Of Shoes, and Ships and Ceiling Wax.... of Cabbages and Kings

In other words: a few photos from the other day, and the new painting which is finished.







The Painting... in various stages.















and 2 other random photos i took thrown in for good measure



and that's what i've been busy doing while i've been lurking.

A woman's reaction to Susan Boyle

I think she summs it up for a lot of people

The Fruits of Today's Labours

Mrs O'Reilly




done completely with my left hand. (I'm right handed... but kind of both-handed) I'm working on a big thing too at the moment 3x3ft lighthouse type thing in mixed media... i'll post the progress photos up later

Some Photos from When We Had Nice Weather...

Fear and Loathing in South-East England.

I hate my next door neighbour. For many many reasons, but the cause of my latest rant is simple. I am so SICK of him banging and crashing around in the middle of the night.

It is almost 4am and, fair enough- I'm awake anyway, but two of my friends have had their houses broken into this month while they were asleep upstairs, and with the recession comes rising crime levels.

I've just had to go downstairs at 3:42 in the morning armed with a can of hairspray and piece of metal tubing from something to squirt in the eyes of, or thwack over the head of, any unsuspecting intruders.

I know, it's ridiculous, but in the wee-small hours, it's difficult to distinguish what is general banging and crashing of an inconsiderate wanker of a neighbour in any part of his semi-detached house, from an intruder breaking in and bumping into stuff in the room below mine while they're nicking my tv.

The first 'PROPER' day in the studio

spent the past few days learning to make and stretch my canvas - the stretching part is easy, i learned to do that when i was still in school, but the making of the frame part is a little trickier. I'm pretty handy at DIY, but making all those edges line up exactly is an absolute bloody nightmare when using a manual saw. I think I shall try a power saw next time.

Anyhoo - here's the product of the past few days:



Acrylic.

i'm not happy with the lettering... i'm not entirely convinced by the entire picture to tell the truth.. i think tomorrow i might just get a sponge and scrub at the lettering a bit and make it look more subtle.
I HATE painting words - i was never good at calligraphy, and anyone who has ever seen my handwriting will agree that it a bit of a chicken scratch. (see for yourself - i seem to remember handwriting an entry here a little while ago)
it's bad enough having to sign my paintings let alone having to write 4 words in a stupid fancy font. How the hell do sign painters do it???? (as in people who paint letting on doors and on glass)