Trying The Brigardier-Water Buffalo Painting in situ
When a lovely local family purchased my large bear painting recently, I was delighted when they sent me some photographs of him hanging up in his rightful spot at the top of the stairs. I was inspired to try ‘The Brigardier’ in some bigger lobby and corridor settings, via the Artplacer App . This app also lets you try my paintings in your own space viw augmented-reality . Ill place a link on The Brigardiers page here so you can try him for size using your smartphone!
Another painting from Pit Prop Woods
This woodland is a stone’s throw from our house. It feels quite magical and has quite a history. Originally planted as part of the local mining industry, the trees were grown to provide pit props to use down the mines. There are humps and hillocks which is where spare earth was dumped. The woods received a community grant about 10 years ago which has been used to make the walkways safe, clear some pathways, and create a nice little children’s play area complete with a fairy ring of toadstools to sit on. There is a wetland area that is thriving with wildlife, a butterfly bank that is beginning to become established, and areas of fallen and cleared wood which has been left for the wildlife to make use of. I have spotted a fox creeping around here in the early morning, many, many squirrels and birds. There is a woodpecker who I usually hear but have yet to see. It’s a really lovely area to visit and is typical of the National Forest regeneration project. I am going to make a series of paintings from this little wood.
Forest Sunlight Painting
This piece is 100 x 100 cm I think - I have yet to measure it
I really love getting inspiration from the beautiful National Forest surrounding my home. Especially during the early Spring when the sun is low in the sky, as it makes stunning lighting effects for my work!
Update* This piece was sold, through the excellent Ferrers Gallery near Ashby de la Zouch. Please see my originals page, or join my art collectors mailing list for newly upcoming forest scenes.
New painting of a lion in gorgeous warm shades of red and gold.
Rufus the Lion, in shades of red, gold and plum, 76 x 76 cm, and will be heading to exhibit in a local gallery soon.
Sebastian Bear getting shiny
Varnishing my big bear painting ‘Sebastian’ ahead of a viewing in my studio at the weekend
2021 paintings
Once again, I have made a slideshow of the pieces that have found beautiful new homes this year.
Thank you everyone, I appreciate you a lot! Happy New Year!
New studio -almost fully moved in!
And I have now loaded and unloaded my van with more big canvases than I care to remember! The old place had two rooms and a flight of slippy stairs to navigate also, so I dearly hope this is the last move for ages and ages. This is an extrmely comfortable place in which to work and I love it already.
Barn Owl Paintings - one of my favourite things.
I absolutely love making Barn Owl paintings, they are such a beautiful and mysterious bird. Here is an owl in the early stages of a painting. I often have owl paintings for sale, so check out my originals page, or sign up for my art collectors newsletter for details on newly released work.
Finishing my wolf paintings with a layer in oils
Today I added another layer to both of my new wolf paintings, this time in oils. These are mixed media (acrylic and oil) canvases. The red guy is finished and signed, the blue guy needs a few last touches.
Adding texture to my wolves
My two new wolf paintings are nearly finished. Tomorrow I will complete some details in oil paint, today I was adding texture and depth to the ‘Howling Wolf’ . Hopefully tomorrow I will have some completed photographs of them to show. Once finished these will both be for sale on my website.
Unpacking in my new studio again!
This studio is lovely, warm and quiet! My big easel can go almost full stretch under the high ceiling in this old Victorian building.
Original UK Cow Artwork for Your Collection
Add some unique British style to your home or office with a beautiful piece of handpainted artwork featuring cows! With paintings crafted by me, in Ashby de la Zouch, United Kingdom, you'll get a one-of-a-kind piece that you won't be able to find anywhere else.
Choose a Unique Artwork to add Character to any Room
Adding a hand-painted piece of artwork featuring cows to your home or office is the perfect way to bring in some English countryside charm. Whether you’re looking for a subtle accent or an eye-catching statement piece, our collection of cow artwork has something for everyone. Pick something truly special and add some character to any room with one of my original UK cow artworks! See my currently available pieces here.
Multi-coloured Cow
close up of the painting
Argyle - new pictures showing off my multi-coloured cow and her gorgeous tropical colours! I can’t get over the way these colours shine from this beautiful cow! See more of my available original colourful cows here on my ‘Originals’ page.
Colourful details
The Magic of Colour Relationships
I get the biggest kick out of putting colours next to each other to see what happens. Some shades get on very well with each other. They have a soothing harmonious friendship. Other colours really pop when juxtaposed and in all cases the effect is beautiful. I’ve picked out a Highland Cow painting from a year or two ago where the colours were super striking. In ‘Dornie’ I used lots of gold and mauve shades on the face, which absolutely sang together!
There are Deep Ultramarine Blue touches in the shadows under her muzzle and around the neck in the shade. Next to the roaring scarlet and crimson in her coat the blue is electric!
The first Highland Cow painting workshop
My first art workshop at St Helens in Ashby yesterday. This was a fun and high spirited group, what a lovely day we all had!
Just give me bigger canvases
This is the story of how I came to paint such big pictures.
I came back to art later in life and I soon found that I was so excited about painting that I used to begin at 5 am, and paint for an hour or two before heading to work with my dogs.
About that same time I also began to have blurry vision, the first sign of the disorder that I live with now, although I didnt know it at the time. To cut a very long story short, I was referred to the eye hospital who quickly decided that I may have Sarcoidosis , a rare auto -immune condition, hard to diagnose. I have been having specialist treatment ever since.
As my eye symptoms became worse at work, I was forced to give up my role as a dog groomer. One good thing was that I had time to do more painting. I began to hope that one day I would become a professional artist.
One of my earlier paintings, a pet commission from a couple of years ago
As my skills improved I offered dog, cat and horse portraits . But there were set backs with my health andI remember that I would lie in bed with a pad of paper and pastels and just try to carry on painting. Art was something to dream about during these rather unhappy days.
As my condition began to stabilise I began to create larger pieces, less detailed , featuring wildlife alongside the pets. Small details might evade me but I found that I could learn to paint in an impressionist style, using elements from my imagination, instead of following photographic references closely.
During the first big lockdown of the pandemic, lots of things happened that enabled me to make the decision to became a full time professional artist. At the same time I lost central vision in my left eye, and as a result I made the decision to create large scale canvases exclusively! I got the opportunity to move to a big studio with plenty of room and light. I found a great art courier and packaging company to assist me in the logistics side of transporting big pieces.
The thought that I might have limited time, with useful sight drives me on to make the most of the time that I have. I dont want to leave any painting left unfinished! To misquote one of my heroes, Robert Plant ‘Just give me bigger canvases!’
Surrounded by animals in my studio
A mother and baby portrait, from last year
I am going through my Google account this morning deleting duplicate photos and I found this from April 2020. This was a lovely commission to do and the painting now lives in Queensland, Australia.
Rainbow Clouds of Comfort
I have always been crazy about seeing rainbow colours all together, ever since discovering the glass prisms at school age 7. Later in a succession of new schools, I’d spend way too much time staring through my clear plastic ruler to watch the rainbows appear. Dont we find strange things to take comfort from?
I have managed to include much of the rainbow in this new cow portrait and I love it.
All that remains is to find her a name.
