Misbehaving Tulips

Wow. It's been such a long time since I have painted anything. About 4 months!

Actually in my defense I have been painting - just not oil painting - house painting!
I do a lot of the DIY and painting and decorating around the house and we have had contractors in and a lot of dust flying around.

So after my long hiatus, this is my latest painting. I'm working on a series of tulip paintings - partly inspired by the Spring and partly inspired by an artist I admire - Anne Redpath. She was one of the 'Scottish colourists'. She painted ordinary still life objects and incorporated simple patterned textiles into her set-ups. I also like the way she did not use conventional perspective - she would 'tilt' the table surface to incorporate more of the surface into the image - similar to Matisse.
Anne Redpath was 1895 and died in 1965. To me her work is as relevant today as it was back then.


This painting is:
(16 x 16 inches)
40 x 40cm approx
Oil on Gessobord

This painting is not available for sale just yet.  I'm keeping it for reference while I work on a series.
I was telling my cousin that the tulips seemed to have a mind of their own. She suggested the title.


Not currently for sale

Ready, Steady, Bake.

If you already haven't encountered the TV baking phenomenon 'The Great British Bake Off' then you have almost missed it, since they have just announced that this will be the last official series, since the makers of the series are moving channels.
Since I'm a big fan of the series then I guess subconsciously this was my inspiration, although I didn't think of it at the time.  'Ready, Steady, Bake' seemed like an appropriate title though.
I kinda like the eggs reflected in the yellow and blue bowls, but I most proud of the metal fastener on the jar. It took me AGES but I really wanted to take my time with it and get it right.

This took about 6 hours to paint and quite a bit longer to come up with the initial composition. Square panels are not always an easy fit for a composition, so sometimes it takes a while to decide what works. I have decided to slow things right down and take my time over some compositions for larger panels. The little 6x6 inch panels are great for studies but I do prefer painting larger.

This one is 10 x 10 inches.
I'm working on more ideas for paintings this size.

(10 x 10 inches)
25.4 x 25.4 cm
Oil on Gessobord

This painting is now SOLD

UPDATE: This painting has been accepted for 'The Rye Arts Center' juried show and will be on display there between November 2nd - December 3rd 2016.

Here's a link:
The Rye Arts Center Small Works Exhibition