Category Archives: Art

“The Fishing Spot” and “The Mystery” ~ Two New Paintings

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“The Fishing Spot” is an acrylic painting of Ashton’s Wharf at Maroochy River, Sunshine coast, which is where I used to walk to of a nice morning and return to for the beautiful sunsets of an evening. “The Mystery”, also an acrylic painting, depicts a young woman walking towards a hole in the tree-line, which just happened to be in the middle of the panoramic view from the verandah of Janine and Brad’s house where I house sat in Maroochy River; the hole in the trees fascinated both my niece Loretta and me – it drew us into the landscape.

“I know why it’s there,” said Loretta as we neared the row of trees with the hole.

But I’m not going to tell you the reason, you’ll have to look at the painting and work it out for yourself (just to make life more interesting!). I think Loretta looks very picturesque herself in her red hat and dress against the background of green – and she’s a bit mysterious, too, in that she is facing the trees rather than the viewer. Like my niece, look inside the hole and you will find the answer to the mystery of the hole.

 

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Some Lip

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Are you envious of the actress Angelina Jolie? Are you unhappy with your lips? Are they thin and undesirable? Have they shrunk over the years? (Oh, let’s not talk about shrinking, not after my worries aired in my last post!). Is your upper lip lined and unsightly? No, me neither (just stressing the point!).

Nevertheless, sadly, the latest fashion is for huge lips and caterpillar eyebrows… Now fashionable eyebrows present no problem for those with weedy little eyebrows – a spare half hour, a paintbox and a mascara brush will transform insignificant eyebrows into mighty black caterpillars (I’ve seen the “Wunderbrows” advert on the Internet!), or you can have them tattooed on with indelible ink. As for lips… well, that’s a different matter. I expect you’ve tried crushed hot chili preparations but I suspect they just make your lips burn. I believe the answer is expensive injections but if you’re too poor, or mean, or squeamish… or you can’t justify spending hundreds on your lips when there are millions of hungry people in the world…. and you don’t like to think of yourself as being vain… there is another way.

A couple of days ago, whilst I was stood at my easel painting Charlee the cat for my friends Janine and Brad, I was bitten by a very crafty little insect. So clever was it that I didn’t feel a thing – until I felt my lower lip growing. It grew and grew until it was about three times its normal size and, fearing that it might burst, I took an antihistamine tablet. Suddenly, I didn’t want to look like Angelina Jolie anymore and, in truth, I looked nothing like her – that would have required more than one insect bite – mine was on only the one side. I looked like Quasimodo (as portrayed by Charles Laughton in the 1939 version of “The Hunchback of Notre Dame”). Now it’s returned to normal and, chastened by the experience, I’m exceedingly happy with my normal-sized lips.

And if you’re interested, below you will see a photo of my painting of Charlee.

Charlee the cat

What About Rainforests?

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AUSTRALIAN RAINFOREST ART AND AIRBNB

Are there some wood nymphs on the forest floor?

Are there some wood nymphs on the forest floor?

As some of you out there know, Chris and I have been really hard at work over this summer with our “Honeymoon Suite” Airbnb lettings, which have eaten up an awful lot of our time and energy.  Now, with winter just around the corner, our season has finally finished and I can at last get back to being a proper full-time artist rather than a strange hybrid artistic landlady! Of course, come early Spring next year, the new season starts and we’ll be back at the helm with the Airbnb routine, which is actually quite fun, if a bit tiring!  But in the meantime, it’s back to my real work, thank goodness. Incidentally, if any of my readers are interested in our lovely Honeymoon suite for a few memorable days overlooking the sea in beautiful accommodation, just Google “AirBnb Dawlish”, and our place should pop up at or very near the top of the list. You’d love it!

In the meantime, I have full-on work of a solely artistic nature to do. It’s high time that I actually got around to producing a brand new Australian Rainforest series of oil paintings, and I’m greatly looking forward to doing lots of research and assembling some fresh material to get going on this exciting project. And should I tire of painting with greens (perish the thought) I may turn to blue and paint some more of my Aussie seascapes for a change of palette (a change is as good as a rest). I’ve started with a small specimen Rainforest painting, and you may see a few interesting shapes appearing amongst the trees – is that a wood nymph or two?. I reckon so…. Please let me know if you think I’m barking up the wrong tree!

“R and M” – A New Oil Painting for Newly-weds

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“R and M” , Oil on Canvas – 9.5″ x 7″

 

 

 

 

 

Poor Internet, an accident and poor health have kept me off the radar for a spell… but I’m back with a strong signal, the fall is now just a memory provoked by the odd twinge in ankle and knee, the cough is less frequent, the hearing is returning and the tooth has a temporary filling. Luckily, I could still paint! Today I finished a small commission fora lovely couple. I hope they like it.

One Good Painting Deserves Another

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Thank you Hugo (aged two) for the wonderful painting you sent me. And thank you Alex (his beautiful mum) for sending the prettiest and nicest smelling flowers ever!

The Latest Paintings and Digital Jiggering

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Catching the last blooms of Fuchsias before they disappear in the autumn winds, and a moody sky on the Brittany coast; and, for lovers of digital jiggery-pokery, our youngest daughter has morphed into the subject of one of John William Waterhouse’s paintings.

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Our Bobbie becomes a Pre-Raphaelite beauty

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Nuages ​​et de soleil sur la côte Bretonne ~ Acrylics on canvas 41cms x 30cms

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Raindrops on Tutus ~ Acrylics on canvas 15cms x 15cms x 4cms

 

Left side view

Left side view

Right side view

Right side view

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Still in Love… With Fuchsias (Or a Load of Bosch)

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Raindrop Pearls

Ballerina Fuchsias With Raindrop Pearls  ~ Arcrylic on canvas ~ 20cms x 20cms x 4cms

Little gives me greater pleasure when I’m painting than to occasionally turn my head to look through the open glass doors of my studio out onto our small courtyard garden. As you might imagine (judging by the subject matter of my most recent paintings) my pride and joy are in full and beautiful bloom at present. The bees and bumblebees, too, love them.

And whilst I paint pretty flowers I listen to YouTube audiobooks. No, not romance novels or gardening books – I’m into Michael Connelly’s books about murder and detection, particularly the ones featuring Detective Hieronymus Bosch. Wasn’t Hieronymus Bosch the Dutch painter from the fourteen-hundreds? Yes, but so is Michael Connelly’s main character. They both deal with seedy aspects of life… unlike me. At the moment I just like painting pretty fuchsias.

 

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Hieronymus Bosch
Drawing of a man wearing a hat

Portrait of Hieronymus Bosch, c. 1550,
(attr. Jacques Le Boucq)
Native name Jheronimus Bosch
Born Jheronimus van Aken
c. 1450
‘s-Hertogenbosch, Duchy of Brabant, Burgundian Netherlands
Died Buried on 9 August 1516
‘s-Hertogenbosch, Duchy of Brabant, Habsburg Netherlands
Nationality Dutch
Known for Painting
Notable work The Garden of Earthly Delights
The Temptation of St. Anthony
Movement

Fuchsias, Fuchsias – Two New Little Paintings

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Pink to Purple, With Raindrops

Pink to Purple, With Raindrops

The latest fuchsia painting (20cms x 20cms x 4cms – Acrylic on deep canvas) is still on the easel.

A Paler Shade of Pink

A Paler Shade of Pink

This one (30cms x 30cms x 4 cms) is hanging on a wall in the pink bedroom upstairs.

A few more shots from different angles to encompass the depth.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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