#219 Snapdragon Flower

I have always loved these flowers right from being a little boy and my Mum showing me how to make them open their 'mouth' by pinching the sides, while being careful not to surprise a bee in there bathing itself in pollen. I also have another memory of making a drawing of a flower very similar in colour to this at junior school aged 8 or 9 which, I assume, was my first sex education lesson where we got told about the birds and the bees, through the clever use of bees, pollen and flowers. Oil on gesso 16cm x 12cm.

#218 Shaving Brush

I am having a shaving quandry at the moment wet or electric! I ususally favour wet shaving but, I never shave enough and an electric would be quicker...anyway this object harks back to simpler times. Oil on gesso 16cm x 12cm.

#217 Meatball & Tomato

Yep, we are having meatballs and tomato sauce tonight! Debbie was starting to cook as I was wandering the house looking for something to paint and a meatball seemed the only thing that would hold my interest. So, I paired it with a cherry tomato and well, the rest is history! Oil on gesso 16cm x 12cm.

#216 Chocolate Lemon Sundae

All butter viennese biscuit with lemon curd filling enrobed in dark chocolate. Thats what it says on the box anyway. Oil on gesso, 16cm x12cm.

#215 Stone with a Hole

I have had this stone (I think it is a flint) for years and years, I would love to say I found it on a remote beach somewhere. In truth I found it in the gravel on my Mum and Dads driveway! Pretty good provenance though I reckon! Oil on gesso 16cm x 12cm.

#214 Prawn and a Pea

We succumbed to the chinese takeaway this evening, these two ingredients are both from my, rather aptly named 'Young-Chow Fried Rice'. Oil on gesso 16cm x12cm.

#213 Three Oat Biscuits

I haven't painted a biscuit for days now, come to think of it I don't think we have had any for a while. I initially planned to do a 'classic' half eaten biscuit painting so I took three biscuits to take a bite from and choose the best! I piled them up, on the little white platform I have in the studio, ready for my feast, but they looked so good I had to paint them as they were. I have eaten them now, and one other, okay two others. Oil on gesso 16cm x 12cm.

#212 Dressmakers Chalk and two Pins

I have tried not to paint the same thing twice, this comes close as I have painted a dressmakers chalk pencil and a chalk pastel although no pins yet. Oil on gesso 16cm x 12cm.

#211 Courgette Flower

A much needed visit to the allotment this evening to pick redcurrants and spinach, this is the first of the courgettes from the seedling I painted on day #152. Like good gardeners we pulled of the first flowers to help the plant establish, this is one of them. We were also surprised to discover that we have grown little globe courgettes this year. Lovely. Oil on gesso, 16cm x 12cm.

#210 White Knight

Happy Fathers Day! Todays painting is simple; my Dad likes chess, I like chess, chess is made up of 32 little things, I paint little things, the knight is my favourite piece. So, I have painted the white knight (you can't really see as much detail on the black knight). Oil on gesso, 16cm x 12cm.

#209 Two Jumping Beans

I have been rummaging through an old tin full of screws, nails, hinges, bolts, cable clips and various other bits of ironmongery that I may or may not use. Among all of that I found a little perspex box of these 'jumping beans' some a bit more bashed up than others. They are pill like plastic things with a ball bearing inside which, when you handle them, makes the 'bean' jump aorund like they are alive! Oil on gesso, 16 cm x 12cm.

#208 Key

Not much time today!!! I found this at work in my office, it is a key to one of the cupboards in my office. The rather old looking card board fob reads painting, you can just read the word paint in the paintg above, and thats why I chose it! The Key to Paint! Oil on gesso,16cm x 12cm.

#207 Fruit Flan

Well, I had to didn't I? After being so worthy yesterday with my seeds and berries here is a slightly naughtier use of berries, if you look carefully there is even a layer of custard under the jam, mmmmmm. Oil on gesso 16cm x 12xm.

#206 2 Seeds, 1 Kernel and a Berry

From left: popcorn kernel, pumpkin seed, dried cranberrry and a sunflower seed. Not only do I paint everyday I also eat every day! This could be why I have painted so many foodstuffs. These four very healthy foods are a selection of things we are trying to eat more of on a daily basis. I like to think of this as an anti-cake painting! Did someone say custard danish? Oil on gesso 16cm x 12cm.

#205 Sugarsnap Pea

This evening, not sure what to paint, I went for a wander up the garden (it is a slight incline so up then down technically). I like to do this to look for objects to paint mostly because there are different things in the garden from week to week. This sugarsnap pea was the best looking bit of produce today (just pipping a strawberry, pun intended!). So, I painted it. Oil on gesso, 16cm x 12cm.

#204 Calf Toy

This is one of Debbies collection of farmyard animals, I have painted a horse, a sheep and a pair of geese so far. I liked this calf because due to some overexhuberant play and thin plastic legs has a very wobbly way of standing, just like a real one. I hope some of the instability is represented here. Oil on gesso 16cm x 12cm.

#203 Roll of Cotton

Racks of cotton are nearly as exciting as racks of paint...but not quite. Oil on gesso 16cm x 12cm.

#202 Slice of Watermelon

We have had this watermelon in the fridge for a while and thought it was probably past it but no! Simply cut the dried up slice off the edge and it is sweet and juicy! Perfect to wash down the mussel from yesterday. Oil on gesso 16cm x 12cm.

#201 Mussel Shell

Aahhh end of the week, we didn't want to cook, didn't want to go shopping didn't want to do the washing up and nonsense like that. So we went out to The House in The Tree pub just outside Cheltenham. Debbie had Moule Marinere, see today's painting for the one I nicked off her plate, and I had curry of the day! Very tasty. Oil on gesso 16cm x 12cm.

#200 Violin Bridge

I have lots of little things on shelves, in boxes, in jars all around the studio. All there ready to paint if the whim takes me that day, thing is I don't often want to paint any of those things. I much prefer the stuff that presents itself to me during the day or night on that specific day. This Violin bridge has been one of those objects hanging out in the studio with me for many months i expect and I have considered painting on numerous occasions but it has just out against something else. So, as just reward for all those days of being passed over here it is representing day #200 a great honour for any 'thing'. Oil on gesso 16cm x 12cm.

#199 Blu Tack

I love a painting with a story! This could be one of the smallest stories told in a painting. Have I told you about the time I pulled a piece of blu tack from another larger piece of blu tack? I havent, well, see above! Oil on gesso 16cm x 12cm.

#198 Mug Handle

While we are talking about food groups (well, I am anyway) This broken mug handle represents one of the most important food groups, coffee. Now, I am a bit of a hoarder, you may have noticed if you have followed this blog for any length of time. I broke this yellow Ferrari mug some time ago but didn't do the normal thing of throwing it away. You never know it might come in useful. Only now am I fully understanding why I have kept all these things. Oil on gesso 16cm x 12cm

#197 Pineapple

This painting of, a particularly sweet, pineapple follows all the other major food groups from the past few days: cake, flower(?), vegetable, and today's fruit! Okay, flowers aren't quite a food group but you can eat some of them. Plus I thought I was being really clever with the food group thing and didn't think of anything else to write. Oil on gesso 16cm x 12cm.

#196 Radish

A flower last night and a vegetable tonight. This radish was plucked from the garden minutes before being painted. I had to cut the leaves off to make it fit, I like the way the cut stemsfollow the edge on the top right. Oil on gesso 26cm x 12cm.

#195 Orange Rosebud

This was one of a bunch of orange roses I bought Debbie on Thursday. This one has gradually drooped over the last couple of days and I decided, today, that it is not going to make it. So I have immortalised it in oil paint, you can clearly see the droop in the stem, I suspect from damage in transit somewhere down the line. Oil on gesso 16cm x 12cm.

#194 Berry Roulade

I was pleased to have just painted a slice of this rather tasty summer berry roulade until i just went on twitter only to find out that it is national doughnut day today. Damnit! Should have painted a doughnut. Although it is only in the USA where they celebrate this festival (after a little more research it seems it could be a marketing ploy for some of those well known perveyors of donuts to shift more dough based sweetie treats).

I declare today, the first friday in June, is and always shall be National Berry Roulade day in the United Kingdom if not the world! Oil on gesso 16cm x 12cm.

#193 Fish Food and Sandpaper

Continuing the theme of painting things that people have given me here is a pile of fish food and a little piece of fine sandpaper. Two objects that have links to other daily paintings and were both given to me by the same person, Dave Jones, who I did a joint post with on day #85. So, the sandpaper was used on the carving which the woodchippings were from in day #85's painting. The fish flakes, also kindly gifted by Dave, was one of the objects I was deciding on when Steve Knibbs from the BBC came to film me painting day #68. I veiw these objects as relics from the projects history and I really like the way it has brought two seemingly unconnected items together in what could be the oddest painting so far!

Oil on gesso 16cm x 12cm.

#192 Chihuahua Toy

Well, young Mr W Adams, Dan could paint one of your dogs and he has! This rather shy looking chihuahua toy dog is the next in my series of gifted objects this week. Oil on gesso 16cm x 12cm.

#191 Lace Bobbin

I arrived to work one morning (it might have been this morning or it might not) and this, lace bobbin, was placed on the open pages of my diary on my desk in my office. In truth I knew it was coming as I had a conversation with Geoff, who cleans the studios and is responsible for beautifying courtyard garden outside my office window (which is very low so I have to lean a bit to see much of the courtyard but, I do see a nice cordyline straight opposite the window) which has made what was a stark, architectural, eighties delight in pastel painted cast iron girders, concrete blocks and glass into a much softer environment that actually makes it a place you might want to sit in or like most, make mobile phone calls from. Anyway, we were talking about him leaving things hidden around my office for me to find and paint which I thought would be a great idea, almost guaranteeing I would find something of interest at some point! This bobbin turned up the next day and being a huge Vermeer fan (painter of the sublime Lacemaker) I had to paint it. This also got me thinking about other paintings I have made through this series that have a connection to other artworks. I need to do more research on this but I know I was thinking about the french painter Soutine when I painted the salami, I will find others...watch this space. For now my homage to Vermeer is oil on gesso, 16cm x 12cm.

#190 Three Beads

Three glass beads; two from Debbies bead box, which is a fascinating place for an object hunt, and the white one with the important bit of string is from Su and Trev. One of the nice things about doing this project is that people give you things to paint, I currently have a few things that are in my 'object inbox' from various people that may get painted and then again they may not. It all depends on my whim! Oil on gesso, 16cm x 12cm.