Chippy the Chipmunk

You might get a giggle out of this article that appeared in the Brighton and Hove Leader in 1989.
It was a true story too. A chipmunk just appeared in my kitchen one day.
Many thanks to my Mum for digging this one out.

A Desert Storm

Here's another picture from the desert book I am illustrating.
I am trying to leave these paintings less finished than usual to hopefully achieve a more atmospheric result.

The Ballerina

Following up on the last post, where I showed a picture in a "raw" state and then in a more finished state, here are two recent paintings of our ballerina Gia. She has the most wonderful poise and makes very elegant shapes.
I left both of these pictures with a view to doing a little more work on them.
I'll post the final results.

Studio Practice

I don't often return to fiddle with paintings I have painted from life.
One of the best things about a life session is that it imposes a time restriction on you, and whatever you can do there in front of the model has a truth and honesty about it that is very apparent. Working up a picture afterwards can make it look slick and over-finished.
Sometimes though, I do make literal or mental notes to myself for bits of work that can be done later in the studio.
In this case I felt that the study of Grace was looking good, but because I had been working with a very restricted palette, the whole could do with a warm glaze or two.
So, when the study was dry I added Liquin glazes tinted with various reds, and browns. Needless to say, I fiddled about with the image, but in this case I think it served to make for a simpler, stronger image.