It has been a while since I last posted here on my blog. Mainly because I haven't really had much to say about my work. I am still working away, not really getting to grips with anything. I am at a cul-de-sac with my ExLibris ideas. My painting is not coming along as I wish either, mainly because my mind is more on the printwork than on the painting.

I spent the morning retrieving small goldfish fry from my pond and putting them in nursery tanks.... anything to avoid work. Now I am here typing a post on my blog. I have already cleaned and scraped the build-up of paint on my palette, reloaded it with fresh paint, added oil etc, it is ready to go.........

....but I am not.

My studio is in danger of getting a thorough spring clean at this stage........[shock-horror]

I think I may take the rest of the day off. I am likely to do little or nothing anyway. It is hot, heavy and thundery with regular heavy showers which doesn't help either. I will leave you with a photo of the latest finished work from the Maltese series. Oil on canvas, 90cm by 70 cm.

Works in progress, and a little about the process...

Here are a few images of some paintings I have been working on. They are paintings of sea-bream and a filleted sea-bass.







Red Bream

Sea-Bream

Fish stock

Bream head.

All are oil on canvas.

I have also been working on some of the Malta paintings, and they are still progressing.

Here is the one of the redtower, shown earlier that I have reworked.

I have also painted another more abstract work from the original view.

I have just reworked the sky on this painting

and re-explored the same view in a more simplified way.

I reworked the Tower painting, moving back away from my emphasis of colour. I also added some of the dry scrub back into the foreground which has solidified the painting as a whole. At the same time I have created more of a Haze to the work giving the impression of the heat instead of the hotter colouring.

As you will notice the paintings are still evolving, the evolution of the fish paintings are now having an effect on the landscapes, in particular the 3rd painting of the Red Tower which has abstracted out of the original. This was led by the interest of the fish paintings moving from a study of the fish

itself, morphing into the fish-head painting. In the way the fish head work is relying on a ghost image of the skeleton to create interest, rather than the more defined skeleton of the sea-bass painting, the 3rd work of the Red Tower has relied less on definition and more on imagination to pick out the field boundaries and terrace work.

Work on the Malta series.

The work has gone quite well today. I have photographed four of the pieces (badly, LOL) but there is a reflection on them from the lights, as I had long lost daylight by the time I was thinking about photographing them.

The first is of a castle called the Redtower, and it is actually that pink in colour.

The second is a view of a typical Maltese hill with patchwork fields in the foreground.


The third is based on sketches of a terrace hillside, seen from below.

The last of the four is a view of a bay on the North coast of Gozo. The headland has a distinctly shaped hill which creates a dramatic statement.

All are still works in progress, but I am happy with the way they are progressing.

Home again,

I am just back home from Malta. We spent a week in the sun, complete with camera, sketchbook, pencils, etc. I also visited an artist friend over there too, and it was a very enjoyable trip.
I have come back with lots of reference material for some paintings, and the offer of a one man show next year. At this time I already have two offers of exhibitions abroad next year, the one in Malta and in Athens, Greece, that was offered just before I left for Malta.
I will probably not start work until next week though, as I am tired at the moment. I also need to get organised for a couple of visitors to my studio. Judge an Art competition tomorrow, and a few other jobs that are overdue. In short I'm going to be busy this week, I have a party on the 12th, a lunch engagement on thursday, and my usual night out with the boys......

......as I've said many times.....it's a hard life, but somebody's got to do it...