No 24. Hot Chillis. Almost an oxymoron

I needed a bit of heat, this morning. The weather has now turned very blustery and wet. I picked these up at the supermarket last night specifically for the purpose of painting them. I'm not going to attempt to eat them -hopefully my lovely wife has a better idea of how to use them. Maybe a lively curry...mmmm.

The most difficult thing with this was the background -I couldn't match the lime green of the background using the leaf green that I normally have on my palette. Fortunately, I had a tube of cadmium green which, when mixed with a cool yellow and white, got me to where I wanted to go.

Oils Still Life Study on canvas panel. 7" x 5" Buy on Etsy

No. 23. Veni, Vidi, Vici

On my way home from dropping off the children to school, I picked up a couple of horse chestnuts off the street. It brought to mind my schooldays in London when all boys sought out the best and biggest chestnuts with which to make conkers. We'd drill a hole through the nut, pass a string through and knot it to stop it flying off during battle. Then we'd challenge each other to a game of conkers and take turns to bash the opponents conker to pieces. in the process, we'd often bash each others' knuckles, which could account for the rheumatism that afflicts my hands now.

Sometimes, we'd even try to toughen the conkers up by baking them in the oven or soaking them in vinegar for the night, and I've just caught a whiff in my mind's nose, of a vinegary conker as it hurtles past my face towards my trembling knuckles. Toughening never seemed to work and usually made the chestnut brittle, like a set of knuckles with osteoporosis. That's why playing conkers has been banned in old people's homes; there's nothing that nurses can do with someone whose hands flap around like a pair of washing-up gloves filled with chalk dust.

Oils on canvas panel. 7" x 5". Buy this original on Etsy

No. 22. Bottle and Unnamed Flower

SOLD

I've been meaning to paint this bottle for a while, since it was lying around the house. The trouble was, I had restricted myself to the one format for all my daily studies. This was really to make things easier for framing or sending to buyers. I went out to the garage and found a piece of particle board and coated it with gesso, and voilà!

I had to work quickly on this one as this flower seemed to start wilting as soon as I picked it in the front garden. Probably a good thing - give myself a time limit and try to express the subject as simply as possible. Anyway, I did the minimum of blending in this one, and I let some of the burnt umber ground show through...

By the way, if you know what this flower is, do let me know!

Oils Still Life Study on wood panel. 7" x 5". Buy on Etsy.

No. 21. Three Onions. Thrunions. I need some sleep.

I woke this morning at 5.30 and couldn't get back to sleep, so I mooched down to the end of the garden to my studio. I got this done and it's still only 8AM! As soon as I have this done, I'll walk the children to school and take the long route home for my morning constitutional. I expect that I'll flop to the floor with tiredness like a trifle after I've had my lunch. Maybe there won't even be any lunch if my lovely wife can't find the onions...

Oils on canvas panel. 7" x 5". Buy on Etsy.

No. 20. Little Plum and Coffee Cup

SOLD

Haven't posted for a whole week since I had to rush over to Blighty to visit relations. Anyway, here's the result of today's daily studies. Once again, the reflections on top of the pattern on the china cup were the most difficult thing here. Also, by the time I got to the end -and putting the little highlights on the edges, I found that I had painted the whites in such a light tone that I feel that it stopped the highlights from making the whole thing shine. I must remember to start very sombre and work my way towards the highlight. Tomorrow, tomorrow, always tomorrow.

Oils on canvas panel 7" x 5". Buy on Etsy.

No. 19. Porcelain Trinket

SOLD

I've been raiding the charity shops again. I picked this one up for a whopping €1 in town -along with a few other trinkets that will appear in daily studies over the next while.

I found the pattern difficult to depict, but I got there in the end, even though this one took longer than it should have. I put the entire piece in the blender again -porcelain always looks better blended, I think. Once again, the camera hasn't really picked up the subtleties in the whites. I'm sure it's not the camera -I can't blame the technology.

Here's the setup I used:

I won't be posting for the next week or so as I'll be working to some tight deadlines. So, à bientôt mes amis.

Oils on canvas panel. 7" x 5". Buy on Etsy

No. 18. Loose bottle

I had to physically restrain myself from attacking this with my hake brush and blending the hell out of it like I usually do.

Oils on canvas panel. 5" x 7". Buy on Etsy

No. 17. Shapely Grapes

I tried to stay loose on this one but I ended up labouring over it for far longer than I should have on a daily study. Out came the hake brush and I blended and blended away as I went along. The blue detailing on the little pill box was hard to depict and as usual, I became obsessed with getting it 'right' instead of describing it simply. I also have to admit that the looseness around the background is contrived as I kind of dabbed it in there after the fact, if you know what I mean. Anyway, here it is in its full 6" x 6" glory.

The other thing about this is that the original is warmer than the photograph shows here. My photographic skill aren't good enough to cope with the subtleties of whites...

Oil on canvas panel. 6" x 6". Buy this on Etsy

No. 16. Casting Nasturtiums

We've been overwhelmed with nasturtiums [nasturtia?] this year, great stringy things that they are. I plucked a couple and threw them up on the stand. The flowers are such a vivid red that it was impossible to capture it in paint. Maybe I need better paint! Maybe I need a better painter! [Shut up -Ed].

Oils on canvas panel. 6" x 8". Buy this on Etsy

No. 15. Mango Thursday

I found a mango nestling in amongst the apples and bananas in our kitchen. I painted this just before I got down to work on the latest illustration project. It never ceases to amaze me how difficult I find painting from life. I mean; I thought illustration work would prepare me a little for painting. But it doesn't. I signed this 'Sutton' for some strange reason of multi-personality, although I'm better now, thank you very much.

Oils on canvas panel. 6" x 8". Buy this on Etsy

No. 14. Pears in Conference

I grabbed three pears from my wife's central stores and made off with them for a couple of hours as a subject for this still life. I laid quite a lot of paint down with this one which is relatively unusual for me and my usual miserly approach to using paint.

I've been taking long looks at Carole Marine's marvellous blog of daily paintings, especially her set up which she has generously explained in a couple of posts.

This set up is excellent for controlling light [and for adding a touch of sunshine which we so seldom get in this country!]. According to Carole, her husband cleverly contrived a frame by using electrician's ducting, which is both rigid and light. Perfect for moving around the studio or even collapsing to store. So, well done Mr Marine!

Oils on canvas panel, 6" x 8". Buy this on Etsy. Click on the panel top right