Artistic creativity in the early part of an artist’s career, has us wondering what should we paint, so we choose the topics that inspire us. I just love snow scenes, but then as a trained gardener, I find plenty attractive flowers to paint, and now with a plot on an allotment site there is plenty ramshackle sheds and fences, water butts and crops to paint. As a Scotsman I love painting our lochs and mountains, so I do numerous trips to Glencoe and Isle of Skye and bring back photos to work from.Then as a Dundonian I find plenty places to capture on canvas all around the town. Artistic creativity has no bounds. However once we decide on a topic we need to show it in a variety of views. Thus I have painted 14 Cape Gooseberries, about 15 views around Loch Ard, 20 different orchids, 20 Dundee paintings, half a dozen Forfar Lochs, and well over 100 snow scenes. Another favourite topic for me is views around my allotment site at City Road Allotment Gardens, as there is so much variety of sheds, fences, barrels, boxes and plants that our artistic creativity gets plenty of exercise.

The Forfar Loch below is still on show in the Winter Exhibition with Dundee Art Society in Roseangle Gallery, but ends tomorrow Saturday 10th December.

The two latest views of Arthurs Plot are now on show in my studio. I have now painted 8 views of Arthurs Plot, but 6 are now sold with 2 on my studio walls at home.

Visitors are welcome to pop in to see my studio gallery any time, but drop me an email at johnstoa@blueyonder.co.uk to make sure I am in.