Acrylic on canvas, stretched and ready to hang.

Signed on the back.

I like to do something a bit different for the ‘milestone’ Penguins. This is number 500, which seems a bit surreal. I started painting them in late 2015, they sold, I kept painting them. People sometimes ask if I’m sick of them - and the answer is no. They’re enjoyable to paint. I love building up layers of colour and texture. I love the accidents, I love the contrast of straight lines and chaos. I’ve been thinking of doing one with larger letters for a while. The letters don’t refer to any particular book title or word, they’re purely compositional - I muck around with them on sketches and on the computer and find arrangements that are interesting to me. Despite that, humans look for patterns, and it’s unavoidable to try and read the title. To me, this one suggests ‘On Ares’, Mars. It might also be ‘No Arse’ , ‘Antares’, ‘Serrano’?

The texture is thick and uneven, made up of multiple layers of paint. The sides of the canvas are painted, and it won’t require framing. It’s sealed beneath a gloss varnish.

Number 500! Thanks to all who have supported me along the way.