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"

Cathedral House, St. Barnabas Cathedral, Nottingham

I know it's a long, long, long time since I last posted and I just hope there are people out there still interested in my work. I have beeen doing lots of painting since I last posted and I thought I would begin by showing you one of my favourite pieces from the last few months

Cathedral House, St Barnabas Cathedral, Nottingham

Watercolour 8.24" x 11.75"

I painted this as a gift for two friends who got married at the cathedral in August. Rather than the usual front view of the cathedral from the main road, I decided to move down a side street and use the Cathedral House, which I believe is used as administrative centre for the cathedral, as the main subject. I liked the gardens and the large tree infront of the house. You can see the main tower of the cathedral in the background.

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!!).

Madonna and Child, Lincoln Cathedral

My latest watercolour shows a detail of the statue of the Madonna and Child at Lincoln Cathedral. The statue can be found in the south-eastern porch of the cathedral. It is known as the Judgement Porch as there is (above the Madonna and Child) a carving of Christ in Judgement.



Unfortunately, this month there will be NO COMPETITION to win one of my watercolours. This is due to the fact that once again, I am on the Scrapheap of Life, i.e. Unemployed, so money is rather tight. I will start the competition again as soon as things pick up financially (he says hopefully).

Meanwhile, the results of the March competition will be announced in the next couple of days.

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
See this post

The Lion and Snake pub, Lincoln

Back to the watercolours. This latest one shows the Lion and Snake pub on Bailgate in Lincoln. This is a lovely old 16th century pub, with the magnificent western towers of Lincoln Cathedral rising up behind it. I published a drawing of this in an earlier post.

Win one of my original paintings
See this post

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.

Rooftops of Henrietta Street, Whitby

This watercolour looks down onto the red tiled rooftops of Henrietta Street in Whitby. The fisherman's cottages (well, holiday cottages now) are nestled close to the cliff on the east side of Whitby. After Henrietta Street, the path take you on along the cliff and then down towards the sea and the pier.

The Rooftops of Henrietta Street, Whitby

Watercolour on watercolour paper
8 1/4" x 11 3/4"

If you are interested in purchasing this watercolour, please take a look at my Etsy shop.

The Lion and Snake, Lincoln (drawing)

I haven't blogged much recently as I've still been doing my "Christmas job" at a local Argos (catalogue) store. I did it for some much needed cash over the festive season. I finished today so I can get back to some serious drawing, painting and blogging.
I'm starting off with this drawing in my moleskine of the Lion and Snake pub in Lincoln, with the towers of Lincoln cathedral in the background


This is a preparatory drawing of the scene for a watercolour painting I'm going to do. I usually work from photographs I've taken and I find it useful to do a drawing first as I can sort out exactly what I'm going to include and leave out from the photo and also decide on the distribution of tonal values throughout the work. Also I just love to draw.

Whitby Houses

Walking up the hill from the small beach at Whitby, you suddenly come upon this view, over rooftops, houses scrambling up the cliff with the tower of St. Mary's church peeking out at the top.

Whitby Houses
Watercolour on watercolour paper

8 1/4" x 11 3/4"

Justin of Whitby

Memories of summer

Justin of Whitby

Watercolour on watercolour paper, 8" x 5"

On this very cold and gloomy day, I thought it would be nice to remember warmer days. Whitby is one of my favourite holiday destinations. It lies on the North Yorkshire coast and was the setting for Dracula's spectacular landing on the shores of England in Bram Stoker's vampire novel. This painting shows a small shop tucked away in the old part of the town. It sells the most wonderful toffee fudge, including one they've called Dracula's Coffin!!