So called because of her little black moustache. Its always a challenge to paint ‘white’ in shadow…I don’t want to just paint it grey so you’ll always find an interesting mix of colours in the shadow areas!

A gift from one friend to another on the passing of a loyal canine companion. Recipients are often genuinely moved to receive their portraits and often get in touch afterwards to say how much they love their painting - makes it all worthwhile.

I enjoyed experimenting with this one in a way I can't really when working on commissions. Unusual limited palette, more blending and softer brushstrokes than I would normally use

I love the way the whiskers lay on the floor on this one. There are 3 types of edges… ‘hard edges’, ‘soft edges’ and the special ‘lost edges’…they are the most interesting ones…where the edge of the object is lost to the background.

I love the way the whiskers reach out almost unnoticed to fill the square frame on this one. I tried really hard to stick to my initial value study on this one! Click to see my process pics :)

I started with a tonal map consisting of 4 values (light, light midtone, dark midtone, dark) and mixed my paint to fit each value range…After that It’s a simple case of putting the lights in the light shapes, darks in the dark shapes etc! (If only it were that easy)!!

Spent the morning spent painting on ‘Mill St’, Warwick in the shadow of Warwick Castle . It’s funny how you get a real sense for a place when you sit still and quiet for a length of time and let the world there pass you by.

An immensely enjoyable morning spent painting sunflowers @lodgefarmsunflowers. Not only can you ‘pick your own’, but there is homemade cake on sale, tea and coffee and all the money raised from the sale of them is going to charity.

This was a special commission to be given to the lady that has lived here and nurtured this beautiful garden for the last 60 years.  Her late husband is tending to the roses under the beech tree. Process pics in post.

Loving the way the ladder frames the flowers. Painted live ‘Blenheim Palace Flower Show’ in the showgarden of ‘Micklems Farm Flowers & Creative Workshops’

This was such a beautiful relaxed pose that encompassed her head, paws and tail all neatly in in the square…such a lovely composition. Process pics in post.

Happy with the result here, especially given it reached 36 degrees! That’s how it goes with ‘Plein air’ painting- conditions are rarely ‘ideal’! If it’s not too hot - it’s too cold, or windy or wet! That’s the challenge!

A fabulous long weekend spent with @micklemsfarmflowers painting LIVE in their show garden at @blenheimpalaceflowershow. I’m literally in flower painting heaven here! I’m also exhibiting my original floral oil paintings in the marquee.

These photos were taken by photographer Liz Tarren whilst the students painted flowers picked from the garden at Micklem’s Farm.

All ready for ‘Warwickshire Open Studios’, just time for one last flower painting!

8” x 8” oil on board

Staying in a property just behind the Tate Gallery in St Ives.. It had the most amazing views over the town and beaches. The sun rose to the right of my view and set on the left and it was fascinating to watch the light and shadows move slowly across the rooftops.

So called because I purposefully chose to limit my tonal range to only lights and mid-tones. Plus it’s part of a line from one of my favourite songs!

Roses from my garden, Cow Parsley from the lane.

So happy to find peonies in the shops at last :) Whenever I’m teaching painting I stress the importance of ‘working your edges’. Hard edges will always catch the eye more, so they need to be around the intended focal point. Soft edges will help set things into the background.