Rip it up and start again

The other week I was trimming all the bent edges off my paintings that are left by the Ken Bromley paper stretchers I use.

This wasn’t in preparation for mounting them as I haven’t really done any paintings that I’m especially proud of recently. It was more a case of just having a tidy up to save a bit more space and to add lots more paintings to my ‘practice pile’, where I can use the reverse of paintings for practicing and generally playing about.

There was one painting that I had intended to save that I thought I would like to see it mounted and, in a classic case of Sod’s law, that was the one that I unintentionally ripped beyond all repair!

This is the painting that I accidentally ripped.

I remembered that I had quite enjoyed painting this so thought that it would be worth trying to paint it again. Here’s how I got on:

And the two side by side:

I don’t really want to cite this as evidence that sequels rarely live up to the original, but I do think that this is the case in this instance!

Green shoots

I’m pleased to be detecting some green shoots of progress coming out of the course I’m doing with Paul Talbot Greaves! Here’s a sketch I did recently based on a local Brighton view, looking across Pavilion Gardens towards the Royal Pavilion.

I was pleased with how this sketch turned out, not least because of the treatment and variety in the greens. I might try to work this up into something a little larger.

It’s almost here!

I’m delighted and nervously excited that work on my new website is continuing apace and, subject to any last minute hitches the ‘go live’ date is imminent!

Here, for your eyes only, is a quick sneak preview of what to expect!

I daresay there may be a few teething troubles while everything migrates from this site to the new one (for instance I don’t think I can transfer the circa 10K ‘likes’ I’ve garnered on this site since 2016 to the new one, which is a shame).

The main thing I’m trying to overcome, however, is how to ensure that I can continue to reach anyone that has chosen to ‘follow’ me without the need for anyone to do anything! I’ll try my best to sort this out but apologise for any interruption to regular services! The worst-case scenario is that people may need to ‘join my mailing list’ on the new site, but I’ll do my best to minimise any inconvenience and hope you’ll bear with me!

While the name of my website will be changing, the name ‘brushes with watercolour’ will live on as the title of my blog. This seems only natural as the blog was the original genesis for this site and, as a title, I’ve become most attached to it over the years.

I won’t say anything else right now for fear of jinxing any further progress on the new site, however, I very much look forward to being able to welcome you to my new home!