Silhouette - Sold

There is just something about Shelley Smart's photos that draw me, and she so kindly gives me permission, when I ask, to paint those ones that call to me.  

This is one of them.  An amazing photo, taken at sunset of this lone bird gave me the opportunity to put it on canvas.

Thank you Shelley and I would encourage everyone to visit her blog, A Year at the Beach - her beach, seabirds and waves bring a lovely feeling of tranquility.  But please respect her copyright!

Holding On!

This is another painting taken from one of Shelley Smart's blog, A Year at the Beach.  Thank you Shelley!

As usual I've not been blogging or visiting this past week, for which I (yet again) apologise.  And with Summer and looming holidays and sports fixtures, I keep falling behind.

But to celebrate Summer (although it's very peculiar weather we're having at the moment!), I thought I would post this one.  I loved it when I started it, but was not all that happy with the end result.  Oh well, another learning curve!

And on a final note, and I KNOW it's late, but I hope all my American and Canadian blogging friends had a great Thanksgiving.  Because it's not an event we celebrate, I tend to forget.  Sorry.

Seagulls & Lobster pots

I love the sea. To paint, that is, not to swim in. I'm an earth sign and like my feet on the ground, so swimming in the sea is not my favourite thing. Needless to say I have done quite a few seascapes in acrylic, watercolour, but, so far, only one in oil. These are some of them.

The top one is the watercolour of the lobster pots, a project taken from Leisure Painter magazine, the acrylic of the two seagulls is from a photograph taken at Muizenberg here in Cape Town whilst the 3 gulls come from a magazine. The last one is the oil - taken from my head and number of other sources.

The Fisherman, Desert Trees, Seascape

Sunday morning and great to relax after a hectic weekend. Friday morning was a return to our social painting group at the Frank Joubert Art School in Newlands after a two week (school holiday) break. It really was nice to be back socialising, drinking tea and, yes, painting as well. I use this time as catch-up - I have too many unfinished paintings that don't seem to get done and Friday morning is a perfect opportunity to work with like minded people! I was looking through some of my paintings from a year ago (that's when I started) and I've gone from the 'not so good' to the 'improving daily' phase. I started with acrylics in Philip Glazer's classes (where I met some lovely people), but am now firmly 'dedicated' to oils. These are some of the first acrylics I did!