All Change!

Excited and nervous but here goes my new blog and website! I'm sure that there may be a few teething problems but these will get ironed out.

I would really welcome some feedback Thanks X

The blog is at

https://nicholaselliott.blog/2019/04/12/busy-busy/

Promise of Spring

Promise of Spring

10.5" x 7.5"

Oil on Panel

Framed

£210

Click Here to Purchase

There are times when I am working that a painting takes on a life of its own - This painting being a case in point. It began as a study for a much larger and wider landscape shaped piece with daffodils running across the picture plane. I had a very clear idea of what I wanted to do in the bigger composition. However I thought it prudent to do a study first to explore how I would overcome any difficulties prior to committing to the final painting.

As this portion of the larger composition involved 5 different textures; Glass, Enamel, pottery, flowers and fruit and the challenging stripes on the Cornishware I felt that it was the trickiest section and accordingly best for the study.

I fiddled a fair bit (as I do) with the composition and drafted it out returning the next day to paint it. I knew what colours I was going to use on my palette and was reasonably confident that these would maintain harmony across the yellows blues and orange. From there on in it was one of those days where a painter gets sort of lost in their work. You suddenly realise that the music you have been listening to finished some while ago, you have gone way past your break for a cuppa and the study has turned into a painting.

January Jonquilles

January Jonquilles

8" x  8"

Oil on Panel

Framed

£150

Click Here to Purchase

I do like to have daffodils around the house at this time of year. They hold a promise of Spring which right now seems a long way off. These were bought but even the bulbs I planted in the garden a few weeks ago have just begun to break the surface of the soil. Soon some of the fields locally, where commercial growers have planted out acres of bulbs, will be bursting with green daffodil shoots as the days begin to lengthen once again.

I am also enjoying working on this bigger format. Although it means that I might not quite get to finish the piece in one day the bigger scale affords me more options with composition. 

  

The Route Back

'The Route Back'

8"x 8"

Oil on Linen Panel

I count myself very lucky to live close to areas of natural habitat. Here in North Norfolk we have large stretches of unspoilt coast and marshes and pockets of non agricultural countryside, rivers and woods. At times of personal crises, stress and malady spending time in nature has sustained me and seem me through. My belief (and experience) is that the closer we are to the rhythm of nature the healthier we are in mind body and soul. Its my route back. Nowadays my routine is to steal a march on the day and rise early to walk to the dogs in the countryside whatever the weather - I am rarely disappointed that I did. Here is a short video taken at dawn this morning, what a way to start the day . . . . Lucky Old Me.

And then, I have nature and art and poetry, and if that is not enough, what is enough?

Vincent van Gogh

On the Mend

On the Mend

8"x 6"

Oil on Canvas Panel

These African Daisies or Germini Gerbera are spreading some visual warmth in the studio. I am enjoying working on compositions with the strong oranges, off whites and greens. Warmth is just what we need right now here in North Norfolk as the chilly wind comes in off the north sea. However the days are beginning to get a little longer and I keep reminding myself that its only ten weeks until the clocks go forward . . . thinking about spring.

Clem Cornish Stack

Clem Cornish Stack

7"x 5"

Oil on Panel

SOLD

I simply cant resist painting these cornishware mugs - It is such fun . . . 

Latte and Espresso

Latte and Espresso

8" x 8"

 Oil on Linen

SOLD

Composition can be frustrating or it can be fun. It can be painlessly brief or painfully laboured and drawn out. In stark contrast to my previous painting on here "Orange Bowl" this piece is a composition that I fussed over and fiddled with for an age. A huge time commitment that when you think you have it just right you don't want to jog it or knock it so that the flowers fall out of place. I've done that a few times in the past . . . exercising the extremes of my vocabulary.

Back in the saddle . . . again

Orange Bowl

7" x  5"

Oil on Linen

Framed

£105

Click Here to Purchase

I am getting back into a routine following my operation last month as the aches pains and puffiness all gradually subside. I am so very grateful for this reconstructive surgery. Its all a bit surreal at the moment - I feel like a new person and have rediscovered some of my lost confidence. This is a new beginning falling in timely fashion to coincide with a new year. Thank you for your support messages and cards, they mean a lot to me.

Sometimes subjects and ideas for a painting will present themselves from everyday life and work equally well, if not better, than compositions that I might spend hours fussing and fiddling over. An example of this is a glass bowl of oranges that sat on a blue place mat on my coffee table which caught my eye as I went back and forth past it on the way to the studio. I have tried to capture it with the same immediacy that struck me when I first caught it in the periphery of my vision.

Best Christmas Present Ever

Reconstruction

8"x 8"

Oil on Linen Panel

Framed

SOLD

Painting the Cornishware recently has been quite a challenge. Ellipses are tricky at the best of times so having several to deal with on the same object is very demanding.

All those blue and white stripes are busy and right now that doesn't suite my mood - I am quiet and reflective and have been spending as much time on creating compositions as I have painting - hence the effort above.

I am quiet and reflective because I am preparing for reconstructive surgery to my face. A clever surgeon is hoping to correct the facial palsy that I was left with when I lost the left hand side of my jaw and cheek to cancer.

At a time when appearance seems to count for more than substance I am ashamed to say that I have found it difficult to cope with facial disfigurement. It has been so easy to allow my confidence, self worth and esteem to get eroded away. It has been much easier to hide away and lose myself in my work than to face the outside world . . . and then when a vestibular disorder (vertigo and dizziness) threatened my ability to even paint I began to really struggle - there seemed to be so little left.

However thanks to having two brilliant dogs I have managed to retain my sanity and thanks to an NHS Vestibular Rehabilitation Programme I am overcoming my vertigo and dizziness and can once again work most days.

. . . And then a couple of weeks ago I got the go ahead for the reconstructive surgery operation and despite a little apprehension I am so delighted - it really is the best Christmas present I could have wished for and I can only hope that your presents this year are as good as mine.

Happy Christmas

Nx

Cornish Stack and Apple

Cornish Stack and Apple

7"x 5"

Oil on Panel

Framed

£105

Click Here to Purchase

Ready Egg

Ready Egg

6" x  6"

Oil on Panel

Framed

£110

Click Here to Purchase

Another limited palette here. This time a warmer red in cadmium red light along with cadmium yellow light, ceruleum blue and white.