St.Paul's II

Here we see St.Paul's in the afternoon of a cold winter's day, when the lights have just been switched on here and there.

oil on wood panel - Öl auf Holzplatte - huile sur plaque de bois
15 cm x 15 cm / 5,9" x 5,9"
Buy it here

St Paul's I

I like the tower of St.Paul's Cathedral that you can see on the skyline of London from so many different angles. Here's a view seen from Tate Modern, where I visited the retrospective of Gerhard Richter's work the other day.
The predominant whites, greys and purples that the cold light produced appealed to me.
I wish all my readers, fellow artists and clients a very Merry Christmas and a successful, healthy and prosperous Year 2012! Thank you all for being out there, as without you my work wouldn't be half the fun!

oil on wood panel - Öl auf Holzplatte - huile sur plaque de bois
15 cm x 15 cm / 5,9" x 5,9"
sold - verkauft - vendu

Three Graces

Cold weather, a dead end street and beautiful abstract lines in the sky.

oil on wood panel - Öl auf Holzplatte - huile sur plaque de bois
15 cm x 15 cm / 5,9" x 5,9"
Buy it here

Streetfood

A great feature in London are the many stalls with delicious, international food, that pop up at midday at various spots in the city - and luckily also just round the corner from where I live, on Exmouth Market.

oil on wood panel - Öl auf Holzplatte - huile sur plaque de bois
15 cm x 15 cm / 5,9" x 5,9"
Buy it here

Winter Sun on Exmouth Market

Wonderful sunshine again today, but a blasting cold wind as well. Luckily I found a wind sheltered spot to paint on this small street with lots of nice cafés, restaurants and shops near where I live.

oil on wood panel - Öl auf Holzplatte - huile sur plaque de bois
15 cm x 15 cm / 5,9" x 5,9"
Buy it here

Paola's Patio

Ok, I cheated a bit today in regard to plein air painting - this was painted through a window.....
It's not only the cold and the on-lookers that are obstacles for me with painting outside. There's this whole thing of having to carry the equipment you need (which sums up to quite a lot)to the spot you want to paint at and you dare not forget anything, because otherwise you have to pack it all up and carry it back again. But then, I see Peter Brown for instance, who does it all the time and in every weather!


oil on wood panel - Öl auf Holzplatte - huile sur plaque de bois
15 cm x 15 cm / 5,9" x 5,9"
sold - verkauft - vendu

On Wilmington Square

I finally managed to get my act together and paint outside! And as my friend René predicted, it was a great experience. I had never done this in a city where people keep going by, looking at what you're doing and was a bit nervous about it. Mind you, I did choose a spot without too many passers by. I could concentrate well and am not unhappy with the result.
Btw, I decided not to post the other sketches I did a few days ago - just weren't good enough.

oil on wood panel - Öl auf Holzplatte - huile sur plaque de bois
15 cm x 15 cm / 5,9" x 5,9"
Buy it here

Liza Hirston

Concentration I

Sorry about my long "absenteeism" from here, but daily life has been too demanding. Actually not only time has been restricted but also space is a slight problem. We have moved to London again for a while, now living in a TINY apartment, where painting is a challenge, if not even impossible. I'm ok with painting in a small corner but I can't really expect anybody to bear the odours of balsamic terbentine and oil paints on a permanent basis. Thus my plan is to paint more en plein air. Today was the first day I was going to tackle it..... Today though was the first day with quite cold temperatures and I must admit, I didn't have the courage to do it. Instead I warmed up with a few sketches of my husband working on the computer - a very common sight for me. First, here's a quick one I did a few weeks ago of him.

pen on paper, Faserstift auf Papier, crayon à encre sur papier
14 cm x 18 cm, 5,5" x 7"

Liza Hirston