The clocks change this weekend so I’m looking back at those warm summer days on Compton beach on the Isle of Wight. It’s called the dinasaur coast for good reason as dinasaur footprints are easily seen as one walks along the beautiful sandy beach. And the water edge is delightful for a spot of paddling or swimming if feeling a bit braver.
Another military portrait commission
Naval officer
Quite a challenge painting all the Naval crests and emblems but very enjoyable nevertheless.
My polo prints at Cowdray Park
Cowdray Park the home of British Polo and the renowned Gold Cup are showing my framed polo prints in their restaurant/cafe. All the prints have elegant black frames and range in size from A4 to A3 and even A2 with the frame.
They would be ideal birthday or Christmas gifts for either polo players or lovers of the sport of polo.
Add the framed prints to a polo gallery wall with your own framed photos and perhaps some polo mallets or other polo memorabilia.
Military Portraits
Two further commissions which I have just finished.
Vine Cottage
Another drawing commission but no people this time
Always good to get a challenge as this house drawing was. It was a lovely red brick cottage with lots of details and with bricks you either draw them all or use a bit of judgement about what can be left out. The client wanted lots of detail and two vignettes of little areas of the garden.
Morning coffee
The Well
New Portraits
Ghanaian wedding - the rich background needed 4 or 5 layers of paint for best coverage.
I have been busy with portraits for my American client and here are some of them.
I paint in acrylics over a poster or photograph and it’s effective but full of little difficulties. The surface I’m painting on can vary from shiny to matt and most of the backgrounds are dark and quite complex which means I have to use a lot of layers of paint for full coverage. I have mastered the technique so I can normally finish a portrait in a week. The big ‘however’ is the weather because when it’s hot in the studio the acrylic paint dries almost instantly even with the addition of retarder in the water. I start early before it gets hot and do other jobs if it’s unbearable.
Nigerian Naval Officer - the naval crests were a challenge.
Basketball player - enjoyed painting this sportsman and doing the lettering for his cool name.
Military Veteran and sportsman
Bubbles
More bubbles
Playing with bubbles in the sun.
Little girl playing with bubbles on holiday.
More quick sketches done with soft pencil on copy paper. I like the smooth surface and the pencil glides easily. I used 2B and 4B pencils and I start with a sharp point and then enjoy the difference in the quality of the line when the pencil wears down.
I clean up the images once scanned in photoshop and add a bit more tone as sometimes pencil drawings can be feint.
Seaside sketch
Children paddling on the beach
Memories of sunny days at the beach, with warm sand and a cool sea and often a biting wind! Here a big sister gives her little sister a helping hand as she explores the waters edge.
I like doing these quick sketches which capture that special moment freezing it in time and evoking memories for years to come.
They are done with a 4B soft pencil which starts very sharp but then gets a nice bevelled edge which makes interesting lines of varying thickness. It is done ‘alla prima’ with corrections done by drawing over the top of lines more firmly. The paper is just ordinary computer printer paper 80 gsm which has a nice surface for quick drawing. Good quality papers have too much tooth! Which means their surface has textures which I don’t want in this type of drawing.
I scan and clean up the image on photoshop and tweek the tone as pencil can sometimes be too feint in reproduction.
Finally I import the cleaned up image into ‘Publisher’ and print cards and A4 prints for sale in my shop.
The card stock is pre-scored 350gsm white card and the A4 prints look best when printed on ‘Bockingford’ Watercolour Inkjet paper 190gsm.
Lifeguard, Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment
Lifeguard, Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment.
In a previous post I mentioned that the trumpeters of the Household Cavalry Band ride white horses which are called Cavalry whites and there are 14 of them.
Here is a Lifeguard of the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment riding a cavalry black! There are over 200 black horses often with white feet or stars on foreheads, which are ridden by the Lifeguards and the Blues and Royals when they undertake their ceremonial duties in London.
The Lifeguards wear these magnificent red capes, with dark blue collar in the winter, whilst the Blues and Royals wear a dark blue cape with red collar. The helmet strap is worn differently between the two regiments. The Lifeguards helmet strap is under the bottom lip and the Blues and Royals have their helmet strap under the chin
Anyone who has watched a ceremonial event in London will have seen the Lifeguards in either their red tunic or cape. Look out for them the nest time you are at Buckingham Palace at changing of the guard or St James’s Palace or Horseguards, Whitehall.
Mounted polo prints
Mounted A5 polo prints
Perfect as gifts these double aperture mounted prints feature my A5 polo prints. The mounts are either in landscape or portrait mode to fit the artwork. The finished mount size is 36 x 25.3 cm and all mounted artwork is cellophane wrapped for protection. The aperture size remains the same but the choice of which prints to mount is yours. Please email me for choices.
The aperture size is 16.5 x 12 cms.
Trumpeter Household Cavalry Band
Trumpeter of Household Cavalry Band
The trumpeters ride white horses which are called Cavalry whites and there are 14 of them.
The Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment troopers ride black horses which are called Cavalry blacks. There are over 200 black horses often with white feet or stars on foreheads.
And then there are four magnificent Drum horses.
Anyone who has watched a ceremonial event in London will have seen the Trumpeters as well as the Drum horses. Look out for them the nest time you are at Buckingham Palace at changing of the guard or at The Royal Windsor Horse Show.
Looking at the world upside down!
Children are so curious and it is a delight to see a toddler trying to make sense of his/her world by standing on their head! I hope this drawing makes you smile.
Nearside backhand shot in polo
Polo player showing the strain.
The strain of twisting the whole body to play the shot on the left of the pony shows!
The most common shots in polo are the offside forehand and backhand played on the right of the horse. Less common but very effective are the nearside forehand and backhand shots played on the left side of the pony. The difficulty is in the twisting of the entire body to play the shot.
The players face in this illustration shows the effort involved in the nearside backhand shot.
All players now play right handed even if they are natural left handers since a rule change in 1974. Pre 1974 you could play left handed.
And the player strikes the ball with the side of the mallet not the end as it’s polo not croquet!
Offside forehand polo shot on leaping pony.
Dynamic offside forehand polo shot
This polo player is winding up to play a very dynamic offside forehand shot. Twisting his upper torso so much that he is out of the saddle and legs flying. His pony looks ready to take wing as well.
This illustration is on Fabriano 4 hot pressed paper and watercolour is enhanced with Derwent watercolour pencils.
New polo illustration - Hooking in polo
Hooking in polo
This new painting in watercolour and colour pencil illustrates ‘Hooking’ a defensive shot that you will see a lot when watching a polo match.
When a player uses his/her mallet to block or interfere with the opponent’s swing on the ball that is ‘Hooking’
‘Riding Off’ is the other defensive shot that you will see all the time in a match.
A new post for 2024. Oil portrait of little girl.
Using oil paint again has been so rewarding. At Art College we used only oils, as acrylics, although available weren’t encouraged. The main reason I gave up using oils was the smell of the turpentine and linseed oil. It really was overpowering and I can remember once, having run out of turpentine using parofin as a thinner! Idiotic!
Winsor and Newton now produce a turpentine substitute called ‘Sansodor’ which is amazing. Does the job with no noxious fumes. The oil paints do have that particular smell which takes me back through the decades but it’s not obnoxious.
I can also remember my old wooden palette which got caked with used paint. Wish I’d kept it! But the new disposable palettes make the clean up so easy.
The richness of colour and workabilty of the paint is the thing I’d forgotten about. My studio in Hampshire gets so hot in the summer that acrylics even with keep wet medium are dry in seconds and blending techniques are impossible. One adapts to these conditions but it’s a pleasure to have options to explore other media.
I will be producing a variety of different portraits this year and will enjoy sharing them here.
New greetings card of first Female Adjutant at RMA Sandhurst
New greetings card of first Female Adjutant at RMA Sandhurst
Sandhurst Trust requested a new card to mark the first Female Adjutant at Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. This card features the new Female adjutant on her black charger and it makes a companion piece to the previous card of the Adjutant on his white charger.
Both cards are now on sale at the Sandhurst Trust shop.
First Lady adjutant Royal Military Academy Sandhurst
Major E L Humphreys is the first female Adjutant at Royal Military College Sandhurst.
First female Adjutant Major E L Humphreys AGC (SPS) and her charger climb the steps at Old College, RMAS.
Adjutant and his charger climbing the steps at Old College RMAS.
The tradition of the Adjutant and their charger climbing the steps of Old College at the end of the Sovereign’s Parade dates back to July 1926. The Adjutant Captain Frederick ‘Boy’ Browning (later Sir Frederick Browning) rode his horse ‘The Vicar’ up the steps of Old College at the conclusion of the end of term inspection, the precursor to the modern Sovereign’s Parade.
Many theories surround the tradition, but it appears he had the idea after riding up some steps in the training area and asked permission from the Commandant, Major General Charles Corkran, to do so at the end of the Commissioning Ceremony.
New oil portrait
Just completed this little oil painting for a birthday present 6” x 6”.
Starry starry night! New Italian greyhound Christmas or winter card.
Starry starry night.
A stargazing italian greyhound is a new card for sale. They are members of the sight hound family so they are always gazing at something. Usually food or other dogs.