White with a splash of Red

'White with a splash of Red!' - Oil on canvas (30x30cm) For Sale £75 (inc worldwide shipping)

Haven't managed to paint for a few days as I have had a garden needing planting for a client. I love being a garden designer. It is so rewarding to see a terrible patch of mud and weeds turn into something beautiful which the client uses and enjoys.


Turned back to my white mugs today to try and work out how to paint white with a white background and make the subject matter stand out.  Thought the painting needed a touch of colour so added a shiny red tomato.

Tilting

'Tilting'  (Oil on Canvas Board 30 x 30 cm) 

For Sale £75 (inc worldwide shipping)

I have left this painting 'unfinished'. I liked the freshness of the white canvas around the subject of the boat. I may well do some more work on it another day......

I am enjoying painting in my new 'studio' in the garden while the spring weather is as lovely as this. May be a bit chilly on a cool day. I am not distracted by Twitter!!

A daily painting's progress....

This link will take you to my Facebook Group where I have a series of photos showing today's daily paintings being painted!....... Cat Salter Daily Painting Facebook Group

Trio of Fruit

  

 

 

Trio of Fruit - Oil on canvas board 30 x30 cm each - 

(For Sale £75 each of £199 for all three - inc. worldwide shipping)

'Glossy Red Apple', 'Three fruits', 'Pears'

As I have been a bit busy with Garden Design (my other job!) the last few days I have painted three quick oil sketches today to make up. I enjoyed these three, as I set my self up in the Summer House in the garden to paint 'outside' this afternoon! It was very peaceful and I could hear the birds! My new 'Studio'!

I have been asked by someone to show a painting's progress as I paint it so I will put that up on the blog later......

Whose behind me?

'Little Green Flower Pot' Oil on Canvas board 30 x30 cm

For Sale £75 (inc worldwide shipping)

I went back to my little green pot for this painting today. I am always interested in the shadows cast by things agains a wall. It is almost as if the pot and flower are being followed! It can be a little confusing to paint as you try to work out which is shadow and which is plant and the shadow has to match exactly the shapes of the leaves making it. I like a challenge!

I have been asked by someone on my Facebook group, if I could do step by step photos of one of my daily paintings so I will try and do that this week.

Tip for cleaning oily paintbrushes: I have found that a square block of pure olive oil based soap is fabulous at getting them really clean and getting deep into the bristles. As it is all natural, it doesn't strip the bristles and leave them brittle. I hate cleaning brushes! One thing I find swapping between oils and acrylics, is that I happily leave my acrylic covered brushes out on the table when I paint, forgetting that it is not oil, and come back and find them rock solid!If anyone has any tips on how to clean rock hard acrylic out of the bristles, I would love to hear them!

Mousehole Harbour

'Mousehole Harbour' Oil on canvas board 30 x 30 cm 

SOLD

I always enjoy going to Mousehole as the harbour is so picturesque, especially when the tide is out and there is sand showing. This is a beautiful little wooden boat that looked so cared for and loved!

Together

'Together' Oil on canvas board 30 x 30 cm 

For Sale £75 (inc worldwide shipping)

I have taken a break from the sea today to finish the series of this green teapot and water jug that i started a few weeks ago.  I always wanted to paint the two of them 'together' as they are meant to be! I have enjoyed painting it as much the second time as I did the first.


I will probably go back to the seascapes tomorrow........!

Estuary

'Estuary' Oil on canvas board 30 x 30 cm 

SOLD

I am really enjoying doing this series of seascapes. I love trying to get the effect of the shine on the water and the reflections. The blue is great to work with too. This was Exmouth Estuary in the afternoon and the sunlight was sparkling off the wet sand.

Red Sail

'Red Sail' Oil on canvas board 30 x 30 cm 

SOLD

I adore boats with this gorgeous rusty red sails. This one was going out early in the morning and the sail was catching the morning light beautifully and contrasting with the blue of the sea and sky.


i am really enjoying painting seascapes. It is a challenge to get the water to look right, but, just like glass, paint the reflections and it usually comes right.

Brixham Harbour - Devon

'Brixham Harbour'  Oil on Canvas (30x30cm) 

SOLD

Sorry for the lack of daily paintings last week but I was away in Devon on holiday! It has really inspired me and aI saw some wonderful paintings by other artists in galleries! I loved some of the sea paintings I saw and thought I would have a go at few of my own.  This is Brixham Harbour in Devon.

Linen with Plums

'Linen with Plums' (Acrylic on Canvas Board 30 x30cm 

For Sale £75 (inc worldwide shipping)

I love painting plums! They are such rich crimson and have this gorgeous lavender bloom on the skin! Managed to keep these hidden today so that the children didn't eat them before I had painted them!

Little Green Jug

'Little Green Jug' (Oil on Canvas Board 30x30cm) 

For Sale £75 (inc worldwide shipping)

This is the little water jug that goes with the little green teapot I painted a few days ago. They are both made at Royal Worcester.  This little pot is only 11 cm tall and has a hinged pewter lid. They have both been great to paint and I have become very fond of the teapot!

Oriental Vase

'Oriental Vase' (Acrylic on Canvas Board 30x30cm) FOR SALE £67 (unframed)

I have spent the day at a middle school on a Careers Day talking to year 8's and 6's about art and what jobs, studying it can lead to. It is sad to see such preconceptions of art and what it involves so young and to hear children say that they are 'rubbish at art'. This makes me sad that they feel like this at 10 years old! Art, and producing it, is so beneficial to everyone.  I hope I inspired some of them to think of art and design related careers and made them realise that art is more than simply drawing and painting.

Anyway, I just had enough energy left this evening to paint this little vase. Another one that used to belong to my Grandma and that I have always loved. So beautifully decorated with exquisite flowers and such a beautiful pale green.

'I'm a little teapot.' SOLD

  

'I'm a little teapot' (30x30 cm Canvas board OIL) SOLD


I have always loved this little green teapot! It belongs to my Mum and has been around all my life. I love it's pea green colour! It is very small, just enough for tea for one and has a hot water jug that goes with it, which I may paint with it one day. This is in oils and I am managing to get detail into my oil paintings now. Getting the hang of them at last.


Took the framed paintings up to Lapstone Gift Shop in The Cotswolds today and they are putting them up this afternoon! They looked great on the walls! Fingers crossed they sell!

Frames now available!

FRAMED original canvas can now be bought from Cat Salter Daily paintings! Here are the two frames I have chosen - a silvery grey and a metallic bronze -which I think set off the paintings really well! I am very pleased with the quality of them and feel they make the paintings look very special! Isn't it amazing the difference a frame makes to a piece of work?

The cost of a framed original will be between £160 and £180 depending on the painting. (ex shipping)

 

Eurasian Eagle Owl

'Noble Bird' Eurasian Eagle Owl  (Acrylic on cartridge paper with chalk pastel background)


I adore painting birds! I love the detail in the feathers but it can do your head in painting them! You loose where you have got to!

'Watching the night'

'Watching the Night' Pencil Sketch


I haven't done any pencil work for a while and fancied a change last night from painting! 


With this drawing, I really wanted to explore using a pencil to add texture rather than produce a technically perfect and photographic quality piece of work. I can find such pieces rather soulless and lacking in feeling. I'd be interested to hear your thoughts.....

'He made the stars also'

'He made the Stars also' (Oil on canvas board 30x30) FOR SALE £67


I was asked by a contact on Twitter if I could paint something to help promote their campaign to reduce light pollution so we can enjoy the wonders of the sky at night! Having lived in Africa I have often been in awe at the amazing spectacle of an African sky at night in the bush, without all the light pollution which we endure in this country.


I have always loved this verse in Genesis 1 v16; 'he made the stars also'. What a wonderful example of understatement!


This was painted quickly in oils so that I could get the richness of colour in the  sky just as the sun has gone down as the light show of stars appears.

'Pear and Pair'

'Pear and Pair' (30x30cm Oil on Canvas board) 

For Sale £75 (inc worldwide shipping)

It has been lovely painting with the sun on my back today and really warm!


I real enjoyed painting the quick oil sketch of these white mugs a couple of days ago, so, I thought I would re-visited them and spend a little longer on them. It is quite hard getting the effect of light reflecting and the glossy texture of the mugs with white paint. I used one of my favourite colours in the background; Prussian Blue. You do have to be careful with it as it is a very strong colour and can overpower everything. It is great for making a very dark colour mixed with Burnt Umber instead of using Black. (We were always banned from using black at school and art college!) I must admit, you get a much more interesting quality to the dark shadows if it is mixed from other colours


I have been to the framers today to choose frames for four paintings which are going to a local interiors shop. The paintings look stunning with frames around them and it really makes them look imposing! I will photograph them when I get them back and show them on the blog.

'Perilous Cups'

'Perilous Cups' Oil on 30x30cm canvas board 

For Sale £75 (inc worldwide shipping)

Hard to believe there are so many shades in a white cup. Have learnt to pop in the white highlights of light first and then 'grey down' the white so that the highlights shine out.


Good to be back on my 30 x 30 boards today!