I am doing a 30 day sketchathon in aid of LGBT+ people caught up in the Ukraine war. I will set up a gallery here shortly but for now if you would like to donate and see the sketches go to
https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/bev-jones-sketchathon
The person making the biggest donation each day gets the sketch.
Every now and then I take on commissions for paintings. Most of those I accept are for scenes in the Croydon area but sometimes I paint places in Greater London or Surrey.
I like to include people in my paintings like this one where the couple wanted a painting of themselves walking their dog. It was great fun to work on and I’m glad to say they really liked it too, It’s called Walking Mr Pugs.
Here are some other commissioned images
Lots of rain paintings lately.
As part of the 30th birthday celebrations for the wonderful charity ‘Studio Upstairs‘ I have donated one of may paintings for a raffle this October. Tickets are £5 and the lucky winner will walk away with an original painting.
The painting’ Rain Dance’ is of shoppers running between the ‘Central’ and ‘Whitgift’ shopping centers in Croydon during a summer rain storm. The draw will take place on the 28th October and tickets can be purchased online from the Studio Upstairs Gallery Page.
Studio Upstairs provides access to great art materials, studio space and support for people with mental or emotional support needs. They have studios Bristol and London including one in central Croydon.
I love painting rain and I love painting markets so perhaps it was inevitable that when I found myself delivering paintings to the Menier Gallery one wet Monday that I would wind up around the corner at Borough Market taking references for a painting.
I love the colours, the business and the close interactions between people that you get at all markets but each one also has it’s own character. Being at London Bridge in the heart of the busiest part of central London has definitely shaped Borough and you will never here the common market refrain of ‘Pound a Bowl’ at Borough! Tourists enjoying the look of the beautifully laid out stalls and well heeled Londoners with specialist dinner parties to throw are much more the order of the day.
I wanted a light hatred holiday mood for the painting with lots of colour and light despite the heavy rain which I depicted by laying down small streaks of bright colours. This worked in an almost pointillist way allowing for optical mixing and keeping the image bright and providing a slightly blurred effect for the background. It was also great fun to paint.
Cranes have become a bit of a fixture in central Croydon over the last couple of years. I rather like them there with their slow movements and sparkling lights which form halo’s when it rains. On this particular occasion they put me in mind of ‘Starry Night’ by van Gough which has always been one of my favorite paintings. It’s now on show with four more of my paintings at the Bankside Gallery in London until 2nd May.