Here is a little glimpse of what I have been painting this summer - my favourite subjects: gardens and allotments! Below are the wonderful Iford Manor Gardens. I've seen many gardens (my mum is a journalist specialising in gardens so she's dragged me to countless places), but this one really stood out for me. It has an Italian peaceful feeling about it. I was actually with my mum when I painted this. The light was amazing. I had a great time doing it and I think it might well be one of my favourite paintings I've produced.
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| Iford Manor Gardens in the summer 10"x12" oil on board Available for sale here |
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| Detail |
Here are a few pictures of the place and some steps of the painting:
Next stop: Great Chalfield Manor. It was a very hot day so I escaped in the shade near the water. Felt nice and cool there but I became the target of an army of bugs and mosquitos! I powered through, ignored the flies crawling on my arms and bugs biting my legs, and I'm not too unhappy with the result, considering the conditions.
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| Great Chalfield Manor 10"x12" oil on board Available for sale here |
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| Detail |
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| Next to me, my mum was photographing the place for a magazine feature... |
On an other day, I got the chance to go back to my favourite allotments, five minutes walk from my house, and tried to capture this scene quickly before the evening light disappeared.
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| Last light on Monksdale road allotments 10"x8" oil on board Available for sale here |
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| Detail |
Here are a few shots of the progress:
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| Light almost gone! Time to go home! |
Finally, here is a very small oil sketch I did from my studio at home, looking down at the garden. Louisa was at preschool and my little one was having a nap and I had an hour of freedom ahead of me. I could hear the chair calling "come an rest and read a magazine!", but I decided to ignore that and paint it instead! I'm keeping this one for myself as a souvenir of the relaxing time I could have had!
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| The long chair 5"x7" - Not for sale |
Finally, don't forget to save the date 6-8 October for our show in Bradford on Avon. I'll do a post about it soon but here is the little poster meanwhile...
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