Sketchbook pages

I've decided to add a couple of my flower sketches to my etsy shop. These were done in a friend's garden this week, and show only tiny parts of large beds of each flower. I've drawn them with fairly lively lines and scribbly shading, using Caran d'Ache watersoluble pencils, to give an impression of the frilly poppy petals starting to pop out of the buds, and the lovely curling shapes of the leaves and stems of the echinops. The page size is A4. You can see these pictures at http://www.etsy.com/listing/78465806/poppies-original-sketchbook-painting and http://www.etsy.com/listing/78466132/echinops-flowers-original-sketchbook

Meadow - four ACEOs

I painted these views of a meadow by the river at Cromford (Derbyshire), on a day last week when I went out to paint but found that I'd forgotten to take my brushes. These were painted with kitchen paper, blunt ends of pencils, and my fingertips, and are an attempt to convey an impression of being surrounded by lush long grass, and of the deep blue summer sky. I've added these four acrylic paintings in ACEO format (2 1/2 x 3 1/2/ inches) to my etsy shop, and they can be seen at http://www.etsy.com/shop/AzureDayArt?section_id=7411219

Rocks on the beach

My latest addition to the etsy shop - an abstract painting (acrylic) based on rocks on the beach. I'm always interested in rocks, cliffs, anything geological, for inspiration, and here I've had fun oversaturating the colours and emphasizing the dynamic linear elements, You can see this at http://www.etsy.com/listing/77836355/beach-rocks-small-original-acrylic

I've also been having some fun making ACEOS from old Paris Metro tickets - I thought they'd turn into quirky souvenirs of Paris. Here's an example:

A padlock on the Pont des Arts - the railings on the central part of this bridge have become covered with little padlocks, marked with lovers' initials or a heart or lips. This ACEO is at http://www.etsy.com/listing/77949758/paris-metro-ticket-padlock-aceo and I'll add a few more in coming days.

Old pictures, new etsy shop items

I've been going through some of my older paintings and sketches, and decided to add a few of them to my etsy shop. This one is a view of Clovelly in north Devon, from the precipitous street that winds its way down to the harbour, and is an oil pastel sketch for a painting that didn't work as well as the sketch. (I must try again; this is a very appealing view.) It's 16 x 16 inches, and you can see this sketch at http://www.etsy.com/listing/77644442/clovelly-harbour-original-oil-pastel

This is a quick sketch of a still life subject that was set, some years ago, in a local painting class. The chair had been painted a gorgeous viridian colour, and the leafy stems just seemed to explode in all directions from the old bottle. I tried a rough, Matisse-type approach for this one. This acrylic painting is 16 x 20 inches, and can be seen at http://www.etsy.com/listing/77579913/green-chair-original-acrylic-painting

And here are a couple of girls by the Seine in Paris. They just happened to be wearing colours that totally harmonized, so this was an irresistible subject. This acrylic painting is 16 x 20 inches and is at http://www.etsy.com/listing/77573389/girls-by-the-seine-original-acrylic

And finally, a fairly intensely coloured version of the peacock topiary in the garden next to Haddon Hall entrance (Derbyshire). I already have a little painting of this subject in my shop, and for the larger one here I simplified and smoothed the shapes and upped the brightness, so that it starts to look a bit surreal. It's weird what people can do with hedges! This garden always puts me in mind of Alice in Wonderland and the beautiful garden down the little passageway. This acrylic painting is at http://www.etsy.com/listing/77573879/peacock-topiary-haddon-hall-original