Saturday 31 January 2015

Teacup and Saucer

Oil painting of a Queen Anne teacup and saucer with a yellow floral pattern.
There was a small storm brewing outside the window whilst I was painting (well, light to moderate rain at least), the light of which can be seen at the top centre of the painting.  Quite literally a storm in a teacup.

Oil on canvas board, 6" x 4"

Friday 30 January 2015

Apple with Small Copper Pot

Oil painting of a red Pink Lady apple beside a small copper pot on a wooden shelf.
A copper pot still will distil apples into apple brandy, but unfortunately a copper pot still life has no such desirable effect on said fruit.

Oil on canvas board, 6" x 4"

Thursday 29 January 2015

Miniature Vase with Pebble

Oil painting of a blue and white miniature onion-shaped vase beside a sandy-coloured pebble with a blue background.
Miniature vase with an even more diminutive boulder.

Oil on canvas board, 4" x 6"

Wednesday 28 January 2015

Elastic-Sided Boot

Oil painting of an old elastic-sided boot viewed at an acute angle with the toe facing the viewer.
Hastily executed after work, this was my second attempt at painting for the day.  My first was a two-hour morning exercise in futility and was such a monumental failure that I was compelled to give it the boot.  Now, dear reader, I'm giving it to you.

Oil on canvas board, 4" x 6"

Tuesday 27 January 2015

House at Rosebery Hill, Pipers Creek

Oil painting of a apricot-coloured weatherboard house with a red roof and a chimney surrounded by garden, with steps leading down to the lower right corner of the image.
The artistic endeavour of a painter is doubtless to imbue a subject, in two dimensions, with a sense of the real; so what better subject than the house in which the artist spent the majority of his or her childhood? To demonstrate my artistic integrity, I seem to have monumentally failed to portray even the most basic of features--the roof-line--accurately.

Oil on canvas board, 8" x 10"

Monday 26 January 2015

Looking towards Mount St Mary and Glenlyon from Rosebery Hill, Pipers Creek

Oil painting of rolling hills partially covered in eucalypts, with distant hills and clouds.
I only had a limited amount of time in which to paint Mount St Mary (only in Australia could a small hill be endowed with such an appellation), and while the challenge to paint was clearly not insurmountable, I'm not entirely sure that the result deserves to be mounted and framed.

Oil on canvas board, 7" x 5"

Sunday 25 January 2015

Manna Gum, McPherson's Lane, Pipers Creek

Oil painting of a manna gum in bright sunlight, with dry grass and trees in the distance.
I can't think of McPherson's Lane without hearing (or mishearing) an inner mondegreen of "MacPherson slain".  This seems oddly appropriate--considering the origin of the term mondegreen--so I thought I'd share a carelessly-composed rewriting of The Bonnie Earl O' Moray (apologies in advance):

Ye Hielands an ye Lowlands
O, whaur hae ye been
They hae slain the Earl o' Moray
And lain him on the green.

Now wae betide thee, Murphy
And whaurfor did ye sae?
I hae bade ye paint the gum trees
That indwell MacPherson's Lane.

Oil on canvas board, 6" x 8"

Saturday 24 January 2015

Looking towards Romsey and the Black Range from Rosebery Hill, Pipers Creek

Oil painting of two distant and undulating mountain peaks, with eucalyptus trees and dry rolling hills in the foreground.
Whilst painting this scene, a large hawk was circling above me and catching the updrafts on the hillside (I was treated to a hawk-shaped shadow occasionally falling across the canvas).  I was also having a little bit of trouble getting used to my new pochade box (this was its first outing), so just like the hawk, I was winging it.

Oil on canvas board, 8" x 6"

Friday 23 January 2015

Ginger Beer Bottle with Cider Glass

Oil painting of an earthenware ginger beer bottle beside a tall glass.
It was recently pointed out to me that the glass is technically always full, be it of air, water or ginger beer.

Oil on canvas board, 4" x 6"

Thursday 22 January 2015

Wednesday 21 January 2015

Plastic Skull with Onion

Oil painting of an off-white plastic skull beside a brown onion.
Self portrait without flesh and with onion.

Oil on canvas board, 6" x 4"

Tuesday 20 January 2015

Nectarine with Mug

This is a nectarine with my Invisible Man mug. My new pochade box arrived whilst I was painting, and the distraction meant that I was late for work, hence--as far as work was concerned--I was the invisible man.

Oil on canvas board, 4" x 6"


Sunday 18 January 2015

Eucalypt, Royal Park, Mlebourne

Oil painting of a eucalypt casting a dark shadow in the foreground, with a line of trees on the near horizon and a grey cloudy sky.
I'm embarrassed to admit that I don't know what kind of tree this is, but it can broadly be described as a eucalypt.  Having set a general standard of mediocrity this evening, I'm going to resort to recounting an old joke (perhaps best forgotten) instead of attempting to come up with an original caption.

Q:  What did the sheep say to the shearer?
A:  Eucalyptus.

Oil on canvas board, 5" x 7"

Saturday 17 January 2015

Cloud Study


The sky's the limit; or at least this painting is limited to the sky.

Oil on canvas board, 6" x 4"

Friday 16 January 2015

Pear with Antique Medicine Bottle

Oil painting of a green pear in front of an antique brown glass medicine bottle.
A bottle of brown, a pear of bright green; I picked up a paintbrush and rendered this scene.  Hardly a verse worthy of Shakespear.

Oil on canvas board, 4" x 6"

Thursday 15 January 2015

Apple in Bowl

Oil painting of a large Pink Lady apple in a white and blue ceramic bowl.
Bowl a maiden over; or instead, a maiden (a Pink Lady apple) over a bowl.

Oil on canvas board, 6" x 4"

Wednesday 14 January 2015

Tuesday 13 January 2015

Lemon in Wine Glass

Oil painting of a large white wine glass with a lemon inside.
I don't care for this wine because it's probably a lemon; however, it may simply be a case of sour grapes.

Oil on canvas board, 4" x 6"

Monday 12 January 2015

Silver-Plated Jug with Banana

Oil painting of a banana beside a small silver-plated milk jug in front of a green background.
The banana went up before the jug on a peel.

Oil on canvas board, 6" x 4"

Sunday 11 January 2015

Copper Vase with Plastic Flowers

Oil painting of an Art Deco-style copper vase beside a plastic bunch of small pink flowers.
A still life is made more difficult when it doesn't keep still.  While vases are generally cooperative in this respect, due to a tendency to remain motionless, flowers have an unfortunate proclivity for wilting and deterioration.  The solution for the lazy artist is to employ a plastic simulacrum, particularly because such substitutes are floral and hardy (that's a very bad pun on the name of a famous slapstick comedy duo--proof enough that I can hardly rest on my laurels).

Oil on canvas board, 4" x 6"

Saturday 10 January 2015

Peach with Glencairn Whisky Glass

Oil painting of a yellow peach and a Glencairn whisky glass on  a wooden cutting board.
Given that whisky is the drink of kings, might this be the king's peach?  And by that, I don't mean the film with Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush.

Oil on canvas board, 4" x 6"

Friday 9 January 2015

Teapot with Onion

Oil painting of a brown onion, under lamplight, casting a shadow on a small white teapot.
I typed "onion tea" into Google, and lo and behold, it seems onion tea is touted as a remedy for colds.  Sometimes I wonder if the object of a cold remedy is to give the sufferer something so vile that it obliterates all previous thoughts of illness.

Oil on canvas board, 6" x 4"

Thursday 8 January 2015

Tomato with Willow Pattern Teacup

Oil painting of a willow pattern teacup and a red tomato on a chopping board with long afternoon shadows.
A willow pattern teacup with a tomato pattern tomato.

Oil on canvas board, 6" x 4"

Wednesday 7 January 2015

Cast Aluminium Sculpture by Chris Petersen

Oil painting of a cast aluminium sculpture of a girl skipping with a rope.
I'm too ropey to come up with a caption for this painting, so I think I'll just skip it

(In case it's not clear from the painting, this is a sculpture of a girl skipping.)

Oil on canvas board, 4" x 6"

Tuesday 6 January 2015

Art Deco Salt Shaker with Pear

Oil painting of an Art Deco salt shaker casting a shadow on a green pear.
It is common to find salt and pepper as a pair, but rare to find salt and pear as a pepper.

Oil on canvas board, 4" x 6"

Saturday 3 January 2015

Shearing Shed and Sheep Yards at Rosebery Hill, Pipers Creek

Oil painting of a shed door and a post and rail fence, partly in shade and partly in bright sunshine.
It was a forty degree day, so I took refuge under a large elm in the sheep yards.  On reflection, going out to paint in the middle of the day was sheer madness.

Oil on canvas board, 5" x 7"

Friday 2 January 2015

Blue Jug with Mango

Oil painting of a blue patterned jug and a mango on a small slab of marble beside a window.
Man goes into a bar and orders a jug.

Oil on canvas board, 10" x 8"

Thursday 1 January 2015

Outside the Studio Door, Rosebery Hill, Pipers Creek

Oil painting of a garden path with lattice work on the left and a house with large windows in the background.
Due to the previous night's revelry, I didn't find time to paint until very late in the afternoon, and even then I was barely able to stagger from the studio.

Oil on canvas board, 5" x 7"