Cat in Sunshine

I'm experimenting with ways to depict fur, which can be a bit tricky on cats. I'm not sure whether this works or not. This is oil on linen canvas, 10 x 8 inches.

Zipper

I found this photo of Zipper the dog on a great website called Paint my Photo Painting the water was a challenge. Oil on linen canvas 8" x 6".

Morning at Atbara

This is a painting I did of my husband Art, in our old house. Art died 5 years ago yesterday. I'm very lucky to have found a lovely new man, but I still think about Art every day and talk about him all the time, always with a smile and a laugh. The only thing that makes me sad is thinking about him when he was ill and in pain. He was a mad character and had a habit of collecting silly items, some of which are shown in this pic. On the table is a dog which sings and dances 'New York New York' and hanging up is a wire model of a man riding a 3 wheeled bike. On the table is his 'smoking box' full of his smoking paraphernalia. Heaven help me if I ever tried to tidy any of these things away! I was very lucky to have spent 21 years sharing my life with this man, 21 years full of laughs - he was very funny. I still see him in my dreams sometimes - I look forward to that.

Cards on Table

New Heater

We bought this cheap little heater for the boat now the cold weather has arrived, but it uses so much electricity we hardly dare use it!

Mutley

I've just finished this portrait of Mutley, who belongs to some friends of ours who recently got married. It was meant to be a surprise wedding present, but I didn't finish it in time so will be presenting it to them tomorrow.

Molly and cushions

Pretty cat

I've been doing quite a lot of oil painting recently and really enjoying it. However I still take a long time to do each one, and that explains the infrequency of my posts lately. (It doesn't seem to matter how small I do them!) This one is of a cat I found on the internet, 6x6 inches.

Cows

I've decided to start doing a series of small paintings and hopefully get at least one done a week. This is my first one. It was done from a photo taken when we took our boat up the Oxford canal a couple of years ago and some cows were grazing peacefully in a nearby field. it's oil on canvas, 7" x 5".

Mutley

We are babysitting this adorable Westie called Mutley for our friends who have gone on holiday. He follows me everywhere, even waits for me outside the bathroom!
The weather has been pants here in West London today. I can't believe I'm still wearing a jumper and raincoat in midsummer! I hope it improves by the weekend as we are planning to take the boat up to Brentford to go to Teddington.
D is decorating a friend's house today. I am just about to start my new oil painting of a cat.

Chester and the Sea

I've just finished this painting of my lovely dog Chester, who died this time last year. The seaside was his favourite place.
It's watercolour and pastels on Wallis paper.

Lucky

How lucky am I to have this as a garden? We are in beautiful Pangbourne at the moment, making our way back down to the Teddington area.

Cat Portrait

Pastel on Daler Murano paper 18" x 15"

Feet up

Noodlers Ink and book

Chinese sauces

We've been having a lot of stir-fries lately, and bought all these delicious sauces from a Chinese supermarket in Oxford.

Boat Interior

German Shepherd

I've been working on this beautiful dog for a couple of weeks and just finished him. He's in pastel on Daler Murano paper.

Strange and wonderful world

It's always a challenge doing a self portrait using a mirror. As usual this has gone a bit wrong. I'm not entirely disappointed with it though. There was a programme on TV the other night called 'The Strange and Wonderful World of the Self Portrait', about self portrait painting through the ages, how artists have used it to present themselves and their ideas in different ways. Well I can assure you that this is not really how I want people to see me - I always draw myself 'warts and all', and concentrating on ones own fizzog for any length of time can be quite disconcerting when one gets to a certain age! But I just love drawing faces, and I'm the cheapest model I can get, so I will keep persevering!

My office

Just thought I'd show a pic of the tiny space I call my office. The pastels and pencils sit ready waiting for me to get a gap in my work so I can do some more on my animal portraits.

Horse

I've spent the last few weeks working on this portrait of a horse for my pet portrait course. It's painted in oil on gessoed hardboard 15x12 inches. I'm a bit fed up with oil painting now - it seems to take so long! (but that's just me!). Anyway the next one I do will be in good old pastel.