Phew. All perspective tweaks are done and background detail is now finished, that was hard work but i'm pleased with the way it all came together in the end, especially the atmospheric effects (which I was going to do last of all but just couldn't resist).

Finally started work on the car, woohoo! The race is almost over, the farm is in sight, and a welcoming fireside awaits.

Work on Barchetta has finally reached the detail phase. With the linework and underpainting finished for the background, I have been rendering up the ground, foliage, and some woodwork in the barn. Next up will be the barn walling / beams, then the old debris within. Working on the maple leaves and yard was a joy, but being in the shadows is not something that I am particularly relishing.

Can't wait to start work on the car itself, which I will paint last before working on atmospheric effects. But I am noticing more and more the perspective on the rear wheel is a little wrong so I will have to bend that out before starting on the car.

The line-work is pretty much complete, i'm pleased with the way the composition sits now. Being such an odd viewpoint the perspective was a bitch to get right and involved a lot of vanishing-point plotting sketches. Would've been a hell of a lot easier to build in 3D I guess, but hey, that's not the way it's done around here dagnabbit. All my line work is done by eye, using vectors so I can upscale easily without losing definition.

My Barchetta is based on the classic Touring Superleggera styling and borrows a little from several of the 25 models that were built, but isn't technically a model that ever existed - I like to think of it as a 'lost' model, which would fit perfectly with the Red Barchetta story.

The next stage is to start the overpainting, i'll probably work up the background in the barn first, most of which will be in shadow so a lot of that detail won't even be visible in the end. Looking forward to putting a lot of time into the bright areas... always nicer to work in the sunlight, working on shadows can get depressing. Must be a psychological thing.

All hands to the paintbrushes me hearties. Yarr.

An apology for the lack of updates recently.

Now Spring is in the air I have decided to offer a 10% discount on all Lamneth prints. Funny what a bit of sunshine can do to the soul! Offer closes May 3rd, discount does not apply to postage and packing.

The first couple of weeks of Macrographs has been intense and has had me busier than i've ever been in my life, no small thanks to the kindness of the Rush online community.

I owe Ed Stenger of Rush is a Band huge gratitude for his help, along with John Patuto of Cygnus-x1.net, who both set me on the road to my first sales... thanks, guys!

In other news, here in the UK Royal Mail have ended strike action for the time being and will be resuming business as usual. Clearing the backlog of undelivered mail is still likely to take them a while though so please be patient with your orders.

It has been my dream to make a living from my freehand work since leaving art college in the '80s, but there was always something else to eat up my time... until now. It wasn't until my job of over a decade was taken away from me earlier this year that I had time in which to nurture the idea of Macrographs, and the dream became a reality.

Now after 9 months of hard preparation, here I am doing it. What I've always dreamed of doing. What's more, providing small colourful pieces of it to people like me; friends of a common interest. It feels terrifying and exhilarating. I hope you enjoy my artwork as much as I enjoy painting it.

Welcome to Macrographs, my sliver of soul.

Rarely do entire images just flash into my head, usually they exit my skull reluctantly via hand and eye, and after that require a little mixing with other ideas to form a whole... but this one literally appeared as a momentary snapshot of bright, vivid colour as I was drifting off to sleep - the quick sketch you see here reproduced almost exactly.

My initial thoughts for this painting were to try and capture speed, but then thought that that would be unfitting as a piece of fine art, more akin to game art than something you might frame and hang on a wall. I liked how the vision seemed to fit the bill by illustrating a quiet space between the lyrics.

To be continued.

Finally, the image is finished to my satisfaction. Tweaking and adjusting for print readiness is complete and it is now good to go.

Reference for granite, heather and rock formations involved many trips over Dartmoor near my hometown, as well as mountain walks in the English Lake District and North Wales.

Sadly, much as I tried to find one within travelling distance, none of these mountains were in the east...