The Oak by Bill Hone

This is quite an ambitious painting. I have often sat in my local people watching and thought of all the great painting opportunities around me, not to mention the backlit br. Did you do this from a photo or memory, I can't imagine building up the confidence to sit in the pub with my sketch pad, besides I'd be sozzled before i got half way through the picture!!!!

Hi Louise. By "ambitious" you mean that I haven't quite achieved the end result that I was hoping for and I agree. This was a difficult painting to execute, partly because I didn't plan it out from the start, and kept adding to it bit by bit and also because it's really too small. The drinkers are regulars in my local and I know them all, and have sketched them all several times, so although I used a couple of photographs to help me, this exact scene has never existed in real life. As for sitting in the pub with a sketch pad, - I never go to the pub without mine. I've been drawing people in pubs for a long time but only decided to take up painting last summer, so I'm still trying to figure things out and learing by my mistakes.

Hi Bill, it seems to be the arms reaching onto the bar that you had a problem with here and he bar itself, I mean the angle of it, the faces are really good, keep going xx

Thanks Ros, Yes, I struggled with the perspective and with arms and hands. I'll keep trying. Thanks for the encouragement.