Summer paintings

Hello friends, it's nice to be back after the summer break.
I've only got three paintings to show you from my month off, because I was rather busy with getting my book of short stories out - and then working on my forthcoming novel- All in the Leaves - which should be available for sale at the end of October.

Here are the three paintings, newest first:

Chloe

 15x11

Saunders Waterford 140 Rough

She was a little outside of my comfort zone, but I'm happy with how she turned out. 

Lifeboat

15x11

Saunders Waterford 140 Rough

Lifeboat was made using techniques I've come to love, pouring and spraying! 

Brushwork was centred around the lifeboat and a few wave shadows.

Life

Life is.. a bowl of cherries, so I've heard :) 

This one is 11x8 and was the first of my holiday paintings. 

I hope you've enjoyed them all. 

Be round to visit your blogs soon.

Summer Break.. or not?

The art group I go to every week is now on summer break.
Which means we won't meet again until September.

Some people in that break won't paint at all and some like me will.
I like to find one book and practice a few pieces from it.
This year my book is printed by North Light and is winging its way to me across the pond.

Whilst I am waiting for it to arrive, I decided to try painting without doing any drawing - and what's more to do it outside from life and only take 20 minutes per piece.I'm hoping this will teach me to be more selective in my brushstrokes and less intimidated of painting en plein aire.

The first piece I painted was in my garden - an ornamental blue pumpkin.

My question for you is - do you take a summer break from your art?
Do you feel better or worse by being away from your craft?
Or do you take time to try to improve one particular aspect of your work?

Whilst you're thinking, here's the pumpkin.