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.

More paintings sold

Well since my last post when I mentioned the sale of a railway painting to the USA, I have sold three further paintings two acrylics and a watercolour at the 100th Anniversary Exhibition of the Portsmouth and Hampshire Art Society. I've also been busy photographing the abundant butterflies that seem to be around this year.

This is one of the paintings sold.



This is one of the butterflies, a Brimstone.



I need to update my website where of course you can find more of my paintings.

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.

Deep and Crisp and even

Well the UK weather has been a little extreme this last week with unprecedented levels of snowfall that has placed everywhere in chaos. The Government seem incapable of organising things, I'm sure all that hot air could have helped solve some problems!

It did give me the opportunity to get some photographs, these are of Portchester Castle an original building project of the Romans with extensions by the later Norman occupants, bet they didn't ask for planning permission.





A bit cold for painting outside, I guess the water would freeze any way so watercolours would be a non starter.

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.

Olympic Glory

Having now recovered from getting up early in the morning to watch the sailing from the Beijing Olympics, I've painted this watercolour in celebration of Ben Ainslie winning his third Olympic Gold medal. After his initial battle with Robert Schidt in the Lasers when he won silver, he moved on to the Finn class, vacated by British Gold Medallist Ian Percy, who also won Gold in the Star class this year. He has dominated the class since then and emphasises what an incredible sailor he is. Having previously been a National sailing champion myself, I know the dedication required to compete at this level.

A scene from Scotland

With the submission date for the Annual Exhibition of the Portsmouth and Hampshire Art Society fast approaching, I have been considering which paintings to put forward, this is a watercolour painting recollecting the granduer of the West coast of Scotland, from one of my visits some years ago. An artist cannot fail to be inspired by the majestic scenery and rugged beauty of the place, and I feel I shall have to try and make another visit before too long.



If you wish to have a painting of a particular scene that is special for you, please feel free to contact me through my website www.artyman.co.uk for a no obligation discussion, or just visit my gallery for a browse.

A new seascape miniature

This is one of a series of four miniature seascapes I'm painting ready to show in an art exhibition later next month. I usually sell most of them, however I have some miniatures available to purchase in my gallery at Tazbar

Exhibition success

Have started painting some miniature seascapes this week for a forthcoming exhibition. This is one of my watercolour paintings which was sold at exhibition this weekend, part of an event to raise funds for a charity to help deaf children.



It was nice to see Lewis Hamilton win the first Grand Prix, I sold the original acrylic painting of him winning his first race in Canada last year.



Prints of both these paintings are available, visit my website www.artyman.co.uk

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.

This week

I had a painful start to the week as I managed to shut my thumb in the car door, which has made holding a paintbrush a bit difficult this week. Sitting in the new conservatory having my lunch today watching the birds in the garden was very pleasant, and it would be easy to spend too much time relaxing.

I managed to take my beginners watercolour class on Wednesday, although there were a couple of absentees, something about a football match or some such thing on TV, can't possibly think why it was important!

I need to get started on some new artwork in preparation for next years round of exhibitions. So off to get some paint as I'm getting low on a couple of colours.

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.

A visit to the Past

I have been having a bit of a tidy on my hard drive and came across some of my earlier paintings, this is one of those early works and I may revisit this theme again when I have a moment. It is called after the rain which is perhaps somewhat appropriate after the recent floods that some people have had to endure.