Trawling Through The Archives...

 This week I have finally done something I had in mind for months, since giving up the day job.  I've gone through my two portfolios and sorted our various paintings that have been hidden away for far too long and I am slowly loading them up into my Etsy shop.  Perhaps there they can find homes where they will be loved and looked at!  The above is an acrylic of a coastal walk in Alderney - my friends and I hiked miles and miles along these paths as teenagers.

 A little watercolour of the apple blossom on our tree - it's nearly that time of year again, so no doubt another blossom painting will ensue.

 I love painting horses and it shows in this one - surely someone would like this on their wall?

 A lot of my paintings are a travelog - this is a watercolour of Rome after we spent a day there during a trip to Italy.

 This is a watercolour of Victorian ruins on Pigeon Island, St. Lucia - another favourite thing to paint, old stonework!

 My one and only foray into oil painting - love the effect, hate the drying time.

 A watercolour of the rainforest in St. Lucia - I used a very limited palette for this if I remember, possible only two colours, no more than three.

 A coloured pencil sketch of a saluki - you will know my soft spot for these dogs, just so beautiful.

A watercolour painting of a pair of sparrows I saw on Boston Common a few years ago.  I love to paint sparrows too - they initially look drab but once you study them, they are such pretty birds.  I love their cheeky personalities too.

So if you look in my shop, these and a few more will be making an appearance and hopefully going off leaving some room in my portfolios for more work.

Baby, It's Cold Outside.......

It is wet, dark and horrible outside so I thought I'd cheer things up with a few past paintings from sunnier times.

This is one of my favourite places in the world, Alderney in the Channel Islands.   You can walk around the island in a day pretty much, and a lot of the coast looks like this....

...or this.  This is the view from a place called the Giffoin.  On one side you can look out to sea and this view, on the other side are old German bunkers from WWII when Alderney was a prisoner of war camp.  The Channel Islands were the only part of Britain to be occupied by the Germans and there are so many interesting bunkers, pill boxes and forts to be explored.

Further afield now, and a view of Rome from a holiday we went on a few years ago. Such an amazing place and we only had one day in which to explore - we managed to cram in as many sights as we could!

Lemurs.......I'd like to say we went to Madagascar to see these, but it was only as far as Marwell Zoo.  I loved the way these guys were cuddled up together and took reference photographs for this painting - it was exhibited at Patchings Art Festival and later sold at a local exhibition.

I have nothing recent to post about - I'm still working on a detailed horse portrait (I'd have finished days ago if it wasn't for the compicated bridle!) and am knitting various things, none of which are close to being finished.
And it being half-term, it is once again for a cleaning binge around the house - carpets shampooed, tops of kitchen cabinets scrubbed, garden tidied...can you see my halo shining too?