That last picture I`ve been working on over the weekend so I have been able to finish off today. and it still looks contrived to me. I`ve really struggled today. I have the New craftsman Gallery coming to see me on Thursday and they`ll `want to see something good. I had a look in there on Sunday and the competition is really strong. To be any good it seems to me you have to stand out as different so in a way I am pondering this and what I am doing. I`ve started this little one in desperation. It`s a great image although similar to some of my older work.

I have finished this now but...I don`t feel I`m trying hard enough. ......

As it`s Mothers Day here are two super mums in St Ives. My wife on the right Mother of my two children and her mum on the left. That's me in the middle wearing my hat that the kids say looks like I came out of one flew over the cuckoo's nest. Its nice and warm though.

This is a picture of my daughter Alana dipping her toe in the freezing cold waters of St Ives. We all went there for a Mothers Day meal.

One of the hardest tasks for an Artist I am sure is to find subject matter whether it comes from inside or from out there. The picture in the back is a Plein air painting I did last year. It went to Gallery but was a little to `not me` and didn`t sell. It has however proved invaluable for information when doing St Ives paintings. The colours in close up are very subtle and gives me accurate details of how St Ives should look.I painted it among the deck chairs and parasols on the beach on a beautiful sunny and crowded day on Porthminster Beach. St Ives. The best Beach in the world.The picture I am working on at the fore is the one I`ve didn`t want to work on earlier because I had a headache and didn`t want to ruin it. Since then I have cliched my self 4 or 5 times by using cobalt blues and Cyan Green. I have gone for a lighter green and I am trying to stay original and fresh and not repeat myself. Don`t think its finished it`s about half way.

Day two and I`m still working on this. This is `Hard Line ` work which involves lots of linear concentration and really shows up any faults especially after my two cups of morning coffee. There are still areas which need work. The buildings on the right and the Embankment and there many be either to many boats or not enough I don`t know.I hope another day should do it but it`s the weekend and I also have to clean my studio because I have an important person coming to see me from a rather special Gallery in St Ives. I do love the colours of this . I want to do 6 London paintings altogether. I have to stop to have a house clean up as my son is having two friends round tonight.

I decided not to touch the last picture as I woke with a headache and didn`t want to mess up a rare moody picture. So. I ploughed into this picture of the London Eye. I`ll put people in the little cabins and on the boardwalk. I have to decide how to do this. The Thames was a rather impressionistic bouncy reflective thing so I changed that to make it a flat Naive simple feel. This is a complex image so I need to keep it simple.Also the buildings on the right neet to be worked on carefully. I`ll probably spend a lot of time on that bit and study it to get it right.

I have two on the go. One is not doing to well which is all part of the ``Gestalt` The othe well!! This is an exciting new start. Using lots of Prussian Blue which there is a lot of here in Cornwall.

This is not a new picture. Blimey I cant work that fast. rather an old picture I have added a new bottom half to.

Emm! My wife isn`t keen on this picture. She thinks the tree`s are too spiky and angry. Probably my feelings towards the Gallery spilling over in to my work. Iv`e tried to tone them down and I think I`ll leave this for now and try something a bit happier if that's the right word.

Have started my new London painting after a disastrous start of a St Ives In Oil. This is acrylic and I like the way it has gone. I think I need to clean it up and pay far more attention to detail. This may be a good opening door to more.

I had a private view last night in Penzance .It was a group show and I was one of a half dozen or so other painters..I took my 10 yr old daughter and we looked at each painting as we went round and discussed each one. We saw three painters work that we liked and thought mine obviously the best . Were biased of course!!. I have exhibited in many galleries in my career and this has to be among the bottom two .It is an unfriendly grubby little place where the indifference to it`s Artists is startling.There was know one meeting and greeting or making for a welcoming atmosphere and I was handed a price list as though I was just another punter..I hear that they have sold only two pictures since Christmas and it`s not surprising. If I was a buyer and had money in my pocket I would have walked out from the shear lack of interest. I really don`t understand this and it makes me want to tear my hair out in frustration.Politeness and friendliness `ARE FREE` `Cost nothing and goes a long long way..
So...to the future.....I am going to start work for my Alderburgh exibition next and hope to do some pictures of London which I have only done once before.Also spring is springing and the lure of Plein air painting is beckoning too.
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This is a strange painting for me. I`ve persevered and changed the colours around a lot and ended with a deepish sea. St Michael's Mount looks positively Caribbean yet there are allot of exotic plants here in Cornwall being the Southernmost tip of England so why not. .

I`ve come back and although Mondays are so difficult to get started I have something already. I almost dont like to say that and of course tomorrow I may think its a false start but for now I can get dinner on crack open a beer and so forth.