#128 Hobbit Cutting

I have a few succulents and cacti on the window sill in the studio, I also have the habit of pushing the leaves that fall off into the soil around the base of the plant to try and propagate them. By doing this we ended up with so many money tree seedlings we didn't know what to do with them. This one is a relative of the money tree and is a plant called Crassula Ovata - Hobbit, a great name and a fantasticly shaped leaf. The leaves are almost tubular and are green but in lots of sun will go very red, they also get white spots on the leaf ends, which is calcium build up from using tap water to water them. You can just see the white spots on the larger (original) leaf, not many because its hardly been watered over the winter! Oil on gessso 16cm x 12c.

#127 Hazel Nut

This painting may contain nuts! Completely out of its natural season but I found it yesterday amongst all the buttons, beads, tennis balls in the boxes I was rummaging through. I have no idea how it got there but, we did move house around Christmas time so, it could have fallen into a weird box then...it doesn't matter its been painted now! Oil on gesso 16cm x 12cm.

#126 Button

The subconscious mind is a mysterious thing, I wasn't sure what to paint all day today and eventually found myself rummaging through odd boxes full of bits and pieces. I came upon this candy striped button. Until just now I had completely forgotten about Jenson Button winning the Australian Grand Prix...or had I. Oil on gesso 16cm x 12cm.

#125 Orange Car

Way back on day #103 of this project I held a mini competition to guess the painting that was represented in the jigsaw piece that I painted that day. Mr Tim Adams won the competition by being the first person to email me with the correct answer; 'Tiger in a Tropical Storm (Surprised!)' by Henri Rousseau. The prize was to pick the subject for a painting, so here it is. I was particularly pleased with this little car, my birthday is on the 12th and one of my favourite colours in orange, and I recently bought some very nice cadmium orange oil paint! Oil on gesso 16cm x 12cm click here to bid.

#124 Spring Onion

No other reason to paint this today other it formed part of our tea, that and the shiny quality of the skin and the gorgeous green colour. Oil on gesso 16cm x 12cm.

#123 Tea Bag

Having achieved a third of the project yesterday I thought it might be a good time to have a tea break. I am more of a coffee drinker personally but this is such a classic object I had to paint a good ole british cuppa. Oil on gesso 16cm x 12cm.

#122 A Third of a Kiwi Fruit

I am now a third of the way through the project so I wanted to paint a third of something, this kiwi fruit won the day. Partly for the colour but also the contrast between the green flesh and the fuzzy skin. At the start of this project I wanted to force myself to find time every day to paint but also test my painting skill by exploring different objects with various textures and colours. Todays subject really fits lots of those boxes; great colour, two very distinct textures and as an added bonus there is a clever reason for cutting it into thirds! Oil on gesso 16cm x 12cm.

#121 Snowie

Sometimes you just need the taste of chocolate after certain meals; spaghetti bolognese, curry, roast dinner, stir fry, baked fish, pizza, chilli, steak, duck.....So, I found myself in my local corner shop, yes it is actually on a corner. I originally went for a couple of bars of chocolate (not both for me) but the customer before me was getting a selection of the old fashioned style sweets from jars. I couldnt resist gettin 20p of what I now know are called Snowies to paint. Posh chocolate last night ~ cheapo chocolate tonight! Oil on gesso 16cm x 12cm.

#120 Square of Chocolate

Allright then, a square and a half of chocolate. I am continuing with my monday night theme of sweets/cakes/treat with this 'last' piece of chocolate. Not the 'last' ever you understand just from that bar...Oil on gesso 16cm x 12cm.

#119 Primrose Flower

Happy Mothers Day! The primrose is a traditional flower on Mothers Day (in the uk). Servant children would give their mum's a posy of primroses and were allowed to go to church with their Mothers on Mothering Sunday. So, Happy Mothers Day to everyone, but especially my Mum. Oil on gesso 16cm x 12cm.

#118 Weed

I have spent a happy day gardening, priming more 16cm x 12cm boards and watching Rugby. The Rugby and priming didnt really present many objects to paint but weeding gave forth a number of tiny plants, ripped from their home and tossed into the bucket. I also found some crockery and a flattened icing nozzle. But, as I pulled out far more of these tiny grass seedlings I decided to paint one of them. In much the same way a caveman might paint the mammoth hunt to tell the story to the folks back in the caves. Oil on gesso 16cm x 12cm.

#117 Stone Mouse

This tiny stone mouse was painted by Debbie when she was little. We made the journey up to Nottingham to see her parents yesterday for her Dads 70th birthday when I was entrusted with this little gem by Kate (Debbie's Mum) to make a painting of it if I wished. I did! At the begining of this project I didn't anticipate how much of my life I would be sharing with you all. So, I hope you are enjoying the minutia of my day to day existence. Oil on gesso 16cm x 12cm.

#116 Half Eaten Jelly Baby

Happy Birthday Derek, 70 today! He is a big fan of Jelly Babies so when we got his traditional birthday bag of jelly treats I got an extra pack of mini babies to make a painting of for today. Pshyco-analyists can work out what biting the heads off first means! Oil on gesso 16cm x 12cm.

#115 Folded Crisp Packet

This is one of those objects that you will either recognise straight away or you wont have a clue! I think it is also the way flags are folded when removed from flagpoles. I have folded crisp packets like this ever since my friend Lee and me figured out how his Dad was making these fantastic little triangles, he wouldn't tell or show us how it was done. Oil on gesso 16cm x 12cm.

#114 Shamrock Leaf

Happy St. Patricks Day! It had to be a shamrock leaf today in the absence of a small enough leprechaun! Oil on gesso 16cm x 12cm.

#113 Jam Tart

Monday night is becoming sweet cakey/biscuity treat night. The best bit of this painting has to be taking a bite out of each tart and picking the best one to paint. Oil on gesso 16cm x 12cm.

#112 Quick Unpick

A weekend of sewing celebration! Debbie has assured me that this piece of equipment is rarely, if ever used. These are fascinating tools, I remember when I was younger I couldn't work out why they have such a cool little red bit on them. I also love the fact that they are called quick unpicks because, well, they unpick things..... um.. quickly! Oil on gesso 16cm x 12cm.

#111 Dressmakers Pencil

Ever since the start of this year we have been decorating the bedroom and Building a sewing room for Debbie in one end. I think the first painting of January records a bit of floorboard I had to cut off from the start of this job. We Just about finished it today and so, I collected a little selection of sewing ephemera to choose from for todays painting. This double ended dressmakers pencil won the right to be painted mostly for being double ended and a pencil! Oil on gesso 16cm x 12cm.

#110 (a) Toy Foal & #110 (b) Red Nose

I was in a bit of a quandary today, living and working in Cheltenham the Gold Cup festival always has some bearing on my day/week when it happens. I have had this little toy of a horse all ready and waiting for today to celebrate the Gold cup in a painting. My quandary appeared when I realised that it is also Red Nose Day, (for international followers this is a day where UK residents raise money for charity whilst dressed in their pyjamas and bathing in baked beans, all culminating in a TV show with comedians and celebrities doing equally silly things).

A big part of RND is the buying of these red noses which also just happen to be the perfect subject for a painting! I checked in the Dan Young, Daily rulebook and there is no mention about painting more than one painting so I have done both!

So, just to be clear the red nose painting is entirely in aid of RND and all the proceeds will go to charity. The horse is part of the normal Dan Young, Daily project and wont! I would like to urge everyone to have a bid on the nose and we will see how much money we can raise!

#109 Shard of Crockery

While technically this was found on the same day as the marble in the front garden it was re-found today as I was putting the bin and garden waste out. It has a fantastic sinuous form but I cant work out what it was. All I know is that it is now very sharp. Oil on gesso 16cm x 12cm.

#108 Succulent Cutting

After a hard couple of days gardening, what better thing to do but relax with some cactus and succulent cuttings? Debbie was just setling down to splitting cacti and succulents while this one was lying there begging for me to paint it. So, I dutifully knabbed it and ran off to the studio. Oil on gesso 16cm x 12cm.

#107 Marble

I love finding things in the garden when digging, this beauty was uncovered in the front garden at first I thought it was a berry but, after a small amount of Indiana Jones style archeaology I confirmed it was a marble. One of many to be found in our front and back gardens. I have rather succesfully skirted round painting transparent things so far, the first being the indegestion medicine from the other night but this is the first glass object. I hope you like it! Oil on gesso 16cm x 12cm.

#106 Jammie Dodger

Another half eaten biscuit! Now I have done a small amount of research into jammie dodgers over the weekend. This is a bona fide dodger, however, the pretend ones are much tastier. This i due to having a layer of cream in them as well as the jam. The cream layer aids the moisture level of the dodger whereas the original Jammie biscuit is a little dry and the biscuit is a touch undercooked. But they sure do look pretty! Oil on gesso 16cm x 12cm.

#105 Half a Fig

As is traditional on a sunday we visited a garden centre this morning. Originally to get a cotoneaster for the back garden, but, as is so often the way with such visits other things start appearing in the basket. All of a sudden you have decided to; repot all the cacti so, you need bag of cactus compost, you need garden canes to help protect fruit bushes from the unwanted attention of the birds and you're holding on to a tiny little succulent that when you get it home is is going to have to fight for space on the few windowsills that get enought light. This little fig had fallen of its plant and was lying on the floor just waiting for me to pick it up, bring it home, cut it in half and paint it. Oil on gesso 16cm x 12cm.

#104 Dice

This is another product of my 'object driven eye' when visiting friends houses. This was an evil little object to paint, is it round? is it square? ....Oil on gesso 16cm x 12cm.

#103 Jigsaw Piece

This is a jigsaw piece from a Henri Rousseau painting mini jigsaw. I think I bought it for Debbie for christmas a few years ago. While painting this I had the blinding idea of having a prize for the first person to guess what the painting is called, Rousseau's, not mine! So, the prize is you get to choose the subject for a day's painting. To enter just email me your answer, the winner will be the first person to email me, I will announce the winner here when there is one! Good Luck Everyone!

#102 Medicine

The last time I felt the need to paint an object from my day as strong as I felt this was the Rich Teas Biscuit from day #58. I poured this adult size dosage and realised I had just poured todays subject. As I sit here and type this the effects are starting to work, I had to paint it before I could take it. Oil on gesso 16cm x 12cm.

#101 Dalmation?

Now, I dont really think this is strictly a Dalmation, (toy not a real dog). I dont know what it is though anyone? I can't claim the idea for a painting of this specific dog breed on day #101 thanks goes to Ben for that one, thanks Ben. It isn't my toy dog either thanks must go to Tim for that, thanks Tim. Finally thanks goes to facebook for allowing the conversation that gave birth to the idea in the first place, Thanks facebook! The only thing I have done in the whole enterprise is paint the thing...Oil on gesso 16cm x 12cm.

#100 A Cork

100 days 100 paintings! To celebrate I popped a bottle of bubbly, and of course painted the cork for todays painting. I was pleased to discover the cork wasn't covered in lots of ornate writing! We usually pop corks out of the back door, only once did one go towards the house at the end of the garden, I was careful to keep hold of this one. Oil on gesso 16cm x 12cm.

#99 Flake

Nearing the big #100 got me thinking about numbers and how they might relate to paintings. While thinking about a clever object for tomorrows painting I came up with this for todays, a far better idea...Oil on gesso 16cm x 12cm.

#98 Small Rake

This tiny rake was part of a small set of sand, rocks, and small tray, the idea is you arrange the rocks on the sand and rake. Its a small version of those fantastic raked japanese gardens with rocks with special species of moss growing on them. This mini tool has been stuck in a cactus pot for a few years now, you may have noticed we keep a few objects in pot plants, feathers, shells stones and rakes. I take the blame for that, I am only now realising the extent of my object fascination, lucky when you have 266 paintings to do. Oil on gesso 16cm x 12cm.