New painting and some news!

Good morning all.

I'm so glad you all liked The Starlight Express :)
This painting was inspired from the same book. 
The train used to approach via the Pleiades, a constellation more commonly known as the Seven Sisters. I decided to make my Seven Sisters more abstract and colourful - I hope you enjoy them too.

The Seven Sisters

In other News, 

we are carrying on with the works in our house.

We have removed some of the brickwork, the old carpet is gone as you know, and we have just two weeks to clear everything out from the whole of the downstairs in our house, before the builders come in. 

This will be my last blog post until after the works have finished and we have everything back to normal. I should be back at the start of Sept. 

I'll leave you with the first few photos taken of the work in progress and wish you all a wonderful summer. 

See you all in Sept! xx

The Starlight Express

I was reading a very old book, by Algernon Blackwood, first published in 1913.  Called "A Prisoner in Fairyland."

It tells the story of a financier who, having made his money, gives up the city to follow his long held goal of being a philanthropist.

Firstly he takes a short break to the place where he grew up and is surprised that the dreams of childhood come back to him so easily.

From that moment on, he is a prisoner in fairyland - and the way he travels there each night, is on the train that comes down from the sky to pick him up... the Starlight Express.

Its a lovely book, with a flying train, a net of stars and a cave of starlight, which once placed into people lightens their load and makes them happy; children and adults who come alive in their sleep and go about doing good; it exhorts us to send good thoughts into the world, because by doing that we do great things.

The story was so appealing to me, it fired a few paintings in my mind. The first was The Starlight Express.
Here's my vision...

The Starlight Express

15" x 11"

Arches 140lb rough paper

WN aq paint. 

A Prisoner in Fairyland is available as a free e-book. 

It can be downloaded HERE in epub, pdf or kindle format.

There is no hidden benefit telling you this, just sharing a delightful book :)

Carpet Tales and Dog Portrait Auction

We've been busy recently in the Elliott house.. pulling up the carpet prior to having a new floor laid at the end of July.
We started Saturday and finished 4.30am Sunday morning!

Here is the massive pile of rolled up carpet

And here's Missy looking her plaintive best, letting us know its her carpet :)

But tough luck, puppy-o, it was taken away this evening, off to a new home.
When we get the new pet friendly flooring laid, we'll take some more pics.

And now, the Dog Portrait Auction. 

You all know how much I love my dog and how I like to see a rescue dog get a new chance at life. Well, there's a dog rescue here in the UK called South East Dog Rescue. They are a small rescue and hoping to fund the building of some new kennels. To this end, I have offered to paint a portrait of the winning bidder's dog.

The auction can be found HERE 


If you'd like to bid, the money is going to a cause close to my heart - the welfare of abandoned and homeless dogs.
Thank you.

Yesterday's Summer

This painting of a milk churn comes from  a photo I took on a previous summer - because I'm beginning to wonder if we'll get a summer this year at all, there's been so much rain!

I hope you enjoy it.

Yesterday's Summer

11" x 15"

Arches 140 Rough

WN AQ paint. 

This painting can be purchased as a card, print or poster HERE and will be on permanent display HERE

My Girl

After trying Judy's technique on pears, I decided to try it again on a subject dear to my heart - Missy.

Now the first stage was as loose as the pears, but I have to confess (because you'll see it anyway) that I went in with a second wash that was a titch more detailed. Having said that, it looks "painterly" to me, by which I mean not ultra realistic.

My lovely following friends know how I like to vary my subjects and techniques, so I'm hoping you'll enjoy this one too.

Here she is:

My Girl

11" x 15"

WN aq paint on Arches 140 Rough paper

Available HERE as a card, print or poster.