Mission accomplished

Hello,

I finally handed over three paintings to Thames Hospicecare who are based in Windsor, Berkshire.  And what a great feeling it was to do that and finally complete the project I began back in February. They seemed really pleased with them too. Just to recap, these are paintings I donated:

Big tree, Burnham Beeches 

Ploughed field near Cookham

Tree near Jolly Woodman Pub, Burnham Beeches 

In the meantime, I completed another mackerel painting, having enjoyed doing the first one so much, and then moved on to do a seascape.

Here's how the work progressed for the second mackerel painting:

Mackerel head and tails (1)

Mackerel head and tails (2)

Mackerel head and tails (final) (20cmx20cm)
Oil on canvas

I hadn't attempted a seascape for a few years and looked at some of the brilliant wave paintings by Maggi Hambling for inspiration. I used snaps of my summer holiday in Croyde Bay, north Devon, as the source material. 

Seascape, Croyde Bay 2011 (1)

Seascape, Croyde Bay, north Devon (2011) (final)
(30cm x 25.5cm) Oil on canvas

Currently, I'm working on a painting of the cliffs along from the same bay and I'll show you pics of that picture in the next blog.

The other news is that I have booked a stand at Art on the Street Maidenhead which will take place on 3rd December. It will be my first time selling in a market but my father-in-law Frank Stroud has the pitch next to mine, where he'll be selling his superb watercolours, so I won't be lonely!

Oh, and some more exciting news – an exhibition of Lucian Freud paintings is on at the National Portrait Gallery in February. Blimey, what with the forthcoming one of David Hockney's Yorkshire landscapes at the Royal Academy in January, my cup overfloweth!

Bye for now...