No. 6. Warm Teapot

I set this study up last night before retiring for the evening with my gin and tonic. I had just discovered Carole Marine's daily painting blog and I was blown away by her style and sense of colour. I only have a few offcuts from the local haberdashers to serve as draped backgrounds and I wanted something vivid and warm, like I have seen in her work. Therefore, I warmed up the red background. As usual, I found painting a lemon to be a difficult proposition! I kept the composition loose and I enjoyed every minute.

Oils on canvas board 6" x 8"

No. 5. Onions can make you weep

This morning in the kitchen, I hid a few onions under my smock and sat them on my stand. A bit of parchment came loose and I left it where it fell. Next time, I think I'll cut an onion in two and try the flesh and then try to paint through teary eyes.
Oils on canvas board 10" x 8"

Getting back to Studying

It's been a good while since I kept up my painting practice. The busy world of illustration kept me hard at work -doing promotional tasks as well as the creative work. Fortunately, I was awarded a two week stint in the Cill Rialaig artists' Retreat in Kerry and it re-kindled my desire just to take time out to paint. By the way, you can see the other side of my creativity on my web site. Take a look; it's quite different and enjoyable for its own sake.

No. 4. Wine glass and Fruit

I had only acrylics to hand for this study. I would have preferred oils but I was away from the studio -in South Kerry, if you must know! I found that the problem was to keep the paint wet and workable while moving from background to subject -not a problem with oils of course. I added an acrylic medium, which helped a bit. The light was changing all the time, too, which made the reflections on the glass fleeting.
10" x 12" canvas.