30 in 30 Day 30

                                       Sunset at West Beckham 14" x 18" oil on canvas

My final painting for the 30 in 30 challenge. I think I have learned a lot about colour mixing for skies which is as well because - I have been asked by Crowood Press to write a book on painting skies in oils. I wasn't sure at first but having spoken to a few artists that have been published I decided to go for it.
Most of the last 30 paintings will be  featured in the book along with step by step demonstrations. In all there will be over 200 illustrations and I am delighted to say that some of my favourite artists have contributed to book and I will be featuring work by Roos Shuring, David Simons, Mary Gilkerson, Mari French, Louise Balaam, Peter Barker, Brian Ryder and John Stillman.
I still have a few thousand words to write but I am getting there and hope to send the draft off to the publishers next month.
No doubt I will let you know when it goes to print

30 in 30 Day 15

Suns Rays, Moulton 12" x 12" oil on canvas board

This was one of those skies that you couldn’t stop looking at. It changed all the time and with my camera I was able to catch it at its best.

To make this painting work a really dark sky was needed. Old Holland Blue was chosen for it’s deep rich colour. The cloud cast shadows making the suns rays radiated out in to the sky in a fan like pattern