Flight of fancy........

Blue Chicken in Pumpkin Space Hopper  2008
Acrylic On Canvas 20 x 20"
(c) Copyright Kate Lomax 2008 All Rights Reserved

This painting was inspired by a domestic disaster. Many years ago I bought a frozen chicken from a well known Supermarket, only to find it was covered in blue paint flakes, apparently
from faulty machinery!
For many years after, blue chicken jokes were a mandatory accompaniment
to any chicken dinner! Many years on, the blue chicken joke tellers have
moved on.  I miss them. The blue chicken painting is a memorial
to blue  chicken joke tellers everywhere.

There is something wildly therapeutic about painting a feather. On the one hand you need a delicate touch.  On the other, the stroke must be deliberately firm to create the shape and to layer the feathers, as they lay on a bird's flesh.  So you have to sorta hold the brush at a slight angle, to get the edge firmness and the lighter downy part of the feather with the slightly raised side of the bristles.

Charlie 2006
(c) Copyright Kate Lomax 2006
All Rights Reserved

It takes many years of patient technique development to be able to lay the feathers on systematically and almost automatically.  In a really detailed bird, such as Charlie (left) each feather is individually painted, and Charlie has about twelve layers. It took a while!  

The Rooster in Walk Through Green Lane (below),  has only about four or five layers, since he is smaller and therefore less detailed.

The same technique applied in the more relaxed style in Blue Chicken In Pumpkin Spacehopper featured above. He has quite a few layers.  Yes. I know his head is on back to front, and his crest is the wrong way round. It is part of his topsy turvy charm!

Walk Through Green Lane 2006
Acrylic on Canvas 24 x 18
(c) Copyright Kate Lomax 2006 All Rights Reserved

This painting depicts Green Lane at Hardway before they built a Naval Housing Estate on it!
They have since pulled that estate down, and built another, Priddy's Hard! I was raised in Priory Road, Hardway  and lived close by to my Grandparents in Fieldmore Road, and Aunt and Uncle in The Crossways.
Prior to the birth of my younger brother Bryan, my care was shared in the daytime by my Aunt and Uncle and my Grandparents.  As I child, Green Lane was my shortcut!  Can you imagine today? Gosh! It is so sad that our children have no freedom!
How I loved this walk, often picking Bluebells and Blackberries and stopping occasionally to fuss the horses in the adjoining fields.
This painting has been exhibited several times, and has been featured on the cover of Paint magazine.

Parrots are a joy to paint!  Oh how I love a parrot commission! I just love to look into their eyes and get to know them, their glint, their humour and their funny little moods. That is what I look to capture in any bird painting.  You know, the term 'bird brain' is sadly used as a derogatory comment.  Birds are actually amazingly intelligent, wise and spiritual creatures.  You have to work with nature to have nature work for you!

Any Dream Will Do - 2007
Acrylic On Canvas 80 x 100 cm
(c) Copyright Kate Lomax 2007 All Rights Reserved

 If you can dream it, then it can be.  Look at the bird in the picture  focus on it's head, now turn your head to ten o'clock, and it becomes a mammoth!
A little  demonstration of how we all see things differently!

Some other of my birdy paintings for you to enjoy!

Mac - Acrylic On Canvas - 1998
(c) Copyright Kate Lomax 1998 All Rights Reserved

Mac has stayed with me, simply because I cannot bear to part with him., although I have over the years sold many prints of this painting.  This is 'my' parrot! Mac has a wife and baby depicted in a painting that hangs right next to him.  These paintings were my special treat for myself!

Blue Bird
Watercolour Sketch 2005
(c) Copyright Kate Lomax 2005 All Rights Reserved

Two for Tea
Watercolour Sketch On Paper 1998
(c) Copyright Kate Lomax 1998 All Rights Reserved

Again, I chose to keep this sketch, a very popular print having won the hearts of many as a  Birthday Card.  It is so named, because I painted it in a extended tea break from other work!  It was a joy to just lay down the watercolours and watch them flow into place!

Toucan
Watercolour Sketch On Paper 1995
(c) Copyright Kate Lomax 1995 All Rights Reserved
And I am sure you all know of a  chappie just like this one, - this is one of my sketches  that I do prior to committing my ideas to  oil and canvas.  Inspired by a visit to a bird sanctuary!

Swimmingly smitten............

For Sale

Breakfast Time

Oil On Canvas 24 x 30 cm

(c) Copyright Kate Lomax 2010 All Rights Reserved

Please click here if you would like to bid to own 'Breakfast Time'

I adore depicting water and fishes.  Almost as much as my love of painting feathers. In fact, if I was honest I would say they are both hot contenders for the canvasses in my heart! 

The key issue I guess is that  both forms represent freedom, something I am passionate about.

 My father was a keen fisherman, with a little boat, 'Spindrift', that he would take us out in, so I guess I got my sea legs pretty early on in life, developing a love an respect for the ocean that has stayed with me throughout my life.


  As the daughter and sister of keen fishermen, I  would spend almost every weekend parked with my Mother in a  huddle on Chesil Beach at Weymouth, she with her knitting, me with my books, whiling away the day waiting for the magic twang of the rod! Then would come the excited squeals of the boys as the catch was reeled in! - gosh, how I felt for those fish!

In my heart I would be shooing them away, it was like a game.  If they swam fast enough then they were free to roam the ocean. If they didn't they were destined to become supper.  So fish and their response to food has always been a fascination to me. Fish are very cunning, and will individually approach food cautiously. In a shoal however, mass hysteria takes over and it is every fish for himself, much to the joy and good fortune of the fisherman! 


I have always been lucky enough to live just a stone's throw from the ocean, - 400 yards where I am now, and in my childhood probably about 50 feet - as a consequence I have studied the sea almost daily and like to think that, over the years,  I have gotten to know the moods of the ocean quite well.  

Birds on the other hand ... well that is another story entirely.  My Grandfather kept aviaries of Budgerigars and Canaries.  They sang and sang as I wandered in his beautiful rose garden, which was adjacent to the aviaries. Between the birdsong and the fragrant flowers, I would become soothed, calm and restful.  How I loved this wonderfully nurturing environment.  When I married I too was fortunate enough to have a garden large enough to house not just a pond, but an aviary or two, and bred Budgerigars and Cockatiels.  Eventually teaching them to talk, sing and whistle popular tunes. The neighbours were not impressed at 4 am when the birds would start their tuneful dawn chorus! Thank goodness Goddy was kind enough to put us next door to a fellow bird breeder!  Strength in numbers - particularly when you are pacifying the rest of the neighbourhood!!

So there you have it, two of my greatest painterly loves and how they came to be! 
I am also delighted to share with you some other works that also embrace nature and her kingdom.

The Gateway

2007

Acrylic Ink On Canvas 16 x 16"

(c) Copyright Kate Lomax 2007 All Rights Reserved

This is a gateway that opens on to the delightful little river that runs through Winchester. Painted in

2008, I of course added the Koi who are magical and only appear on days without a D in.

The gateways along this river are reputed to have been used

by smugglers in bygone years when going abroad for the Christmas wine

involved smugglers and pirates, and was a tad more exciting than a booze cruise or jaunt on  Eurostar!

A Mouse in Her House

2006

Acrylic On Canvas 20 x 50 cm

Private Collection

(c) Copyright Kate Lomax 2006 All Rights Reserved

Look at her!  I had a little field mouse that used to visit and curl up in empty plant pots.  Eventually,

she found her way into the the big plastic rubbish chest, and eventually became quite tame, emerging

if I arrived with fresh fruit peelings or peanut butter crackers. She lived there quite happily

for several years, and one day she was gone. I guess she found a proper house - and doesn't she look quite the lady!

The Hunter

2010

Oil On Canvas 24 x 30 cm

(c) Copyright Kate Lomax 2010 All Rights Reserved

This was painted in the early summer of this year, after watching one of the baby frogs in my pond

stalk some old rotting plant debris protruding out of the water.

It was fascinating to watch such a youngster follow his natural instinct to

investigate the potential supper! 

Watching The Tide Roll In

2008/9

Oil On Canvas 16 x 16"

Private Collection - London

(c) Copyright Kate Lomax 2008 All Rights Reserved

Sitting on the beach at Hill Head, I often watch the tide movements, maybe while

reading a book or painting.

The stretch of water known as the Solent, stretches from Southampton to the

West to Portsmouth & Chichester in the East, and is essentially the bit of water between

the Isle Of Wight and the mainland.  The movement of the water is

very erratic, with waves rolling in from the east side of the island

and the western side.  Therefore as you sit and watch, the water laps the beach

from all directions, giving every tide's seascape complete uniqueness.  This is what

I sought to capture on this canvas.

Hmmm.... New to this Bloggy thing.......... bear with me folks

Charlie

2006

Private Collection - Hill Head Fareham

Hmmm, new to this bloggy thing..... seems to me best to gradually upload past works, and then keep up to date with new works as and when.  I am not good with adminny things that wrench me away from my easel, so I am going to figure how to make this an enjoyable experience and fun!  On the upside, I love client contact, and thrive in a social environment when I am not painting, so I shall see this as my interaction page, where you and I meet in an exchange of lovely energy!

 When I am painting, like most of my arty paIs, I am a hardened cave dweller, lost in the depths of my imaginative kingdoms and worlds.

I am so blessed! Today has been such a lovely day.  It kicked off with an email from a recent purchaser telling me how delighted she was with her recent oil painting purchase, delivered today.  The painting is a miniature,  a sunset scene, the location being quite close to her parents house in Devon. I had the good fortune to visit this area earlier this year and was truly smitten!

Last Kiss of The Sun

Woolacoombe Bay Sunset

Oil on Canvas 6 x 4"

Private Collection - Dorset

Art connects people in such a beautiful way!


I am currently sorting out canvasses to release for sale to make way for new work,  and as a result shall be selling some of my 2006 - 2009 works. I shall of course list them here, on ebay and facebook.  For the convenience of my clients, I do accept payment through Pay Pal. Here are a couple of works that are among my personal favourites.

The Pond

2010

Oil On Canvas 50 x 40 "

Finally Coming Home

2010

Oil On Canvas 24 x 24"

                    Afternoon Nap

                    2006

                  Acrylic On Canvas

                Private Collection - Australia