jjhtaylor's photostream

I live in N.Ireland. I worked in the power generation industry for a large part of my life, latterly as a training instructor. I took up painting as a way of occupying myself after taking early retirement. I am a Zen student and spend a lot of time in meditation and at meditation retreats.

I paint in pastels and oils, As can be seen from my paintings, I really like the bright colours of garden scenes, water reflections and effects of light and shade. I paint from my own photos mostly but am not above using reference photos from the wetcanvas website. That gives me a greater variety of options, especially as I am disabled and not able to drive anymore. I don't just copy photos but often crop, add to, or delete parts of them and saturate the colours. I try to avoid too much detail and just suggest it - though I don't always succeed!.

Monet is my favourite oil painter and Jackie Simmonds for pastel.