Commission: painting work in progress

Work in progress triptych painting for PT

Seffer Studios

So I've been thinking about what souvenir artwork I'd like to buy before I leave this little island, I know I've created my own art and keepsakes but I've fallen for the charms of several local artists, including Mike and Renate Seffer. They've featured in a few of The Ritz-Carlton gallery shows and they're super talented.

Mike's high sheen resin-ed art is beautiful and unlike anything I've seen, while Renate's colour use blows me away. I'd love to own originals of both but I think a giclee print may have to suffice for now, but one day. One day. I took a trip out to Seffer Studios in West Bay and had a closer look at their art.

Neatly stacked Seffer work, the sheen of Mike's resin artwork can be seen in the left pieces.

 Four of Renate's colourful canvases - excuse the feet

A looser group of figures in this framed watery piece

 I love the colour and the organisation of this unit full of art

This is one of Renate's photos taken of her artwork in Full of Beans cafe for a show called Summer Daze, I'm particularly taken with the one on the right "96 degrees in the shade".

Introducing: Loco

Say hello to Loco, he's exceptionally friendly and he's our Caymanian equivalent of Wilson, if you've seen Castaway you know what I mean.

While I was filling up my concertina sketchbook, I spotted this fellow and decided to enhance his features and adopt him, this way PT has some company after I leave the island. Well, say hello then.

Summer101: gallery reshuffle and some **NEW** work-ish

It's been a little while since I last posted, and I have plenty of excuses but I don't think you want to hear them, instead I'm posting new pics (apologies for the graininess, I'm using my old ancient camera just to make sure I post SOMETHING today, better pics to follow).

We've had a pretty slow month for art sales in The Gallery, so I decided to try something new and frame some of my pen and ink illustrations to test the water with. These are cheaper than the paintings and have a crisp white matte and wooden frame, what do you think?

"Enduring Love on Seven Mile" "Reading at Smith's Cove" and "People Watching on Seven Mile Beach", all dip pen and ink on watercolour paper - hang top to bottom next to the existing paintings.

Summer101: what's in a name?

Sometimes the name of a painting can be enough to sway a purchase, so I'm throwing this out to you, what should this painting be called? It's more traditional that my other pieces, but also more impressionist.

It's 12" x 9" mixed media on canvas, based on an image taken at dusk/twilight on Seven Mile Beach.

It's also better viewed from a distance. :-)

Any name with a hint of Cayman, Seven Mile or local spots also is favourable as a holiday memento, but I'm open to all suggestions. Answers in the Comments please.

Summer101: updated artwork and more doodles

"Ochre Urchin" has been updated and now has a bright blue background, which I think works better.
10" x 10" mixed media on canvas.

Here's a new addition, "Enduring Love" is based on a sketch I did early on in my days in Grand Cayman, a lovely old couple holding hands in the sea. 11" x 14" mixed media on canvas.

I recreated the paddle-board sketch on this 14" x 11" canvas, since PT has taken a shine to the original one I made. I'm hoping the Ritz-Carlton guests will also take a shine to this piece, which goes into the gallery this week.

Summer101: work in progress

Here are three of the pieces I'm working on for the upcoming show at the Ritz. You'll recognise 'Nurse Leila's Garden' the other two are 'Ochre Urchin' and 'Paddle Boarding 101' they are on 10" x 10" canvases and are looking for good homes if you happen to be passing the show.

P.S excuse the feet.

Spring break - I'm back!

So much to say, so little time, I left the island to attain a work permit, and now I'm back and raring to go. Trying to make the most of the time I have on the island. Above is a painting (Chicken!Chicken!), named after a local restaurant and is a leaving present for my good friend Tammy, who returned to England this week.

Say hello to London for me Tammy. I'll be back to posting here and documenting our time on island. More soon.

Nurse Leila's House

Welcome to Nurse Leila's House, a picturesque lilac and turquoise building which has captured my heart, as soon as I saw it with its picket fence and vivid almond tree I wanted to paint it. Although far from my favourite painting, here's my first offering, I'm sure there will be more.

Nurse Leila's House is owned by The National Trust, and currently being cared for by Cayman Traditional Arts (CTA), and I've been helping out CTA a few days a week. So this delightful place could be my prospective new office!

Painting: Miss Charlene

Here's a painting of a lady I met at CTA (Cayman Traditional Arts), she is a thatch and weave demonstrator, here she is, in Nurse Leila's garden, West Bay.

Mixed media on paper

Sketchbook: conch revisited

You'll notice that I took my previous sketch, conch, from Cayman Ladies' Art Society (CLAS, we have an acronym, now we need a logo) and decided to experiment with some painting. 

Apologies for the same composition, but this exercise was more about playing with different media. I really need to learn when to stop, as I'll naturally keep plying on the layers, but I enjoyed it all the same.

More pics of the individuals paintings on Flickr.

Sea Shells

I've been painting some shells that I collected while snorkelling. The paintings are for our apartment, the decor when we moved in was pretty special to say the least. The colourful, beachy and tourist focused designs have their place but we had to take down the crazy metal coloured fish and I'm in charge of their replacements. So here's the first batch of shell studies.