Dumper Truck. 4.5 ins x 6 ins, Oil on Board.

I did this little painting of a dumper truck last week. They are building a huge new shopping mall in the centre of Cardiff, the building work has been going on for some time now and I believe it's due to be finished in 2009. I see it gradually taking shape every time I go into town. So I thought it would be interesting to paint something a bit different. I was quite inspired by this big dumper truck and with the leaning one way sign and the digger in the background it was one of those ready made scenes where everything just fits together like it could be from the Renaissance even though the subject matter is contemporary. I shall probably do some more paintings of this building work as time goes on, it makes a change from painting still-lifes of fruit and lends itself very well to alla-prima painting.

Now available as a
Postcard or a
Note Card From Zazzle.com

Chocolate Cake Oil on Board 4.5ins x 6ins.

This is a painting of the chocolate cake I had for my birthday on the 2nd of January. It's been in my studio for a while so I thought it was about time I scanned it and put it up on my Blog. I didn't make the cake myself I bought it in Tesco. It was a very nice cake though, and the first slice fuelled the creative process. :)

This painting is so far also available as a greetings card and a bag on Zazzle.com, I shall probably add a few more products as well, though so far I've been too much of an art snob to make them into mouse mats, maybe I should paint some cheese, now that's an idea.

Clementine Sements. Oil on Board 4.5ins x 6ins.

Well I have only just stated doing some more painting I hadn't done any since just after Christmas. Actually I did this painting over Christmas so it's been in my studio for some time waiting for me to get back into the paintings and carry on with my blog.

Actually the main reason I haven't been doing so much painting lately is I have decided to change my strategy a bit and have been busy with another project. One reason I started this daily painting blog was to also sell my daily paintings on eBay. Unfortunately this didn't really take off. So given I was just wasting money on listing fees and given it can be difficult to get a realisitic price for paintings on eBay in any case. I thought there had to be a better way.

So instead of listing my original paintings on eBay I now scan them and make them into various products on Cafepress and Zazzle :) Actually I found the new Zazzle site good because unlike Cafepress they offer you a free shop and don't restrict the number of designs per product so basically you can make products from everything. So amongst other things I have made all these new products with designs based on many of my daily paintings
http://www.zazzle.com/artberry/search/painting

Slice of Bread 4.5ins x 6ins oil on board

Haven't been doing quite so many paintings of late due to doing other things like designing T-shirts. However I did this painting of a slice of bread over Christmas. Actually I suppose it's quite an odd thing for me to paint just a simple slice of bread at a time, which for most of us, is a time of excess and indulgence, kind of makes one realise there are people less fortunate and maybe that's the true message of Christmas and why I painted it.

Clementines 4.5ins x 6ins Oil on Board

I was going to call this painting Clementine 03 but since it's a painting of more than one, a herd, flock or gaggle of clementines perhaps, or maybe a collegiate or college of clementines. I may as well call it Clementines. :)

Winter Wonderland

Haven't done so many paintings over Christmas too busy eating chocolate I guess. Although I did paint rather too many Clementines just before Christmas and haven't put them all up since I thought it might look a bit obsessive. However I've also been doing some video and photography over the Christmas period which is another art form I enjoy. I don't normally put my videos in my painting blog. But I was quite pleased with this one of the Winter Wonderland here in Cardiff and I think it kind of relates to some of my painting to.

Clementine (02) 4.5ins x 6ins Oil on Board

This is a painting of a peeled Clementine. I put it on some green sugar paper when I originally photographed it and I think this makes a nice colour contrast with the orange.

I thought this was an interesting fact about Clementines which although they have been available in Europe for many years were only recently introduced into the US since 1997 according to Wikipedia which might also provide a clue as to why the bees are dying.

"Clementines lose their desirable seedless characteristic when bees cross-pollinate them with other fruit. In early 2006 large growers such as Paramount Citrus in California threatened to sue local bee keepers for their bees' trespass into Clementine crop land."

So there you have it could a gang of demented psycho Californian Clementine growers be killing the bees? Who knows? But if people will go to the lengths of attempting to sue Bee keepers for allowing their bees to wander onto there land it is clear that some farmers regard bees as a pest and could very well be killing them. So rather than chemtrails the explanation for the bee problem could be far more mundane. Well it's a thought.

Clementine (01) 4.5ins x 6ins Oil on Board

I bought some Clementines . Of course Clementines are associated with Christmas so I suppose this must because they are in season, and Wikipedia says they are sometimes called the Christmas Orange because they are available from November to January.

Auger Shell 4.5ins x 6ins Oil on Board

I found a couple of shells I had once used as ornaments in the bottom of an old suitcase in the bottom of a cupboard in my bedroom. This according to my research on the Internet is an Auger Shell or Terebridae which is a kind of carnivorous sea mollusc/snail that lives on the bottom of the sea, particularly around coasts and hides in the sand where it lays in wait to kill other poor unsuspecting sea creatures mostly worms with a poisonous barb. Well I'm glad to say it wasn't laying in wait for me in the bottom of my suitcase. I thought this shell would make a nice painting. :)

Apples and Pears Oil on Board 4.5ins x 6ins.