I'm still here!

It's been a while since I posted on this blog so I thought I'd let you know I'm still here! I had a couple of weeks off and then worked on a large commission which I'm still waiting to hear from the client about but once that's sorted, I will post it on here.

Meanwhile, I have a couple of open studio weekends coming up on 11 & 12 July and 18 & 19 July which I have to get organised for. I've decided to do all the mounting of my prints myself this time to save money, but sadly it's a long and tricky job, plus I have a lot of printing of fliers, marketing material etc to get sorted. I have previously had a company to do the printing of my fliers but I currently can't afford to do so, so am desperately seeking decent paper to print them out on. If any artists out there have suggestions for paper or card for fliers, please let me know!

My open studio isn't actually going to take place in my studio however. I'm going to be putting up my tradestand tent outside the front of my house. This will make it more noticeable to passing traffic plus my 'studio' is infact our spare bedroom so we're not too keen on having strangers wandering through our house! I will be working on a painting during the weekend though, so you can still see me at work and feel free in asking any questions. Fingers crossed the weather stays dry, and if it's sunny I might forego painting for sitting outside the tent on my sun lounger!!

Oliver Townend Painting Finished

I managed to get the painting finished today and I'm very pleased with the outcome. I've never painted this kind of action painting before and really enjoyed it so hope to do more in the future. If anyone can see anything I've missed, please let me know as I tend to go a bit cross eyed by the end of paintings. And any other comments are always appreciated. Fingers crossed for getting it into the exhibition now! And also fingers crossed I can afford to get my paintings framed....

Oliver Townend

I've made a start on the final stage - the tack. It's when I start to paint in the final areas that I can see bits that need tweaking, such as areas that haven't enough shading.

Oliver Townend

Here's todays update. I'm really pleased with my progress, having nearly finished Flint with just his head and then all the detail such as veins etc to put in. Then it's on to the tack which ties the whole painting together.

The photo I've taken of the painting doesn't quite show the colour as strong as it is in real life but I don't tend to worry too much about getting a good photo until I've finished the painting. I was also a bit handicapped when taking this photo because one of my cats had perched herself on my shoulders!! Not helpful.

Oliver Townend

Here's my latest update on the Oliver Townend painting. I'm still not entirely sure I'm happy with the background, mainly due to my aversion of putting in backgrounds, but it is making Oliver stand out quite nicely and I'm also pleased at how much I've managed today, after the last painting taking me so long! I've three days left to work on this painting so please keep everything crossed for me that I manage it!

Racing Painting Finished and Next One Started!

I've finally finished! I'm pretty happy with the painting but it's so different for me compared to the type of paintings I normally produce that it's taking me a while to get completely used to it. I can't wait to get it framed though because that's when paintings look like proper paintings to me.

I've also made a start on my next painting for the exhibition. It was taken at Badminton this year and is of the winner Oliver Townend on Flint Curtis. The photo was sadly not taken by me, with my photos turning out to be unusable, but instead taken by Richard Yarnell who is the boyfriend of a friend and happens to take fantastic photos and has kindly given me this image to use. The detail in the photo is incredible and as you might have gathered, I love detail but let's hope I don't get too bogged down in it and let this painting take me ages to do! I also normally prefer not to do backgrounds as I find them really tricky to do but I don't think this painting would work without the background to give it grounding. Although I'm not sure if my background has turned out that well so I might change my mind and paint it out!!

Racing Painting

So very nearly there!! After yet another full day working on the painting, I still haven't quite got it finished but it's very close to the end. Just the mane and jockey left to go. Today was bridle detail day and I decided to change the bridle as on the original photo, there was a fleece cover over the cheek piece which I found quite distracting so I've painted it without. I really struggle to paint things that I can't see so it's taken a lot of looking at other photos to get a picture in my head and to also make sure I get it right. If anyone notices anything glaringly wrong, please let me know!!