So – the challenge is complete. The first ten were done in a very swift 7 days or so while the second ten took a relatively glacial 11 days. How did I do with the final ten? Well, 9 days is pretty reasonable, especially considering that I took two days off in that time. Well, for the record, here they are :-
21 Galapagos Giant Tortoise
Another
comparison piece - I made a tortoise in 2018. I also painted my favourite
reptile, the Komodo Dragon in 2023 The Giant Tortoise is my second favourite
reptile, although there isn't a lot in it.
22) Rodeo
I don't really know why I picked this subject, but I did take some process
photos while I was making it. I posted these in the blog.
23) Brighton Pier
Seaside piers are something I've always loved. I painted
piers in both of the last times I completed the challenge, in 2025 and
2023.
24)Canterbury Street Scene
I do like street scenes and it struck me that I haven't painted one for this
year's challenge yet. This is Canterbury. I made a similar composition in an
ink and watercolour sketch of York Minster a few years ago. The most similar
thing I've done in the challenge would be 2025's painting of Chester.
25) Boer War downtime
If you've been following my blog at all in 2026 (don't
worry, it isn't compulsory) you'll know I've become interested in the Boer
War - an unjust war if ever there was one. In 2025's challenge I painted
a scene from the First World War with a tank, so I always planned to do at
least one Boer war painting this year. This is based on a very well known
photograph, with the sergeant major, the experienced private and the drummer
boy. Makes you wonder how these children - and boys could serve overseas as
young as 14, and that's a child- how these children coped with some of the
horrors that they must have witnessed.
26) Piper
Boer War again. Showing the drummer boy in the last, the
piper here seemed a nice companion piece. Bagpipes are a marmite instrument, I
think but I find them rather stirring. Apart from anything else I wanted to do
a better job with the colour of the khaki uniforms of the soldiers than I did
with the previous picture.
We’re getting so close to completion now, peeps. I have
been keeping this subject in my back pocket for a while, but lacking
inspiration I couldn’t think of anything better today. Hence, back to the beach
we go. This was painted on 24/6/26, which was the hottest day I think there had
ever been in South Wales, so the subject just seemed to make sense. I love the
sense of innocence about the scene. Lord know, it can't have been a barrel of
laughs living in England in the drab old 1950s, but this shows it wasn't all
doom and gloom either.
28) Think, McFly, Think!
Yes, It's another film franchise painting, from the man who
bought you Ghostbusters and Indiana Jones in 2023. Come on, you have to at
least love the original film.
29) Cowboy
I enjoyed my rodeo painting so much that I decided to do
this one as well. It’s not often that the finished painting looks like the
vision I had in my head when I started the painting but this was one of those
times.
30) Rainy Day In Blackpool
And the challenge is complete! It somehow seemed
appropriate to go with the beach again, and since all of the other beach
paintings have been in sunny weather, I though I’d best include a rainy scene.
If you grow up in Britain you know all about rainy days at the seaside.
Here's photographs showing the paintings together -
2026 1-10
2026 11-20
2026 21-30
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