Four recent paintings of agapanthus, two are in oils and two in acrylics....and to think I'm not really sure about painting flowers. The second painting is in Oriel Cric Gallery until November. Giclee prints are also available of some of them in my shop. #oilpainting #garden #acrylic #painting #studio #Dardy #abergavenny #Llangattock #summer #flowers #bees

Crickhowell Open Studios has just finished for this year. A big thank you to everyone who came to see my studio. I hope you all enjoyed it and you will visit again next year. It was great to meet and talk to people about my work. A very tidy Studio...It will be 12 months before its this neat again, I can't find anything! #oilpainting #painting #print #landscape #BreconBeacons #crickhowellopenstudios

Trees the on side of the mountain track to the quarry on Mynydd Llangatwg. The path is worn deep into the ground and must be very old. The stones walls have fallen at the sides, or maybe these are piles of stone that has fallen from the wagons. Trees are growing along either side now, on top of the stones and must have been there for a very long time. The sun was just burning through the mist. Oil on linen 40x50cm. #oilpainting #tree #winter #painting #seasons #Crickhowell #B

I'm chuffed to bits, my painting 'Twisting Tree' has been longlisted for the Jackson's open painting prize. I'd been looking at some of the excellent work submitted and thought it was a long shot. Over 5,000 entered. Update, it didn't make the shortlist but I'm still pleased that it got noticed. #painting #seasons #Crickhowell #landscape #Llangattock #tree

A recently finished very small oil painting of some Hellebores from the garden and ivy berries from the hedgerow. #oilpainting #garden #painting #gallery #Llangattock #stilllife #seasons #flowers

Yes it's my favourite tree again! When I started out to walk up the hillside it was bright and crisp. By the time I got to the view over the valley it was cold and very windy. A couple of Red Kites were flying into the wind along the edge of the old limestone quarry and the sky was threatening rain. I stayed for about an hour, that was more than enough. The painting was finished in the studio. #oilpainting #winter #BreconBeacons #RedKite #tree #Llangattock #landscape #Crickho

This is a painting I've just finished in the last couple of days. This is only the second oil painting, I've now completed, after returning to the medium after 30-ish years. It is from the first big fall of snow of this winter and is of my favourite tree up over Craig y Cilau. I just wasn't hardy enough to complete this painting on the mountain (wimp!)and my studio has a very nice and efficient log burner. I've painted the same tree several times now in the last few years. No

I'm really pleased to say that my work is part of a fantastic looking exhibition for the New Year at Oriel Cric in Crickhowell. I have 14 paintings on show along with a lot of excellent new work by Tim Rossiter and Louise Collis. The colourful and vibrant exhibition also includes painting by Lee Wright and Rhian Symes among others. The exhibition runs from this week until the 9th of March. You are all warmly invited to 'meet the artists' from 2pm on Saturday 12th of Janua

2018 was a year of painting trees for me. Some have already gone to good homes and some will be on show in the Cric New Year exhibition. And most of my linocuts have been of animals #winter #BreconBeacons #summer #gallery #Lino #exhibition #Llangattock #print #wildlife #Autumn #Crickhowell #birds #painting #seasons #landscape #usk

A summer painting of Agapanthus and Fennel flowers, birds and bees.

Cric gallery in Crickhowell have three of my paintings in their spring exhibition starting today. Two of them framed and ready to go. The article in the 'Art Share Love Wales' magazine #gallery #exhibition #landscape #stilllife #flowers #Crickhowell #seasons #painting

I've just delivered some work to the Riverside Gallery in Ystragynlais. It will be on display for the next two months over the Christmas period. Well worth a visit if you are in the area. #exhibition #painting #print #stilllife #wildlife

When I'm lucky enough to travel to distant places, I usually use my camera to record images. Unfortunately I have got out of the sketchbook habit of recording directly, although I do record ideas and develop compositions into several small books. In Greece recently on the island of Halki, I thought I'd try a different approach. I took paints (acrylic and watercolour) and some very small offcuts of board, about 15x10cm. The rest is pretty simple, find somewhere out of the sun

WILDLIFE IN ART Local Artist to exhibit in major national Wildlife art exhibition. Work by Crickhowell based local artist, Martin Truefitt-Baker has been selected from over 800 submissions to appear alongside paintings by some of Britain’s leading wildlife artists. The exhibition will be on display at Mall Galleries in London between 19th and 29th October. Martin, who used to teach art in a school in Merthyr, told the Focus that he is extremely excited to have a painting and

WHOOOOPDEDOOOOP! Both of my entries have been accepted for the Society of Wildlife Artists Annual Exhibition. The exhibition is in the Mall and runs from the 19th to the 29th October. #print #wildlife #painting #birds #fish #exhibition

I've almost finished a new painting. I'll have to lean it against a wall and come back to it in a few weeks to decide if any changes are needed. It is based on the (happy) morning that I saw my first swallows of this year. It has been a painting I've had 'lined up' for a while with some sketches and photos taken around the start of April. It's of the view across the valley over the Usk towards Crickhowell, with the large pines in the field opposite and the spire of St Edmund'

Craig y Cilau is up on the hillside above Crickhowell and Llangattock. The large limestone cliff curves around Mynydd Llangattock and is a beautiful nature reserve. Surprisingly the rugged rock faces are the result of the industrial quarrying of limestone, an important ingredient in iron-making. There are still the remains of an old horse-drawn tramway and a fairly steep incline (a good sweaty walk on the way up) to bring the limestone down to the canal. The cliff face also h

The Hellebores in the garden have been looking fresh and fine. I've been trying to use them in a composition but it just didn't seem to be working out. When the weather was poor I put some in a vase to bring in and one thing led to another..... I have actually painted some (pinkish) flowers in a vase! Keeping the Easter theme going (Lentern Roses) I painted a duck egg and put everything on some light blue cloth. Finally a few of the heads of Ivy berries from the hedgerow oppo

A year or so ago on a trip to Krakow, Poland I 'stumbled' across the work of an artist called Jacek Malczewski(1854-1929). There were just a few pictures as part of a larger exhibition of items that had been given to the city museum by a collector. I remembered the images, but not the name of the artist (I'm afraid Polish names just will not stay in my head) On a trip to Poznan recently I discovered that the Art Museum there has a more extensive collection of his interesting

After the 'magpie' picture, I have been working on a new painting based on a story from the Mabinogion. It is from The Dream of Rhonabwy, the bit where Owain's Ravens are abused by King Arthurs pages and then 'kick off' big time when a yellow speckled staff/standard is raised. Owain and Arthur carry on playing chess while all this is happening. For more information you'll just have to read it yourself......if you've got a few days spare. Just to keep a record I took a quick j