I've not had time today to work on my latest painting. The day seems to have flown by and somehow been spent doing household chores unfortunately! But a tidy house is a tidy mind in my book and now I feel refreshed enough to spend some time working on ideas for my latest newsletter and a little bit of online promotion for my work.

They weren't joking when they said that 70% of the work in this business is the marketing and promotion. I would love to spend my days just painting but I know that this is my business and the paintings alone won't sell themselves - unless that is, I put them in front of the people who want to buy them! But aside from this, I do actually enjoy the business side of things and it's reassuring to know that sometimes when I don't feel I want to pick up a brush I can log on to my website or respond to correspondence I've received.

I am, however, in the mood to paint today so it's frustrating that I've had to spend time tidying and cleaning! But it's the evening now and this is all done so I'm hoping to do some more work to my new painting (above)tonight. I don't have a name for it yet but it's a sky/seascape from the Maldives, with lots of detail in the sky.

You can see the outline of the sky and clouds but this is the very first layer in acrylic. I will tonight begin to paint much more detail in, probably using oil paint as I love the slow-drying time, which means I can come back and manipulate it tomorrow! I would normally start on the sea at the same time but I think I'm going to finish the sky on this occasion. It's a huge 40" x 40" deep gallery box canvas and I just love the size of this. It's so much more refreshing to paint on such a large scale. I do have another painting I'm working on at the moment, which is only 24" x 30", but I'll save details of that for a later date!

Don't forget to watch this space for details of my upcoming newsletter! And if you would like to subscribe to my mailing list, which will feature exclusive invitations to private events, news of upcoming exhibitions and future discounts and special offers, please visit my website http://www.gemmaclimpson.co.uk. You can opt to subscribe to my mailing list on my contact page.

Do you want to escape?

For those of you who don't already know me, I am an artist from Essex in England and I specialise in painting tropical seascape scenes from destinations such as the Maldives, Mauritius and the Caribbean. I like to call my style of work 'Escapism', hence the title of my blog 'Escape to Paradise'.

Above you will see me in one such destination - Antigua - which I visited in January of this year. Every scene I paint I have witnessed and experienced and to it I have lovingly added a part of my emotional attachment to each place I have visited.

My escape to paradise stems from my first visit to the Maldives in 2005. The overwhelming difference in life between what I was experiencing and my life back in England prompted me to re-think my life - even at the young age of 21. The colours, the compositions, the suggestion of solitude - everything that I put into my artwork comes from my first experience in this ecosystem and ultimately, my travels and the emotions I felt when visiting these places.

We all have times when we want to 'escape' everyday life and reach out for our dreams - or just reach a level of relaxation where we feel content with life. This is the point I aim for with my work. Please subscribe to my blog to hear regular (sometimes daily) updates of my escape to paradise, along with my tips for escaping to your paradise, my plans and most importantly my travels!

Below are some images of my latest paintings, which can be found at http://www.gemmaclimpson.co.uk/.

'Maldivian Pearl'
2008
Oil & Acrylic
24" x 24"
© Gemma Climpson

'Secret Getaway'
2008
Oil & Acrylic
24" x 24"
© Gemma Climpson