097 Stack with William Morris wallpaper - collage, Biro, pencil and felt pen

I haven't done any collage-ing for years, it is a great way to try out ideas really quickly. Like this ridiculous stack of a Chinese bowl with a Jan Steen painting in it. 

This bowl on a stand is a great visual device for putting other things into, maybe not an oil painting...maybe a collection of axe heads...

096 Oil Sketch - oil paint, charcoal on canvas

This was a very useful oil sketch, very useful indeed. To me at least.

095 Stack of archeological artifacts - pencil and wash

If there is one thing I like to see it is a tower of preposterous things. These things are mostly from the archeological collection at The Wilson. Which will find a home somewhere in my new painting. Maybe not quite like this but I do like the drawing in the background and the tile with a cow with wings on is sheer wonderfullness.

094 Thumbnails - pencil

Just a few compositional ideas, nothing concrete yet. What I can tell you is that I am working on my piece for 'The Open West 2014' which will be shown at The Wilson during May (Cheltenham's art gallery and museum) I am very excited and exactly the right amount of daunted!

For the show I am making a new painting using the Wilson's permanent collection as subject matter for a composite still life. If you followed my project last year you will remember the painting that I added an element to each day. I envisage this new painting to be a development of that. I intend to use this daily blog to document some of the background workings of the project. You won't see the finished painting here but you will see drawings, painted sketches and other ideas that may or may not get used in the finished piece. Which you will be able to see at The Wilson in a couple of months. 

Watch this space.

093 Sketch - graphite stick

I am conceiving a new painting. Here is a sketch. I might be a bit wierd for a while. My mind elsewhere, that sort of thing. Will let you know more over the coming days. Thinking. Composition. Colour. Space. Things. Stuff. Place. Time.

I have a new sketchbook, so you know this is going to be good.

092 Four man bob sled - lino print

And so my Olympic series has come to an end. Who knows what I will be doing in the next Olympic cycle,but I would like to do a similar series for the summer Olympics in 2016. We shall see. Join me tomorrow to see what the next couple of months has in store for me....

091 Cross Country Skier - Linoprint

I did a little bit (a day) of cross country skiing when I was a fit and sprightly teenager. It was hard going then but I think it would do for me nowadays! It always makes me feel very cosy when I watch it on the tele though.

090 Speed Skater - Linoprint

I had planned on printing a speed skater today but given the events in get Olympics today the less said about it the better. But she shouldn't have been DQ'd. There I've said it.

089 Ice dancer - Linoprint

I have three more Olympic pics then I am looking at starting a new series, more news about that soon (it's very exciting though) before that here is a spinning ice skater.

088 Curler - Linoprint

What an exciting day of curling eh? I never thought I would be blogging about that...

087 Biathon athlete - Linoprint

What could be safer than skiing with a gun!

086 Ski Jumper - lino print

Maniacs. That's all I'm going to say about these fellows. Wonderful sporting maniacs.

085 Bobsled - lino print

Two man bob sledding is today's winter sport excitement. 

084 Ice Hockey - Linoprint

I watched a very exciting ice hockey match between Russia and USA with my lunch today so here is a nice hockey player. I think it is a USA player, because they won.

083 Lizzy Yarnold - Linoprint

So, in my Olympic lino print series I was hoping there would be a GB gold medal winner, and there was  today in the skeleton bob. Woo hoo so, here is a 'portrait' of Lizzy Yarnold, who also went to the University of Gloucestershire which is where I work and was a student. Yahay!

082 Ice skater

Men's figure skating today, so here is a man skating. I love winter sports!

081 Snowboarder - lino print

This is one of the snowboarders from the women's half pipe final this evening. I was a bit worried this would not look like a snowboarder at all!

080 Slope style Skier - lino print

I went skiing a couple of times in my pomp, but I don't think I ever managed one of these acrobatic style spins..... I think this is called an 'iron cross'

079 Luger - Linoprint

Luge is today's sport of choice , a. Bit tricky to make this chap look like he is on a luge as opposed to just having a lie down...

078 Downhill Skier - lino print

Downhill for breakfast today, very exciting, and a bronze medal for GB not in men's downhill. Jenny Jones came third in slope style snowboarding, but I have already done a snowboarder.

PS I should mention that these prints are tiny, the paper is only about 7cms wide...

077 Snowboarder - lino print

I watched a very exciting snowboarding slope style competition this morning, with my breakfast. So I have 'done' a snowboarder. I think he is doing a switch 1440 to fakey, but I'm not sure....

076 Olympic Mountain - lino print and pastel

I have marked the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics with this series of rainbow coloured  snow capped mountains. Because I can.

And a straight one.

075 Ice Skate - lino print

So, the Winter Olympics has begun. I have watched a bit of the ice skating and here is an ice skate. 

074 Spectacles - monotype and pastel

Now please forgive any inaccuracies (or as I call it - 'style!) in this drawing, but when you are as myopic as me and you are drawing your own spectacles (a great word 'Spectacles') it tricky to see properly.

073 Fan Heater - charcoal

I had three heater fuses blow on me this morning as I was setting up for the life class session. Heaters are pretty important when you are nude. Not me, the model, you don't need to be nude to block up windows and turn heaters on. Quite the opposite in fact, I think all involved are happier I keep my clothes on while I shift easels, mattresses and heaters around...... 

Here is one of the offending fan heaters. I'm not 100% happy with this drawing, but that's ok because I wasn't 100% happy with the fan heater either. 

072 My Day in Objects - charcoal and erasers

I have drawn 25 things on this piece of paper. I know you can't see them, that's because I have rubbed them all out! I drew a thing then removed it, trying to mirror things that happened to me today, it was a largely unremarkable day I drank tea, ate cereal, gave people some tools and filled in my holiday card among other things. So today's piece of artwork is this piece of paper with my day rubbed out on it. I do have a little slideshow of the stages, will update here when it is uploaded.....

I told you this year was experimental!

071 Ukulele

The process involved in this draing is a bit confusing so please bare with me. Remember the perspex laser etched bass guitar I did on Friday? Well I used another laseretchedpuece of perspex to create a print plate which I rubbed oil pastel onto and then took a print from it and coloured that print with some oil pastels. Got it? Simple. The original plate ison the left.

This is really a shameless advert for a little show of prints I have a Tiffins cafe in Cheltenham, perfect for a bite anda coffee and have a gander at 'Sweets and Strings' which is what I have called it because it has prints of sweets and strings (guitars, basses, ukuleles and mandolins).

070 Giraffe - monotype

A big happy ninth birthday to my nephew Josh, I think he still likes giraffes, this is one we saw in the summer...