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Some more mini big skies heading to the Biscuit Factory in Newcastle. Ten brand spanking new paintings all inspired by the ever changing weather up here in the North of England. Each one is finished with a bespoke St Ives style frame which has been hand painted with Little Green Slaked Lime.

Over the years I have had quite a few requests for commissions, some I have taken up, others I haven't. It's not something I undertake regularly as I don't always have the time they need dedicating to them. And they do need more of my attention than a painting I create for an exhibition.

Why is that?

Over the last couple of months I have been working on a new collection of work for the Hope Gallery in Hebden Bridge. There was a clear brief to create some bright pieces for her gallery. As a painter who leans more towards the darker side of the colour range I did wonder whether I would be able to pull this off, especially as it was the middle of winter and quite frankly I do like my clouds of doom!

I generally plan my year out in terms of exhibitions, galleries, shows I need to work towards as I need to juggle my art commitments alongside my full time job. So to decide to jump in head first into a project which I needed to commit to for at least 3 months was well... a little bit left field to say the least. 

In January 2021 lockdown was creating havoc with my schedule and I would find that I wouldn’t leave the house for 3-4 days and be constantly glued to my computer screen. I decided I needed another project which would give me some structure and this coincided with the start of the 100 day project which was running on Instagram.

So I am loving my new studio but with work commitments and generally feeling a bit meh about all this lockdown I found myself not leaving the house for 3-4 days at one point in January. So I decided to join the 100 day project this year and I am creating a little painting each day based on the weather and using a limited palette.