This way out. by Avril Soldani

I love how you find beauty in these battered old doors and rusty locks Avril and you paint them incredibly well. Excellent colours and composition too!

Great detail as always Avril. Love that padlock and the rust drips from the bolt. Colours fantastic and I like the composition.

I like the red/white and blue composition here Avril.

You have a great knack of portraying corrosion Avril.......brilliant! Did you treat yourself to a bottle of the dark stuff?

Thanks you Christine, Carole, Louise and Fiona for your kind comments. Always appriciated. And yes Fiona, we did treat ourselves to some of the dark stuff! To be savoured like Brandy!

Very good work Avril! like how you've captured the rust on the hinge and the padlock.

You have done it again Avril, super painting to celebrate old and rusty! I love the blue you use and that corner of a red sign complements the colours and the composition. Chapeau!!

Where on earth do you keep finding these great subjects? Not that I could match you expertise in painting them.

That padlock is so realistic Avril, very brassy :) Another great painting turning objects of rust and decay into things of beauty.

It's all been said. There is a distinctness which does not come outside the realms of being a painting. Goodness, does make any sense at all????

Such encouraging comments which I really appreciate; thank you Mark, Satu, Val, Michael and Gudrun.

Hi Avril, never tire of our work. Missed your last one. Both are superb as always. Have recently taken up with the UK coloured pencil society, last years winner of their international exhibition and "Best in Show":was Lesley Sharman UKCPS "Blue Door" have a look, think you will enjoy.

Many thanks Helen and Peter. I've just had a look at L.Sharman's blue door ; it's quite superb! Needs even more patience than watercolour! How did you learn Peter?

Really great painting.

I like this.

Super works as always!

I think "realism" is an irrelevance in this context. Just admire the composition in abstract terms and enjoy the subtle vertical divisions - both their proportions and the way the indigo(?) decomposes to cobalt/cerulean and grey before a bloody great red chevron cleverly situated around the Tropic of Cancer slows us, stops us from tipping off the page and sends us back whence we came. The padlock may yet function, but will the hinges of the door it's protecting? The arrow invites us to try, but I'm not so sure...

Well Kim, that's quite some critique !!! Thanks for putting all that into words and for giving me a good laugh too. My blues are mainly cobalt plus Delft blue (Schminke) to darken or Manganese (transparent) to lighten. The arrow is inviting us into the distillery........Long John would have been in his element.

Beautiful in its depiction of textures and light, Avril! I love the contrast of the shiny lock against the rusting latch.