My Work

A couple of small (7x5in) oil portraits I’ve been working on, painted mainly in one session from photo references. Portrait, oil on panel, 5x7in, Thalia, June 2024 Portrait, oil on canvas board, 5x7in, Thalia, June 2024

This morning I got up early and went out for a walk and a sketch. I was trying out my new Uni Kuru Toga Advance 0.5mm automatic pencil with a 4B lead. The pencil was very comfortable to draw with, probably more so than my last Pentel one, which finally gave up the ghost after many years the other day. I’m trying to use up half-started sketchpads, and this was done in my Moleskine soft-cover landscape sketchbook. The last time I used it was in 2015! But hey, paper is paper, right? I find that the paper in these high-quality sketchbooks lasts a pretty long time. ...

Spring is springing and I felt the urge to capture some of the plants growing in the garden. The garden has been left to ‘rewild’ itself over the past year, and I love some of the new plants that have sprung up in between the patio stones. Garden - bramble, 12 May 2024, oil on panel, 5x7in, Thalia Garden 13 May 2024, oil on panel, 7x5in, Thalia ...

I documented the stages of a recent painting I made from a photo reference. I started with a monochrome underpainting in raw umber. The second stage of underpainting, Thalia 2023 The first stage of underpainting, Thalia 2023

As I’m moving from this area soon, I’ve been doing some sketches and paintings of the views from the windows. This is a small oil on linen panel that I made the other day. A few months ago I painted a different view. I really struggled with perspective as that is one of my weak points. View from window, oil on panel, Thalia 2023 ...

On a visit to the National Gallery a couple of months ago, I picked up a book on Holbein from the shop. I can’t remember the name of it and can’t find it online – it’s currently packed ready for our house move. Anyway, I was struck by Holbein’s portrait of his wife Elsbeth (born Binzenstock) in the painting ‘The artist’s family’ from c.1528. She just looks so much like a real person and also so expressive, sad even. ...