paintings prints and stuff

I've done some more work to the blue Harlequin painting - the last image shows the whole canvas (in sunlight so there's a shadow across the centre) and the others are close ups of various sections of it showing the details. It still needs a little more work but is getting near completion. 24x30 inch canvas (smaller than the other Harlequin painting at 30x40) Today the sun is shining :) after a few grim grey days of snow and rain :(

The cats were playing with an empty box yesterday morning so I shot this sequence and used them to make a birthday card for my husband. We took Rosie the tortoiseshell tabby in as a 2 week old orphan who weighed just 25 grams and had to be fed a special formula with a syringe every 3 hours 24/7! She thrived but we felt she was maybe a bit lonely when we were out and also we were worried that she didn't understand other cats at all and was terrified of them and was absolutely petrified of everything outside and would even run in if the wind ruffled her fur! Indoors she was fine and she's very loving. We decided to adopt a kitten from a refuge and brought home Paddy (black) - he was a confident, swashbuckling little soul, very different from her. She was terrified of him! He kept trying to get her to play with him and she'd hiss and spit and growl and run away - pursued by this little sooty scrap a fraction of her size! I really didn't think it was going to work as i

I'm living with the Harlequin painting over the sofa so I can work out what to do next with it. I don't suppose I'll have time to do any more before Christmas. More prints arriving from the print exchange, which is fun - images coming in from all over the world :) With Christmas shopping etc I just can't paint at the moment :(

the prints are starting to arrive and waiting for the post is fun :) I posted mine off on Monday - so waiting for arrival and feedback.

it's a work in progress remember and not a finished piece - it has a little way to go yet

I signed up for an international print exchange and am really looking forward to receiving prints from the others taking part :) I received a booklet about using aluminium foil in printmaking today from the organiser and it looks fascinating. I really want to try it out but it may have to be in the new year as Christmas is rushing up fast and I am not at all organised. He'd done the most amazingly detailed print of a feather using it. My prints are all printed and ready to go.

At last I managed to get some work done on the Harlequin paintings. I did some more to the 30x40 inch one and started a 24x30 and a long thin canvas, about 36x12 inches. They've both got a way to go yet - the blue has only just begun and both have wet paint that doesn't show up well in these images :( I'm using Griffin Alkyd fast drying oils so will be able to work on them again tomorrow, building layers and glazing and developing them. :)

Today I've been making Christmas cards with a class. I got them to cut out snowmen or parcels or Christmas trees in the same way as we used to do lines of paper dollies when we were young. There were loads of different coloured papers, hand made, patterned, holographic, all sorts to choose from and ribbons and bits to stick on. It's a mental health group with varying abilities and they made some lovely cards, even one who wasn't planning to couldn't resist and ended up making one for a girl he wants to ask out.