Conch Shell

Conch Shell
Oil on Canvas Panel
5x6" Signed Original

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This is inspired by a really beautiful seashell I have in the studio. My mother-in-law Cindy loves shells, and has an impressive collection adorning her home in Pennsylvannia. Taylor brought this one back for me last Christmas, and I've had it sitting amongst my white 'props' in the studio for a while. I really like the spiny form, and once I placed it on white paper and shone a spotlight on it...wow.

I did a series of seashells for my first 'painting a day' works - which began as an idea for a Christmas present for Cindy - and then evolved into the daily painting practice I have now. I've never been particularly motivated to work at a small scale, my natural scale is much, much bigger. What I was trying to do for Cindy was create something she'd relate to, at a size that I could either easily ship or carry on whilst flying. After I'd done a few of these as test pieces, I found some other artists on the internet doing a 'painting a day'. I read about their motivations, careers, and practices - and it seemed like a challenge which would help structure my painting time. I'm so glad I started now, I really feel like it's helped me learn a lot about painting.

3rd Seashell

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Well here's day three and I'm still really excited about this concept. I actually did a lot of painting yesterday, and I feel a lot more motivated by this challenge! It was snowing and cold outside too, which helps with procrastination no end. I'm off to Sacramento today to pick up my work from the Doiron Gallery, where I was the Featured Artist for the month of November. Tomorrow I'll be hanging my work in the Trio Wine Bar in Truckee - mostly winery inspired paintings, and a few little landscapes I did as part of the 'Seasons of Martis Plein Air Event' earlier this year. I wrote an article about that for a British magazine last month - I'll link to it as soon as the online version is available. It snowed...it was cold and windy...my canvas fell into a bush...it was fun though! (Honest!)

2nd Seashell

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Good Morning! this is my second little painting a day - I'm really enjoying painting the seashells. I've never really painted them before, my subjects are usually human or landscape. I was given a load by my mother-in-law recently, from a trip to the beach at Hatteras (dad's a big surfer dude). They remind me of my childhood, as I grew up in a Victorian seaside town in Wales. I remember collecting shells and pebbles and keeping them in my pockets for ages, just taking one out every now and again to look at the colours and rhythms in the markings. I just find them fascinating, like looking into the fire, you can see worlds within worlds if you look closely enough.

1st Seashell painting

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I've been an artist for over 15 years, and I do try to work as regularly as I can. I certainly haven't painted every day since I was a student though, and I'm intrigued as to the effect this will have on my work, not to mention my life. I remember my teacher, Peter Prendergast hammering it into us that we must draw in our sketchbooks every day - look, draw! look, draw! look,draw! So I've decided to give this a go...I'll keep you posted!