"Rider on the beach" oil 5 x 7 SOLD

Here's a mini of a rider on the beach. Oh dear, sparkles gulls and the ocean again.... but I refuse to apologize! At least there's a horse in this one!

"Bray" oil 20 x 16

Last week's portrait sketch.

Laughing gulls in surf oil 24 x 36''

My latest painting shows laughing Gulls in Surf, suitably titled Laughing gulls in Surf! I must come up with a better title! Taking Paula's good advice I refuse to apologize for another wave/gull painting. I have so much fun painting the ocean!

I went along to a portrait group last night. We had a great model called Bray who wore a Victorian dress So much fun to paint!

"Snowy in the surf" oil 12 x 9

I apologize for yet another Snowy egret, but he was rather gorgeous, and I keep getting asked to paint him.

Teaching in Easton

I will be teaching a life painting class at the Art Academy in Easton MD in early January. It's been a couple of years since I taught, and I'm very excited at the prospect. I will be teaching in oils, I just hope I can come up with enough models!

The Lovers. 12 x 16 oil

The late afternoon light was soft and mellow, the perfect setting for a romantic sail. Normally the skipjack is crammed with tourists, but on this occasion it was just the captain and this couple. I wonder If he proposed before the sun dipped behind the trees.

Heron portrait. 6x6 oil

Here's another small portrait of "Jimmy", our resident Great Blue Heron.

Gulf Sunset, (laughing Gulls) 12 x 9 oil

Here's a small painting of gulls in Florida, It was the end of a wonderful day at the beach. In case you wondered,my horizon is level, however I am a lousy photographer.

I am so thrilled, I just heard that my painting" Snow in August" received the "Visitors Choice" award at this year's Society of Wildlife Artists annual show at the Mall Galleries in London. I know it's just showing off on my part, but then I am a show off!

Here is some more of my booth. Lousy snap I'm afraid.

Booth at the WFFest

I know it's a lousy snap, but here is the finished bugeye in it's frame in the Waterfowl Festival. I sold it today so I am thrilled. I made all the frames... phew 18 all together...

"Nor-Easter" 36 x 48'' oil

Phew, here's a new biggy. I just love painting the ocean. It was hard not to fill the painting with gulls.I spent most of the summer painting this. The focal point of this piece was always the breaking wave. larger gulls kept getting in the way and taking your attention away from the wave.In the end I decided to have a few gullsin the seascape.
This was my mom's beach in July. We had a week of tremendous gales, The sun would break through and drag dark shadows across the seascape. very dramatic.Really blew the cobwebs away.

Signals 6 x 6 oil

That's better ,,, I repainted the sand and changed a few of the umbrellas...I like it much better now.

The caps have been glued and screwed, and corners have been steamed and glued in place, not to mention lots of filling and sanding,and wire-wooling, they are ready for the next stage .

Once the frames have been gessoed and several coats of paint sprayed on,not to mention a lot of wire- wooling between coats, they are ready for sizing and leafing.

I'm in the house silver leafing frames. Julia is doing the same in her studio

The creek in January. oil 24 x 18

This swan was sat on the Ice opposite my house last winter.I loved the gorgeous winter light.

Life guard 6 x 6 oil

I enjoyed doing this cheeky little painting

Boogie boarding. 5 x 7 oil

She's a brave little girl.She could only have been about 8 and that wave was BIG!!

Bugeye

Here's a detail of the painting.

Bugeye 24 x 18 oil

"Finished" I will post the frame as I continue with it, but really I need to paint something else for the Waterfowl fest which is looming!

Bugeye update....

Here's Fridays' effort. I had so much fun painting the sparkles. I will finish the water tomorrow and then I will start the rigging. The end is in sight. A couple more days should do it.

It's been a buzy weekend and the weather has been ghastly. Went to Terry Miller's house warming in DC yesterday. Thanks Terry, we had a great time. No painting, but I did manage to steam the frame corners, Very grand!

Bugeye frame.

Here's the start of the frame. So far I have cut the lengths and joined and glued them together to the liner.It's raining too hard to start the next stage(filling and sanding) I will choose some slightly nautical corners. should be fun! I promise not to show every frame I make, but I wanted to give the visitors to my blog an Idea of the whole process I go through. from blobby Idea to finished painting, to gallery wall. So please bear with me.

Bugeye 24 x 18 "Stages"

It didn't stop raining long enough to photograph yesterday's effort. So here it is. Today I'm doing sparkles and water, I spent yesterday cutting in around the sailors and boat. I really enjoy that part of the painting process, and it's exciting to see the shapes looking more realistic.

This morning's post shows the progress of my Bugeye painting. I have put in the sky, and have been adding body colour to the background trees. I want to suggest shimmering trees, faded in the afternoon sunshine. I have also started to build a frame for this painting. It's chopped glued and filled . The ghastly sanding comes next... yuk

Very quickly I am blocking in the shape and all the large tonal areas . I am now ready to add some body to the paint. I will move to the sky next but keep going back into the boat defining the shape of the sailors and and putting in the darks and mid tones of the deck and boat body. I will leave the lights, or create them with a small cloth( rubbing out paint) This is typical of how I build up a painting. I will be able to cut in with thicker paint at a later stage to define the the edges of the boat and sailors.( That's the fun part)

I am now playing with the shape and flow of the boat. At this stage the oil is diluted with terp substitute. Very washy

Grand Dame, 1930's Pierce Arrow oil 5 x 7

Another mini of those lovely cars at my neighbour's house The car and the lady were both rather grand. Bloody hell wheels are hard to paint. I think I'll stick to boats, birds in fact anything without wheels!

Bison 48 x 36 oil

I saw this Bachelor Bison wandering around the Sylvan Pass in Yellowstone. I thought he was rather handsome, in a Bisony kind of way.

Bugeye oil 24 x 18

I have been asked for some in progress snaps, Here's a Bugeye I saw out of St Michaels at the weekend. I had never seen one under sail before so I was terribly excited. It is in the very early stages, not much more than a blob. I will post another in a couple of days when, hopefully, it will be a bit more interesting. It is usually the "kiss of Death" to post the early stages of a painting, but maybe this will lift the curse! Usually I stain the board, but to be honest I forgot to this time oops . Iam going to live up to my new name "Sparkles" ( thank you Rachelle and Wes) because this will be rather sparkly( Oh dear , how girly does that sound )

''Speeding By"

There was no reason to paint this, except I just loved the light in the wake of this boat and the feel of speed It's also lovely to see people having a great time on the water.oil5 x 7

"The Reunion"

My neighbour Peter Stifel kindly Invited us all around to see a wonderful collection of vintage cars which were assembled in his grounds before going to the "Concours d'Elegance" in St Michaels. My painting shows John Morrison Low ( another neighbour) examining a vintage Bently which is the actual car in which he rode as a child in the Scottish Isles. Quite remarkable as this reunion took place on the Eastern Shore of MD. John has had a fascinating life which has taken him from Scotland to farming in kenya and South africa and ending up in our small village in Maryland. I'm sure the Bently has had just as many adventures. oil 5 x 7

"Amistad"

A replica of the "The slave ship Amistad" on the Chester river. A replica of john Brown's skiff is in the background 10 x 8 oil. I love dusty breathless fall days on the Eastern shore.

Mixed Bag, oil 11 x 24

This was my "Birds In Art" piece. "Mixed Bag". I wasn't able to attend the weekend but I have just received the Catalogue which looks Great. I love Terry's piece.

Jackson Lake.

I just got back from a trip out West. The grand Tetons and Yellowstone. It was just what I needed to charge up the batteries. I saw all the usual suspects, Moose, Elk, Bison, and even Bears and wolves, not to mention the most gorgeous landscapes... I can't wait to get into the studio!
Talk about Inspiring. Yesterday I ran into a bunch of artists at the McBride gallery in Annapolis. I had the best time. It was great to catch up with Terry Miller and Paula Waterman. However julia threatened to leave me when she found out that , not only did I get to hang out with you guys, but we had sushi!!

Great Egret oil 36 x 24

This is a companion piece for a great Blue Heron I painted a couple of months ago.

Oystercatchers oil

I saw this group of oystercatchers on my mom's beach in Sussex.

Going Home oil (Cat boat) 9 x 12

I love Cat boats. This one is returning to the port of St Michaels (Maryland) after a gorgeous afternoon on the Miles river.

Morning Ride. oil 8 x 20

On a recent visit home I saw these riders on the beach at my mom's in England.

Stampede oil 20 x 48

While on a field trip to Yellowstone, I heard that my painting, "Stampede" won the Hirem Blauvelt purchase award at this year's Society of Animal Artists annual Exhibition. Of course I am thrilled and I would like to thank Jan Martin McGuire for letting us know, and all the lovely congrats from so many artist friends. I really appreciate this.

"Sunday Picnic" 6 x 14 oil

These are my neighbours Tom and Samantha with their children Max and Molly and friend on Ello's beach. It's a favourite picnic spot on the creek

Springbok oil 6 x 14

I came across these springbok and this gorgeous old snag in Nxai pan Botswana

Bee Eaters oil 6 x 14

These are "Carmine Bee eaters I saw in Chobe , Botswana.

Impala with oryx 6 x 14 oil

I've been doing some small African studies. This shows Oryx and Impala in Namibia

Patrick on the beach. oil 5 x 7

I also can't resist painting my son, so ,without apologies.... Here's Paddy!

Snowy Egret in Surf 30 x 30 oil

You must think I paint nothing but Egrets in the surf.... Here's another painting of the snowy Egret I chased in Naples. I just can't resist that combination of birds and sparkles! That really was a wonderful day at the seaside

Heron 36 x 24 oil

I lost it for a while, not my will to paint, just my blog update ability! Well I'm back, so here goes...
Great Blue heron . This is our regular Great Blue. He's always out in front of the house. That is when the ospreys aren't chasing him away, ... My son calls him Jimmy!

"Snow Patrol" Snowy egret oil 14 x 11

This is another from our day at the beach. This Snowy Egret was patrolling the beach.