I live opposite a church in a narrow street where noise reverberates.

There's nowhere to escape this noise and this together with the extreme heat

we've been having has resulted in this painting

Every summer around this time, when the weather is really hotting up I reach for the turquoise and the blues

and begin a "cool" painting as a sort of antidote to the heat. This year is no different except that this year

the painting is inspired by the Saltpans in Gozo. I love the colours and the forms, the way the pans have been smoothed and

rounded by the elements.

Hey there to anyone reading this. Thanks for popping by.

I haven't done much painting in the last few days - well I've started quite a few,

scrapped a couple of howlers and sweated and sworn in the heat haha. Humidity has been at 80 odd percent

 - too hot to lift a knife hahah. Besides which I'm setting up a new shop which is taking time and patience

not good with either.

So I thought I'd show an older painting.

It's called Storyboard - inspired by the storyboards used in filmaking.

It's 60 by 90 cms and is still available

Here's one which I finished a week or so ago. I popped it onto my Fb page

as I couldn't think of a name and wanted to pick peoples' brains.

Thanks to Guzeppe it has now been named The Peeping Tom.

It was fun reading the names that people came up with.

Hi everyone, this is another work on Yupo - I really love this paper.

It's 20 by 30 cms unmounted, which means that if you choose to buy it it will be sent

rolled in a tube which ensures its arrival in good condition.

It also means that you can choose your own mount which is a good idea

So after a seemingly endless wait the Yupo paper is finally here.

It's quite different than I imagined somehow, I thought (despite reading a lot about it) that

it would be transparent, well actually it's translucent. Note to self - pay attention hahaha.

The suface is smooth and slippery, so much so that I was expecting the paint to roll off the paper.

Every brushstroke shows, the knife glides smoothly across leaving trails and marks. Semi transparent

blocks of colour show off these marks - give substance.

I'm liking it so far. Here are a few little paintings, some are alcohol and ink, some are acrylic and

some are a mixture of both. Click on the image to LAF ART Yupo Works.

Been looking at  aerial shots again - wow some of them are amazing. Anyway prompted by the shots

I've been thinking about movement and journeys.

Just imagine being a bird and watching our world from a detached distance.

I moved into this studio around a year ago and at the time remember thinking

how cool it was to have so much room. Hmm, now I'm starting to feel that I could

do with double the space. Just being greedy I suppose, or maybe it's just the way I inhabit every inch, the only thing missing is my old studio companion Ralphy, who I used to trip over regularly, I miss my old boy

e.

.

Inspired originally by looking at shots of aerial views. Thinking of journeys, migrations.

Crossing and re-crossing paths.

We all have our own meandering lines and sometimes

we just move in circles.

60 by 80cm acrylic on canvas. Available

Well as sometimes happens I've spent nearly all day working on a couple of paintings only to step back and

realize that I've gone too far with both of them. They will now get the whiteout treatment and I'll go again.

It's a bit frustrating but part and parcel of the whole painter thing - at least it is as far as I'm concerned.

So here is a photo

Anyone who pops over here with any regularity will have noticed occasional photos mixed in with the paintings.

This  was taken on a recent visit to England - actually on a walk around the heath near the home of a good friend.

There were so many different birds on and around the water, not to mention dogs splashing in and out after sticks, anyway these two caught my eye.

For some, this painting will be a flowing abstract, for others there are things to be seen, shapes among the colours, a telling curve,

which one are you I wonder

I'm not particulary sentimental as a rule, except with animals, and I'd decided a while ago that due to situational and financial constraints I would have no more than 30 or 40 paintings hanging around, anything that hadn't been sold would be recycled in one way or another. So today I pulled out a painting that was painted around 5 or 6 years ago and moved it around the studio and let it sit for a while and eventually laid it down with the intention of laying a few marks and I cant, I just cannot seem to put a mark on the canvas.
Looking at it I can see the first time I tried a certain technique,

This is a bit of an odd one. It started life as a collaboration between

Andrew and me but wandered off on it's own haha.

It's a weird size for me but originally it was to fit onto a sliver

of wall in our bedroom, it's 40 by 120cm.

Anyway here are a couple of wip shots, followed by the end result

An ode to Malta, my home for the last 10 years:

Lush greens scattered among the yellows.

Bright sunlight highlights deep purple shadow.

Rainbow prisms scatter onto sand coloured stone.

Pinks and reds climb along walls and roam

Multi - hued blues surround us.

Home

Ta da........ so after much suspense - I hope it didn't keep you up at night ha ha. Here is the final painting.

The session which proved to be the last for this painting was both energetic and quite liberating. It was the first

time since my operation that I've been able to paint on the floor and I hadn't realised how much I've missed it.

The child in me comes out when I'm on my hands and knees crawling around covered in paint.

Just returned from wandering around Valletta which is in full carnival mode, floats and costumes

parades and music., I spoke to one of the girls in brilliant costume and she told me it had taken nearly 4 months to make hers - it looked amazing.Here are a couple of head shots. More to follow

OK, to the countless  millions of you sitting with baited breath waiting for the final detail shot before the

unveiling this weekend, here it is the final detail ta da ha ha ha

:

Hi again - yeah I know it's a surprise to see me here again so soon. Here's another little tease,

the second detail shot of my latest

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Here I am again, I hope you are too haha. Here is a little sneak peak of the latest painting whch I've just finished

I'll upload the painting as soon as it's been photographed properly