Christmas Cards now available

As Christmas is approaching fast, I thought I would show these cards that I asked to draw for BHS some years ago. They have been up on my Zazzle account for a few months now and are suddenly selling well so people must be thinking about Christmas already!

   

All four are available as Christmas cards through my three online Print Shop accounts: Zazzle, Redbubble and Imagekind.

     

Alf's Gardening Shoes

Alf's Gardening Shoes - Oil on canvas board 30 x30 cm 

For Sale £75 (inc worldwide shipping)

We were having lunch recently with some friends and this pair of shoes was outside the back door! Obviously well used and wonderfully battered and old, I thought they would make a fantastic oil study for a daily painting! I loved the way they are trodden down at the back from being slipped on without un-doing them!!


I am getting more adept at using oils now for fairly detailed work and am really enjoying it. I still like to use acrylics sometimes but seem to be using oils more now. Am off to Brittany soon and hoping to gather lots for potential daily painting material. More seascapes too, hopefully!

More cherries..........!

'Lounging about' (Pear and Cherries) 30 x 30 OIL on canvas board

For Sale £75 (inc worldwide shipping)

I adore painting cherries (and eating them!) These came from a tree in my parent's garden and were the biggest and juiciest they have been this year. Really enjoying be back into the daly painting regime again!

Left the back ground in this painting the original acrylic under-painted colour as I love the contrast of the blue against the white napkin. 

I am interested to look back through this blog to some of my earlier work and see I have developed in style. A lot of people are commenting that my paintings are 'fresh' so maybe that is my painting style now! A fresh contemporary realist? : ))

Daily Paintings are back!!

New Version

I did a little bit of reworking on this pairing today with the background to make the little white jug stand out more and refined some of the strokes on the jug. 

I feel it works better now.

Old version

'Juicy Cherries and White Jug' Oil 30x30cm canvas board (For Sale £80 unframed)

I have had a good break from my daily painting challenge and managed to get some other things done and felt it was now a good time to start again.

Thought I would start with a quick oil sketch to get my eye in again. I love working with white as it is a real challenge to get the tones right and yet make it still look white. I shall probably add some pure white highlights to this when it is dry in a few days.

I have a blog article half written about the Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy in London a couple of weeks ago. I will hopefully finish it soon.....!

Best Friends

Best of Friends (Bethany and Fuzzy)- Coloured Crayon on cartridge 


Have had a few days break from daily paintings to get some other projects under way.
Thought I would have an experiment with coloured crayons today as I haven't used them for a long time! I really enjoyed it! I love layering the marks to achieve the different colours and really loved experimenting with 'making marks'. I think I need to by some cheaper crayons though! (Don't usually say that!) They should make for definite lines and marks which is what I am trying to achieve. I will have another go with crayons tomorrow!

England's Green and Pleasant Land

 England's Green and Pleasant Land - Not for Sale (Acrylic on canvas board 8" x 10")


This small canvas was painted for Art Swap 2010 the brain child of David Pringle
This Wednesday, those artists taking part all have to post out their piece of work to a given address of another participating artist somewhere in the world! A bit like Art musical chairs!!  It is a secret who is getting it and I am very excited to see what turns up in the post for me!!


I have decided to paint a scene of 'England's green and pleasant land' and sent a bit of it abroad! This was a scene from a recent holiday in South Devon over Easter.


Painted in acrylics today but found they were drying on the pallet before I could use them it, is so hot!

Jug of Red Tulips

'Jug of Red Tulips' - Oil sketch on canvas board - 30x30cm

For Sale £75 (inc worldwide shipping)

Had a busy day today sorting out lots of jobs that have needed to be done. It is very easy to lose hours painting!


This was a quick oil sketch of a vase of tulips on my coffee table and I loved the way the sun was striking it.

Half empty.....?

'Half empty.....?' Acrylic on canvas board (30 x 30cm) - SOLD

I have been asked by a few people to paint my glasses with some wind in them! The red wine becomes a wonderful inky grape colour which is actually quite difficult to get right!


I have had an offer from a local hotel in Stratford upon Avon to use their wall space to hang my work in their restaurant! This is a very exciting venture and I am very happy about the idea.  Looks like I need to learn to frame now!

Glass and Three Plums

'Glass and Three Plums' Acrylic on canvas board (30x30xm) 

For Sale £75 (inc worldwide shipping)

I love the way that the water in the glass distorts the background. This was a real challenge to get right this afternoon, but I am happy with the outcome.  I thought the plums would add a splash of colour and they are such a lovely colour!

Went to the preview evening for the WANA exhibition on Friday and meet the group of members. Some wonderful art on display! Looks like it is going to be a fun artists group to be a part of!

Transparent Couple

'Transparent Couple' Acrylic on canvas board 30 x 30cm 

For Sale £75 (inc worldwide shipping)

I have not managed to paint all of this week. Family life and other work has prevented me but I 'broke the duck' today and spent some time in the 'garden studio' (with a rug over my knees and the heating on, mind you!). It is a lovely place to paint as I don't get disturbed by the 'house' and can concentrate. Not too easy today though, as there were noisy blackbirds on the roof and a hedgehog scrabbling around under the floor!


I am really enjoying trying to get the effect of glass and the wonderful reflections that it throws. I had to buy some new WHITE acrylic yesterday. The one I had, didn't give me enough opacity and I was getting very frustrated with it. I have gone for GOLDEN Artist Colors (USA brand) which has been very good today and helped with the light sparkles on the glass.

I have joined WANA (an artist association in Pershore, Worcestershire) and they are putting on an exhibition on Friday of members art so it will be the first time any of my work has been in an exhibition! Very exciting! 

Transparent

'Transparent' Acrylic on Canvas Board - 

For Sale £75 (inc worldwide shipping)

I turned back to acrylics for this painting today and enjoyed using them again. It is good to be able to use light washes, especially on a subject like this. Had to remember to wash out my brushes though and not just lie them down on the table as I do with oils!

I haven't managed to paint for a few days as I have had some garden design work to do. Two plant supply jobs in The Cotwolds. It has made a change. 

I heard yesterday that two of the framed paintings that were on display at Lapstone Gift and Furniture shop sold! I am so delighted! 

I have decided to join a local Art Society in the area today and have sent off my membership form. WANA (Wychavon Area Network for Artists) http://www.wana.org.uk/Site/home.html I love chatting with artist friends on blogs and Twitter but I feel it is time to talk to other artist face to face!

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.