3 floors in 3 weeks

It's taken Richard and I three weeks (or rather weekends) hard slog but we have finished painting the hallway in the house.

Before: Panorama of the first floor hall

Before: Panorama of ground floor hall

The house was painted white throughout and it's looked nice but the hallway has taken a bit of a brushing due to the amount of traffic it receives. We did think about getting a painter and decorator in but decided to do the job ourselves.

We also decided to add a splash of colour and the colour scheme came from unusual sources.

Richard suggested we have a feature wall on each floor where we pick out the lime green that we had on the lamps in the hall. A bold statement but one I liked the sound of.

Fudge hanging on the new orange wall

I visited the LOLCat Exhibisun on my birthday and feel in love with a photo of a cat in a prisoner outfit (“Fudge”), who had been incarcerated for using and dealing in catnip I hadn't thought about where to hang the print when I got it but it didn't take me long to consider hanging it in the downstairs cloak.

The key colours in the print also gave me the idea to have a bold feature wall in the cloak room and paint it orange. Not something I have ever considered before but Richard liked the idea.

We bought two large builders size drums of white paint and started our decorating adventure three weeks ago. Neither of us really expected to use as much paint as we had and ended uo using three drums of paint.

We've painted all the ceilings and walls white and then added orange to the cloak and green to the front walls of the downstairs hall and the first floor (as the house is built into the roof there is no wall on the second floor to repeat this pattern).

The coloured walls have had a couple coats each and are looking very vibrant and spring like.

For a snap decision to add colour we are both really pleased with our endeavour and proud of our efforts.

It's been a lot of work and has taken over the majority of our last three weekends but it's looking good.

It may not be spring outside but it sure is inside

Richard applying the green to the ground floor

Me getting stuck into the orange wall

After: First floor hall

After: Ground floor hall

Fudge hanging in his new home

 

An Asic mistake to make!

I made a basic mistake today of getting out and running on newish shoes not considering that I hadn’t worn them for a while.

I am ok though – I simply did feel it during the run.  In fact I felt it more after the run as my right heel was hobbling as I placed it on the ground.  Seems I am too used the the Lunarlon soles of my Nike Lunarglide+ 4′s!

Anyway it has been a very energetic and bust weekend complete with a decent run in the biting cold so I thought I’d shot a short video to share this weekends activities with you.

That’s it for the weekend though – I am in, the heating is on and I have put a roast in – let the relaxing part of our weekend begin…

 

 

 

No Summer Exhibition for me…

The Royal Academy sent out a note inviting me to enter this years Summer Exhibition.

I have entered a paintings every year for the last 4 years and have decided to pass this year.

I have not painted anything new since we moved house and I have little faith in my previous works as the ones that were entered were rejected.

This isn't to say that I am put off entering again. I simply need to find time to sort out room in the house for my material and to get the inspiration and time to paint once again.

You can find out more about the Summer Exhibition here.

You can view some of my paintings on the Saatchi website.

 

Wells-next-the-Sea (stage 2)

I’ve spent an hour or two putting more detail into my painting of Wells. I don’t think I will do much more after this than add the figure that stands on the shoreline looking out to sea.

As for the progress of the beach and the sky, I am really happy.

It’s a shame I didn’t get the opportunity to do this sooner but I am glad I held off as I was in just the right frame of mind to continue.

This could be the quickest painting I have ever completed!

Stage three : the reds and yellows

Ok so I wasn’t feeling the love when I got in but some Pet Shop Boys on iTunes, a mail from a good friend and a hearty meal woke me up.

I’ve decided to paint out the blacks and take some artistic license with the base of the painting.

I got quite a rhythm going with the reds and yellows (covering my arm in paints in the process)

I’m going to stop here and let it dry throughly for a few days before staring again. I’m in danger of making the sun bigger with every new coat!

I like the proportions now, the colours feel vibrant enough. I need to come back and layer the mist at the bottom before labelling out the sky (which I kind of hate at this point)

It’s not a million miles from where I want it to be but it wouldn’t be me if I didn’t repaint it at least once an annoy myself for painting over something good!

I’m relying on you to tell me when to stop!

Anyway, let me know what you think of progress so far…