Big baby part one

Big canvas with plein air study

Do you remember when I went to Morocco in March and I had the best, most exciting, afternoon painting when I saw the boys diving into the harbour?
Well one of my ambitions this year was to paint some much larger paintings, and when I got back from Morocco I was so full of fresh inspiration that I immediately started on stretching a huge canvas - I mean, it seemed pretty huge at 36" x 38"!

I started in April then but I've only just finished the enormous beast a couple of weeks ago. During that time I've been to Cornwall, taught in Staithes, been to France, had the Patchings festival, heck I've even moved studio! So that all might partly explain why it's taken me so long actually...

Anyway I did take some photos as I went along but I suppose these are just key points or highlights. If this was a video it would be feature length and you'd see lots of shots of me scratching my chin, tugging at my forelock and smoking my pipe while trying to work out what I was going to do next.

No I don't smoke really, but lots of coffee was consumed during the making of this painting ... lots!!

Anyway, here are some work in progress shots and I'll dig out some more to show you next time...