Enough Indoors..!

Just finished my second big India painting.  Both have been worked up from a couple of of the India oil sketches.  I did 44 I think over the two weeks at the end of February and beginning of march. I worked quite intensely and the detail in a couple I thought was enough to square up.   I try  this every now and then with limited success but I reckon it has gone OK this time.  I've worked a 15 x 10 to 48 x 36 and have just completed a 62 x 54 from a 16 x 16 (Clearly the bigger ones have a bit more road).  APV have just done their last bit of filming too.  I'm not really very good at talking as I paint and they had a lot of silent footage that needed voice over.  My mind went completely blank when reviewing the footage I'm afraid so I hope they do some magic in the studio!!  We did 5 pictures in the film.  They were a bit of a struggle and not my best examples but hopefully it'll be interesting to watch!  I've also spent an age trying to put together a "Brown's London"glossy book but scared of the cost it has come to a halt. Back on the road proper tomorrow which I'm really looking forward to.  The last outing took me to Rame's Head in Cornwall which was magic.  God knows where tomorrow.  Must check the weather and load the van.

If you want a real blog...

Read this:
http://lauralouiseandhernaughtydisease.blogspot.co.uk/
INCREDIBLE!

Hot fingers..

I've been trying to paint Bath in snow since the last Friday 18th January.  I'd told the kids that they'd probably miss school but dad's painting so they'd have to sledge, snowman etc.. on their own.  Lisa was more than supportive and I painted through the weekend and am still going now.  Day one while it was snowing was a disaster.  I was grumpy and miserable.   Amazingly the cold did not bother me with 6 layers but in the evenings my fingers tingled hotly and seemed to grow!!?  How well it has all gone I do not know.  It has been a bit frenetic.  We'll see.  Delighted to have snuck a couple into the Lyn Painter Stainers this year.  The two that got in I painted for it and I was over the moon to get them in particularly my labour of love (although not the poor models'!!), 'Painting the Browns'.  It is a 36 x 60 inch canvas and a mad painting of us all in the studio.  Here it is:

Reminds me..

When I went to INDIA last February (what a ponse!), Ken and Patrick's gear got stuck in Dehli and they did not get it till the next day.  Ken was so keen he got up and walked to the view he'd scouted the day before, he set up and,,,, it was still pitch black!
PS I managed to sneak a couple into the Lyn Painter Stainers Prize which I am truly delighted about.  I had been working on one - a family portrait in the studio for ages over and unto Christmas.  It's quite big (36 x 60) and a real labour of love (although Ella hated posing!).

SNOW!!!

Too excited!!!  I'm waiting for it to get light.  Like a kid I got up way too early.  Van is loaded with far too many canvases and I'm sitting here in tonnes of layers waiting for a bit of light.  School's off.  The house is buzzing like Christmas morning and they all know dad's out for the foreseeable future.  I've just got to calm myself down and try to keep level headed.... too exciting!! Bath in snow for .... until it goes!

OUCH!!!

Just got back to the house to await the arrival of Messums.  We are due a catch up and it's about time I provided a sandwich for David and Carol.  The morning's post had arrived:
"Oo goody the Discerning Eye results"
I opened the letter to find 6 straight 'R' s. That hurt.  You always come across people who no longer submit for the RA Open since the year they were rejected (while their work had been in consistently for 20 years or so).   I have always found this a  natural but illogical reaction.  Art is subjective and it is all down to that year's selectors.  BUT...  That Friday 'put in' was a beautiful day and I spent hours driving to London, collecting paintings and dropping them off and I was really frustrated at the time.  It was a wasted day and a missed day's painting. GRRRR!!!
But never mind.  Much more interesting is my new discovery:
Weymouth.
I headed down that way on Tuesday as the sun looked best there.  I stopped first at Osmington Mills for a painting and then on to Weymouth.  School has started hasn't it?  It was throbbing.  what amazing terraces on the front with wonderful victorian shelters and railings, loads of cafes, b&b's, hotels.. and tonnes of people eating ice creams.  It is great and I will be back a lot I think.
Lesson is:
Paint and do as little running around with the goddam things when they are done as possible.
Now I must tidy my studio for the visitation.

Bum! Missed the party!

My first visit to London for ages..
We booked our holiday, for the first time, and what a year to pick it, chasing the sun driving down through France to Spain. It was fabulous! The timing was built around Ollie's rugby tour and meant we missed all but the last few days of the Olympics. It seemed London was buzzing. I never listen to panic traffic warnings so why did I pay any attention to the 'don't drive in London during the Olympics' notices? This morning I drove past the banners, the union flags, the trampled dead grass in Hyde park where the big screens were and my heart sank. London always reacts well to troubles: - the tube bombings- I'll never forget the city coming to a halt a month later for two minutes and then the response to the riots last year. Apparently we can celebrate too. Apparently London was smiling. It would have been good to catch that.  I understand it had never been easier getting in and out of the city too. Never mind. My kids will tell you I always get fed up after Christmas but I remind them it's not over yet. There's new year yet... And now we have the Paralympics. Rock on!
On another note I have just finished another couple of days with the wonderful APV (caroline and Ant Parker) filming in Bantham. We had one day of sun. Out of the five or so paintings done I think 2 or 3 came good which is cool. I can not talk while painting though so we have a voice over and a bit in my studio to do. Anyway I think the sun is peaking through here in London. I'm off to paint a piece of the Howard de Walden estate with a scaffold truck in the foreground.