Western Porch, St Mary's Church, Nottingham

St Mary's church stands in the historic Lace Market district of Nottingham. It is one of my favorite buildings and I often sketch and paint it. Just today, I walked passed the church and noticed that the magnolia tree near the south porch was in full bloom - a definate subject for painting. Meanwhile, this is the painting of the western porch, which I completed last year.

Western Porch, St Mary's Church, Nottingham

Artist quality watercolours on watercolour paper

11.75" x 8.35"

The Old Angel Inn, Nottingham

The Old Angel Inn, Nottingham
Watercolour on watercolour paper
8 1/4" x 11 3/4"

Another painting from the exhibition, this shows the upper floors of the Old Angel Inn in the Lace Market district of Nottingham. This pub is a very popular venue for new bands in Nottingham. In its long history, it has been used as a church and as a brothel, but not at the same time (I think).

Art School, Lace Market, Nottingham

After yet another long, long period of not posting, I have, at last got round to sorting out some recent work

Art School, Lace Market,Nottingham
Artist quality watercolours on watercolour paper
8 1/4" x 11 3/4"

This painting was included in an exhibition of art work I had just before Christmas, inspired by buildings in the Lace Market district of Nottingham. It shows the exterior of the building occupied by the Lace Market School of Art, Design, Media and Fashion. On the other side of the road from this is the more famous, and very handsome, Adams building, also belonging to the Art School. However, I decided to paint this more sedate building as I really like the red door set between the two windows with the surrounding brickwork radiating out (but I'm going to be doing some paintings of the Adams building as well!!).

Railside Industry

Railside Industry
Artist quality watercolour on watercolour paper
11.7" x 8.3"

This watercolour has been painted from a number of photographs and sketches of industrial buildings located near the railway lines not far from Nottingham Midland Station.

Win one of my original paintings
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Unfinished Acrylics 3

This acrylic was painted from a number of photos I took of a deserted and dilapidated industrial building just east of the centre of Nottingham.

Through the roses
Acrylic on stretched canvas
39" x 24"

It can be seen from the railway line as the line goes out towards Lincoln. I took the photos last year from the road bridge going over the railway line. The dog rose bushes I was looking through are quiet a distance away from the building, but due to the flattening of distance caused by the zoom lens, the roses appear to be growing much nearer to the building. This gives it a feel of the roses creeping towards the building - rather a Gothic fantasy scenario.
I don't want to do a lot more to this work; just develop the foreground bushes a little more.

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Maeve's work in exhibition

Maeve (my wife) has got two of her art works in a local exhibition. It's an open exhibition at the View From The Top Gallery, Nottingham. Unfortunately, this is the last open exhibition to take place at the gallery as it is soon to close.

The exhibition theme is (appropriately) views of Nottingham. Maeve's two pieces are based the buildings and market of the Sneinton area of Nottingham.

Cornering the market (Sneinton)
Mixed Media
8.3" x 11.7"

Market connections (Sneinton)
Mixed Media
8.3" x 11.7"

The exhibition runs until 21st March. It had its preview last night and there were lots of people attending. I sampled the wine and some splendid spicy sausages - Oh! and looked at the paintings - some highly original interpretations of the theme.
The night ended with Maeve selling one of her pieces (Market connections).

Win one of my original paintings
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March 'Win an original painting!' competition

It's the 1st of March so it's time to begin the second monthly competition to win one of my original paintings. This month I am offering a snowy painting.

Too cold to rest
Artist quality watercolour on watercolour paper
11.7" x 8.3"

This painting was included in a previous post and was so well received that I thought someone would like the opportunity to win it.

In addition five other lucky people will win one of five signed limited edition prints of the painting.

This time, there are only a couple of things you need to do to qualify:

1. Subscribe to my email posts.
2. Comment on this posting, mentioning your intention to enter the competition.
******Also please tell me your subscription email address (you may email it to me if you don't want it to appear in the comments), but no need to do this if you entered the February competition.******

......and that's it!

This is a great opportunity to own an original artwork.

Please note:
One entry per person
The painting and prints will be unframed and unmounted.
The prints of the artwork will be printed on A4 paper and will have a small white border on all edges.

The competition will run from the first of the month to the last day of the month.
The winner and runner-up prizes will be determined by a draw from all qualifying names and will be announced during the first week of April.

Please don't hesitate to get in touch if you have any inquiries about the competition and Good Luck!!

**The results of February's competition will be announced on Tuesday 3rd March**

All Routes South

All Routes South
Artist quality watercolours on watercolour paper
11.7" x 8.3"

In this watercolour, I have tried to capture the almost magical, softening effects that a snowfall can have on an otherwise ordinary street scene. The location is Mansfield Road, Nottingham, just up from the Victoria Centre. The snow was being blown around by strong winds, and I was wet and cold. How wonderful it would have been to be able to follow sign's directions, to the South and the warm sun!
For those of you who are interested here is the original photo I used as a reference for the painting.


You can see the changes I have made in interpreting the photo as a painting. For instance, I decided to leave out the main lamppost. I just didn't like the way it divided up the painting. As the snow was being blown around rather ferociously by the wind the camera wasn't really able to capture the falling snow effectively. Also a photo can never quite capture the mood that a scene like this imparts. This can only come from the artist's genuine interpretation of the scene.
If you are interested in purchasing this work, please take a look at my Etsy shop.

Too cold to rest

Too cold to rest
Artist quality watercolours on watercolour paper
11.7" x 8.3"

I painted this scene from a photograph I'd taken during a walk after a snowfall near where I live in Nottingham. It is near the top of a steep rise called Corporation Oaks. There are some rather grand Victorian houses along this tree-lined (oaks, of course) path and is actually a conservation area within the city of Nottingham. Near the top is this bench, which I was very tempted to sit on as I'd had a long walk, but it was just too cold!
If you're interested in purchasing this work, please have look in my Etsy shop.