A little bit of exposure

It is always encouraging to get great feedback on your work and compliments certainly help feed my motivation. Seeing images of your work published in the media is even more exciting. These works featured in various publications this year alone.

Recent drawings

All of the animals

Showing a lot of love for the furry and feathered variety...

From my home to yours

I do so love visiting friends and family and seeing my work on display in their homes. Over the years I have painted and given away so many works that I often have forgotten about. So it was really nice to be invited to a home of some new friends and collectors of my work, to see my work on display in their amazing renovated home. Here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure.

The need to draw!

Having returned to school after the holidays I have found it really hard to devote time to my painting. Which doe make me sad, but I do think it was a sign that I needed to slow down a bit too! So in between marking numerous art essays I have found a new for of procrastination, that was easy enough to squeeze in a few half hour sessions through the week. DRAWING! When I was a kid I used to draw on everything, from the TV guide and my maths books to the back of my parents phone bills. I would just sit and draw for hours on end. This was a past time that also got me through a lot of my high school years until of course I discovered my passion for painting in Year 12.
Here is a sketch in progress that I have been working on this week. So far it is receiving a lot of great feedback on FB.

Alongside an Art God!

I was recently commissioned to paint a portrait of Keith Richards from the Rolling Stones by a Canvas Lover (Nobby Beach) who had been admiring a work of mine featuring an Astro Beauty. So after passing on a Rolling Stones book with a few pictures tagged I had everything I needed. A simple enough brief! The pressure set in however, after finding out that this guy actually owns an original Andy Warhol featuring Mick Jagger which hangs in his home.

So after getting through a long line of commissions I finally faced the 'Keith' images and I have to admit I got really nervous! After all this man is a serious Rolling Stone's fanatic and he would know Keith Richard's face far better than I do. So to cut a long story short, I forced myself to do it, I dropped it off at Canvas yesterday and as fate would have it the Rolling Stone's no. 1 fan just so happened to be there drinking coffee with some mates. Time to face the jury! He came in and we introduced ourselves and I showed him the work. He paused while looking at it, turned and held it up to his two mates asking "Hey guys who is this?". The two sun-glassed coastal looking men stopped and looked. One of them "Ummed" and "Ahhed" (meanwhile I'm freaking out!) the other then confidently replied "Keith!". No. 1 fan turned back to me, smiled then looked back at the work and said "Sold!" Yay!

He then tells Matt and I that he actually owns original drawings by the Drummer from the Stones, Charlie Watts as well as the Warhol. This guy was even wearing a Rolling Stone's T-shirt yesterday, he really is a HUGE fan. So now my humble little painting joins a collection of Rolling Stone memorabilia to make any fan jealous. Oh and did I mention it will be hanging alongside an Andy Warhol????

Could it be this one?

Or one of these? I dunno, because I stupidly forgot to ask!!

Here is my tribute to Keith Richards.

Not sure which Mick Jagger portrait he has, but here are a few I found and liked!

Framed Favourites.

I have been meaning to get some prints of a few of my most popular paintings of 2011 for quite a while now, and having had 5 weeks of holidays I finally managed to get some done. Here are a few pics of the prints in some unique frames. There is currently only one of each available as I did not want to go overboard buying frames in case they don't sell! Fingers crossed the market  goers on Friday night will snap them up though.