Merry Christmas

Watch out for that tree, Santa!

Polar Bear Santa would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas (and so would I)!! If you decide to leave out some biscuits and milk for the big bear, please remember Mrs Claus has put him on a strict diet, so the vittles will have to be digestives (without chocolate) and skimmed milk only. Do not, under any circumstances, serve mince pies or sherry - you have permission to save those for yourself.

Here's the linework on watercolour paper just before I started to paint. See if you can spot any changes I made later on as I painted (there is extra holly).

'Paisley Rabbit and the Treehouse Contest' Continued

My last post on 'Paisley' gave you a sneaky peak at the huge treehouse cross-section I was working on - click here. Thankfully I eventually finished it and I'm going to show you the whole full colour version, including lots of details hitherto unseen on the web!

The Treehouse Cross-Section, watercolour and gouache 53 x 102cm

This took me roughly 30 days to complete and really pushed my studio's capabilities. For example the painting, when stretched on board, didn't fit my easel so I had to work with it propped against the wall. Also most of the time I was stood with my back against the opposite wall trying to take in the whole image as it progressed. You will see in the shots below, it was very easy to get lost in the details of this illustration and forget about how the whole painting should be knitted together with a consistency in colour, tone and level of detail.

A ball pool with individually painted plastic balls. Why, Chris, why!?

A well stocked cellar ready for Christmas festivities.

No treehouse is complete without a cinema

An American diner, because it's the 1950s (and America).

I think we'd all love an entrance hall like this.

Paisley's on personal library, with a secret staircase running through a hollow branch.