When  there are groups of figures in a painting that are close together, it is important that limbs appear to belong to the correct person. There are a few arms reaching over the stoves but not all the complete figures are visible. Also I want the faces of all the figures to be focussed on their tasks, save one who will reach out to the viewer with a wave!

A second figure has been added to the foreground. A rather tall, bearded young male leaning on to the end of the bench.

I have had a couple of days hiatus from my art work but have spent some time today adding some utensils to the bench top. I am not completely happy with the elliptical perspective but will make slight adjustments when I paint. If I over sketch at this stage, the canvas becomes a bit grubby with the graphite.

I have adder her hand resting on her knuckles on the bench top. I may need to make slight adjustments when I paint. I have also started to add some of the utensils, which will be scattered on bench tops throughout the painting. It will be the shadows that give things form but I do not draw them in before I paint.

I shall continue with my feminine consumer series but felt that I needed change so I have also begun to add the figures to my next oil painting based on the idea of a cooking school. The pencil work is quite faint because I don't want the graphite to affect the paint. To give an idea of scale, the painting is approximately 90cm by 101cm. The hands in any figure painting provide the greatest challenge for me. The most common fault that artists make is to make them too small. A single hand can almost cover a face! Of course when fingers are bent in different directions it can appear smaller.

I have to say that i am a little disappointed in the shoe print. There are a couple of lines taken out that shouldn't have been, the ink isn't evenly distributed and the are a couple of over-cuts. That being said, I have to remember that I don't possess a lino press, so the print was done using hand pressure with a roller and the tools I use need to be upgraded. The major over cuts can be filled and the ink distribution problem can be addressed, but the missing lines will have to stay missing. I must add though, that I feel that one of the attractions of a hand done lino print is its propensity to imperfections. I may complete another block of the same drawing at a later time but, in the meantime I will continue my drawing in preparation for a painting of handbags and my oil painting based on a cooking school which has been in hiatus.

The shoes are taking shape on the lino block and the textures covering them. The background will be quite plain in contrast to the shoe textures. There is still some more to remove but the blue areas will be the printed image. Not forgetting that the image will be reversed. Even though I have an image in my mind I am never sure with a print how it will look. That is the charm - the unexpected.

I have spent my 'art' time today cutting into the lino with the shoe theme. It is not interesting enough to include today so I have added the result of a lino cut demonstration I did when I was teaching. It is based on the croton plant.

It will take me some time until I am happy with a composition for a painting of handbags so I will continue sketching until I am. In between this I have decided to do a lino print based on a shoe sketch I posted a while ago. The outlines on the lino are a little difficult to see but they should become apparent as I remove some of the surface.

The first quick sketch to get me used to the form of the subject for my next painting. There are many, many forms colours and materials of handbags so I will need to complete a few of these I think.

I have not blogged for the last two days and it may be a while before I am able to post any work, as I am still doing preparations for my next piece. I have the intention to work with handbags or make-up but have not yet found a display that I like. Some establishments are not easy to facilitate, where the display is accessible and , not everywhere is as accepting of males rummaging through trying to find interesting shapes to draw/photograph without buying!

The painting is finished! I am happy with the result at this time, though after I have finished a painting, and have spent some time looking at it, there are always small things that I would change given the opportunity. Slight changes in tone or colour, minor compositional adjustments etc. But, for now, I am happy. My next project will be a few days in genesis even though I have had it rolling in my mind for a while. I will continue with consumerism aimed at the feminine gender (handbags or make-up etc.).

I am getting close to the end with this painting and I have to be careful that I don't rush the finishing touches. Whilst I invest a lot of myself in my work over a period of time, I long to see the finished product to see if it lives up to the imagined

image that I was trying to achieve

The background colour to the last show has been added. The 'paste' stone jewels will need to 'shine' a little to make the shoe come 'alive'. It will be the contrast around the stones that will give them a dimension. Whilst the pink thong shoe is the same colour as the one on the bottom of the painting it appears slightly different taking into account that the light on the top would be lighter.

The rear of the shoe in helps it to make more sense. Some of the background here is semi abstracted with some suggestions of shoe shapes as I don't want the background to draw attention on this part of the painting.

The image is a little confusing as the silver sho

e is on top of the pink one but, once the heel of the silver shoe is completed it will make more sense.

This silver sandal has a rich metallic pink thong under and a matching pale pink thong next to it. I shall try to reflect some of this colour in the shoe.

A familiar thong sandal but a different colour.

This shoe is a background shoe but it is important as a link between the foreground facing shoes and the small shoes in the distant background.

Contrast on the sandal added and a little more of the background which gives the dimension to the setting. It may not be obvious, but I have included the suggestion of a woman's torso in the background which may or may not be obvious to the viewer. This doesn't matter, as the subject is the shoes as a collective. The next shoe in the upper background has delicate colouring that resembles marbling.

Just a few shadows added and the form is beginning to become apparent. The surface of the white straps will still need some subtle shadows to made them feel more dimensional.

The silver shoe is complete and the white sandal underway. The white of the sandal will achieve form once all other aspects around it are complete. To do this requires the addition of subtle shadows. It is important not to make the shadows too dark at first. It is much easier to darken than to lighten shadows. In fact, it is almost impossible to lighten a shadow enough that has been applied too darkly in the first instance.