The raleigh Hercules had served me well but it was time to move on. I have invested in a new fold-up bike to get me round on the promotional tour of Great Britain. I broke it in round the villages of South Leicestershire and Northamptonshire. Some of the villages are stunning – loads of potential for watercolour paintings. The down side is that I am discovering more and more people who already have house portraits. I fear I may be stepping on someone elses turf! Also worth mentioning thatit’s getting colder – although still in just a shirt and t shirt – not hat and gloves time yet!

Two days ago, on Sunday, the promotional tour rolled into Leicestershire. First time I’ve ever been to Leicester. First impressions were very good – loads of nice little villages where the watercolours go down a treat. highlights included Kirby Muxloe and Skeffington. Bad news about the Hercules – it broke a few weeks ago. Was riding along at considerable speed when all of a sudden it started to fold up on itself! This bent the frame and so it doesn’t fit together properly now! Gutted. Might be time to invest in a new bike.

Visited Nottingham on the promotional tour on Thursday. Not a bad day – a bit cloudy with extended sunny spells. Some interesting architectural features on some of the older properties that I haven’t seen before. For example, some of the chimney stacks were constructed in such a way so that they appeared to be twisting round the higher they got – making them look a bit like cork screws.

It’s been a while.

The promotional trail has taken me the length of the country over the summer. Draw a line between Liverpool and Beaconsfield and I’ve probably vi9sited every town/village on the way. It’s been a busy summer.

Been back in Birmingham today. The Jewelery Quarter. Very interesting part of the city with lots of character – especially St Pauls Square.

The three day Design Weekend event has now come to an end. The event has helped expose my work to a wider audience in the North West and I hope the leads and connections that have been made over the past three days convert into actual commissions.

There was quote a wide range of exhibitors at the event. Check out www.homesense.com – their Burton Square Store in the Trafford Centre is definitely worth a look also www.herdy.co.uk – these guys have some quality products – I even bought a mug and some cards!

Will I be there again next year? Don’t know yet, we’ll havce to see how much business comes in as a result of the past few days.

The promotional tour of the UK has been put on hold this week for the very good reason that I am exhibiting my work at the Design Weekend in Tatton Park. Have been there yesterday, today and am there tomorrow as well. Not a great turn out yesterday, today was a bit busier and got some good leads but I expect tomorrow to be packed to the rafters!

You’ve got to get involved in this! You can now follow me on Twitter so check it out and enjoy my random updates so you can keep tabs on exacly what a full time artist does with his time! www.twitter.com search for petechapple – that’s my twitter name

Went to Father-In-Laws 60th Birthday at Bradford City FC on Easter Monday. Met a very talented artist by the name of Paul Marlor, I think it would be in everyones best interest to check out his web site – www.pauldenemarlor.co.uk

Recently I have been experimenting with some new materials involved in watercolour painting. I think that gum arabic deserves a special mention. It is a medium used with water colour paints which adds a slight glossy finish when the paint drys, it also restricts the amount that wet paint bleeds together which can be useful for certain techniques. I look forward to using it where appropriate.

I’ve been rather quiet on the blog-front in that last month or so – been travelling around a fair bit. Have taken my promotional tour down to the South West – specifically, Torquay and Dartmouth. Coincidentally ran into the publishers of Dartmouth magazine ‘By the Dart’. Look out for my advertisment in April’s issue! Also been busy in Sutton Coldfield, Barnt Green and Crosby. Ran into Jamie Carragher during one session in Blundelsands but unfortunately he didn’t want a painting.

Today I have taken the rare step of doing a painting for myself! It was done from a photograph that I took while on holiday in Appledore, Devon last August. It was around about 8pm and I looked out out of the window where we were staying and the sky was the most amazing colour. I decided to go an investigate further by taking a short walk down to the quay side where I was confronted with one of the most spectacular views I had ever seen in my life. The quality of the evening light was quite special -especially how it lit up the land on the other side of the estuary – over towards Instow. Fortunately I had my camera with me – one of those disposable ones. I took a few photo’s which captured the panoramic view across the estuary. Ever since I’ve been meaning to do a painting of it and today, that happened! The finished painting can be seen in the Landscape gallery.

Today I also developed a new service that I’ve introduced where I provide art work for personal stationary. For example, a simple line drawing of your house can enhance and add a special personal touch to any letter head. This is something I’ve been working on this week for one of my clients.