The first painting of my new series.

My new creative work space seems to be working well. I have finished plans for my next series of paintings - which took me off to summer days and happy times (a great place to be when its actually pouring with rain and freezing cold outside!). I have started the first painting of the series. I think it is going to be called "Summer Shops and Chimney Tops". It is a scene of a colourful, bustling street in the height of summer in the holiday village of Elie using a bit of artistic license to show the gorgeous beach and sea behind.

Below is the first few stages - from the initial sketch to about halfway through the painting. I don't normally paint a wash first but I saw it on another artist's blog and it reminded me that my art college tutors used to tell us to do this (although I preferred painting straight onto a white background) so I thought I'd see if I preferred this way of working now. This painting is quite exciting for me as it is the first time I have painted on canvas for about 10 years.....so far I really like it!