Just Heavenly oil/canvas 14"x20" 35.5cmx51cm

This is the first cloud painting that I have done. It's not very big but a big step in reaching my goal of painting clouds.

I have recently begun a different journey with my painting. My new venture is painting clouds and skies. I've always been overawed by the beauty and drama of skies and included them in my landscapes. I have, however, always thought that a dramatic sky deserves to be a painting in itself. I now have the courage to do just that. I also became a member of the Cloud Appreciation Society, complete with certificate and badge. My earliest influence was an English artist called Edward Seago. His huge skies and low horizons are magnificent. Then, on a visit to Amsterdam, I saw the way the Dutch masters painted their clouds. I was hooked. My next influence is an American artist called Kathy Buist. Her vast magnificent stormy skies are a sight to behold. I also look on this challenge as an excercise in painting larger and looser. Something that has eluded me for ages. My usual style is detailed and tight because I really do love detail.

I am now into my second term of teaching acrylic painting. I have taught one or two people in the past, which is nice and intimate, but never many more than that. I found it quite nerve wracking at first. Then I really got into the swing of it and formulated a method of showing how to put people into their paintings, without putting too much distracting detail into them which leads to overworked, wooden looking people. The beginning of the second term with new students was also a little daunting, but now I am thoroughly enjoying myself. The experience has also helped me to be less nervous when I am demonstrating painting for an art club.

Still Life With Poppies 12"x12" Oil on canvas

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I painted this still life from my imagination. Must make a mental note not to do it this way again. I should set it up and paint from life or photograph it first.

Prevelly Beach. Margaret River. Acrylic on canvas

Margaret River is a beautiful area of the West Australian coast, and this part of the coast is Prevelly beach. Lovely to look at and lovely to paint.

JERSEY GIRL

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This painting was done from a Photograph that I took while we were in Devon, in the South of England. I risked getting stung with nettles and thistles to get this picture. I didn't really need to go to those lengths as this beautiful Jersey cow wandered closer to us to see what we were doing.

I painted it directly onto flat canvas which I had taped to a drawing board and left sufficiently wide margins so that it could be stretched onto stretcher bars. This saves much messing about trying to paint around the sides of a ready stretched canvas. I like my finished image to wrap around the entire surface.

A Place In the Country 12"x12" oil on canvas

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This painting recently won best oil painting in a local art club exhibition.
I used a dark background to paint on since this seems to give a greater intensity of colour. I drew the image onto the canvas using white coloured pencil then painted upto the line,leaving a dark outline. It was quite tricky because I didn't want to end up with something that looked like a stained glass window.