Mini Gallery

These are the paintings in the shop at the moment (hopefully they'll have found a happy home by Christmas!). It was nice seeing them grouped together like this. The daughter of the owner came up with the idea of making a triptych, three separate paintings that will be displayed and sold together, which is a really good idea. It was from seeing the two beach paintings above displayed side by side, as they do look as though they're part of the same landscape.

The little boy watching the sail boat is called "Sailer Boy," he's so cute, and I've also done a variation on the snow painting. I think that's my favourite at the moment, we're almost drowning in the stuff here! Lots more photos and paintings to come on this snowy theme hopefully.

Playing in the Snow

Another painting of my children playing in the snow. See if you can spot the mistake!.......................

(I forgot the string on the sleigh! It's now been sold, with a string added, had to go back to the shop with my paint box to add it. Doh.)

Boys on the Beach

Enough red for now, sticking to a turquoise theme, which gives a fresh summery feel. The two boys almost look like the same figure taken in two different positions but are actually two different boys.

I'm going to use this photo again, which also includes one other figure on the right hand side, in a larger black and white version.

Children in the Snow

This was without doubt the hardest painting for me to part with as they are both my children and the photo was taken recently in the heavy snowfall. It sold within two days though so I know it's gone to a happy home!

I used really thick paint as an undercoat which enabled me to create interesting textures for the snowy areas when dragging the fresh paint on top of it. The blue shadows really adds to the wintery feel and the red contrasts perfectly with it. I used Windsor Blue for the shadows as it's got a turquoise hint to it which sings nicely and prevents it from getting too flat.

Building a Sandcastle, Tenby Beach

This is of my daughter playing on the beach, taken at Tenby South Wales. There's much greater tonal contrast between this one and the previous one of my son on the beach, the shadows here are much stronger, which makes for quite a striking image. The deep purple and red contrasts nicely with the yellow sand, but I think my favourite bit is the cliffs and reflections in the background.

Building a Sandcastle

A much lighter painting this time, with summery colours. This is my little boy digging in the sand, most of the other photos I use are very kindly given to me by a friend of mine. In a way this makes things easier for me to sell them because the ones featuring my own children are that much harder to part with!

The photo this painting was based on was taken on Tenby beach in West Wales.

Building a Sandcastle

A hat was added to this little girl later on so as to obscure her features, so that she didn't look like anyone in particular, but I like this version, especially with the collection of shells , pebbles and seaweed. Some of the paint for the sand was applied using a piece of card, dragged on top of the lower layers of paint, which I think adds an interesting effect and suggests the sparkle of the sun.

Watching The Waves

The photo that this painting is based on was taken during the winter months and the weather conditions resulted in the wind whipping the waves up and contributing to the sparkle on the waves from the low angle of the sun. The figure was difficult to paint because he was practically a silhouette in the photo.

The acrylic paint used enabled me to create splashes and sparkes for the water which work really well.

Buildng a Sandcastle

Slightly more colour was added to this painting compared to the previous monochromatic paintings. I think it's livened it up and makes it look more sunny. The previous painting is more obviously a winter setting whereas this is a summer setting. I love the high angle showing the rock pools and little rivers fading away into the distance. It gives plenty for the eye to wander around on and then come back to the figure of the little girl busy working away.

Children on the Beach

This is the finished painting based on the previous photo. It's currently up for sale in the Potting Shed shop in Llantrisant, near the Royal Mint. It's acrylic on stretched canvas and the size is the same as an A4 sheet of paper.

A few elements not in the photo were added for interest, such as the red bucket and spade and the rocks and reflections in the distance. A slight hint of red was also added to the sand to warm it up slightly.

I've been commissioned to paint a much larger version for a friend of mind for her mothers Christmas present. It'll be on a landscape format with an extra child added and a dog running in the distance too. The accent colour she wants is turquoise, so it will be interesting to see how it turns out.

Children on the Beach

I've been working on a series of paintings for a local shop The Potting Shed which feature children playing on the beach. I've done a small version based on this photo which has come across really well. The painting is painted primarily in black and white, with tones of dark brown, then as an accent colour I also added a red bucket for the girl and a red spade for the boy. The painting shows really well how elements from a photo can be kept as they look in the photo whilst also adding features from the imagination that add to the composition.

Children and Milk Cart

I wanted to make a painting from this image because of the wonderful collection of children tumbling about and trying to find space in the back of the milk cart.

Terrace houses are so hard to paint becuase there are all the rules of perspective to obey whilst also making sure everything is straight and parallel for windows and doors. A lot of time was spent on the background making sure everything measured up right before I could then do the fun bit of adding the figures in the foreground.

There's a project coming up in the Painting degree which asks for an urban or rural scene and I'm tempted to paint the local terraced houses here but depicting them in an abstract way. I've bought a lino roller, for making prints, but will use it to lay the paint down to make really precise horizontals and verticals. Look out for images on my course work blog goldfishfindingyourway.blogspot.com for more possible images!

Ty'n y Cwm Cottage

I really enjoyed doing this painting of a cottage, based on a post card of an old photo, because if I could choose where I could live then this would be one the places in the top spot. It was a photo of a cottage that's no longer standing, having been long ago demolished. It makes you realise the importance of photography as a means of preservation. It must have been such an amazing invention when it first came into use. Is it maybe taken for granted now?

I created the painting using acrylic paints on canvas on quite a large stretcher frame, and was sold in "The Chicken Shed", a shop in Cowbridge, South Wales.

I think the simple colours and arrangement of black and white tones works really well on a large size because it's not so overwhelming as lots of little details scattered about all over the place.

Tonyrefail Train Station

This is an image of a painting that I did last Christmas that was quite popular, I did four versions in all for various people. This one was quite large, around 50 by 70 cm and was painted with acrylic on canvas, with around three coats of acrylic in total, from the rough sketchy paint underneath to the finished coat on top.

There's something about trains, and especially steam trains that's so evocative and feeds the imagination, plus the added bonus that you're far less likely to get travel sickness! Buses are my nemesis, I've been on two journeys to London recently, both to view work in the Tate Gallery for student courses, and both journey's made me as sick as a dog, mind you the fact that we had to get up at five o'clock in the morning didn't help my constitution! And they were three and a half hour journey's both way. Give me a train any day.

This was painted from a photo of Tonyrefail station, near where I live, though sadly the station is no longer there, a relic from the coal days in the South Wales Valleys. My brother actually lives in Station Road which led onto the station, and I live near the current road bypass which uses the old train line as the orientation for the road itself.