I've been experimenting with simple backgounds that consist of just one or two colours. Backgrounds are so hard!
This is one of my biggest paintings so I kept the colours simple in greys and black. I liked the juxtaposition of the two children.
These two paintings are done at life classes and are therefore more loose and creative. It's important for me to get away from photos,in order to inject more of myself into the work, and to develop creativity.
My portrait of Julie, a woman in her 60' with a wonderful mane of grey/blond hair. She had a face full of expression...a life lived to the full. The painting was done from life, on a portrait course with Andrew James.
We had started with a tonal sketch in charcoal and then in oils. Julie was more alert and cheerful at this early stage!
This is actually quite a small painting...I was going for atmosphere by using glazes.
Looking at this again, I think I need to knock back the shadow areas of her dress...hmm...you never get to finish in this lark...there's always something else to do.
Done at life class last Tuesday. I loved the pose...and I've started to use the background to introduce liveliness and space.
I used some oil medium while painting this picture...it smelt awful, and got stuck to my fingers and brushes...but it made the colours glow beautifully.
Princesses climb trees too!
Cousins...just chillin'
Rana. I struggled in this painting to create a composition out of such a long slender woman. In the end it became a matter of balancing colours.
Penny. I tried for the painterly approach in which every brush stroke shows.
Abbey. I liked the russets and blue/greens.
John, he has such a strong yet sensitive face. He looks a bit wistful here...he's probably yearning for the teabreak.
Jonathan, painted in two sessions. A delightfully interesting man.
Amy on the beach. Had fun with a bit of paint flicking in this picture.
Rana. A Syrian woman with a wonderfully strong and expressive face. 
One of my favourite paintings...I'm finally getting the hang of painting 'light'.
This portrait of Tony was painted in two sessions at my Thursday portrait group. The extra work gone into it has, I think, made it more complex and richer.
This painting's still being worked on.
Now that this pics on the computer, I can see all sorts of adjustments that need to be made.
Abbey, painted at the life class yesterday. Paint's still wet and shiny!
Two paintings of our gorgeous Lucy. I tried to keep the brush strokes lively and interesting.
The colours were very rich in this one.
I first painted this lady two weeks ago. The other portrait was more flattering, but I prefer this one as it has more humanity.
Amy.
Thursdays portrait class. We had a wonderfully colourful and lively model. I enjoyed the sketchy approach combined with blocks of colour.
A new painting of Theo...not quite finished yet. I'm going to have to redo those dreadlocks I think.
Last Tuesday's life class. Poor abbey looks as if she's falling asleep!
Thursday's portrait class.
This is a painting that I did of Amy many months ago...but I decided to play around with gold paint in the background. It was effective in places, but I think I need to apply gold leaf to make it really work.
This painting glows with the thin sienna colours that I left from the initial sketching out stage.
I was able to go back and finish off this painting of Theo, mostly by filling in the vivid red background.
Rachel. I loved the yellowy greens in the jumper because they teamed up so beautifully with burnt sienna and even magenta.
In this painting of Lucy I liked the patterned dress, but it seemed rather 'fussy'....so I glazed over parts of it with magenta, and the effect was lovely.
I was struggling with all the grass and background in this picture, until I took a quick peak at Andrew James's paintings and I started to break it up into chunks.
I think I've been influenced by the stormy weather in this portrait of Amy!
Tuesday class painting of John. 
Rather a 'cutsie' picture I'm afraid. 
Last week's painting of John. Its still very wet and glossy, hence the left side of the photo is reflecting light rather than the colours that are there. I'll put this picture up again when it's finally dry.
I changed the background on this one...and loosened up the dress a bit.
Portrait of Theo started this week. Hopefully I'll finish it successfully next Thursday. It's going ok so far, I like the colours ...and his pensive expression. Theo's a musician and song-writer, so he has a lot on his mind
Tuesday's life class. We painted Sue in a hat and necklace....I like her wonderfully sculptural arm.
