Elephants   

When I first started painting, I went through period of painting elephants, a lot.  They're one of the most majestic nails on earth, extremely intelligent, caring, loving, powerful and sweet and their skin is so expressive, which is one of the reasons I like painting and drawing them.

I took photos from books and the internet and used them to paint and learn how to paint them. They didn't always work, some are terrible, but in the end I think some of them turned out OK

My first ones were these

My later ones look a bit better, I think

Its the eyes I love, and the way the skin creases and cracks, showing the shadows and light in contrast

Slow period   

Im in a bit of a slow period in terms of painting. Ive been fiddling with abstract things, but can't really concentrate so not posting a lot. Im also a bit becalmed with my website build and Etsy, but hang about, Ill get them all working again soon

that was why Ive been distracted as well.  

 Weekend work

I’ve been painting various things in parallel, which sort of describes the level of my attention span…

I tend to revert to wave paintings when I am not impressed with something, unless that’s the intention, or my head is not quite there so it helps it settle.

The heart one is entitled

“Look at what happens with love like that”

It’s dark, its raw, its bloody, its not quite whole - but is amazing

 Current work

Ive been working on a large painting of quiet water, in acrylic. 

Its evolved and isn't quite right, not by a long way, but its slowly getting away from what I don't want towards what I do, with the canvas

Lots of layers in the water, lots of reflections

it is a large canvas and taking time to paint, which is also helpful as its making me stand and focus, which isn't something I find easy.

Maybe painting is the answer to a chaotic life  ?

 Etsy Site up and running

This made me very happy being able to get my head around the intricacies of setting an Etsy site up - I know you will likely see this as a simple job, but I overthink so it takes a tad longer

It looks better than I thought it would and just to ensure its got some form of brand, Ive got a load of merchandise as well

and a whole load of boxes for shipping.

Now just to get someone to buy a painting.......

 Starting out

My initial attempts at drawing and painting were slow and stuttering, often things out of proportion, or colours fairly bland, because I am only learning about layering and finishing (I am still learning so don't shoot me down).

So somethings looked passable, some fairly funny and some painful, but in each I learnt something, even if it was just 'to start again'

So here are my faltering steps....

But I tried and tried and tried and they started getting better...well, I think they are, but then, I once thought I could sing, until I heard the out-of-tune cacophony on the recording...

So the one above improved to this

which I thought was a bit nicer, and now is owned by a friend.

Seasons

This is a follow on from my first post .....

I was working on some canvases trying to create a common theme, and not getting very far very quickly, so I started playing with blues and greens, eventually producing this painting that is meant to represent Summer

That led to my thinking I should then add the rest of the seasons, so that's what I did

Spring, 

Then Winter

and Autumn

They're of differing quality, to be honest, and its only the summer one that I really felt.   But in all, I enjoyed the colours, the painting style and the texture of the paint once it had dried.