“Welcome to our studio and thank you for dropping by to view this miniature Masterworks acrylic painting, ‘Weaverbank Harvest’.

Autumn had come round once more and with it a bountiful harvest of plums from the garden tree belonging to friends – this was a gift from their home to ours and as soon as we set the plums down in the basket on our kitchen table, I was determined to capture this rich still-life. We had laid the lace tablecloth down for an afternoon tea with our friends and temporarily placed the plums in the basket, which spilled out onto the table. As the afternoon sun moved around through the dresser-window of our kitchen it caught the lace patterns within the tablecloth and glinted across the rich deep hues of the plums. How could I possibly resist this illuminating still-life?

Hence the title of the painting, being a bountiful ‘harvest’ from their garden, captured in the hours spent at my easel – particularly in rendering the folds of the tablecloth and the intricacy of the lace.

Placed in a basket on a lace tablecloth, these proved irresistible as a still-life. The fruits from our friends' garden; hence the title and the fruits of the hours spent at my easel.

METHOD – Although acrylics provide me with a modern, versatile medium, I really expand and exploit their possibilities through bringing into play the traditional techniques found in my oil paintings. Working in layers, either from dark-to-light, or from light-to-dark, allow me the opportunity to adapt the medium to the subject. Glazing, tinting, tonking and other such traditional techniques, that I use in my oil paintings, when combined with the textural qualities available through the use of acrylic paint, effect many exciting results. 

Producing a miniature such as this, requires every bit as much attention to the techniques and method used to achieve the desired outcome, as I would exploit and utilise for one of my largest Masterworks oil paintings.

The entire process requires considerable patience, there is simply no rushing it.”

Paul Taggart

Artist : Author : Presenter : Producer