Holidays and Birthday over, time to get back to work.
Amazing to think that 35 years ago today (5th January 1988) was my first day as a civilian after leaving the RAF Regiment. I had plans that from that day I would be a full time professional artist. The intervening years have not been easy and have certainly thrown up plenty of challenges but in the main I have stuck with it. I have never been short of ideas for my work. Obviously the one that shines out above all the others was The Wainwrights in Colour which by fluke brought me a little bit of notoriety.
Last year (2022) was a very busy and rewarding year for us but now I have to knuckle down and produce a lot more artwork for the coming season. Our calendar for shows and events is already filling up so I have a window of about 6 months to produce new and exciting work. I plan to post regular updates on this website of sketches and paintings from the studio. This will also include some new oil paintings, a medium which I haven’t worked with for quite a while. The intention is to produce enough artwork so that visitors to our trade stand at events realise that I am an artist first and photographer second.
One of the challenges that I have given myself is to trawl through my archive of photographs and fill some new sketchbooks with thumbnails and ideas for new paintings. These sketchbooks have been prepped over the Christmas holidays and I am excited to begin putting the ideas down on paper.
Small thumbnail watercolour sketches only take a matter of minutes to complete but they are almost essential in the planning of final works.
Not only will updates of progress be posted here and on the Artwork section of the website but I will continue to add content to the Sketchbooks section. I have just updated this area which includes a feature of animated sketchbooks. So why not pop over to have a look at what you can expect in the coming months.
Exciting but busy times are ahead. Keep an eye on the website for new content.
Thanks for reading.
Hi Andy
When will your Sketchbook of the Lake District be on the market and if possible at what cost.
As for the Guess the Fell quiz I have missed the challenge of working out the answers
it gave me endless hours of study and to be honest I have been lost for what to do on these very wet days.
Thanks for all the hard work in doing the quiz
Hi Tony,
The Lakeland sketchbook shown in the post will be filled with ideas for lakeland sketches and not be for production as an actual book. However, some of those ideas are going to be used in a book which I am working on currently behind the scenes. Watch this space 😉
Haha, Andy, you should also put yourself down as a quizmaster!
Good luck for 2023.
Haha, thanks Mike. If ever the painting works dries up I may consider it.
Best wishes to you too for 2023.