I am pleased to be exhibiting in this years Success After Stroke Exhibition in Sudbury. I have shown work there several times now – It is held every two years – Its a great show and the church makes an excellent venue. Here are the paintings I have put in – Framed up by The Lamden Gallery in Ipswich. Two studies from my life drawing class and a study from my Modern Art Term – Inspired by Cubism. Its something a bit different – But its a painting that has grown on me after painting so I thought it would be nice to see

Thanks to Karen for bringing in this great looking squash. She left it behind in my felixstowe class – so it has now been the subject of about 50 paintings across my classes! – With this study I went back to the light object against a dark background! – I really liked the way the reflected light bounce back into the shadows

This one was really enjoyable to paint – I think it has more the feeling of a sketch than a detailed study – but I was pleased with the colour scheme and markmaking. Every now and again I like to try and limit my brushstrokes and stick with a bigger brush – Limiting your brushstrokes makes you really think about each mark.

Oil on Board 6″ x 6″ So this week I was talking about how to overcome a sequence of less successful paintings. It is also interesting to note that in the book ‘Mindset’ by Carole Dweck, she mentions that sometimes success can be as much an obstacle as failure. You do a great painting and you think wow – that was easy, and then a small part of you wants to stop there! This was almost the case with this little study. I have had experience this before but it is rare, the idea comes easily, the set up is easy, the drawing almost

Oil on Board 6″ x 6″ Starting to enjoy working with these more over head arrangements! – Last week I was mainly working with palette knives – So I lost a bit of momentum with my Daily Painting! – So looking to back into the swing of things!

Todays painting marked another stage of experimentation. I was looking at food photgraphy. The suggestions was that they like two main camera angles, 45 degrees looking down and about 10 degrees (almost overhead) – both angles move away from the traditional table top arrangement with a ‘horizon’ where the table meets the wall and use the ground plane to divide the space. So this was my project here and I divided the space with some coloured bits of card. Partailly inspired by one of favorite Still Life artists Sara Sedwick -(look up her demos on youTube & she has a book)

One thing I am enjoying about getting into daily(ish) painting, is the way each painting leads on from the other. Its as if each one seems to set up the next one and themes that emerge in one then spill over into the next – in a way that is different when there are longer gaps between paintings. I think what interests me here is the effects of light. Not only the glow of the green apples against the background but the play of light reflecting off the silver plate! – Often with these Still Life subjects the shadows become as interesting to paint

Oil on board 6″ x 6″ A slightly quicker study for my Martlesham Class last week. Martlesham is an evening 2hr class vs my day sessions which are 3hrs. However time constraints work really well with daily painting. Limiting yourself to just 1hr or maybe even 20min is a good way to loosen up and try and say less with more. Like all painting is really easy to overwork things. Someone once said it takes two people to paint a picture – one to paint it and another one to tell you when to stop! – outsourcing to a clock timer is a great

Oil on Board 6″ x 6″ This study was also a demo for my Monday class at Rushmere. I had been talking about compsition in still life. With this arrangement I had a couple of ideas in mind. Firstly It has one dominant colour – the cool grey. This give something for the red of the pomegrante to play against. The second was the use of the cloth to introduce some diagonals and act as a little frame for the bottle. I am enjoying the momentum of daily painting! – it create a sense of anticipation wondering what todays painting will look like.

Oil on Gessoboard 6″x 6″ My Studio is based in Henley Village a few miles outside of Ipswich. With my daily painting goal in mind I headed out there over the weekend and did this little study. I like these ‘contre jour’ set ups, meaning against the light. Also I liked how the blue from the sky gets picked up around the shadows – a nice contrast to the orange in the satsuma.