#342 Bird Skull

Happy Halloween! At last an opportunity to paint this bird skull. I have had it for a few years, I found it in the garden of our old flat. I suspect it is a black bird skull but if anyone else has any ideas...oil on gesso 16cm x 12cm.

#341 Sausage Roll

This is one half of my lunch, there were other elements involved but mostly it was sausage roll! Oil on gesso 16cm x 12cm.

#340 Deflating Balloon

I didn't find this object, more it found me. It was bouncing around in the front garden slowly deflating. I rescued it and have been waiting for it to deflate to the right size for me to paint since yesterday. Or, this painting might symbolise the first year of Dan Young, Daily drawing to a close, I just noticed the number of todays painting, #340, which means only 25 paintings left and I will have completed my initial challenge of making a painting every day, without missing one, for a year.

Oil on gesso 16cm x 12cm.

#339 Rotten Peach

This hideous little thing was lurking at the back of one of the drawers in the fridge.....it may have been a nectarine hard to tell as it is now covered in fur! Oil on gesso 16cm x 12cm.

#338 Cotoneaster Sprig

It turns out there is a garden outside our back door! I took as stroll (well, hobble) around the garden today pulled out a couple of weeds and noticed these amazing berries on our cotoneaster bush we planted last year. I have always liked the way the berries stay on these bushes for longer than most, they must taste horrible to birds! Oil on gesso 16cm x 12cm.

#337 Espresso Mug

This is one of my espresso mugs, and my favourite one. I did have a yen for collecting them at one point I may continue again one day. I think I have three, is that a collection? Oil on gesso 16cm x 12cm.

#336 Victoria Sponge Cake

As Promised, a very, very tasty Victoria sponge! We finished making this last night and then were too full to eat any. It looked far too good to eat anyway. This morning however, I could have quite happily had a slice for breakfast. I didn't and waited till elevenses, except the clocks went back last night (BST to GMT for international readers who have no idea what I am talking about) so, we had elevenses at 10 o'clock just to ease the shift into GMT. Oil on gesso 16cm x 12cm.

#335 Some Jam

I was hopeing to have a Victoria sponge cake to paint today but we are a little bit behind so, that 'might' be tomorrows painting, in the meantime I have painted a spoon of jam. Oil on gesso 16cm x 12cm.

Only thirty days left till the last of these little paintings, I will miss them. To console myself I have spent a bit of time preparing for the next 365 days which will begin on the 24th of November and you can follow the next phase of Dan Young, Daily right here on this blog, almost seamlessly, I hope!

#334 Onion Top and Tail

As soon as I chopped the top and tail from this onion I knew I had found todays subject, even though I have already painted an onion, I reckon they are such fundamental vegetables they deserved another painting. Oil on gesso 16cm x 12cm.

#333 My Wallet

This is my own actual wallet, it was a christmas present from Debbie (she actually handstitched it out of leather) a few years ago now but I have used it pretty much everyday so, it seemed a good subject for a daily painting. Oil on gesso 16cm x 12cm.

#332 Knob of Butter

Following on the slippery theme after my fall yesterday, my ankle is nicely swollen and sore! I have painted a knob of butter, which was left out after dinner last night and I found it in the kitchen this morning. Oil on gesso 16cm x 12cm.

#331 Juggling Ball

Given my acrobatics today (I took a tumble coming down some stairs and went over on my ankle..ouch) I thought I would paint this juggling ball. I was going to paint a bandage but I am using that, and my icepack is too big! Oil on gesso 16cm x 12cm.

#330 Colour Blocks

I have spent today preparing the first year studio for their next project, they will arrive tomorrow morning to a selection of colourful set ups of these painted blocks of varying sizes. In a nutshell, their task is to make four or five paintings of these blocks, first using just black and white paint then using a limited pallette of raw sienna and light red, then a full palette, then an extended palette. I think this is the single most useful exercise I did at art college (I currently work where I studied, the University of Gloucestershire) and has certainly helped me over the last 330 days with these paintings who knows I may have even had these two in my original set up all those years ago.....Oil on gesso 16cm x 12cm.

#329 Wildberry Teabag

This weekend has been all about wild berries, picking them and also drinking tea made from them. Oil on gesso 16cm x 12cm.