This month I have been working on a pair of large (30 x 40cm) watercolour portraits of my children.  Earlier this year they both had new passports which gave me the idea of very plain portraits - just full face and unadorned by the tricks of pose, expression, lighting, props or background.  The portrait of my daughter (left) might be finished, or it might not be.  I haven't decided yet.  I will come back to it after a while.
 

A new series of ACEOs (Art Cards) has been added to the site this month.  Each one is the eye of an animal or bird.  A new feature of the ACEO gallery is that purchases can now be made instantly online and there is also now free delivery anywhere in the world.

I was forced to take a two week break from painting at the beginning of this month as the intensive work in September had left me with inflamed tendons in my right hand and wrist - an industrial injury!  Fortunately I was able to pick up a paintbrush again in time to start the short autumn schedule of workshops which will continue into November.  New dates for 2009 have also been confirmed and are available for booking here.

Once I was painting again I was able to complete this piece which is based on kitchen garden produce from Burton Agnes Hall.  It started as a quick watercolour sketch I made during my time there and which was bought by a visitor to the Hall almost as soon as the paint was dry.  With more time and space at my disposal I decided to start afresh on a larger and more detailed version.  I enjoyed the challenge of achieving definition and a sense of form while using just one of colour.

This month has seen my tenure as Artist in Residence at Burton Agnes Hall near Driffield in the East Riding of Yorkshire.  I was made enormously welcome by all the estate staff in the house, gardens and shops and soon felt thoroughly at home.  I will really miss my studio in the summer house!

The surprisingly good weather (after the summer we have had this year who could have imagined we would be in t-shirts and sandals on the last weekend in September?) meant an unseasonably high volume of visitors and I enjoyed many interesting conversations with people who called in to watch the artist at work.

Having had such a good time at Burton Agnes I am absolutely delighted that I have been invited back next year and will be Artist in Residence again from 1 to 15 May 2009.  In the meantime two of my paintings will be on display (and available for purchase) in the Russian Room off the Long Gallery at the Hall.

After the last workshop of the summer season in early July, the rest of these two months have been an extended break taken up with visiting, travelling and entertaining houseguests so there is no new artwork to post in this update (a situation which will certainly have changed by the end of September when I will have spent nearly all month painting every day at Burton Agnes Hall as Artist in Residence! See Exhibitions for more details.)

Instead I am going to use a couple of shots taken at one of the Charles Reid workshops I ran last year (see 2007 News Archive).  July and August have seen the publication of the US and British editions of Charles' latest book, Charles Reid's Watercolour Solutions, and I was delighted to see two of the demonstration pieces he painted at Urchfont included in the book.  The pictures to the left show him working on the painting of two boys on a horse drawn cart which has been used to illustrate the 'Altering a Background' section.

At the very end of May I was asked by National Express Limited to paint the historic rail headquarters here in York, prior to the remaining staff moving out to new premises.  Working against the clock the painting was completed and framed in time for presentation at the celebratory evening on the last Friday of June.  It was both a challenge and a pleasure to paint this beautiful building which dates from the first years of the twentieth century.  The image in the painting is in fact one which can never be seen in real life as other buildings prevent the viewer being able to stand far enough away to be able to see all the frontage at once, or indeed to be able to see the roof windows and chimneys which can only be seen clearly from a vantage point on the nearby city walls.

The month ended with a weekend in Addingham.  These exhibitions organised by Original Art have become a regular fixture in the social calendar of a group of artists who have got to know each other very well over the internet and relish the chance to meet up in the flesh.  This weekend was no exception with artists from as far south as Buckinghamshire and as far north as Fife descending on this picturesque Dales village.  A great time was had by all.

A lot of time this month was spent in the preparations for our church's 150th anniversary celebrations.  The launch on the late May Bank Holiday weekend was a fete in and around the church which included stalls, games, refreshments and a display of arts and crafts from more than thirty local groups and individuals.  I had been asked to organise this last part and although I did sometimes wonder how I was ever going to be able to accommodate everyone's special requests I did manage to fit it all in and I think everyone was happy with the space allocated to them!  The day was a great success and the local paper reported more than 1,000 visitors.

There was a particularly successful and productive Portraits in Watercolour workshop this month: all five of the participants had chosen to attend for the full weekend and each one of them produced some exceptional work, despite having minimal, or even no, previous portraiture experience.

The latest work completed this month is this watercolour portrait, Mature Reflection, based on preparatory work made from life at the Charles Reid workshop last year.

We are now half way through the Spring/Summer workshop schedule and with (at the time of writing) only four places available across the remaining workshops it is time to publish the Autumn programme.  Dates will be posted here in early May.

This  month I am delighted to be associated with the latest CD release by Lullaby Babies.  These personalised, limited edition CDs are individually recorded incorporating the name and details of your own baby.  The latest issues feature one of my baby portraits, Sleeping Baby III, on the front cover of the CD case.  For more information on these lovely lullabies please visit lullaby-babies.co.uk.

A new addition to the gallery is this Celtic Shamrock - just in time for St Patrick's Day. It is a larger version of the design on a small ACEO (art card) I painted some time ago.  In response to several requests this piece is also available as a limited edition print.

I have some great follow-up news from the 'Take Three' exhibition held in November and December.  I am delighted to say that two of the pieces shown there by Mark Azopardi have subsequently been selected by the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours for their prestigious Annual Exhibition (Mall Galleries, London, 20 March - 5 April 2008).  Well done, Mark!

The first completed painting of the year is this portrait of a very well-known character in our local community, though it is rare to see him like this without his flat cap.  Geoff popped into the Village Meeting Room while I was working there one day to have a cup of tea and take shelter from the rain that was preventing him carrying out his street sweeping duties (a job very much appreciated by everyone as he keeps the village looking beautiful) - so I took the opportunity to fulfil the promise I had made months ago to paint a portrait to keep an eye on his wife when he's not there.