Mobile website compatibility

Yes indeed. The website is now mobile compatible. The website painting images shrink  to the size of the mobile screen or tablet. Very clever. Software that is. Not me. I just pointed and clicked until it worked. I don't have a clue what I'm doing.

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Original paintings for sale in the Blott gallery Blackpool

Yes, exciting news. Most of the paintings I completed last year are available to buy in the Blott gallery.  Canvases I have recently completed will feature in the in the Blott Summer exhibition which starts in June. The following photographs show what the gallery looks like from the outside and from the inside - just in case you happen to be in the area and you wonder, for second, whether you're in the right building.

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I almost forgot to post this

The following advert for the Blott Gallery appeared in Rolls Royce monthly. My ubiquitous Preston sunrise appears alongside works by the other Blott contributors. I think it looks rather fine and classy so I am quite chuffed. As my Father owns at least two Rolls I expect to hear from him quite soon. Val thought that this is just the sort of thing that belongs in my blog. She may or may not be a little tired of the drivel I otherwise write. I couldn't possibly say.



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Location:New Hall Lane,Preston,United Kingdom

My first big canvases.

I've just completed the second of two big canvases for the exhibition. One is Preston sunrise but big. The second is another one of my surrealistic ones with the funnels. Both were very challenging to do for different reasons. The first reason which did not surprise me was that bigger canvases  need more paint and more time to apply the paint. This means I have had to maintain a constant level of  enthusiasm on a piece that would've taken me maybe half as long on the canvases I normally work on. This was tricky. There I've said it. The second reason is that  I attempted to paint 3 large female figures in acrylic.  Acrylic dries very quickly. This problem becomes more pronounced on large canvases. On my large scale figures I would apply paint to the head and by the time I got down to the toes the head would be dry. No blending over large areas here. Not to mention that the subtle fleshtones I had lovingly mixed would be a rock hard lump on the pallette. From now on I'm going to go to paint in oils. The only former objection to using oils was that the smell of turps makes me dizzy. I now have this product called zestit which smells like lemons to thin the paint and clean the brushes. Next painting is going to be a portrait. I have my first commission!

Three new paintings. Much productivity.

Link to recent paintings

I am forging ahead creating more objects of desire for the upcoming exhibition at the Blott gallery. To relieve the monotony of painting chimney stacks, fruits and funnelly things I painted a couple of self portraits. I got that out of my system at least. Tricky thing self portraits. Consensus is that I look too intense and angry. I'm in fact just concentrating lots. I did a prototype portrait of me smiling benignly but it looked as if I had special-needs. A smile just does not suit some faces. Another opinion was that I've made the hairline on one portrait too vigourous and thick. I remedied this in the subsequent portrait where I have shown the accurate thinning. I'm not sure how important this is but the comment came from a authoritative source. I tired of my face after two portraits and the third painting in the recent paintings section on the website (link above) is another industrial landscape painted in colours inspired by the American colourist Milton Avery. I am now reproducing the painting Preston sunrise on a really big canvas for the exhibition. It occurred to me the painting has drama and the drama could be increased by increasing the size of the canvas. As the painting has little detail this is tantamount to just increasing the size of the planes of colour as it is the colours which convey the emotion. It worked for Mark Rothko so it should work for me.

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Location:Fishwick Parade,Preston,United Kingdom

Yay!! My pictures are showing in a gallery!

Yes, my pictures are currently hanging in the Blott gallery with titles and price stickers and everything.

Just completed two more industrial settings - well one is new and the other is a reworked old. Already posted on my Facebook page but here is the link for those who missed them.

New painting link

The other is in the Preston section and is called 'Red walls'.

Just bought some clippers to cut my own hair. As I get older I find it more and more difficult to deal with chatty barbers. You cannot win. If you engage they chat all the more. If you don't they take it out on your hair. I'm going to get beaten up if grow another pony tail ( I used to have one in the 80s) so I shall have to wear it v. short from now on.

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Location:New Hall Lane,Preston,United Kingdom

Two new paintings up

Link to paintings.


Both are trippy industrial landscapes intended for consideration for a forthcoming exhibition at the Blott studios. I'm spending more and more time at Blackpool so that the Tower is likely to replace the ubiquitous Preston chimney in my paintings. I'm well aware of the phallic overtones of these landscapes. All I can say is that I like the way the lightness of the sky is divided by and connected by darkness. That's my story.


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Location:New Hall Lane,Preston,United Kingdom