my face paints, and my sketchbook to a huge rambling manor house to meet up with 20 odd like minded adults and goodness knows how many children for a weekend of mayhem, mud and roughing it in the dorms. The kids loved it. So did I. Albeit chaotic. Quite a few times I found myself creeping off to the TV lounge where the children were entranced with the likes of Bottletop Bill and The Sound of Music and attempted to get their for once still expressions before they shifted to the kitchen for more chocolate biscuits.

I don't usually 'do' many portraits. Although I did paint Maddy one time when she had shorter hair....

Portraits are (in my mind) the hardest to paint. Not only do they have to look like the person you are painting, but they have to look like the person they think they look like....self-image is a complicated animal.

My new friend and fellow artspace winner Ilona is a master at painting portraits, you should check out her work..

Been busy with the Red

Hello. Its been a while. I've been busy in the studio these past few weeks preparing some new work.

I thought I'd share some with you.

This one is a triptych variation of the Old Tulip. I love this red. Its one of my favourite colours. Colours affect my mood and this particular blend of red always lifts my spirits.


And here is a little adventure into Cubism. These are 'paintlets' as I call them. When I have a commission, I paint out ideas in miniature (well, about 20 cm x 20 cm) and these two are hot off the easel.


Both are after the style of the Cubist masters: Picasso and Braque. What do you think?

They are going to be on big canvases when completed.

I adore painting huge canvases, there is something very liberating about the whole process. It must be the sense of freedom you have with big brush strokes. I can recommend it to anyone - fabulous for clearing the cobwebs.

I am really looking forward to working on these.........