Charity Fundraising

I have recently participated in a Charity Auction to raise funds for Great Ormond Street Childrens Hospital. This is one of my watercolour paintings that I donated, and a flurry of bidding activity towards the end resulted in nearly £820 being raised. My thanks are due to the generous bidders in support of this worthy cause.



I now need to buckle down and start painting ready for next years round of exhibitions. I also undertake commissions, so if you may be interested just give me a shout. No obligation or high pressure selling.

A New Miniature painting

I've just completed this miniature watercolour painting which will be one of my entries in a forthcoming exhibition. Life has been busy hence the lack of regular updates to this blog, something I hope to rectify shortly.

Another Seascape

This painting has been languishing on my board since it was initially stated as a demonstration piece at a local Art Society. I have now got round to finishing it, more in desperation ready for the exhibition. I have a purchaser for onbe of my railway paintings and that was going to be shown. Additionally I seem to have lost another painting, I can't find it anywhere, and have no record of it being sold, so it is a complete mystery. Absent minded artist seeks inspiration!

A new acrylic seascape painting

Well it's been a busy few weeks and sad to say I have rather neglected my posts on here. To atone for my failure in this respect, this is the latest acrylic seascape painting that I have just finished. I shall probably exhibit this in my main Summer exhibition at the beginning of August.

Another watercolour painting sold

I had a successful sale at another exhibition a few days ago, a beach scene.


I need to get down to finishing some new work ready for the summer exhibition, which I suspect will arrive with undue haste, what I want to know is where does all my time dissapear, answers on a postcard please.

Ducks Landing

From one of the photographs from my trip to the Nature Reserve I created this acrylic painting, I was standing waiting for my wife who was in the shop, now there's a suprise! and these three ducks came in to land, so managed to grab a quick photograph, which has resulted in this painting. A reversal really of the ubiquitous ducks flying up the wall which seemed to be the de riguer domestic decor in the 1950's

A Cottage painting commission

My first ever commission was a cottage for someone's daughter and over the years I have been asked to paint several peoples houses, not the Dulux dog thing you understand. Well history seems to be repeating itself again and I've just delivered my latest commission of a cottage that has been undergoing refurbishment.



If you would like to consider a commissioned painting,not neccessarily a house or cottage, just contact me through my website www.artyman.co.uk an enquiry will cost you nothing and there is no obligation so whatever your request just ask.

The Christmas Rush

I expect like most people this is the time of year when there seems to be so much to do and so little time. I've been busy packing and shipping various things for the monthly charity auction that is held on eBid I've also just shipped this print to a buyer in the USA.


To avoid the crush at the shops I'm waiting for a couple of items in the post, buying online can save a lot of legwork. Whether I shall get much painting done over the festive period may probably be proportional to the amount of food and drink consumed, but I must be a disciplined artist.... yeah right!

May I wish all my readers, customers, past present and future, a Joyful Christmas and Happy New year.

A hospital trip and a new painting

Following a visit to my doctor I was referred to the local hospital for the removal of a skin cancer. Unfortunately this was on my brush hand so a partially completed painting had to wait until a couple of days ago before it could be resumed. As with most things there is always a plus side and it has excused me from dishwashing duties for the time being.

This is the painting, of a Great Western Railway pannier tank locomotive running alongside the River Dart in Devon. This is from a photograph I took of the scene about twenty years ago.



I have the stitches removed from my hand next Thursday,and I'm hoping they will finish in time for me to go and photograph a Gresley A4 Pacific locomotive that will be running a steam special that day.

Train chasing again

I have been chasing trains again! When trying to obtain reference information for paintings you have to grab the opportunities when they present themselves. A coupl of weeks back I had a jaunt up to Oxfordshire to photograph the last survivor of the old Southern Railway King Arthur class locomotives 'Sir Lamiel' arriving a little late at one of my chosen locations she was just pulling away so only had the chance for a couple of grabbed shots.


The next was a little closer to home so I had more time, and despite the sun not fully co-operating by staying out these are a couple of the Bulleid Merchant Navy Class "Clan Line" running a Pullman special excursion from London to Southampton E Docks.

She is shown here having just pulled out of Eastleigh, her birthplace 48 years ago.

Here she is arriving in Southampton Docks having just crossed an ungated public road, a rare occurence these days.


I hope to commit this magnificient engine to paint shortly, so what this space, in the meantime you can see a couple of my other railway paintings on my website www.artyman.co.uk

A new venture

It's been a little strange this week, not really sure where all the time has dissappeared, some of it has been spent creating my first video for YouTube which can be seen here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBxaIvNnCII Trying to find some music of the correct length took some searching.

Setting up the exhibition this afternoon. If you fancy a personal visit to see my art in the flesh, so to speak, then the venue is Portsmouth Cathedral and it runs daily from Saturday 26th July until Friday 8th August, you might even bump into the artist. There are plenty of other interesting things to see in Portsmouth so could be worth having a day out.

Train Spotting

Following on from the train painting I did a few weeks back I searched the web to find some locations where I could photograph steam on a mainline. I came across a website and learnt of a steam special running from London Waterloo to Weymouth, being pulled by an old Southern Railway Bulleid air smoothed pacific locomotive 'Tangmere' one of the Battle of Britain class, appropriate in this the 90th anniversary of the Royal Air Force. I decided that a good vantage point would be to the west of Southampton Central station, unfortunately the weather hadn't taken any notice of the name of the train, 'Sunny Coast Special' and I ended up getting soaked, and what was worse was that after drying out all my gear including my mobile phone, I didn't get one shot worth keeping. The rain gave all the pictures a very grainy quality like something taken with an old box brownie.

Not to be deterred I found an old photograph taken on the Torbay - Kingswear line in Devon whilst on holiday with my son many years ago and this painting is the result.

Last weeks trip

My son had some holiday last week so we took the opportunity to visit the Watercress Line preserved railway, that runs between Alresford and Alton in Hampshire. The weather was good and took the opportunity to get some photographs, this painting is based on one I took as the train arrived at Medstead and Four Marks, the highest point on the line before beginning the long descent into Alton.



We are off to visit the Great Western Railway Centre at Didcot tomorrow, celebration of Fathers Day, well that's the excuse anyway.

Another Acrylic Landscape Painting

I've just completed this acrylic on canvas, though not sure that it should be considered a landscape or a wildlife painting since the deer caught in the shafts of sunlight filtering through the trees is the focal point.


Have shipped a couple of prints to the USA this week, I've noticed that deliveries there seem to be taking a little longer these days, perhasp the planes are flying slower to save fuel given the rising costs that we are all suffering from at the moment.

I have also just completed an order for notecards of a selection of my paintings which are sold to support the League of Friends at my local hospital. I'm have a trip planned to the Great Western Society at Didcot for next week, to gather some information for a forthcoming painting, so watch this space.

More sales, more painting

I have had some more sales on the eBid auction site this week. It is worth investigating if you are looking for a good alternative to eBay.

I have been working on some more of my miniature paintings ready for the exhibition at the end of the month. I have also had an enquiry from an art group wanting me to do a demonstration for them, which is something I enjoy, sharing my tips and experiences with other artists.

Busy Week

It has been a busy week, preparing and attending a Craft Show locally. Another of my Limited Edition prints now finding a new wall to hang on. You can see more of these low cost prints at Tazbar.com

I have also been painting some more miniatures, this being one of the countryside series

A Warm Sunny Beach

Sitting here in England on a winters day, you might dream about somewhere warm, with azure seas lapping a sunlit beach. I have just completed this watercolour painting for a client in Ireland, though I have to say it's a shame that the budget didn't include the opportunity to do some on-site location sketches in Barbados.

Celebrating Christmas

It seems my artwork is in demand, other people have been asking to buy prints of  "Moonlight Anchorage" and I have therefore put this up on ebay together with some other prints Click Here to take a look. I may get the opportunity to put some more up, but what with the usual pandemonium for Christmas, and I still have presents to wrap! not much painting being done, as well as anything else.

I hope you all enjoy the celebrations and not forget the real reason for the season.

I've been watching the birds in the garden during the recent cold weather and got these shots of a couple of them. Perhaps this Robin is a refugee from a Christmas card.

This is a Goldfinch resplendent in his flashy plumage, I seem to be spending a small fortune on bird seed at the moment!

A Classic Landscape Garden

Since we had a day without the builders and the weather was nice I took the opportunity to visit the National Trust gardens at Stourhead, a stunning manmade landscape garden, these are a few of the photographs I took which will serve as reference material for some future paintings.

Out of the Chaos

We are currently in a little bit of a mess at the moment as the new conservatory is being installed, still I suppose it will be a nice place to paint when it is all finished. The client came to collect his painting of Fausto Coppi at the weekend and was delighted, he said it was far better than he envisaged. Always nice to have really happy customers.

This painting of the great days of the 'J' class yachts is listed on Tazbar



So pop along and take a look, there are also plenty of other things to look at on Tazbar which is a refreshing alternative to eBay.