"Sunrise Silhouette"

"Sunrise Silhouette" Oil on 8x8 board    

This little painting was inspired by my daughter who is an accomplished photographer. She seems to be a natural, always manages to catch  an unusual shot.  

I must admit it took a little thinking on how to work it out as a painting.

I think the colours really gives it life in the background and a feeling of a walk to work and Iphone in your pocket on a cold early morning.
Babs

"Pumpkin" and a Happy Tail

"Pumpkin" Pencil pastel

I have used pastel pencil once sometime ago which I quite enjoyed, it is a good idea to introduce another medium for me as I am very keen on oils and make excuses not to change what I had become accustomed to.

Yesterday on Facebook North Halton Kitten rescue showed a little cat who had been adopted her name was Aphrodite, she was lucky and someone adopted her they renamed Pumpkin she has beautiful eyes and certainly looked friendly.
I think she will have a happy life.

I decided to try the pastel pencils and worked on a picture of her, I enjoyed the time I spent learning to use pastel It's very different, this picture is a learning experience so I decided to make Pumpkin famous for a little longer and have her back on Facebook with my effort.

Babs

"Just Walking in the Rain"

"Just walking in the Rain" oil on 8x10 board

An experiment in painting and a bit of nostalgia:

So this little painting is a sort of memory of about 4 years ago when I returned to UK for a few weeks due to an illness in the family. My sister then lived in Wembley, a short hop on the tube and we were in the centre of London, and she has has a love affair with this City and loves to visit as often as possible. 

Both of us have a love for Art and this was an  opportunity to visit all the Galleries together. I think we were more often than not a bit like a couple of kids enjoying every moment we could, no matter where we were. 

We made a decision to visit the British Museum which covers just about anything to do with
History so much to look at, mind boggling! 

On our way home it was raining. I can't remember taking the photo but somehow John found it on our photo steam, I have always wanted to paint a picture of the rain including an umbrella!

The result isn't axactly riveting but it's just the job for me!
Babs

"Jazz" the Horse

"Jazz" oil on 11x14 board

Jazz  was a surprise gift for Katie at Christmas, I would love to have seen her face when she set eyes on him for the first time. She is a lovely young lady almost all grown up like her sister Emma totally nuts about horses. 

John, their Grandfather, likes horses and has taken many photo's over the years and painted some too. He does however prefers to keep a safe distance just not sure about his comfort level. A couple of Year's ago we visited a local farm near by, who have a couple of work horses in a field. So I decided to take some carrots to them for a treat, horses are pretty savvy when it comes to food and they soon ambled towards us. While I gave them a carrot for John to take a photo the other horse decided to get behind John and give him a gentle nudge with his head as he was a bit impatient wanting John to give him a treat too.

"Dobbin" the nudger!
oil on 8x10 board

It was priceless when John realized what was happening. Wish I had the camera at the
time it would have made a good shot, his face just said it all! of course the horse did get
his treat in the end and even a pet from John.
Babs

"Ready for the Storm"

"Ready for the Storm" oil on 8x10 board

John took the original photo of this, it was a lovely Autumn day with a storm on the way, the clouds were incredible colours all intermixed with white purple blue, in the fore ground the two horses ambled up the hill and it made a beautiful picture with highlights on the animals. 

I hope I have managed to do this little painting justice it makes you look at the sky more often.

Even in the winter it can amaze you how colours can change and cloud patterns can be so interesting.

Babs

Little Mouse!

"Mouse" oil on 8x10 board

Nothing like a change! 
I have been working on a little mouse, I thought it would be fun loving the colours in him. I usually start with the eyes but, for some reason left them till the last and found it doesn't work as well. 
This little mouse has given me a challenge to get the highlights in his eyes and make them
like little bright black beads. 
They say eyes are the windows to the soul and I believe that is so true, animals show all their love fear and fun in them, even mice too!

Babs

Roses?

Oil on 8x10 board

Love them and so many different varieties, the two I tackle for practice has given me a new out look on these beauties.

I know patience is a virtue but these really gave me a lot to see, twists and turns light and shade the most complicated flower I think to paint and make it look like what you see!

Amazing when you sit in front of flowers after a while it's not just the main colour you think it is, delicate touches you wouldn't notice at a brief glance and making the depth with a variation of the same hue is fascinating.

So for now before I get totally squirrelly I decided to leave roses alone for a while!
Babs

Oil on 8x10 board