One man and his dog

If  you saw my previous posts Dog in hand and Drawing all day you will have seen the early stages of a recent commission. Well it is finished at last so we have one man, his dog, a happy artist and a delighted client!

Man says: "Good boy"  Dog thinks: "Good man"

The Great Escape

This past week I have been in the city on a training course. The venue was within Edinburgh Zoo and one wall of our classroom faced directly into the chimpanzee den, which provided some amusement, but I shan’t begin to tell you what they got up to in there! By day 4, after hours of Powerpoint, my brain had given up, my bum had gone numb and my classmates were starting to talk about football – so I planned my escape to an art gallery (or two). After getting up close to some Glasgow Boys I was brought back to life. I also went in search of some inspirational drawings which I found across several exhibitions – Titian, New Acquisitions and Ruskin. When looking for Ruskin I ended up at the wrong gallery on the wrong side of town, but I enjoyed Charles Jencks’s landforms whilst I waited for a taxi to take me to the right place! It was certainly worth the effort it took to get there - such beautiful ink drawings. I stayed and admired the exhibition until it closed. The long journey home felt like another great escape as I left the trains and the crowded streets for the final leg of my journey. Over the last 40 miles I saw just one other car, and waiting at home for me was one loved man and his dog.

Charles Jencks at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art

Christmas is coming

Well it’s not really, but some of you early birds might be thinking about it already (unlike me who will leave it til December!). You may remember that I won a Christmas painting competition last year with The Artist Magazine. My prize was a £200 donation to my chosen charity which was the MS Trust. I also donated my design of “Sophie” which they have used for a Christmas card this year. She has flipped, become a little squarer and darker…..and is available in a pack of 6 ! All proceeds go to the MS Trust. The original “Sophie” is also still available as a card and if you are thinking about commissioning a personalised Christmas card please let me know asap!

Squint at the star (on enlarge it!)

Drawing all day

The Dog in Hand is still on the easel and going well so far. Titus was the star of the show at the Moy Game Fair – we had to stop every couple of yards to explain what he was, his age and his good looks which left little time to actually look round! He also made a profit at the car boot and I sold 4 paintings at various venues these last few days. To finish off such a good week I spent all day Sunday at a drawing workshop with Magi Sinclair. Great fun! It was lovely to see some of her wonderful drawings and understand a little more about her approach to working on such a large scale. As a result I shall be ordering some graphite dust and making sure I leave one wall clear in my new studio for when I want to go large!

Inspiration and a freshly made crab sandwich

I quickly reverted in sketching small outside....

.....and then went large inside!