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.

Fed 2 Oil on Board 4.5ins x 6ins

This is another old Camera I bought on eBay, a Soviet Russian Fed 2 Camera from the late 50s early 1960s. Based of course on the Leica and looking just as cool in my opinion even though they were originally sold at a mere fraction of the price of a Leica but nevertheless an amazingly good camera. Well I thought it would make a nice subject for a painting. :)

Fallen London Plane Tree Leaf. Oil on Board 4.5ins x 6ins.

I found this leaf outside the Abbey National on Queen Street Cardiff. I thought it was an interesting shape, and also facinating because it hasn't changed colour yet. Actually I have often thought it odd that the leaves on the trees on Queens Street Cardiff don't actually change colour and fall off like one would expect of deciduous trees, but kind of stay green and gradually fall off over the entire course of the winter. I've often put that down to the fact that the Urban environment is usually a few degrees warmer, and I dare say the fact these trees often get bedecked with Christmas lights from like mid November to around February does help keep them cozy on those cold winter nights. Good will to all trees :)

However having done some research to find out what type of leaf this was I discovered it's the leaf of a London Plane tree and according to Wikipedia the London plane tree does have quite tough leaves and fallen leaves can take a year to break down. It also says this type of tree is "very tolerant of atmospheric pollution and root compaction, and for this reason it is a popular urban roadside tree" So that must be why the leaves last so well it's a special indestructible tree specially suited for the Urban environment. Actually these type of trees are found in many cities the World over so are very popular.

It's in the Trees! Oil on Board 4.5ins x 6ins

When I was doing this painting it kind of reminded me of the opening line the the Hounds of Love by Kate Bush "It's in the trees! It's coming!" Actually trees do kind of resonate to the undulations in the wind and the whooshing sounds of the leaves are almost like the white noise on an FM radio. I suppose if one transmitted a voice in the waves of the wind the trees could pick up the voice and one could make the trees talk, maybe by using a tree downwind as a transmitter and maybe one could make another tree speak in a long breathy whisper, like an Oracle of the Gods, which might I suppose explain the whole thing.

Actually it has also been scientifically proven that plants can pick up human emotions and communicate with each other so maybe they are talking about us behind our backs plotting to take over lol.

Then of course there are mobile phone masts in the US disguised as plastic tree's and when we all have the chips implanted the government will be watching us and tracking our every move with the fake plastic trees (see: Andre's Blog) It's in the trees! It's coming! :)

See Video: Kate Bush - Hounds of Love

Basmati Rice. 4.5ins x 6ins, Oil on Board.

I was cooking some Basmati rice to have with a curry and it was boiling away very nicely with lots of steam rising from it, I thought it would make a nice subject for a painting. :)

Rose. 4.5ins x 6ins, Oil on Board.

This is a rose I saw in Cathays Park, Cardiff, back towards the end of the summer. Of course all the roses are gone now, so what better time to paint one. :)

Tree and Roof in Winter 4.5ins x 6ins Oil on Board

This is a painting of a tree I can see growing above the houses from my front window, well it's actually to the side, but I have a sort of window bay and I can see this tree as I write this entry in my Blog, I dare say it's on Richmond Road.

Sometimes you get a really nice sky behind this tree. I loved the way there was a mixture of cool blue, purple and this mad yellow blue which would be a totally impossible colour if it were not seen in context. I mean it looks yellow and it looks blue and it doesn't look green. It's a colour that could only exist in a sky, or a painting of a sky. Almost like a new colour that seems to break all the rules of colour theory, quite amazing when you think about it a contradiction that just should not be, and yet there it is just like magic. :)

Mushrooms 03 Oil on Board 4.5ins x 6ins.

Mushrooms 02 Oil on Board 4.5ins x 6ins.

Mushrooms 01 Oil on Board 4.5ins x 6ins.

Well I said I was doing mushrooms last week and here they are :) Actually I did three paintings of mushrooms hence the title Mushrooms 01 I shall upload the other ones over the next few days. It was quite fun painting these lots of different shades of white and grey.

Eight Fruits. Oil on Board. 4.5ins x 6.5ins.

I thought these apples looked so nice all lined up in their box. The label (right) said "8 Fruits" So what better title for the painting. It also says they are Golden Delicious and come from Italy. I didn't used to like the Golden Delicious and probably wouldn't have bought these if I had been able to decipher the label in the shop, but actually these apples were quite nice and made a nice subject for a still-life.