Spitfire

Yesterday I thought I might do a watercolour but in the end I decided to do something different for a change. I have had an image of a spitfire in my head for ages so it was a good opportunity to give it a go. 

I had quite a number of references for a picture of a spitfire and I have painted them before. It is not just a case of having a photo and copying it. It is a matter of composing a picture using whatever references you have, photos, videos, drawings and technical information to get the picture you want. It took a good deal of the day to get the picture right and do the outline drawing. I decided to do the background in one sitting and leave the plane until today. So there is yesterdays work.

I remember when I was in university I had time to kill (plenty of it to be honest) so I painted some large animal works in the jungle to donate to a school. These included an elephant and tiger. One of the students came over and said he thought you should only paint what you have seen and asked when I had been in the jungle. Unless you include several of the rougher areas of my wanderings as a youth I have never been in the jungle. I confessed I never had. He walked away satisfied having made his point.

I suppose it was a point of view and it always better to know your subject. I went around to his studio later and noted he was in the middle of painting the Maddona and Child. I looked at him and raised my eyebrows he went a lovely hue of cadmium red and I left him to it.

Last night Alex made a lovely dish of trout fillet with vegetables and a tasty topping. At the end having polished off the lot I complimented her on the topping. She looked at me sternly and said," That topping was out of a jar."

I clearly chose the wrong part of the dish to compliment her.