HAMILTON SHAND

Arthur's seat from Leith Links park  - Painting number  13 Daily Painting - Original Oil  Painting  on canvas panel 9x6.5 inches You'll notice by now that I have a love of painting the sky. I wake in the morning and immediately leap to the window to see what type of day faces me. To me the sky can be like looking at a new mountain range every hour.  My  fascination  started as a child when I would lie in the grass absorbed in finding creatures in the clouds. I studied all the  different cloud formations and still like to spent time cloud watching.   .

Stormy Sky  - Painting number  12 Daily Painting - Original Oil  Painting  on canvas panel 9x6.5 inches It has been dull and cloudy all day today.  Then just before the sun set the clouds cleared a little to let the blue though. I just had to capture it. .

Strawberries  - Painting number  11 Daily Painting - Original Oil  Painting  on canvas panel 9x6.5 inches .

Spring Daffodils  - Painting number  10 Here's the work in progress Daily Painting - Original Oil  Painting  on triple primed handmade paper 11x7.5 inches .

Pepper Slice - Painting number 9 Daily Painting - Original Oil  Painting  on Oil Paper 10x7 inches Don't have my usual grey primer today and found it difficult to get the shading in the pepper to my liking. I must be used to painting over the top of a  monochrome  underpainting, I just found it really unpleasant to paint directly onto the white background.  I think I am going to have to go to the shops and buy more black primer to mix with the white. I feel reasonable contentment with the end painting....but it took me all night! I have to find a way to paint quicker. If it takes me 8 hours to paint something this tiny imagine how long it's going to take to complete my large paintings. It's now the weekend! Saturday I get to apply all the techniques I've learned this week with my daily painting to The Delphic Sibyl and I'm quite excited. .

Onions and Jar - Painting number 8 Daily Painting - Original Oil Paining on Oil Paper 10x7 inches. SOLD. We all sometimes find it difficult to make sure we eat the correct vitamins, minerals, fibre, 5 a day, well....become a daily painter!  I have started to buy food based on its aesthetic appeal. It's a strange diet, only eating things which look good enough to paint. But, you might have to be imaginative on this diet, when you find you have to make a meal out of apples, mushrooms and onions. Hmmmmm...If I paint a red pepper tomorrow then I've painted Mushroom Chutney so far.

Bread and Mushroom - Painting number 7 Here's the work in progress Here's my pallet Daily Painting - Original Oil Paining on Oil Paper 10x7 inches I thought I would let you see my work in progress for this painting, as I found it really funny that the bread looked more like a kipper till close to the end.  As I have never painted bread before, you can imagine I was a little worried by this. I was thinking about fibbing and changing the title of the painting to 'Kipper and Mushroom' but all turned out well in the end.  Except... it put the idea in my head that I want to buy a big whole fish and paint it, horrible jelly eyes and all. It normally takes me about 5 hours to complete a painting. I do step back and look at them from a distance, hand on chin, pulling funny frowned faces for most of this time though. Would I be able to paint a whole fish, with all that detail, before it stunk the entire house out? You know...it doesn't matter...I will do it one day.

Edinburgh in Spring - Painting number 6 Daily Painting - Original Oil Paining on Oil Paper 10x7 inches This one is more an oil sketch than a painting as I'm not well at all today. Just painted the view from my window, did the best I could considering. I might go back to it and give it a finishing touch sometime in the future. When I went to India in June last year, I caught a tummy bug. I thought the stories you hear of 'Delhi belly' were a bit of a myth, or that people just didn't take good care. Turns out getting a bad tummy is just down to the luck of the draw when in Delhi, and I'm lucky. My problem is...I never recovered from the tummy bug. I call it a tummy bug but it was really a very bad infection and I was incredibly ill, but I don't like to inflate it's ego. Now I've got a tummy disorder which I'm starting to feel is permanent. At the moment I am on five different tablets. Just went to the doctors today and they have added a s

Teapot for One - Painting number 5 Daily Painting - Original Oil  Painting  on Oil Paper 10x7 inches .

Sweet Peas - Painting number 4 Daily Painting - Original Oil  Painting  on Oil Paper 10x7 inches .

                                                             Two Apples - Painting number 3                                                         Daily Painting - Original Oil  Painting  on triple primed handmade paper 11x7.5 inches It's quite difficult to take snaps of oil paintings when they are still wet as they reflect any light that hits them. Even after a week of drying you'll find that the depth of colour of an oil still can't truly be captured by photography. I've taken two photos of this painting, one taken early this afternoon and one taken at sunset to show you how different light impacts oils. The background fabric I am using for my Still Life is double layered. Light blue silk covered with dark blue semi transparent silk. The light shines through the dark which makes interesting folds. I loved using the chunky handmade paper for this one as it really added to the texture of the apple's skin, but these apples were difficult to paint as I came clo

                                                           Two Lemons - Painting number 1                                                           Two Lemons - Painting number 2                                           Starter Sketch of Two Lemons - Painting number 2 Daily Painting - Original Oil  Painting  on Oil Paper 10x7 inches This is my very first day of daily painting!   OK, I g ot a bit keen stayed up too late and did two paintings. I am currently studying the techniques of the Master painters and needed a way to practice techniques before applying them to my big pieces, h ence, daily painting studies.  I also really need the discipline. Life can be hectic and it's not easy to force yourself to paint every single day.  Sometimes you just want to put your feet up and numb yourself with television. I am going to think of daily painting like walking a dog.  If you have a dog you have to walk it, come rain or shine, no matter how you feel.  That dog needs walking.