Sold this beauty to a customer in Ireland today. And I am really pleased to have such a quick response to this painting. Its my favourite current piece.

Photographing work has always been a funny one. I usually use my own kit and do it myself. I have a Canon 8mg EOS and its great. With the latest Photoshop CS4 and Genuine Fractals which will blow up a postage stamp and can print pretty good images. I use this technique for Cards and the publishers I work with are happy with their images. However for a large print it is best to have it done professionally. I use a local chap Simon Cooke who does most of the artists work here in Penwith .His Camera cost him £6000 and that's not including the lens which cost a further £1000 so I gave him 6 pictures and here is one .

Its pouring with Rain here and my car has developed a dodgy windshield wiper. You can`t drive without wipers. I hope my painting wipers are working properly.Actually I can see they are not as the blankets over the fishing nets are not aligned with the boats. Oh well back to the drawing board.

working 9 till 5 and changed this little beauty. Yes Yes Yes!!!

viola

Started a new St Ives and it is coming along nicely. Being under a Naive banner is giving me licence to do so much more than being true to the subject .

Towards Rock from Padstow.

Ive had a wonderful 3 nights with my family at the NovaHotel in Hammersmith. Took in `Nation` a play at the National Theatre which is facing the Thames and ate at the Riverside. I also went round the Galleries in Cork St .Albamayle St and Dover St and went to the Van Gogh show at the RA but the q was so long I decided to skip that.I took lots of breaks because walking isn`t as easy as it was for me stopping at old pubs and little Cafe`s. I went to my favourite gallery the John Martin Gallery and picked up some free brochures of two artists I like Fred Yates and David Martin. I also saw a superb painter at the Redfern Gallery called Eileen Agar who was a friend a Picasso`s and painted in acrylic and saw the wonderful Gillian Ayres abstracts at Alan Christea Gallery.It was raining and I bought an umbrella at Boots to keep me dry.It has been exhausting but I am so pleased I have done it. Back home now and itching to work on some London Paintings soon.

I am not going to be able to finish this before I go away . That may be a good thing so I can get some space between it and me as it it proving difficult. Hopefully be back Next Saturday.

I`m off to London next week for 3 days and staying in a Hotel in Hammersmith . So I`m working on a Sunday to get another picture of Padstow under my belt. This is the view from Padstow to Rock across the Sea . I need to change the colours of the wall at the bottom and add something maybe some more flowers in a vase not sure .. So the bottom bit needs a lot of work .

This painting is reserved for Thompson's in Alderburgh for there Summer Show, I am really pleased with it and it would be difficult to say goodbye to it. Except for the price which helps to get over it.

A new Marrakech painting is also coming on nicely. I went there early last year with my Son Sam and had a wonderful time sketching.

Some of you must be thinking how can he keep going like this. Well Fred Yates used to produce one in the morning and one in the afternoon all masterpieces. And Bratby the same. Of course I am not either of those artists but the question `how long did it take you to paint that as a measure of how good a painting is is not a good one. Some paintings that have taken months and years to paint can be pretty dull too . So time is not a measure of a paintings quality.

And here is the nearly finished version I hope. Its a Naive style of Pals. I am going to leave it on the wall for a while and see what needs doing later.

Crikey it`s cold. At last I am able to paint Palafrugel again for Thompsons Gallery. This is my first mornings work up. I am going to put some big and bold Sunflowers in the Foreground and some little people walking up to the top of the Village to see the view from the Church at the top. This is the village of Pals in Palafrugell which is near Girona

I Painted the background to this picture over 2 months ago and left it to dry in the studio. I picked it up to work on it again today and it looks promising. I am reading Joan Gillcrest at the moment . I wonder if I am being influenced by her?

I have a cold that I cant shift. and I had an MS situation last night so my energy is low and I`m feeling a little sorry for myself. I know I have a choice be happy or be sad .Theres something stirring in me that I cant explain. Thrashing around in the studio despite the pain and I am definitely a pain right now I have rather pleasingly come up with this. Its still very wet and the challenge will be what to do next.

appeal

This is one of two Prints I am giving to the Newlyn Art Gallery called `Spotty Jug, with St Michaels Mount` for there Haitian appeal. Its a very simple image in grey tones .The black red and white really stick out.I love this limited neutral imagery.