A trip to the Highlands of Scotland

 My response to my trip, having spent five weeks in the textural weighty mountains with Spring just arrived and the heather and gorse in flower. These are acrylics with mixed media in the texture.

Resin artwork

 Experimenting with the lovely gloss of resin, over the pits and crannies of rough wood, and gauche painting. Love the lines in some of the photos I've taken of shops and houses in Lyme Regis. And I found a great way to fill a great knot hole in one piece of wood. (Below).

A diarama of life at the moment

 This depicts life on the surface - the stuff that happens in this space and time, with all the pursuits and bloodlines showing as sepia photos and illustrations.

 The Tree of Life is the cross over - all these things came out of a Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, but the Tree of Life is still there, and the mystery is finding the door.

 A hint of what lies beyond.

 The DOOR.

 And within, there's a floating 'caught between the realms' being - ME - who is enjoying a life within, that is far larger than can be measured and far brighter and more colourful than our visible spectrum contains.

Paul's First Journey

 Had my first go at resin art, and did this little landscape on board, of Paul's First Journey. I love the shine and the depth, and have yet to master the process but this is an exciting possibility and I intend to pursue it more.

Blue Tea in the West

Finished, finally. Blue Tea in the West celebrates more of the lovely West Coast beaches. . . in the fine bone china of a crazy teaset. 600 x 300 x 30 - oil on acrylic base on canvas.

Finishing touches on the Wonderland painting

A bit of translucent oil colour over the background and this painting is done!

Jenny in Wonderland

This is the base for another oil painting. I sometimes feel I should just stop now, because I'm enjoying the textures so much.

Sipping the Blues in the West

And here are the cups again, this time on a blue background, and with three West Coast beaches painted on their surfaces.
Oil on an acrylic base, painted on boxed canvas.

Trouble Brewing

This is the third in my series of 'Trouble Brewing' paintings. Love the textures, and sense of bone china against the light.

Luminous teacups I and II

These have been great fun to do. Oils on canvas, with a translucent white just bringing up the fragility of the teacup china.

Time for tea in the West

I like this oil painting, which is almost finished. It has taken a while to work on it, getting the background nicely set amongst the cups. West coast beaches - Piha in foreground cup, Bethells and Karekare - sit rather pleasantly on cups that normally have flowers.

Acrylic 'Underlying All'

Just enjoying the concept of a sense of clockwork precision underneath the most organic and random of chaotic life . . .

Experimenting with mixed media

I am working on an idea about the organic and mechanic - and trying out oils over acrylics at the same time. It's a work in progress. . .

Finished Piha II

Series of Cups paintings

I think I finished this today - I'm calling it 'A cup of tea at Piha'. Quite like the various textures that happened as this painting changed and grew.

I'm starting a couple of paintings using cups as the theme. Might just leave the cute little oval with its china cups without any more 'meaning' but the larger painting below is going to form the base for a painting within a painting. I want to do another picture on the cups' surface.

Piha II

My friend John took a lovely photo of Piha beach - from further inland behind the estuary. I've been learning some more oil painting techniques, and thought I'd try my hand at putting them to practice on this image.
It is by no means finished yet, but coming along nicely. I particularly like the translucent effect, and oh, what a joy to work in oils again.

Super City

This is one of those paintings I just keep fiddling with. I've got to stop now. It was turning out too blue, and after staring at it for a week or so, and seeing it get bluer and bluer (in my view), I had to do something drastic. I think it looks better now.

Waitamata I

I've been fiddling with this painting for the last few days. REALLY enjoying getting back in to it, and the textures and lines in it. It's on wood with sides, and the deep ruts and groves behind the paint make my toes curl with happiness when I scrape paint across them.
Needed more colour, so I added it below. . .

Mmmmmm