Chickens on the bales - acrylic painting for SAA art competition

This is a painting I finished this week for a competition in an art magazine. I don't know why they chose chickens as the subject! I have not painted animals before so I was surprised when this caught my interest for some reason. My end result was much better than I anticipated and I thoroughly enjoyed painting it. I'm pleased with the brushwork and how I worked the acrylic paint.

Narcissus

Spring is supposed to be here but it's hard to see underneath the snow! The spring flowers in my garden are slowly coming through now. I love the colours here and the subtle variations of hue. It just shouts out the new life of spring.

Sunny morning

We have been having some bizarre spring weather here - snow and sunshine on the same day. The sunshine inspired me to cock a snook at the freezing cold and paint a sunny morning landscape. I love the warmth of the sunshine coming in through my studio window, heating the room (and me) whilst all outside it still cold. There's bold brushstrokes and a fluidity of brushwork in this picture and it makes me feel warm just looking at it.

Coffee morning - acrylic paint on art card

I've been doing a lot of portraiture recently, and this is one example I'm particularly pleased with. I've tried to follow the Hayward Veal impressionist mantra of 'paint what you see, not what you know', and tried to be minimal in line and detail whilst capturing the essence of the person. I'm also very pleased with the colouring in this picture.