An Apple a Day

I've previously mentioned being in an apple kind of mood lately. It appears there is no end in sight.

'Ready and Waiting' 5" x 5" Acrylic on canvas.

Virtual Visit

Today I have decided to invite you to a virtual visit to my home studio. A virtual visit means you don't get to see the untidy (ok, more untidy) parts of my studio.
Getting my studio organised into its most efficient arrangement seems to be an on-going process.That's because it is also home to some of my things that don't have a good home elsewhere in the house.

Please come in.

The immediate eye-catcher is my easel which shows a current work in progress. Hold on. Who's that in the background?

It's Vincent van Gogh who oversees activities in the studio, keeping me on my toes. He's not smiling so what have I done wrong now?!

Next to my easel are some of my paints and mediums.

In another part of the studio are some of my painting props. I'm slowly building these up.

Also evolving is my inspiration board of colours, scenes and other items which encourage and inspire me.

Other sources of inspirations are the lives of my favourite artists, my art journals and the photographs I take.

This sign reminds me to get outside to seek new inspiration from my surroundings.

I enjoy looking at artwork I've done in the past. There's Vinnie again. Still not happy. Probably thinks I should get back to work.

Thank you for coming.

New Painting

I've been feeling in an apple kind of mood lately. I have been both drawing and painting them.

'Pink Ladies' 8" x 10" Acrylic on canvas.

Show Time

Solitude Cove, 4" x 4" Acrylic on Board.

This morning I dropped off the above painting to Laguna Beach's City Hall for their

'2012 Art That's Small at City Hall' exhibition. The exhibition opens Monday 19th March and runs until Thursday 26th April.

Eye of the Beholder

I was making up a mixture of gesso and acrylic paint (for painting the sides of my 1 1/2" deep canvas's and panels for landscape paintings) when I was stopped in my tracks. My heart skipped a beat at the beautiful swirls I was creating. I had been having a frustrating day in my studio but as I looked at the rich colours and delicate lines before me, my spirits were lifted.

I particularly like the patterns that are sitting on the palette knife.

Drawing on Experience 2

More progress on my drawing. I love to see the figures emerge out of the paper.

Drawing on Experience

I have been painting so much lately that I have forgotten to take time for drawing. I love to draw and have far too many pencils for my own good (though I haven't bought any for a long time).
I normally use my own photographs to both paint and draw from but I fell in love with a picture I saw several years ago on the BBC News website of masks revellers from the Winter Carnival in Venice, Italy. The wide variety of tones of orange was a challenge I couldn't resist. Except that I did until now when I came across the photograph on my computer.
I apologise for not being able to give proper credit to the photographer. I couldn't see a credit on the BBC website and though I found some pictures from the same period I did not see that exact picture. But the photographer may have been Umberto Sartory, or Alessio Bortot, or Patrizia Bortot.
I'm having fun trying to render this beautiful photograph.

New Paintings

I've been very busy in the studio lately. Not everything I've been working on results in a finished painting plus I've got several works in various stages of completion. But I do have two new works that I just finished yesterday.

Shady Spot: San O.  6"x6" Acrylic on Board.

This painting reminds me of a lovely sunny afternoon last summer listening to jazz and Hawaiian music on the beach at San Onofre.

Island Escape 8" x 10" Acrylic on Canvas.

This is a painting I did on paper some months ago. I really liked the way it turned out so wanted to do a version on canvas. It ask reminds me of a beautiful day in Tahiti.

Takes the Cake

I love to cook and being English I love dessert. I've been asked for the recipe of a cheesecake that I made recently and thought it might make a good post. However, many of the best English desserts are very high in calories and so are not for the faint-hearted (literally). So if you are on a low calorie diet please look away now.


Raspberry and Ginger Cheesecake

This is a British recipe so I cannot give equivalents in cups since I haven’t tried to fit these amounts into American cup measurements.

225g/8oz Ginger Biscuits, crushed

100g/4oz unsalted butter, melted then cooled

150ml/1/4 pint double cream*

225g/8oz mascarpone cheese

2 tbsp. clear honey

Juice of 1 lime

350g/12oz raspberries (or strawberries or bananas)

Make the base by combining the melted butter and the crushed biscuits and pressing them into a greased 8-inch dish (ideally with a removable bottom). Chill for 30 minutes.

For the filling, whip the cream in a bowl until firm but not stiff. Then add the mascarpone, beating it into the cream to a smooth texture.

Fold in the honey and lime juice and most of the fruit, reserving a few for decoration.

Spoon the mixture onto the base and spread with a knife.

Chill for at least three hours. Decorate with remaining fruit before serving.

Recipe from a BBC Cooking magazine in the 1990’s

*A word about double cream. This is a thick cream that is not the same as heavy whipping cream found in American supermarket. In the past I have tried to substitute whipping cream for double cream in other cheesecake recipes and it has not worked for me. It may be that whipping cream does not have the fat content to hold itself in this kind of situation. But you are welcome to try and hopefully you will have better luck than I did.

I buy my double cream from a British shop in southern California. When I lived in Arizona I found it at a gourmet supermarket called AJ Fine Foods. It costs around $6. Although it needs to be kept refrigerated, unopened it does have around a six month sell by date. The glass jar I buy is 170g/60z and is enough for this recipe.