At Monument Metro

Reflections at Monument Metro station

Newcastle upon tyne in the pouring rain .

No Fish Dad

Another of Jack, I take him fishing down to the river Tyne at corbridge, he uses the fishing as a excuse to paddle in the water, on this day he had caught no minnows and had just fallen in to a puddle so was quite down about all this.

16"x 12" Oil on Linen.

Bzzz

I have four sons, they have all been fascinated by creepy crawlies and terrified of Honey Bees !

12"x12" oil on linen

Hand in Hand

Original Oil on board 13"x13"

ON THE RUN

All of my sons have at some point had a pet , whether it be a parrot or gold fish kids love animals, my son Christopher once had a hamster called Lenny , he named it himself , I always thought it was a great name for a Hamster, may make a interesting painting !This is another painting of Jack with our dog Charlie.

The Great Escape

Kids can run,

This oil painting was taken from a photo i took of Jack running through the woods at the back of our house, sometimes he runs the whole distance of our walk, not stopping at all, some of it is up hill , all through the woods and he really does not stop , our walk must be two sometimes three miles.

At other times i have to carry him all the way but i dont mind ,after standing still painting all day, its a good work out.

I often wonder, when out walking with him, how far a three year old could walk in one go, i am starting to think its further than his dad can !.

FOOTSTEPS

This is the first painting of my son Jack with his Engine driver hat on .

The painting is my personal favorite, not just because of Jack but because its what im after , this is what I want to say "in paint" and the way I want to say it .

I called the painting Footsteps because it just seems right that a Father and son are walking in step with each other , there life together ahead.

I think there will be more to come of these paintings of a little boy

Contemplation on the Wansbeck at Morpeth.

Another painting at morpeth Northumberland , the stepping stones over the river Wansbeck that runs through the centre of the town.

My pal Colin

Colin is not a smoker by the way "unlike me", I have just painted another large version of this today but will wait until it is dry to add the waft of smoke .

NOTE :

I had no intention to give up smoking on this day, "the 8th" this note is added one week later "the 15th", I have not had a cigarette since painting this waft of smoke ! I have been smoking for 27 years !

Note : Still not had a cigarette 17/8/2009

Note : Still not had one 16/9/ 2009
Note : Still off them 23/1/2010
Note : Still not a single one 23/3/2010
Note : Not on your Nelly 8/9/2010

Fourty seven steps

Oil 13"x7"

Quick March

OIL 10"x 10"

I like painting these scenes viewed from above, I may do a large painting of this one in a week or two. Its a whole different ball game when your painting on a large scale, a lot of self confidence is required as you are on top of the painting and need to be painting from 20ft away to view it properly.

A good tip here is to paint with a large mirror behind you "as I always do" then you not only get the distance but see the piece in reverse which helps " Big Time"

Just using the title Quick March for now as I aint got the time to sit and think of one at the moment, not that I am busy selling hundreds of paintings ! just busy painting and trying to settle on a theme, thinking of paintings ahead !!

Thoughtful

This is a painting of my good friend Colin,I first painted Colin many years ago, When I took a break from painting for a while I worked with him as a Landscaper, a very hard working man and he is the nicest bloke you could meet.

In The Pink

Oil on board 13"x13" I took a photo of these Two guys walking up a back lane in town just of Dean Street ( Newcastle ), I wonder where they work that requires a pink shirt , not that theres anything wrong with a man who wears a pink shirt, I wear a pink shirt now and again, not shocking pink mind you, its kind of washed out pink , OK its white with a hint of red.

I am pleased with the out come of this painting, as I have said before , I like to work fast with very bold brush work , this just went right for me .

I did learn something from this painting but i am not telling you what it was !! not until I know you better.

Take it easy

Back from London, I love London, interesting looking character's from all over the world , all busy, all rushing around doing there thing.

If I stand on a street corner sketching or taking photographs in Hexham or Newcastle people tend to notice but in London no one seems to care.

I have always been a people watcher ( sounds a bit wierd! ) I think most of us are interested in what others are doing, I am intensely interested in watching the expressions, movement, mannerism's and attitudes of everyday people.

Only in the past year have I started to paint people on a "regular basis" and I am really enjoying it, simple observations of normal everyday situations can say so much.

Trying to capture a brief moment in some ones life is to me a little bit of poetry.

Anyway I will stop rambling on, the trip to London was worthwhile, I will soon be exhibiting at a Gallery in the west end of London.

One of the frames on one of the two paintings I took to Enter into the Threadneedle Prize for Art was broken almost in half on the flight as Stupid me forgot to ID them as fragile ! so they ended up with around four tonnes of holiday lugage on top of them .

I did manage to sort of repair it with sellotape but I was gutted after I had dragged them half way across London.

.

Childhood

I am of to London on Monday to enter two paintings in to the Threadneedle Prize for art at the Mall Galleries, while I am there I am showing my work to a Gallery in the Marylebone area of London so wish me luck please !

Stepping Stones ( Morpeth )

I was in morpeth a few days ago and went to photograph the stepping stones over the river Wansbeck, this little girl just happened to be there at the time, she was running to and fro over the stepping stones looking for minnows.
Note : She did have a fishing net !!

HAPPY WANDERER

This is the last post for a week or so as I will be exhibiting at the Moothall Hexham from 1st to 7th June, The Moothall is a lot like a old dungeon , infact it was a court room 800 years ago or so, A small Exhibiting room within a very old stone building with walls 4ft thick and a stone spiral stair case that you are not allowed access to !! its brilliant at the top "Shh"

ta ta for now.

Sunshine

This painting was not easy for me, I dont know why ,I am pleased its over and done with.

Girl in High Bridge

Keeping detail and colour as simple as possible.

I am quite happy with this small painting.

SLOWIN DOWN

I think this is getting towards what I want to paint but I wont know it until I see it , if that makes any sense !

12"X 12" Oil

Moving On

One of a number of small paintings for my Exhibition at the Moot Hall, Hexham, Northumberland.

Pointer

I was a little doubtful as to the outcome of this painting as its difficult to paint colour in shade, before I started it I had decided to bin it so I was not worried about painting it quickly , which I always do, anyway its worked out ok, so I will keep it .

"WAIT"

As promised a painting of dogs

( Working Springers ) 8"x 4"

To Work

I just cant get away from painting these images of people walking down High Bridge, I should be working on the paintings of Dogs, maybe I could paint the Dog with its owner walking down High Bridge !

Oil on board 12"x 3"

Man with Dog

My paintings are not for sale in many Galleries at all, only two local ones actually.

The reason being that I have only been painting again for about a year and can not settle on a theme , I am looking for something but dont quite know what it is yet !!!

Oil 7"x 7"