Colour colour colour!

My inspiration can really come from anywhere. Colour combinations are however usually the starting point for my work. Here is a detail, a window and an evening sky all taken recently...feel the red, pink,blue and yellow thing going on!
have a good week! be inspired!

Art materials I use....many!

Well, this is something I have built up over the years.... my weird and wonderful tools. Yes I use conventional brushes on canvas with paint but I use a great many other things also. This is because the marks I want to make will vary enormously so I will use everything including many traditional kitchen cleaning tools, from the humble scouring brush, cleaning cloths to nail and washing up brushes. I also use kitchen paper, towels and sticks.
But the best tools are still my hands...so they can end up looking like this after a good day painting!
Enjoy your week!

van Gogh's EAR!

Amazing what can be discovered! have a good week!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/latestnews/2016/the-mystery-of-van-goghs-ear

Blank canvas...the start

 A new painting is always the start of millions of possibilities. Where to begin?! There is always an element of fear and excitement.
With the commission I am working on at the moment this is no exception. I make sure I have a rough plan so I have something to start with. I put this base layers down and then the obsessive dialogue with the canvas starts! I become completely obsessed with the colours and shapes I am using. Wherever I am and whatever I am doing, the painting is there in the back of my mind. When I see a shape or a colour combination that I think fits with what I am doing I record it. This can be by sketching it, photographing it or saving it on the computer. Then with all this information I can work to put down these influences. The journey begins!
I hope your week gives you a good 'journey'.