Welcome to my portfolio of sold pieces of work, which will be my last posts to this site for a while, until I get my paints out! I'm starting with this piece, which is really special for me. "Derwentwater Boats" is taken from a photograph I took while on school camp in the Lake District. It was my first watercolour from one of my own photographs, and I have to say that it was early in the days when I hadn't quite got to grips with washes, wet in wet blending and other such techniques. But as the painting went along, I was truly mesmerised at how nice it looked, and I felt really proud of it. It took AGES to paint, as I placed in every pebble by hand, and every wave crest - I cheat and skip such detail these days in favour of a more "loose" style. The icing on the cake for me was when a colleague at work saw it and asked to buy it from me, as she had honeymooned at that exact spot and it brought back very pleasant memories. I of course had no choice but to give it to her as a wedding gift. It is lovely to know that your work is cherished in such a manner, and it was one of the main reasons I continued with my new hobby. I don't mind giving paintings away - I get far more pleasure from them hanging on someone's wall than I do storing them in my loft! Unfortunately I never took a high resolution photo of it hence the poor quality of this shot. I just don't like asking to borrow it from her! 9x12" watercolour, 2003. All rights reserved, R. Minchin