Current W.i.Ps

'Ladies' and 'Morna' two canvasses I'm working on at the moment. Morna is a beautiful 89year old yacht built in Dickies of Tarbert, and I have had the pleasure of sailing on her a few times. On this occassion though, I was on my own boat, and able to take some shots of her. 'Ladies' has Master Frank, Morna and Granuaile, 3 boats that are a familiar sight in the Irish Sea/Northern Ireland.
I've been feeling a real need for vibrant colours at the moment, hence the deep colours used. I'm a big fan of Dorothy Bruce, a painter living in Scotland. The way she uses colour has been very inspirational to me.
Hopefully I'll get more done on these at the weekend, before I head back to college.

And on an exciting note, I sold a mug with the Hogwarts Castle doodle on it the other day! I always find it bizarre when pieces that took little or no thought or effort become firm favourites... Still, very happy about that.

New listings

Posted three more necklaces on etsy - click here to take a look!

Meanwhile, I had to get a new camera last week as my old one died a death suddenly... Luckily, perfect timing, as a good friend was selling an Eos 350, which although not the newest model, is a much better camera than I had previously!

Just a few of the shots I've taken whilst getting to know it. My old camera was a compact, so it's lovely to be able to play more with focus, depth of field and zooming. Also, I have some macro lense, so I've been learning what they can do as well.

I'm also working on two new paintings, both sailing ones, in vibrant blues and greens. I'll post some WIPs soon.

I've also been doing photograms and enlargements in the traditional manner - that's been great fun! It's like magic to see the images appear in the fluid.

Good News!

Just got an email through from the Art Wanted team:

"We are pleased to let you know that your artwork/photography has been accepted into the 2010 ArtWanted.com calendar! The date you will be featured on is: 9/26/2010


We hope you enjoy the extra exposure from being featured in next year's printed calendar!


If you have not already done so, be sure to pre-order your calendar ASAP. This will guarantee you get a calendar that features your artwork. The calendars are now being finalized and printed for November delivery.


To PLACE YOUR ORDER, please go to:


http://www.artwanted.com/ps/calendar/index.cfm?Action=Order

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Well pleased about that, I must admit. The painting in question is Catchin' Up - possibly one of my favourite paintings.

Meanwhile, I'm trying to finish a 3000 word essay for my Historical and Contextual Referencing module...

Sketchbook work

Haven't posted in a while, so here's a page from my sketchbook. Am looking at ships with a view to illustrating the Dawn Treader by Cs lewis for my Drawing module assessment... This took about 2 hours.