#250 Car Park Ticket

As you see we went to gloucester to do a bit of shopping this morning. Nothing I wanted was in my size hrumph. The best thing I got was this ticket well, actually I got three new pencils as well but I've drawn a pencil already this year. Watercolour and pencil 14cm x9cm.

#249 Cookie Cutter

This has the honour of bing the smallest cookie cutter in our set..it hasn't been used today, it was used a few days ago to core an apple oddly enough. It has only just made it out of the dishwasher. I think I may have washed it a few times because it got caught in the cutlery thing. Watercolour and pencil 19cm x 14cm.

#248 Broken Crockery

I have only just calmed down enough to paint this broken bit of one of our lovely new ramekins :( I was preparing to make tea and accidently pulled out a shelf of the fridge and this fell on to the floor covering me, and most of the kitchen, in strawberry syroup and broken bits of ceramic...sticky. At least the floor has been washed now. Watercolour and pencil 19cm x 14cm.

#247 Raspberry Namoura

The best thing about getting known for painting cakes is that people then give you cakes which you can then eat and then paint, marvellous! Also, a big thanks to Tim for introducing me to Baclawas and these Raspberry Namoura although the waistband on my trousers may not be as gratefull! Raspberry Namoura is a traditional Arabic Semolina Cake, I just found that out. Watercolour and pencil 19cm x14cm.

#246 Knife

I thought I had thrown this away by accident the last time I prepared mussels. It is a very specific knife, short handlewith a strong blade, and we needed it for something a few weeks ago and couldn't find it. I assumed I had discarded it along with the dead mussels and the removed beards and barnacles. It turned up today at Debbie's work being used by her Boss to cut up a cake, a worthy task I may add albeit an odd place for my mussel de-bearding knife to find itself. Watercolour and pencil 129cm x19cm.

#245 Soy Sauce

This is the little soy sauce fish from Debbies afternoon car snack coming back from visiting my clan in Norfolk. Much fun was had by all (over the weekend not in the car, it took an hour longer than normal!) and it was great seeing my, ever growing, gang of nephews 'hello boys!!!' Watercolour and pencil 14cm x 9cm (Normal ebay service will be resumed as soon as I catch up with myself!)

#244 Rubiks Cube

You may be able to tell i removed some of the stickers from my rubiks cube when i got frustrated trying to solve it...I dont think they went on in the right place so even my puzzle genius Dad wont be able to solve it! watercolour and pencil 29cm x19cm.

#243 Owl Ornament

I am spoiled for choice for things to paint this weekend, plundering my Mum and Dads and my Sisters houses for exciting little things to paint. This little owl is my Sisters given to her by a school friend years ago. Watercolour and pencil 19cm x 14cm.

#242 China Tortoise

Greetings from Norfolk (where mobile internet connections will drive you mad!) This little fellow used to be Grandmas and now lives in my Mum and Dads guest bedroom which is why I have painted it. Watercolour and pencil 19cm x14cm.

#241 Ammonite

This little fossil has been waiting very patiently to be painted for millions of years. Watercolour and pencil 14cm x 9cm.

#240 Wiper Offcut

This is the end from a replacement windscreen wiper blade I fitted today, no more annoying squeak or missed patches of windscreen..lovely calm driving in the rain. Now I want it rain so I can test it properly! watercolour and pencil 19cm x14cm click here to bid.

#239 Spring Onion

Another allotment jewel, the spring onion or scallion. Like the carrot a troublesome crop in the past but by george I think we've got it! It turns out you have to keep watering them! Watercolour and pencil 19cm x 14cm click here to bid.

#238 Glow in the Dark Star*

*this painting of a glow in the dark star may not glow in the dark. Watercolour and pencil 14cm x 9cm click here to bid.

#237 Carrot

Another allotment produce painting. This is one of the first carrots we have ever grown (properly) our last garden just wouldnt grow them at all and I think slugs ate all the tops in the one year we got them to germinate...but the allotment loves growing carrots for us..thank you allotment! Watercolour an pencil 29cm x 19cm click here to bid.

#236 Courgette

Yep, thats right a round courgette! and very tatsy too ..although for chopping I prefer the long variety but these are good for stuffing with other tasty things. Watercolour and pencil 19cm x14cm click here to bid.

#235 (#600) 6 x Hundreds and Thousands

Woop Woop 600 paintings in 600 days! To celebrate I have painted 6 hundreds and thousands 'd'ya get it?!'
Also, a brand new look for the blog let me know if you like or if you don't like it in the comments below. Watercolour and pencil 14cm x 9cm click here to bid.

#234 (#599) Spiderman Plastercast

Spiderman is my favourite cartoon superhero. Don't get me wrong Batman is good too but Spiderman is sarcastic and gives the baddies a bit of cheek, I like that! Spiderman is also a favourite of my nephew Josh so, this one is for him. Mostly because he made my day when I got home from work to find the Birthday card he made for me (a couple of days late I know, well, he is 5 and lives on the other side of the country, and doesn't fully understand the postal system, not sure I do either.... ) Anyway, cheers matey! see you soon. Watercolour and pencil 29cm x 19cm, not for sale.

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Oh, by the way the film of the robot painting from day #231 is uploaded. If you would like to have a look please click my shiny new 'Youtube' button which you will find on the right hand side of your screen if you scroll down a little.

#233 Brioche

'Qu'ils mangent de la brioche' is a phrase I wish my jeans would allow me to live by. Happy Bastille day tout le monde! Watercolour and pencil 29cm x19cm click here to bid.

#232 Two Seeds and a Needle

From left: maple seed, horse chesnut seed, and a pine needle. Given that all of these trees had labels attached to them I should have made a note and shown off with their latin names..but I didnt. All collected yesterday at Westonbirt I didnt think they would miss them and if anyone complains I will replace them all. watercolour and pencil 19cm x14cm click here to bid.

#231 Wind Up Robot

As is tradtional on July the Twelfth I celebrate my birthday, usually by taking the day off work, opening a few gifts and spending the day exactly as I please! This July the 12th is no different so, we went to Westonbirt Arboretum which was lovely. This little mechanical man has nothing to do with that (more on Westonbirt tomorrow maybe) Velazquez (for that is his name) is my new studio assistant and as you can see he is entrusted with looking after my pencil. I like to think of him as my morph. Click here to watch me paint him at high speed (tomorrow probably) or here to bid on him at your leisure!

#230 Travel Books

World cup final so, here is a pair of guide books, one each for the two capitol cities of the two countries that are contesting the Footballing World Cup. Click the picture to see the video of it being painted or here to bid.

#229 Red and Yellow Cards

Heres one for the referees, and people who like colour! Watercolour and pencil 19cm x14cm click here to bid.

#228 Small Watercolour Dish

I have had an 'exciting day' playing with you tube, you can now view (very rudimentary) Dan Young, Daily TV I need to spend a little more time with the editing software so I can speed these up, unless your happy to watch me paint in real time. Anyway we all have to start somewhere and I started with a small watercolour mixing dish. Watercolour and pencil 14cm x9cm click here to bid.

#227 Mixing Dish

I have a burgening collection of watercolour mixing dishes, this one I have had for years. I am pretty sure it was part of my first 'proper' set of watercolour paints that I got either as a birthday or Christmas present from my Mum and Dad. Watercolour and pencil 29cm x 19cm click here to bid.

#226 Lobster and Bear

Here we go with another obscure pairing of objects that relate to two countries that are playing in world cup semi finals. First the wind-up Lobster is representing Spain as a reference to Salvador Dali's Lobster Phone and the Bear is representing Germany, because I have only been to Germany once, to Berlin, and the streets were full of painted bears. The bear being a symbol of Berlin. So, I am sure you will agree, a perfectly rational subject matter for a painting. Watercolour and pencil 29cm x19cm click here to bid.

#225 Sun Stick and Tile Puzzle

Mmmm this is going to take some explaining! Uruguay v Holland in the football this evening (interupting my traditional painting time) so the holland reference is simple its a puzzle thing from Amsterdam depicting a series of old dutch tiles. Nice. The sun cream is a reference to the sun on the flag of Uruguay which, I assume, is a reference to their aztec origins. Oh ok maybe that was easy to explain after all. In other news a big Happy Birthday to my Mum! Watercolour and pencil 29cm x19cm click here to bid.

#224 Shaving Brush

I have no idea where this came from but it has been in the studio for ages, it always reminds me of my grandads shaving jug thing that my Dad had in the bathroom...but Dad used and still uses an electric razor. It obviously skips a generation because I wet shave but not using a shaving brush, maybe I should start...Watercolour and pencil 14cm x19cm click here to bid.

#223 Wind up Manatee

Who knows why the wind up toy people decided a wind up manatee would be a top seller but I am glad they did its such an economical shape to describe a quite lumpy and unattractive sea creature. Commonly called a 'sea cow' and often cited as the reason 'ye olde' sailors thought they had seen mermaids when they had actually just been weak from scurvy and drunk on rum. I don't fancy yours much 'Long John'. Watercolour and pencil 19cm x14cm click here to bid.

#222 Toy VW Beetle

Fisrt of all Happy Birthday to Jack my little nephew! This painting is a little less obscure than yesterdays! Germany playing football this is a german car (Jack likes cars but isn't German). I couldnt find anything to represent Argentina (ideas anyone? In case they win!). Watercolour and pencil 19cm x14cm click here to bid.

#221 Sandcastle

OK, so Quarter finals start today in the world cup and Brazil are playing in the first one against the Netherlands, I have just been in the loft because we have a porcelain clog somewhere but I couldn't find it so, I started to think about Brazil and I thought flip flops, beach, bikini's, football on the beach and making sandcastles on the beach. So I made a mini sandcastle using a thimble, as you do. watercolour and pencil 14cm x9cm click here to bid.

#220 Pak Choi Heart

This is the middle from the pak choi we had in our stir fry beef and noodles this evening, I always think pak choi look superreal and almost plastic when they are whole, not the ones we grow, they get riddled with flea beetle holes and decimated by slugs bah! watercolour and pencil 14cm x9cm click here to bid.