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 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.

All change at eBay

Well there seems to be a lot of upset artists as well as other people on eBay these days. The monopoly is massively increasing its Fees that it charges sellers, softened by a very small decrease, 10 cents! in the cost of listing, and discounts, if you can qualify! Overall it a huge increase in costs. Not only is this a blow to the small sellers, eBay will decide whether the seller's item gets seen on the site according to the star feedback rating system.

It works like this, if you score below 4.6 then tough your listings will be at the bottom of the pile and not seen by the buyers, also if your rating is low you can't qualify for listing discounts. Now eBay says that a score of 4 is 'Good' thus guiding the buyers to select that out of possible 5 where 1 the lowest. So at a stroke they are skewing the system so it is unlikely they will have to give the sellers any discounts, and with their search system skewed pushing the low scorers out of sight. As an added bonus sellers can no longer leave a negative for the buyer that messes up or rips them off ( yes it does happen to some folk unfortunately ) I'm pleased to say that all my buyers when I was selling on ebay were excellent, and I had no problems.

No wonder so many people are unhappy, a lot of sellers and buyers are now deserting the place and going to alternatives sites like Tazbar and eBid so there will be less choice for buyers on eBay and they should now start looking for their bargains elsewhere.

I have been selling my art on both Tazbar and eBid for some time, and getting some great bargains as well, including a SatNav system on Tazbar that has been invaluable when I have been delivering paintings.

So check out these new auction sites, and see what bargains you can find, in the meantime, I must press on with a commission, and sort out some paintings for the next exhibition.

A new beginning

With the proposed changes at eBay, artists along with many sellers who are unhappy with the situation at the monopoly, are moving away to sell, and also buy at new alternative venues. Sadly eBay seems resolutely set on its move to a department store approach, where big retailers who have been recruited by eBay have destroyed the community feel, that was once the big attraction to both buyers and sellers.

I already shifted away from eBay to new locations 18 months ago, a move that I don't regret. Many others are now waking up to the fact that they are working for eBay rather than eBay helping them to work, with the never ending escalation of fees and their failure to deal with scammers. So you may want to check out Tazbar or eBid and get back some of the pleasure that you used to have buying online.

There is a seller boycott of Ebay from 18th -25th February, so if you were thinking of buying or selling there, why not support the sellers, and try out some of the alternatives. You can see a list of other auction sites Here

There is an exciting new art only venue due to be launched so check back later for more details.

Independent Artists Group Exhibition

I have been busy over the last week or so changing broadband suppliers, and getting ready for an exhibition which is currently being held in Rugby Museum and Art Gallery in the centre of town.

The Exhibition is by a group of us, who form the Independent Artist Group who come together, to exhibit our work throughout the country, in addition to our normal online selling activities. This presents people with the opportunity to see our art work in the flesh so to speak.

There are exhibits from 15 artists covering a wide range of styles, so if you are near the area why not pop along for a browse. Full deatils of viewing times can be found here

This is one of four watercolours that I am showing.

To visit my website just click here, if you are interested in puchasing a Limited Edition print or a painting, they are also available from the Tazbar online auction site.

Many new sellers are arriving at Tazbar and eBid another auction site, as well now, following eBays recent moves which has alienated thousands of good sellers, who are unhappy with the changes eBay is making. I can recommend a visit to either of these venues where you can pick up some real bargains.

Gloomy weather

The weather has pretty wet and as a consequence natural light has not been good for painting, so I have been fiddling about with other things. I have just acquired a wireless remote release for my camera and I am hoping that this will enable me to take some closeup shots of some wildlife. They shouldn't be spooked if I'm not close by, but hopefully they will ignore the camera. These are some shots I took in the garden to test the setup. They are Goldfinches who seem pretty keen to eat all the Niger seeds that I can supply greedy little blighters.

Another Year starts

It's been an odd sort of week, that seems to have flown by, but I don't know where it went, lost in the post Christmas New Year haze I suppose! I had a very nice book of Railway Art, I haven't painted a railway scene for quite a while so this has inspired me.

I've been selling some of my miniatures, three of them bought by one person. A couple of them here.




I treated myself to an electric pencil sharpener this week as well so I might get round to doing some more sketching. This is a little coloured pencil piece that I did yesterday.




I'm pleased to say that I got my car back from the repairers today, following the reprofiling of the rear wheel arch done by 'white van man' whose comment was classic - " I saw you but thought you'd gone".

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!

Safely delivered

Well the painting of Aysgarth Falls has been safely delivered to the new owners, I hope it gives them as much pleasure as it has to me in the five years that I have had it hanging in my dining room. The trip to deliver it gave me an opportunity to try out a SatNav system that I won at auction on Tazbar the soft spoken lady seemed to have a different idea to me as to what would be the best route when I programmed in the destination the night before. So, I only turned it on when I was at the bottom of the M3, a bit later on she kept trying to get me to turn off, obviously trying to get me to use the A3, she tried again on a couple of exits near Staines and a couple of times on the M40. I did however let her have her wicked way with me as we got near the destination, and have to confess it was a lot easier with her dulcet tones telling me to go left and right and found my destination with ease, shame it doesn't sort out an empty parking spot though.

The day before, I had a van driver back into my car, fortunately not a lot of damge, but his comment, "I saw you, but thought you had gone" was priceless! I guess sorting that out this week, will scupper my painting plans, then it's Christmas, aah well, will get the brushes wet again soon I hope.

Aysgarth Falls Yorkshire

I have just sold this painting of the famous beauty spot in Yorkshire. It was the largest painting I have done to date measuring 48"x20". I was eaten alive by midges whilst at the location, it being late evening. The sun was just kissing the tops of the trees on the other side f the river so, I took some reference photographs and escaped to the safety of the car, completing the painting later when I returned home.

I am a little sad to see it go as it has given me much pleasure hanging in my dining room for some time before I listed it for sale. I have of course other paintings which can be seen on my website www.artyman.co.uk

Happy clients

The clients who commissioned the watercolour of the Nubble Lighthouse called today to collect their painting. This is the fourth one that they have commissioned from me and have now just moved ahead, in the highest numbers of my paintings owned list!

Spent some time tidying up the studio this week, after some prompting ( no dear I know you don't nag ) from the wife. Also spent some time trying to get some memory for the PC, which is now installed. I wonder if I could get some extra memory.

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.

Finished at Last!

Over the last three months we have been having a new conservatory built to replace the old one that consisted mostly of rotten wood, or so it seemed! It has taken a bit longer than I envisaged at the outset but it has been worth the turmoil. I finished the decorating a couple of days ago and sitting in it watching the birds in the garden is a pleasure, might distract me from painting but I suppose I could argue that it is giving me inspiration for some more paintings.

These are a couple of photos .

Nubble Lighthouse Maine

I've just completed this watercolour commission for a couple who visited here this summer whilst on holiday. They already have three more of my paintings that they previously commissioned. Working from photographs on this one, unfortunately their budget didn't quite cover an on site visit.

A Demonstration

Started the week with a demonstration for the Hythe Art Society, I allowed what I thought was plenty of time for travel so I could have half an hour to set up and gather my thoughts. Ran into a huge traffic jam on the Motorway and had only travelled 10 miles in forty minutes, panic mode one. Arrived with five minutes to spare so felt a bit harrassed, but soon got into the swing of things. There was a larger audience than I was expecting, around 40/50, has news of my fame preceded me I wondered.

Trying to do my style of painting in a couple of hours is impossible, but I left them with a flavour of seascape painting and some tips on the way I work. I also took along a few of my marine paintings for them to see some examples, these can be seen on my website.

This was the painting I did, it's still in its unfinished state, I shall work on it again after I finish the commission I am currently working on.

That was the Week that Was

Where did this week go too, as I don't seem to have very much to show for it. I had a day at the Royal Society of Marine Artists exhibition at the Mall Galleries in London on Monday. As always some amazing paintings to a very high standard. It was good to go again as I missed last years show being laid up with a bad back! The Royal Society of Miniaturists were also exhibiting there as well so that was a bonus. The detail that they can achieve on paintings measuring just a couple of inches is incredible, though I wonder what it does for your eyesight. Have a busy week ahead of me this week.

It's been a busy few weeks

Well I have just finished taking a beginners watercolour course, attempting to pass on some of my knowledge to aspiring artists, which has been very interesting and I have been asked to do another course starting in a couple of weeks, I also have a demonstration for an Art Society scheduled. To add to my committments I have been commissioned to do a painting of the Nubble Lighthouse in Maine by some former clients who already own three of my paintings. So there is no peace for the wicked, guess I shouldn't be so wicked.

The finished commission

I mentioned a commission a while back that I couldn't show as it was to be a birthday suprise for the recipient. I can now reveal the work, Michael Schumacher at Silverstone. Possibly the worlds greatest driver.


This painting came about as a result of them seeing another painting I had done of Lewis Hamilton, which has been sold, although Limited Edition prints of this are available. The question is will Lewis become World Champion this year?

On the domestic front, the new conservatory is having the floor laid as I type so hopefully by tonight the upheaval will be finished. Just have to do the painting then, just boring emulsion stuff, I don't have the time to do a Trompe Loeil as I have another commission to start, then a demonstration for an art society, then take another beginners watercolour course. So it goes on!