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This is the time of year to enjoy Euphorbia at it’s best.
And it looks extra special with all this gorgeous sunshine filtering through it.
When it puts out new growth it’s a lovely lime green colour.
I cut some to bring in and paint (beware it has a sticky sap running through it – yuk)
I thought it would die quickly so I kept the composition simple, but days later and it’s still quite happy in a vase.
Euphorbia © Claire Leggett
I’ve said it once, twice, a million times… I loVe tulips!
Any colour, any pattern, in any state of decay.
I like them standing up, flopping down, insides showing or not.
My daughter remarked recently that I haven’t painted tulips much considering my strength of feeling for them. Hells Bells – she was right!
So that needed rectifying, trouble was the bunch I had been enjoying was already passed it’s finest, so the race was on.
I could remember the colours but after drawing it, as the petals fell, the shapes changed beyond recognition. Lucky I have an artistic licence.
Magenta Tulips © Claire Leggett
Love Birds © Claire Leggett
I’m-a spring cleaning around here. This painting has been finished with a tropical patterned background to show off these two little sweeties eyeing each other up!
Screen shot of my portfolio on the Advocate Art site
I’ve been a bit shy about sharing some really good news here. Back in December I submitted my work to an artists agency called Advocate Art and was lucky enough to be signed on with them. That means that they market the images that I give them for licensing opportunities for card, wall-art, stationery etc and offer me other commission opportunities. This past week I have worked on some ideas that Next are commissioning for their interior products.
Natasha – my agent in Advocate Art
They are based down in Surrey where I met Natasha who is my contact within the firm. They represent at a lot of the major trade fairs too such as Surtex and Paperworld. I went to visit when they had a stand at the NEC in Birmingham for Spring Fair this year, where they showcased all their artists in the huge Greetings Card hall ( a hall full of companies devoted to all things greeting card related.)
Natasha and I on the Advocate Art Stand at the Spring Fair 2013
I’m hoping that it will prove to be a good compliment to my painting work and give me a chance to see some of my pattern designs out in the world. Fingers crossed!
Well I’m really stretching my artistic license painting spring flowers while there is snow on the ground!
It’s quite an antidote to the weather – I’d recommend it.
These flowers are so much fun to paint – all the bright colours, the sloshy watery paint bleeding colour into a nice heavy watercolour paper – yum!
I can feel a nice bright design coming along soon.
And once I completed that first painting, I still couldn’t stop and had to make a little line of flowers which would be nodding at me from the garden if all my plants weren’t decimated.
Hope you are surviving the snow where ever you are and that these remind you of what’s to come – eventually!
I have been working away in my own little greenhouse recently.
I spotted these Primula’s at a good price in an independent garden centre and had already seen an image online which had sparked the idea for plants in teacups.
It is such a joy to paint these bright, cheery spring flowers, not only are they relatively easy to paint but being surrounded by them all day is a lift to the spirits.
There was the difficult choice of which cup for which flower – I looked like a deranged gardener having an Alice in Wonderland-esque tea party!
I had to employ a unique ‘cup on cup on CD tower’ type arrangement to get the right view on it in order to paint it straight on. There were a few mis-haps but luckily Wedgwood bounces – ouch!
Here’s a little pic of my painting nest – note hot water bottle (saves having the heating on) and cup of tea dangerously close to water jug (wrong brush, in wrong liquid).
The finished piece is big (A1) cheery, bright and makes me smile. I hope you enjoy it too.
Primula Cups
© Claire Leggett
There was a small shaft of sunlight through my studio skylight window this morning and it prompted a bit of spring cleaning.
I found I had 5 new illustrations to put up here
and 16 new paintings to put in the gallery.
Next up are the files of pattern designs to sort through and upload, the piles of annoying admin jobs to do and finally a sweep up. Hope Spring keeps showing itself or it will all grind to halt again!
This little chap watched me bringing him and his friends to life.
He was hanging out at the Paris bird market when I snapped him. He looks like he was ‘papped’ with two guards on sentry duty!
I was painting a board of birds and other designs but these three fellas wanted to be kept together forever. So I had to erase the poor hunchbacked budgie from the corner (thank heaven for removable watercolour pigments) and paint in a background.
Three Little Birds
© Claire Leggett
I have been a creative powerhouse of late painting away left, right and centre. So in these last few days I have tried to focus on finishing off some of my first ideas. You may recall already seeing the little bird in pic 1. He’s been propped up for sometime tweeting to me ‘I am a nice little birdie – could you paint around me and make me the star of a painting?’
Not the first time a painting has talked to me! And although it’s not my favoured way of going about things I painted in a background around him and gave him a bowl of raspberries to share the stage with.
Raspberry Sneak © Claire Leggett
The title makes me laugh because all I could think about was William Morris’ famous Strawberry Thief so ‘Raspberry Sneak’ is a poor emulation! If anyone can think of a better title I am open to re-naming him…
Here I am jogging in to the finish line! The last of our painting-a-day project. 28 days = 28 paintings = * awesomeness *
It’s been great fun to paint along with others and it’s been a good discipline too.
Thank you to all of you who’ve left comments or been clicking the ‘like’ button – it’s much appreciated.
Of course I shall carry on painting but maybe at a slower pace for a bit 
