At last, Summer is here and a warm breeze blows through my studio.
I am at my most productive during the Summer and painting ideas are popping into my head all the time. However, I am still focusing on my Heartbeats Underground series, and two new series called Little Hideaway and The Wild Meadows. The new series is inspired by a weekly walk my friend Laura and I take around a nearby village, and by field trips out and about in the Suffolk countryside.
A new one, 'The Heartbeats Underground IV', features a fox taking a rest in its burrow on a warm day - the following is just a snap shot as I have only just completed it!
The fox looks so snug in there, I feel like I could go and have a kip in there too!
It was a lovely painting to do as I stuck to a very limited palette of mustard yellow and ultramarine violet with a touch of paynes grey. The yellow and violet produced the loveliest neutrals.
Of course, my trees are present with just a touch of gold mica flakes in the crown to represent the leaves.
The painting is 40x40cm and currently available - message me if you are interested or would like a print.
I have also begun to put together some ideas for paintings for the winter show at Cambridge Contemporary Art. It feels strange painting snow in the summer months, but it's a subject I love so it's nice to do! Here is a painting I am working on in the studio at the moment, 'Little Hideaway', which features another fox taking a nap in his burrow when the snow is laying on the ground.
The painting is 30x30cm and will be ready soon.
Last winter I painted a series of small 10x10cm scenes featuring animals in their dens. They sold well at Cambridge Contemporary Art so I decided to do a couple of larger ones on the same lines, but with more detail on the animals.
I have been out on a few field trips already this year. I love to visit places to see what I can find, and it is always the little woods and fields that draw me in to take a closer look. I often find burrows, nests and lovely trees that inspire me. I also love to watch birds and try and figure out what they are! You can follow me on Instagram to see what has inspired me, and to also see paintings in progress.
It is so nice to take a cuppa on a studio break and sit in the garden. My little blackbird and robin nests are empty but now the swifts are here and I can relax to the sounds of summer.
I do hope you are able to take tea in the garden too and enjoy some warm weather. We have to make the most of it while it is here!
Keep creative,
Debs
