I’m nearly there on a little portrait of my baby, to accompany my first daughter on the wall that I did about four years ago. This is oil on canvas, about 4 hours in. It’s nearly there but needs warming up in places – the photo of the painting is actually warmer than the original, which was painted from a very cold, grey photo, so I’m being creative with the colour! (as usual!)

I’ve been working on this portrait for a few months now – not all the time, just when I’ve been able. I think it amounts to about 12 or so hours. I’ve really enjoyed it – really enjoyed the challenge and am very pleased with the results. I’ve learnt things in the process, and aspects that need more focus have revealed themselves to me. All in all, I look forward to the next portrait.

Breaking news…. I’ll be taking a stand at an Art & Craft Market on Sunday at Caterham School. Can’t wait! I’ll have a good collection of paintings and drawings with me. Hope to see you there.

I do like to have work exhibited as regularly as I can. All very exciting! This week I’ll be dropping off five paintings to St Leonard’s Church, Turners Hill (map), for the annual Turners Hill Art Festival, West Sussex.

The show runs Friday 18th and Saturday 19th 11.00 am – 5.00 pm.  No tickets required – the exhibition is free!!  There is a lunch on Friday (tickets required) and a Flower Arranging demo on Saturday (tickets required), click here for more details of these events. Otherwise, hope to see you there!

I’m just back from another session with The London Road Group, a few more hours into the latest portrait of little Arjun. Nearly there…

Having enjoyed a mother and baby drawing session a few years back, I offered to sit for the London Road Group’s life session last Saturday, with Lottie. We lasted rather well, in the three and a half hour sesssion – obviously many of the poses were rather short, but Lottie fell asleep twice for a slightly more studied pose. Here are some of Richard’s rather Leonardo-esque sketches (more can be seen here)

October sees a month long exhibition of my work at Oyster Fine Frames, based in Lingfield, Surrey. It’s lovely to have them displayed all together. The exhibition is a mixture of my landscape and portrait work, including many of the landscapes from my recent series of Ashdown Forest paintings. If you’re in the area, do pop in and take a look.

It’s so good to be back painting, like you wouldn’t believe! It’s just a shame I only have limited time to do it. I’ve started a new portrait, only having done two sessions on it so far, so excuse the lack of nose and mouth… they’re coming. It’s oil on canvas – wonderful to be back in oils after a spell with acrylics. This is the painting so far…

After the first session…

After the next session…

It’s been a long time since I last posted any new work. I’ve been working on something for about nine months, not long finished, which has taken up rather a lot of my time and concentration. Presenting…. Lottie: