2021 in Paintings

At the end of each year, I like to look back on my year in the studio and reminisce on what I have achieved - and plan for the year ahead. At the start of 2021, I had a couple of small commissions planned, but, thanks in part to Covid, most of my diary was pretty empty. I wondered what I would paint...

I need not have worried. On the 9th of January, I received an email from a couple who had just bought a 4-bedroom house out here in the Algarve. They loved my art, and could I paint some original pieces for them and their new home?

And so began nine months of planning and painting for them, resulting in a total of seven new large paintings. All of them were great fun to paint, and I am delighted to share them all with you here...

First up was a scene from their favourite golf course, which was swiftly followed by a painting of their new home. They wanted to take that one back to the UK to remind them of their Algarve villa ...

Next up were four equal-sized paintings to fit in their new bedrooms. These all had an Algarve theme, showing four local scenes:

This one was fun to personalise as they wanted their four grandchildren represented in the painting...

Last up was the biggest painting of them all - a whopping 2-metre wide triptych, to take pride of place in their lounge. This is their view of a stunning local view for them to enjoy:

The clients were delighted with all their paintings and sent me photos of every single one as soon as they hung them on the wall. A lovely gesture - I always like to see where my 'babies' end up!

"Thanks again for the paintings, they look great and finish off our 'Portugal Home' perfectly!"

Another Client!

I then rounded off the year with another new commission and I returned to my favourite village of Ferragudo to complete another large painting. The clients are coming to collect it tomorrow - I shall miss this one; it has been hung on the wall of our office since the end of October...

Pet Portrait

There was just time to sneak in a quick pet portrait for another client, too. This one was of a beautiful and much-loved pet and a surprise birthday present for the owner, commissioned by friends. The surprise came full circle for me as well when I received a thank-you email from the birthday boy - and I found out I knew who it was! The clients just named him by his first name in their emails to me, so it was lovely to find out who the present was for and discover it was someone I knew living here in the Algarve. It's a small world, isn't it?

Commission Me!

So that was 2021 in paintings! Each one of these larger paintings took me almost a month each to complete, and I was sad to see them leave the studio. If you are interested, paintings like this cost 750 - 1250 euros, depending on the size and complexity. If you would like to commission a similar piece and want to find out more about the process, click the image below to view my brochure:

Newsletter

And don't forget if you want to keep up to date with all my work, together with my husband Dave's photography, books and news from the Algarve, subscribe to our monthly newsletter. It's just had a big revamp with loads of new articles and features and looks like a proper magazine now. Click the image below to subscribe...

The year ahead...

I have some ideas for new work, but just like the start of last year, I have quite a free diary. Maybe this year things will finally open up again and we can start to think about art exhibitions and events again. In which case, I'd better get painting, as I literally have nothing for sale on the walls of my studio at the moment - I have sold absolutely everything I have painted!

And I'd better keep an eye on my inbox too ...