egg tempera on panel, 21 x 25 cm, July 2026
Last weekend I was at a Brocante in Bildeston where I met a vendor with about twenty five poodles. Even though Patrick is encouraging a strictly one in one out policy for my objects, he knows I have been looking for poodles, so turned a blind eye when I purchased five!
Fast forward to this past week when I held another two workshops dedicated to ‘hooking’ people on egg tempera. THEY WERE GREAT! In my final workshop ,I met a fellow poodle lover, – a poodle owner, actually, and when it got time to plan her painting, I showed her my most recent poodles, she trawled through the garden and composed a set up similar to this.
That was Wednesday, and I have been painting since then. I should have resumed the painting I had started before the workshops, with the now rotten strawberries and wilted flowers, but it isn’t often I can ride on the coat tails of someone else’s composition to make a painting that means something to me.
At the end of day one of painting I thought I’d do a little research. I learned the Alchemilla – also called Lady’s Mantle – has a historical association with alchemy. I had been telling my egg tempera artists about how I love the alchemy of the process. The leaves of the plant create little cups that hold water droplets and these drops were thought to be the purest water, the sort to turn base metals to gold.
Lately I have been watching a singular greenfinch come to our bird bath, unsurprisingly this omen of good luck, prosperity and joy has made it into the painting
As for poodles, you know how I feel about them.
egg tempera on panel, 21 x 25 cm, July 2026
Last weekend I was at a Brocante in Bildeston where I met a vendor with about twenty five poodles. Even though Patrick is encouraging a strictly one in one out policy for my objects, he knows I have been looking for poodles, so turned a blind eye when I purchased five!
Fast forward to this past week when I held another two workshops dedicated to ‘hooking’ people on egg tempera. THEY WERE GREAT! In my final workshop ,I met a fellow poodle lover, – a poodle owner, actually, and when it got time to plan her painting, I showed her my most recent poodles, she trawled through the garden and composed a set up similar to this.
That was Wednesday, and I have been painting since then. I should have resumed the painting I had started before the workshops, with the now rotten strawberries and wilted flowers, but it isn’t often I can ride on the coat tails of someone else’s composition to make a painting that means something to me.
At the end of day one of painting I thought I’d do a little research. I learned the Alchemilla – also called Lady’s Mantle – has a historical association with alchemy. I had been telling my egg tempera artists about how I love the alchemy of the process. The leaves of the plant create little cups that hold water droplets and these drops were thought to be the purest water, the sort to turn base metals to gold.
Lately I have been watching a singular greenfinch come to our bird bath, unsurprisingly this omen of good luck, prosperity and joy has made it into the painting
As for poodles, you know how I feel about them.
