I was delighted to discover I’ve had the maximum of four paintings accepted into this years Royal Institute of Oil Painter’s annual exhibition. The standards are high and the selection panel was made up of ROI members whom I greatly admire so that made it even more satisfying! This will be my 6th consecutive year in the ROI show and it opens on December 6th at the presitgious Mall Galleries in central London. I was also pleased to hear that the 3 other members of the Plein Air Brotherhood who submitted work also got accepted. Well done to Roy Connelly, John Dobbs and Adebanji Alade. Congratulations to my friend Tim King who also got work accepted.

The current ING Discerning Eye show at the Mall Galleries is well worth a visit. I really enjoyed the range of work with a mix of contemporary and more traditional approaches and subject matter. Round the corner at the National Gallery the queues for the Da Vinci show were unbelievable….snaking and doubling up around the building’s perimeter! I’ll have to try and work out when might be the quietest time to go and see that one. The Degas show at the Royal Academy is also on my ‘must see’ list.

The virus that gave me vertigo and hearing problems has come back again and I’ve been out of easel action for a while as a result. I hope to have some pictures to post once things settle down and I can get a bit of painting done, not least to try and get back into the groove before heading out to Venice for several days painting with friends in a few weeks time. Very excited about that :o)