Into the unknown

Ok so there i was thinking about what on earth i should attempt to paint next when for no apparent reason i took it upon myself to try something a little bigger and more complicated than i had attempted in oils thus far.The painting is the largest ive attempted to date at 33" x 24" and ,frankly,if it ever gets finished it will be a miracle.after looking at techniques employed by many other fine artists i decided that i would add some yellow ochre-ish colour to my final gesso coat to rid myself of the initial stark whiteness of the background only to find that i actually prefer my stark white backgrounds to the coloured version.Serves me right for ignoring the little voice in my head telling me not to be so artyfarty about it and continue instead with my normal working practice.Lesson learned,keep it simple,if it works for me as is then ignore popular protocol.i have started to underpaint the various components of the picture and started with the plotting of the spots on the leopards coat,i have to admit to finding it mind-numbingly boring and so rapidly moved on to other areas.i do particularly like to procrastinate and so blocking in large areas with simple colours suits my working style as i can use this un-taxing part of the painting to think about how on earth i'm going to tackle some of the other more complex parts of the painting.my main nemesis,green,awaits in the form of leaves in the background.ive never had a fondness for green and the only shade of green i seem adept at mixing is the one i refer to as 'hideous' green.in an attempt to overcome my shortfall in the 'green' department i am shunning all good advice about mixing greens and have ordered some pre-mixed versions to hopefully give me a headstart.as the painting is so large i thought i might adopt a left to right working pattern so as not to put my arm in it too often hence some areas are more worked up than others.suffice to say that i anticipate this painting will take some time to complete and in the meantime i have a few other ideas about to start taking shape on freshly prepared boards 

NEWA 2012 exhibition opens

                                                 Avocet reflection SOLD NEWA 2012
NEWA(National exhibition of wildlife art) 2012 opened its doors for the first day of its annual exhibition and once again got off to a flying start with plenty of sales including my little avocet oil above.The show venue is a stunning glass atrium at the Gordale garden centre on the Wirral,uk and the show runs from 13-29th july.if your'e a fan of wildlife art then this show is definitely a must see.the full address for the show is Gordale garden centre,Chester high road,Burton,Wirral,ch64 8tf

currently working on some compositions and ideas for oil paintings and finding my attempts to cut and gesso boards being thwarted by the awful wet weather we are experiencing at the moment.i have to cut the mdf boards outside as the dust can be quite nasty and even once they're cut they require 3-4 coats of gesso which must be sanded down after each application.And so i'm dodging the showers and slowly but surely the boards are getting nearer to completion and then i can make a start on some ideas.to save myself from going slowly crazy in the studio i sometimes resort to sketching to fill in the time whilst waiting for the latest downpour to end,this is a little avocet sketch i completed in an afternoon yesterday.i hope to be able to post some more oils soon.