I used to work in the West End until recently: Leicester Square, Piccadilly Circus and the jewel of the arts crown in Britain - The National Gallery. Recently I have had to move in my day job to the City of London.

Over the past two years I have visted the National Gallery about once a week. I was continually drawn to certain artists: Monet, Rembrandt, Van Gogh and of course my all-time favourite Mr JMW Turner.

Here is a list of favourites:

Monet - The Beach at Trouville 1870

Rembrandt - A Woman bathing in a Stream (Hendrickje Stoffels?) 1654

Van Gogh - Sunflowers (had to be!) 1888

JMW Turner - Rain, Steam, and Speed - The Great Western Railway 1844

I would insert links/pictures but worry about obvious potential ramifications! They are all easily found on the National Gallery website.

See if you can spot the rabbit/hare running from the train in the foreground of the Turner painting but only if you view the painting in the flesh or on high res image mode!

Having recently had to move offices with the day job to London City I now work near Liverpool Street. I now have the likes of the Whitechapel Gallery to visit in my breaks. I went the other day and liked it actually. There was some work by an artist called Wilhelm Sasnal who does quite enigmatic paintings all told. I particularly liked the Iran power station drip piece. Very much like the work of Ed Burtynsky who does photographs and has done a series on "Manufactured landscapes" which are brilliant. There's actually a dvd by Burtynsky called this which is very good. Shows how photography can be quite moving.

I also went to the Brick Lane Gallery. I have been here several times already and with it being a commercial gallery you do get variety but generally at the cost of quality. Something to do in the lunch hour but not great generally. I keep getting e-mails seeing if I have a few grand spare to fill 2 feet in their gallery for a week or so. Nah! No thanks.

Lots of other galleries to visit in the east end. Shoreditch seems to have been the chosen residence for the BritArt thing years back and the East End generally has built up a rep for the visual arts. Lots of good graffiti on offer I can see in the month I've been there.

Christmas soon. I need to finish a few things up but will be doing very little painting. I hope to get cracking on many new pieces in the new year though.

Have a great Christmas and a Happy New Year!

On the dog theme I am nearly finished with a painting for a friend's mum and dad called "Henry". Henry reached a good old age and was a lovely labrador with a pink nose. Painting needs a bit of finish work and then on to my Dad's for framing.

Thought I would introduce my two little art muses: Indy on the left and Solo on the right. These two help me set up my easel, prepare canvas and squeeze paint tubes. They are invaluable little studio assistants!

My friend and writer muse, Alan Wilson has requested more front covers for his books and short stories.

I have read them all and reviewed on Amazon. They are really really good and a perfect compliment to a morning coffee! Here is a link to his site:

http://awwilson.com/#/buy-stories/4556624960

Busy doing my tax return today. Or at least starting it!