Bird05a

This a deviation from the traditional Off-Hand Flourishing: it has a cast shadow as well as a small slash of colour.

Bird04

Off Hand flourishing was an art done by calligraphy artistes, with the sole intent of showing off their skills. It is an art that is seldom used today, and in some esoteric circles even frowned upon. This drawing was done originally by hand with a dip pen and black ink. What I have done: is redo the image with a drawing tablet and digital pen, and the use of Abobe Illustrator. So the original is a layered vector file.These images would look great on a set of mugs or dinner plates.

Bird03

Bird02

Ash

This is a small portrait painting of my one son Ashley. 20*25cm - 2011

The Village.

This is an oil painting done on Canvas 50*61cm. Unfortunately it is not totally original work as the canvas already had a black & white drawing printed on it. But the canvas came with a promotional pack of oil tubes at a fantastic mark down price. Too good to be missed. Was embarrassed to show a painting that was not 100% mine so it has been in the garage since 2008.

Abstract expressionism

Another old painting found in the garage. However, I remember having fun doing this with Winsor & Newton oil bars.

Scapbook prototype

Found this old painting in the garage, and it reminded me of what certain people are like. A client approached me and wanted a very large canvas painted with photos of her family stuck all over the canvas. Called Scrap booking. This was one of many small prototypes that I thought fitted her description, but she never came to have a look at the prototypes. This painting is 20X25cm, and was painted with artist quality paints, on a piece of masonite covered with canvas.

Mrs Blue Hair

The paint that is left over after the painting is finished - what do you use it for. You can not get it back into the tube, and if not used for a similar painting with the same colours, it is going to get hard. The solution; grab a paint brush and begin to draw/paint something, anything. Some of the best results that I have got have been from left over paint. Some times when I set a gaol of painting something wonderful, the results are no where near those that I was aiming for. But without any tension and stress, fantastic results can be achieved.The paintings are more loose and relaxed. try it and see what happens!

This is a painting that was intended as a study of ligh and shadows with no attention to colour, but as I started to work on it, it reminded me of some of the picture of Picasso's blue period. Not that I would liken my painting to his, as he was truly a great master of the brush.

The original image that I saw was a publicity photo and it was only in black and white, or should I say tones of grey. It is not done in the typical style of the gold and silver leaf, but I did enjoy doing it. Hope you like and please leave a comment.

Bony Hip

This is one of my new creations called Bony Hip. It is a small picture, a mere 18 x 21cm, but what made it enjoyable to do, was that it was done onto a puzzle. I will be do some more of this type of drawing for a while.

Great News – I have sold two of my gold leaf paintings in Macau. But the best part of this news, is that it was in the aid of setting up the first rehabilitation centre for woman. Up until now, help was given only to men that had an addition problem and the woman were given very little or no help at all.
But things have changed – various government bodies, companies and individuals have stepped up to do there part. So on the 18 October 2010 the first centre for woman was opened up.
Galeria 57, played a huge role in the raising of funds for the organization. The ARTM (Associação de Reabilitação de Toxicodependentes de Macau) organization has been in operation for 10 years. Until now they were working with men in the area of rehabilitation and prevention of drug abuse.
It felt good to know that I have contributed in some way to this organization – ARTM – and hope that in the future I will be able to help again. Should anyone want to know more about the ARTM here is a link - www.artm.org.mo
There address is – Estrada do Campo, 16 R/C, Coloane, Macau.
I have added images of the two small paintings I sold. The frames were silver leafed and finished by me as well.

The Results of the IPL exhibition

Hi Everyone – it has been a really long time since I have written anything on my blog, and since I’m laid up with the flu, it was a good time to put fingers to the keyboard.
First of all I would like to tell you about the exhibition that I had I had last year at the IPl. That anachronism stands for Instituto de Politécnico de Leiria. In other words it is an technicon
The staff there were absolutely fantastic – especially Elisa Bento. She ran more than the extra mile and she is a credit to the institute. They do not know her value.
All the publicity was done well before the time and they had no problems with the fact that I wanted to design the catalogue as well as the invitations. Having just finished a course on Photoshop, Indesign and Illustrator.
The opening night was a great success – all my family as well as friends arrived. One of the best things about the event was that a friend of mine – Sandy allowed her daughter to play the harp at the inauguration. She played a piece that was fantastic and the crowd loved it. At least they were quiet during that time to hear the music . It was no easy thing to gat a harp to the inauguration. That instrument is really beautiful as heavy and even more expensive. It was a huge relief to deliver the harp back to it’s home. The worry and concern on their faces (Marta and her family) was very evident. I’m really appreciative of their support and value their friendship.
I also had another friend of mine and great art – Abilio Febre. He was invited to the event to say a few words on my behalf, and at short notice he did not hesitate to step forward. I wish him everything of the best in his artistic career and hope that his work (sculpture) bring him ore and more happiness. For those of you tat would like to see more of his work go to his web site – http://abiliofebra.wordpress.com .
Then, I also had a friend of mine (Inês Bernardinho) that has a wineyard. She supplied the wine and the explanations as to the making if it. The name of the farm is “Quinta da Sapeira” and is situated in the centre of Portugal in a area called Azoia. Inês does not cater for large quantities and has some clients in Northern Europe that appreciate roses and white wines. All the varieties of the farm was on display and the public could select the wine they wanted to taste.
I had to give a speck in Portuguese which was really hard for me. In English I would have been a walk in the park
The show went off with any problems and I received a lot of good reviews. Look forward to doing it again.