A note about the Gecko paintings

I feel I should explain here that with these three I am returning to my dreamtime theme and these were painted as a triptych. Of course I can sell them separately, but they will always be linked.

Day 17 Blue Murtoa

Mounted and backed ready to frame. 15 x 15 cm acrylic on canvas paper. Overall mounted size is 25 x 25 cm. Signed and dated with the day it was painted. £40 delivered.

Day 16 Green Murtoa

Mounted and backed ready to frame. 15 x 15 cm acrylic on canvas paper. Overall mounted size is 25 x 25 cm. Signed and dated with the day it was painted. £40 delivered.

Day 15 Black Murtoa

Mounted and backed ready to frame. 15 x 15 cm acrylic on canvas paper. Overall mounted size is 25 x 25 cm. Signed and dated with the day it was painted. £40 delivered.

Day 14 Red Garden

Mounted and backed ready to frame. 15 x 15 cm acrylic on canvas paper. Overall mounted size is 25 x 25 cm. Signed and dated with the day it was painted. £40 delivered.

Day 13 Blossom

Mounted and backed ready to frame. 15 x 15 cm acrylic on canvas paper. Overall mounted size is 25 x 25 cm. Signed and dated with the day it was painted. £40 delivered.

Day 12 Purple Orchid

Mounted and backed ready to frame. 15 x 15 cm acrylic on canvas paper. Overall mounted size is 25 x 25 cm. Signed and dated with the day it was painted. £40 delivered.

Day 11 (back into it)

Mounted and backed ready to frame. 15 x 15 cm acrylic on canvas paper. Overall mounted size is 25 x 25 cm. Signed and dated with the day it was painted. £40 delivered.

Catching up

I have some more paintings to show you. But it won't be till later as I am in bed poorly with the laptop for company.

So now would be a good time to tell you about the Saatchi.

'My Soul to Keep' is currently highly ranked in the Saatchi Online Gallery Showdown.
Basically, the Saatchi Gallery invites artists to submit images of their work and website vistors from all over the world review and rank the paintings.

Voting takes place for a week then the 2 highest ranking enter a 'showdown' where one is chosen by vote. Each of the showdown winners (they happen every 2 weeks) will exhibit in the new Saatchi Gallery in London when it opens early next year (massive massive Art World event).
The standard is extremely high and so you can imagine I am thrilled that the painting is doing so well ..in fact voting opened on Monday and already it has over 1000 votes.

You can link to it here:
http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/showdown/index.php?showpic=96889

Its quite exciting seeing how the rankings go and the voting will end midnight on Sunday. Fingers crossed!!

Art Posters

PictureDreams has teamed up with the printer Picture Lizard.
You can now order art prints, posters and other photo gifts online
with replicas of some of my paintings.

Click here:
http://www.picturelizard.co.uk/community.php?g2_itemId=1241

To see the gallery and place orders

Thanks for looking

Sue x

Day 10 Temptation

Mounted and backed ready to frame. 15 x 15 cm acrylic on canvas paper. Overall mounted size is 25 x 25 cm. Signed and dated with the day it was painted. £40 delivered.

Sneak Preview

These are going to be added to the main website soon, and numbers are limited so if you would like to order anything before they go on general sale, please email me at suecook@picturedreams.co.uk

I have had printed a limited edition of 10 magnets each in four of my designs. Perfect stocking filler or to brighten up your kitchen or workspace! They measure 14.5 x 11 cm and are glossed, flexible and just £2.50 each including postage.

You can choose from (R to L) 'Heaven', 'Pink Poppies', 'Joy' and 'SunSeekers'.

Day 9 Rising Sun

This one needs a little touching up top left (I smudged it on the scanner in my haste). So I'll be doing that this afternoon.Mounted and backed ready to frame. 15 x 15 cm acrylic on canvas paper. Overall mounted size is 25 x 25 cm. Signed and dated with the day it was painted. £40 delivered.

Starving artist post

Did I mention these are for sale as part of my 'Painting Each Day' series. I will be picking the 8 best so far to go in an exhibition in a couple of weeks, so early birds will catch the worms :-)

Each one is signed and dated with the day it was conceived and painted.

To be honest, I am desperate for some more big canvases for my dreamtime series of paintings as (fingers crossed) I could get some gallery interest...so I need some funds for materials.

So .....roll up roll up and get a completely unique and one-off Christmas gift or just to treat yourself, as I won't be repeating any of these. ..........and......Think how much they'll be worth when I peg it. :-)

Day 8 Daisies

Mounted and backed ready to frame. 15 x 15 cm acrylic on canvas paper. Overall mounted size is 25 x 25 cm. £40 delivered.

Day 7 Fire Tulip

Mounted and backed ready to frame. 15 x 15 cm acrylic on canvas paper. Overall mounted size is 25 x 25 cm. £40 delivered.

Day 6 Gerbera

Mounted and backed ready to frame. 15 x 15 cm acrylic on canvas paper. Overall mounted size 25 x 25 cm. £40 delivered.

Day 5 Rose

Mounted and backed ready to frame. 15 x 15 cm acrylic on canvas paper. Overall mounted size 25 x 25 cm. £40 delivered.

Day 4 Chrysanthamum

Mounted and backed ready to frame. 15 x 15 cm acrylic on canvas paper. Overall mounted size 25 x 25 cm. £40 delivered.

Day 3

What on earth possessed me? This is harder than it looks. Especially when you have young kids rampaging the house.

This is Day 3. Red Gerbera. 15 x 15 cm acrylic on canvas paper, mounted (25 x 25 cm) and backed ready to frame £40.

Gerbera, next to lilies, are one of my favourite flowers. I find them fascinating...the shape, the imperfect symmetry. and their dogged determination to survive in the harshest of conditions.

Painting a day (2)

Willow. 15 x 15 cm painting, mounted (25 cm x 25 cm) and ready to frame. £40 SOLD

Painting in a day (1)

Tempted as I am to post more pics of cha-cha heels and frivilous goings-on, its high time I knuckled down in the studio again, as November is slipping by alarmingly fast.

For this month, I have given myself the target of a new painting every day.
On canvas paper, 15 x 15 cm approx.

I shall be selling with mounts for £40 including delivery. Early birds should email me their orders.

Today is Wednesday and I was in animal mood: Leopard Lily

All that and a bag of chips....

Opening night for the MyArtSpace show at the McCormack Gallery, New York. A bijou room in the heart of NY art scene, hosted by MyArtSpace, and attended by a very eclectic mix of people. We made the most godawful noise on the industrially themed stairwell with our cha-cha heels, and were significantly overdressed for the occasion which was utterly and gloriously fabulous daahlinks.

From the left, Meghan and Kelly my gorgeous nieces, Leigh their brilliant mum (and have to say a natural art critic), Paul (my escort for the evening) and yours truly.

It started at 3.30 in the afternoon when the limo arrived. Getting into the limo in cha-cha heels and a short skirt was accomplished without too much shoving and we were on our way.

Needless to say we arrived in some considerable style.

We deemed it necessary to dress Simon (my brother-in-law) as my investor and Paul (aka OiBoy) was instructed to walk 3 feet behind me at all times to hand out cards...which he did....indubitably so.

I should explain at this point that our key phrases for the evening schmoozing with the NY art crowd were 'indubitably' and 'I concur'.....

It was really brilliant to catch up with fellow MyArtSpace winners and friends from 2006, and I can honestly say when I walked into the room for the first time I was truly speechless. I was also lucky enough to meet some truly decent (and for the art scene, comfortingly normal) people. Brian and Luke I hope our paths cross again.


I couldn't take photos in there (it wasn't appropriate) as there was a photographer, but I am promised copies of the photos so I'll post them here as soon as he gets back to Texas.


No visit to an art show opening is complete without the party afterwards and family member attempts at installation pieces. Its a work in progress.

The Jewel of the Forest

16 Hours of non-stop painting through the night. This is the finished result 9.30 am this morning. It was safely delivered to the Said Business School Gallery. Now all I can do is wait to see what happens. The opening of the show is Saturday October 20th so I guess I'll know by then. I am now in dire need of some new filberts as I seem to have managed to ruin every one I owned. Oh to have an art supplies sponsor!! :-)

Long time no blog

Chez Cook has been a household of lurgy of late so I haven't had much time to post.
Little M is off school today and whilst she's been busy painting in the living room, I've sneaked a canvas into the kitchen to work on.

This is it so far.
Its a continuation of the Murtoa Dreaming series and I am hoping to enter it for the Oxford Art Society Open Exhibition this week....(some late nights ahead me thinks).

I've been lucky enough to have work accepted by the Venus Gallery in Henley, and my canvases are alsoin the restaurant at the Jam Factory and will be in their November exhibition and auction.

My BIGGEST news however, is that I am off to New York at the end of this month to take part in an Exhibition in a gallery there. The opening night is November 1st and I am incredibly excited and a little bit scared at the same time. I guess its common to be filled with self-doubt when you know NY Times critics are going to be present, but I am consoling myself with the prospect of buying a new dress for the occasion. (How shallow am I?)

More dreamtime

Early days yet. This one is going to tell the story of the sea turtle.

Jam Factory

Following the Oxford Arts Festival last weekend, my work has moved to the restaurant of the Jam Factory.

This is a buzzing gallery/bar/restaurant where all sorts of people feel welcome to hang out. The owners are behind Aargt! I strongly recommend you take a look at their website,

Aarght! exists to help established and new artists, to help art lovers find and buy new artwork, discover new artists and introduce new faces to arts culture. Anyone is welcome to join and its free!

Opening night photos

Oxford Visual Arts Festival 2007. The Jam Factory

Here are the paintings I am showing this year. Its opening night tonight so I should have some with people in tomorrow!

Murtoa Dreaming

The gecko (Aboriginal Murtoa) represents adaptability, regeneration, strength and survival. Its lesson to us, is to make the best of a situation. In order to survive, one needs to be able to adapt, regenerate strength and go on, like the Gecko.

Acrylic on canvas. 40 x 40 inches. £520

Back to Black

Portait of a marriage. Fragility and strength.

Acrylic on canvas 30 x 48 inches £375

Joy I

The first of a series of large canvases using exotic colour and movement to represent two lovers beguiled.

Acylic on canvas 24 x 36 inches £450

Temptation

Dramatic colour and flowing lines to entice the viewer into the very core of the picture

Acrylic on canvas 24 x 24 inches £275

Hide

Beauty and pain

Acrylic on canvas triptych each panel 12 x 24 inches £225

Old Tulip

Falling red tulip capturing in a moment, beauty once cherished now diminished.

Acrylic on canvas 30 x 30 inches £400

Magenta Poppies

Celebrating the vibrancy and beauty of poppies.

Acrylic on canvas 24 x 36 inches £345

Hanging time

Been up since 6 am finishing 'Temptation' and all afternoon at the Jam Factory hanging the canvases....good job I packed my hammer!



Slide show of the paintings and details to follow :-)

Look what happens when you give a 3 year old your camera...

Maddy has been building up a little portfolio of her own. Thought I would share. She takes a better picture than me!!