Oink!

Painted this Capitalist Pig for a birthday card for a friend of socialist leanings - well, I say leanings ... if he leaned any further he'd be out of the window.   One Stephen Edward Moorcroft, to be precise, who has adopted C. Pig for his Facebook homepage.  Or is it Steven .... could well be...  

Am I getting old and forgetful?  Well - yes, obviously.

Capitalist Pig is an oil painting on a cigar-box lid - I'm running out of cigar boxes, so this would be just a splendid opportunity for all my many admirers (hallo....?  Are you there.....?)  to send me more boxes; with cigars in them, naturally.  Big 'uns, I like .... All right, I appreciate you may not run to Havanas, but the Nicaraguans do a very satisfactory range.  Don't stint.  No sense in spoiling the ship for a ha'port of tar, eh?

Wood - at least at this size, at which warping isn't much of a problem - is a very satisfactory surface for oil paint, once it's primed and sealed of course.  It takes the paint well and allows detailed drawing, if you want it: canvas, at least the cotton duck variety which most of us use, isn't so forgiving or accommodating.  I think I'd use wood all the time, if I could get a reliable supply - must investigate.

loose watercolors The Wesson way

Great video demonstration by Alan Owen, one of my favourite watercolourists who deserves a wider audience even though he's conquered YouTube, which is more than I've done!

Mick Saunders

Rest in peace Mick, also known to many of us as Bloodaxe (and well-named!), a talented pastellist and oil painter, a fellow devotee of lead white oil paint, and a watercolourist  until a stroke robbed him of manual dexterity.

He'll be much missed on Painters Online - deepest sympathy from all of us to Marilyn Saunders and family.