19 June, 2011

25 of 86

DERBY ST, WESTPORT
This 20"x16" oil is what I did as an entry for the "Virtual Paintout" blog which is run by Bill Guffey. Basically, each month Bill chooses a new location from which you can paint using Google Street Maps. It's a great idea and half the fun is finding a suitable picture! Again, this painting hasn't worked out anything like I wanted, but I enjoyed doing it.



I think part of the reason that I enjoyed this one so much is that I moved all my painting gear out to the garage, where I don't have to worry about splashing smelly thinners all over, plus, there's a lot more space.


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Our Own Art-Club!

Each Friday we go to the local Art-Club in Horwich. It's a thriving club with a broad range of people of all ages and skill-levels. Apart from the regular painting sessions, we have many professional artists visiting us to demonstrate their skills and to run workshops.

But sometimes, it's nice when just a few friends get together mid-week too, and so here we are in Simon's "studio", benefitting from the skill and experience of his father, Brian Waddington. It looks a bit cramped in there, but we were just huddled together to fit in the photo frame :-)



And you can drink beer in this club! :-)

In the beginning...

I've just come from reading a blog which inspired me so much, that I simply had to follow the author's lead and do something similar. The author of the blog in question is Jeff Mahorney - he decided to improve his painting skills by virtually forcing himself to paint more often. He set himself a target of 120 small paintings and virtually painted everyday. And as he completed each 8x6 painting, he posted it on his blog called 120 PAINTINGS. It was a simple idea, but a great one! Over the months, you can see how much Jeff's skills improve and it's inspiring to listen to him talk about how he got through those all familiar times when you just wanna chuck your paintings through the nearest window. Well Jeff, I love your blog, your paintings and your attitude. So much so, in fact, that I'm going to follow your lead by setting myself a target and posting the resulting paintings on here (no matter how pathetic they are). My target is to do 86 8x6 paintings in fairly quick succession (hence the name of the blog). With my commitment to work (not to mention the countless other hobbies I have) I don't expect to paint every day, but I will paint as often as possible and will try to ignore all those negative criticisms that come from within. I've got my little "studio" all set up and I'm ready to go! Thanks again Jeff! Another worthwhile read can be found here...