Stockport County mug

Just taken delivery of a few mugs for Christmas.  My Stockport County image ' The Crowd at County ' is available as a print, card and now a mug .Iced mince pie not included.

Victoria Baths

Over the last few weeks I have been working on a little project for Victoria baths in Manchester.
Still got a lot of work to do, but  I have been inspired by this fantastic building built over 100 years ago and now an on going renovation project.
The fantastic architecture of the building surrounded by more recent housing is such a contrast,  stepping inside is a treat for your eyes, the stained glass windows and fantastic green tiles amongst other interior delights.
This is my first image of the exterior with a few inspired paintings from one of my favourite eras of art and design.

2017 Calendar

Well ,it's been a busy few weeks, getting stock together for the Autumn and Christmas markets.
My latest addition to my collection is my 2017 Calendar.
This features 12 of my Stockport images and is available direct from me, or at Staircase house in Stockport.
I will be at Stockport town hall on Sat 29th Oct , Victoria Baths 6th November, Bramhall village 26th November and back to the Town Hall on 5th Dec.

Stockport Art Gallery

I have had a very busy time with a few things going on over the last couple of months.
My Bramall paintings have been on show in Stockport art gallery , then my Bramall Window spent the day at the Hall on 11th Sept for the community takeover day, the cards have been a great seller in the new shop, which has been a great success since it opened in July.
 Until November 10th I have a very small canvas on display in the art link at Stockport War Memorial Art gallery along with over 400 other images for the Turners and Loxley art challenge exhibition (closed Mondays).
This is my entry, inspired by my recent painting of the fairground.

Bramall Hall

Over the last 6 months i have been busy working on some images of Bramall Hall in Stockport.
The hall has just undergone a £2 million pound restoration and is due to reopen next weekend after being closed for nearly 2 years.
Its been a go to place for me since i was little, with my parents and 5 siblings, living only a short distance away, we would frequently head to the park for an adventure.
History has repeated itself and i have spent many happy days there with my own children.
Taking on a whole new contemporary painting of a black and white Tudor mansion was slightly challenging, i wasn't sure how it would work with my style of painting.
I have to say i'm delighted with how it has turned out.
This image will be on sale in the new shop at the hall as a signed  Framed print, unframed print and greetings card.

My other painting reflects all the hidden images that are in and around the hall.

My inspiration was the fantastic stained glass windows that have been carefully restored .

You will see the strange animals that are in the wall paintings in the ballroom/solar, also peculiar faces carved in the wooden beams in the ballroom ceiling.

The Tudor rose and the family crest among others.

 Both of these paintings are available to view at Stockport Art Gallery from Jul 24th to Sept 3rd 2016.

Heatons art trail

This coming weekend sees my first time exhibiting and selling at the Heatons art trail.
I'm now trying to get a bit organised for it as a weekend climbing Snowden has kept me quite busy.
A few pictures to frame and bits  and bobs to organise ,I have a new Stockport painting nearly finished, hopefully I'll have it completed I  time.
I will be at the Arc centre and Gallery in Reddish just on Greg st ,really easy to find, with a variety of other artists, there will be workshops running over the weekend that you can get involved in.
I was delighted to see my picture being used to advertise the event in this week's Stockport Express.

All the fun of the fair

I've been working on some paintings on a large scale recently so decided it was time to do something smaller.
My latest piece is 12 x 9 and acrylic on board.
For those of you that are aware of my work, by now you will have noticed that I like colour.
What can be more colourful than a fairground.
We don't have them so much in Stockport these days, although I'm sure most of us went to Torkington  Park Fair at some point, and remember the fair at Hollywood park.
A bit of research and memories of being sick on my shoes coming of the Waltzers inspired me to do my latest painting.
I have been looking for the right frame, usually I keep away from swags and bows and anything frilly but I decided that this picture needed something like that.
After a visit to vintage shops in town I came across the perfect one, a little bit of bargaining and it was mine, all I needed to do was make a few tweaks and the job of framing was complete.
I hope you like what I did.

ps, if you are wondering why I have lettuce , I  share my studio with 2 Guinea pigs, Truffle and Clover

Media stuff this week

What an interesting week it's been.
In June I will be taking part in the Heatons Art trail, a weekend of arts and crafts, artists and crafters getting together to showcase their work.
A small article in this week's Stockport Express let's you know a bit about what's going on.
I was surprised to see that one of my paintings had been featured.

A trip into town/192, however I was even more surprised to see that they had made a big mistake and credited my picture to someone else.
For my first time in print,a tad disappointed to say the least.
A phone call to the paper resulted in an apology and a correction in next week's issue....watch this space.
I was also made aware that my Stockport tea towel featured on the telly on Sunday,  a programme about Stockport market and the situation with the council,still a very uncertain  time for the local traders.

Finally a casual conversation about the stone owls that used to reside in the grounds of Bramall Hall resulted in a bit of research and a short while later a photo was found of my brother Pete in around 1965 looking delighted with his discovery. A little more about the story on the' We are lets go blog.'
http://www.weareletsgo.co.uk/blog/

Hillgate Stockport

Over the last couple of months I have been working on my latest Stockport painting.
A trip with my camera took me down Hillgate towards Robinsons Brewery and then onto underbank.
The image I have gone with was looking down Hillgate across the road from the Red Bull, (a very nice pub) if you're passing.
I have lots to work with for my next project.
The lovely Reverend Roger from St Mary's Parish Church is to retire after Easter and was delighted to receive a mounted print as a retirement gift.

I have put together a little montage ,just to try and show you the progress of my painting from start to finish.

Mike

Last summer I tackled my first portrait,
Quite an important one, my son Mike, playing his beloved guitar before he took it of to Uni with him in September.
A personal challenge for me because I don't do faces so I had to get it right,no pressure ,  I am delighted with the result, everyone that knows him can instantly recognise him, will i do more, well my daughter is still waiting for hers, so watch this space.

Manchester 2016

I have been working on this painting on and off since about August, lacking a bit of inspiration I was just waiting for the right time to complete it, My Christmas paintings finished, and work starting on a big commission there was time enough to get working on it.I'm realy pleased how it's turned out, and as usual I have included some old bits of Manchester with the new.

Patrick

Taking a bit of time out from all the festivities recently I spent a bit of quiet time working on a small painting, having a rummage I came across some lovely textured paper ,something different to use for a change.