On the March

I suppose this is an oil study, more than anything else.  It's based on a photograph on Tennyson Down, Freshwater Bay, Isle of Wight, by my younger brother Brian.  An area I know very well, although I'm not on first name terms with the cow.

For those interested in these things, I used only lead whites, no Titanium (which I very rarely do, but it made for a very different painting experience) plus Mars Red, Naples Yellow, Chrome Yellow Hue, Yellow Ochre, Cobalt Blue Hue, French Ultramarine, and a bit of Cobalt Violet.

The last of these colours is extremely expensive, and I wouldn't normally use it - but I have a very old tube, and indeed apart from the white just about all the paint used in this was decades old.  In oil, you can do that - in the tube, the paint rarely deteriorates.

I don't think I've ever painted a cow before - and they're not especially easy.

Determined Cow, oil on board, 8" by 10"

Struck down

This has been a fraught and difficult couple of weeks, and painting has had to take a back seat.  My landlady suffered a stroke and is still in hospital around two weeks later: it's amazing how one loses track of time.

I do have a painting planned, but am not sure how it's going to work out, or even what medium I should be doing it in.  Perhaps the weekend will see a start made.

In the meantime, I at last have an appointment to get my cataract measured, and I hope an operation isn't too far away.  We are approaching our 66th birthday here at the Batcave - I don't suppose I'll get the operation before then, but we can live in hope.

In the meantime, best wishes to Pat, my landlady.