Black Pearl Driftwood Pirate Ship at New Brighton Here's my latest oil painting, which is of the Black Pearl, a for-fun-only pirate ship made from driftwood by volunteers.  The ship rests on New Brighton beach, close to the promenade leading from the town centre to Vale Park.  The rigging is formed from assorted lengths of rope, while the sails are really just old rags lashed into position with string. I recently made a watercolour sketch of this ship, and have visited it a couple of times recently too. If you're interested in seeing how this painting was done, watch the YouTube video below, then please subscribe to my channel.

The weekend of 10 th and 11 th of June saw me visiting art exhibition after art exhibition, as I saw as much as I was able of the Wirral Open Studio Tour.   This annual event encourages local artists and crafts-workers to put their work on display by inviting the public into their homes and studios, which ranged from ‘proper’ studios and commercial galleries to converted garden sheds and temporary displays set up on kitchen tables.   Several community centres plus the Williamson Art Gallery also play host to group exhibitions.     A free booklet lists all participants and has handy maps to aid intrepid explorers.   There is no fee to visit any of these exhibitions, and while the exhibitors pay a modest fee to take part and be included in the event’s publicity, they are also able to sell work directly to the public. I had a fabulous time seeing some great new art, saying hi to some old friends and meeting a few creators who I’d previously only known through social med

I thought I'd show off this amazing spider plant. I bought it about four years ago as a tiny thing with only a few spindly leaves, for the grand total of 50p.  It obviously likes this sunny spot by a bay window.  The elephant table is African, made from mahogany.  I bought that around 1986/7, from a vintage furniture store on Aigburth Road not long after I moved into my little flat near to Lark Lane, which is just off Aigburth Road.  The elephants used to have tiny tusks but my cat Rhiannon kept chewing them, and as they were already loose I removed them in case they got stuck in her throat and caused injury. Here's the long-awaited, new trailer for the Artisan-Sorcerer Series, released today. I hope you like the music, which I think suits the series well and brings to mind Bethany Rose's story especially.  Her story will continue with the forthcoming 5th novel which I'm currently writing the first draft of.  Will this be the last in the series?  Maybe.  I

Here's a photo of me, standing on the old Roman wall in Chester.  Richard and I were there on Tuesday, pottering round the city's various junk shops and art galleries. We went into Alison Bradley 's artist-owned gallery, and enjoyed a pleasant chat with her partner, who told us Alison uses a combination of sketching and photography as a basis for many of her paintings.  We both really liked her work, and it was interesting to see her treatment of the Liverpool waterfront which I've only recently painted.  Her studies of working sheepdogs and the landscapes of Wirral and north Wales are admirable. Later, we had the real pleasure of listening to Ed Alleyne-Johnson busking on his electric violin in the cathedral square, near the bus station. My old pal Sylvia Taylor has been on TV.  As I don't own a television set I've been unable to watch her work as a support artist in Little Boy Blue , a four-part drama about the real-life murder of a Liverpool boy, bu

Poppi and Emily enjoying an indoor sunbathe. Eagle-eyed visitors to this website will have already noticed the change of title art, which uses my latest oil painting, Liverpool Waterfront .  That's the thing with websites or bloggy places - it's fun to change their look now and again, tweaking this, twiddling with that, casting off something which has perhaps grown a little dusty in favour of something sparkly new. I have been considering starting a Patreon site.  In case you've not heard of Patreon before, its a way of sharing exclusive or advance work with a group of subscribing patrons, who agree to support the creator's work from as little as $1 per month.  The aim is to build a growing number of patrons in order to allow the creator to become self-supporting and thus be free to create more stuff.  I already attract revenue from my books, from merchandise at Spooky Cute Designs and through my articles on Hubpages but with this Patreon page I'd be posting

David; oil on canvas; March 2017. Here's my latest oil painting, scanned directly from the canvas which didn't quite fit on the screen.  The actual painting is about half an inch bigger all round, and the scanner made it look more grainy than it really is, but you can still get a good idea of how it looks. I bought an over-the-shoulder canvas satchel with all kinds of practical pockets designed into it, which seems just the thing for carrying a couple of sketch pads, pens, brushes and a watercolour set around.  Until now I've been limited to what will fit in a jacket pocket.  So I'd been itching to give this satchel its debut run at the weekend, and of course the rain hasn't ceased to pour in torrents. I have been writing, of course, doing a bit more to the fifth novel in the Artisan-Sorcerer Series which will be called Morgan.   Isn't it funny when characters misbehave?  Rowan seems to have independently decided he's to have a more prominent role th

Here's a short video slideshow made from some of the rapid sketches I'd done during 2016.  The location is Birkenhead Park, and all but one of the sketches were done with an ordinary fine-line ink pen.  I used a small pad which could easily be tucked inside a jacket pocket for convenience.  When I describe the sketches as rapid, I mean it.  Many of them were completed within a few seconds.  I hope you all enjoy the video.  You can find my other videos by using the menu above, or at my YouTube site. As I type this, rain is pattering loudly against the window beside me.  It's a sound I've always enjoyed; I find it strangely comforting and restful.  Rain has its own musicality. The rain will also help to water-in the loganberry and thornless blackcurrant canes I planted in large tubs yesterday.  I also potted up two wall baskets with three tiny strawberry plants in each.  As they grow, these will happily dangle down and provide a splash of greenery on a garden wall

To celebrate the annual Read an Ebook Week , for one week only all four novels my Artisan-Sorcerer Series will be on offer at 75% off their usual price.  Make the most of this massive discount while you can. Also on offer will be my other ebooks, at between 50% and 75% discount for one week only. Click this link to get your copies! Remember to use the discount coupon on each individual book page.

. Presenting 'Art Gallery #3', which features my oil and watercolour paintings from 2016, plus a couple of drawings.  Not exactly a prolific output but in my defence it had been a busy time, what with finishing my fourth novel, Fabian , and completing my second NVQ Level 3 course.  This video doesn't include my sketches done in Birkenhead Park - they'll keep for a separate video which will appear eventually. I hope you enjoy looking at the video.  If you like any of the paintings, you can purchase them via my online store, Spooky Cute Design s.  They come as quality prints, (framed or unframed), on t-shirts for men and women, greetings cards and a wide variety of items.  Payment is secure with PayPal, and international shipping is available.  Browse the store for further details. Anyway, guess whose birthday it was in February 17th!  Richard gave me two wonderful art books:  Artists Painting Techniques, edited by Bob Bridle and others; and Van Gogh:  The Complet