Missy's Road to Art

I think I will travel on the Orbital today

it leads to the Art Studio

and here it is!

Here's what I've been working on

though sometimes I stare at the birds in the tree

You didn't believe me? But I'm not in my bed!

Ok, I confess, mummy's chair was so comfy!

Sunday Teatime

The finished painting:

Sunday Teatime

 

This painting will go to my gallery site.
Do come over and take a look around.
Pat Elliott Paintings

the next stage

I've painted in the first layer of washes and this is the result

Tomorrow you'll get to see the finished painting, because again, I can't stop in the middle of this technique.... YET. :lol:

Simple things

The simplicity of a loaf of bread, two slices cut from it - just called out to be painted.
Yet again, I am trying this in the new brushstroke style.
Here's the drawing

Bread was such a staple when I was younger - I always loved to eat the crusts - or the heel, as the Irish side of my family would call it.
Nowadays we are a little more health conscious and the white crusty loaf is a thing consigned to memory.
Still makes  a lovely subject, though :)

Johnny Come Lately

All the brushstrokes are in, and a little spatter too!
Sometimes a girl wants to be extra creative!

I hope you enjoy this painting:

Johnny Come Lately

Painting in Two Parts

After I had painted the Sargent "Man with Red Drapery" I was keen to try the brush stroke technique again; so decided to paint something relatively simple  - so that the strokes and paint were the most important thing.
I chose a starfish on the sand.

the drawing

the first few strokes of paint

The final painting will be shown tomorrow - that's because once I start the starfish, all the strokes are put in as needed - and I'm too engrossed in seeing what's needed  -to photograph stages at this point in my learning.

Passing of the Hours

Yesterday you saw one of the walks I enjoy. When the weather is inclement and I have some spare time, I like to paint.

Sometimes I have very definite ideas or requests to paint - and sometimes I just don't!
On those occasions, I create a little set up, draw and paint it.

This painting is one of those, it only took me an hour and a half to paint. Almost a doodle! The time it took gave rise to its name, also.

Passing of the Hours

Follow your nose

The things which give me joy; husband, dog, work, painting, friends and walking in pleasant surroundings.
Today's post shows two of those, our darling Missy and our pleasant walks. Come with us as we follow our noses :)

You want to go walkies?

down the quiet alley on the way to the fields

Tail is curled, I'm hunting!

Beautiful tree colours

mustn't touch red berries..

or orange ones!

On the way back, checking wee-mails!

and here we are, home again!

I hope you've enjoyed ambling along on one of our pleasant walks - and I hope you'll return tomorrow to see some more painting :)

The Handsome Monty

Here's the finished painting.
I hope you've enjoyed the journey.

The Handsome Monty.

He will be added to my Gallery Site

Pat Elliott Paintings.

You're welcome to come over and have a browse!

Painting Monty 4

Started painting the head, beginning with the tan section on top.
I've also painted a little on the lower body - but not much and I've faded it too - that's because I want the face and eyes to be the centre of attraction.

Here is the first wash, a light wash as an under colour

and here is the second coat of a stickier mix, to really show off the tan of a boxer.

Next for me to paint is the black and grey of the muzzle - and around the eyes.  And a few shadows and colour around the ears
So, if you come back tomorrow, you'll see the finished picture.

Painting Monty 3

There's a large nose being painted today - the black is a mix of french ultramarine and burnt sienna.

I use a sticky mix of these two colours, because if I need to, some of the colour can be lifted. No staining colours on a dog portrait.

Painting Monty 2

In this stage, I have started the eyes - so expressive.

I pause after the eyes, to allow the feeling of the dog to seep into me - and my brush!
More tomorrow ..

Painting Monty

Today I start another stage by stage painting of a very special dog, Monty.

Monty had to undergo surgery for a cluster of cysts on his head - and once it was all done and the fur grown back, it was my pleasure to paint this for his loving owners.

Here's the drawing

and here it is once the background has been added.

After John Singer Sargent

In the Painting Friends forum I belong to, we had a "Painting like the Masters" challenge.

The Master chosen was John Singer Sargent.

I chose to paint Man with Red Drapery, the original of which is housed in the Metropolitan Museum in New York.
Click here to view

This is my version:

In painting this, I learned to suspend my usual method of painting, which is to have colours blend together - and instead to show brushstrokes.

I tried to imagine that I was working from an instruction book and this was the demo piece - only I couldn't read the "how to's" so I had to fathom that out for myself.

I'm very pleased with how this turned out - I wasn't looking for an exact copy, more a feeling of the original and the techniques used.

I'll now be trying to use this brushstroke technique in some of my new paintings . I hope you enjoy this one and all those to follow!

Meerkat!

We delivered yesterday's painting to Maisie's owner, Diane.

It was lovely to see how much she liked the painting - and bless her heart, she gave Missy a little gift - a toy Meerkat!

Its been such an exciting day, we needed a nap!

Oh no! Don't tell anyone you saw me sleeping with the Kat!

The darling Maisie

Whoops, I got carried away and completely finished painting Maisie without photographing any more stages.
Half of you will be sad about that, the other half will be jumping up and down that they did not have to wait too long!

So here she is, all finished

The darling Maisie.

Maisie will be added to my gallery site

Pat Elliott Paintings

Come on over and take a look!

Diane's Dog III

In this stage, I have painted the nose - and then the darker pattern on the face.

Maisie has two colours to her coat, a yellow/tan and a grey .
So to paint these, I made sure to have the two necessary mixes made and ready. The yellow mix was quite wet and the grey stickier.
This is because the yellow gets laid in first, then the grey is added whilst the wash is still wet. Because it is stickier than the yellow, there will not be cauliflower run backs. I'm sure most of us have seen those. They are not welcome in my dog paintings!

Diane's Dog II

Those who follow my painting style, will know that when I paint dogs, the eyes are the first part I paint.

So here they are, on darling Maisie:

Already she begins to feel alive to me.. so work progresses...

Diane's Dog

As dog owners, Paul and I know some incredible people.
One of these people is Diane, a veterinary nurse.

When we adopted Missy, she helped us discover the real Missy - not the fearful, snappy girl who hated the vets - but the Missy that loves a fuss from everyone, who will give a paw or a kiss or speak for her treat and fuss.
The Missy who can stand on the vet's table and not react.
The Missy who was a great patient when she recently had a cancerous lump removed.

Diane encouraged us to come up to the vet practice a few times a week, where she and the other staff played and fussed our Missy until she was no longer scared of the vet practice.

So when Diane lost her beloved Maisie recently, it was a great honour to do something special for her - and capture her darling girl in watercolour.

Here's the drawing

and here the background

the next few days will see the painting progress to its finish.

Fields of Gold

The finished painting -

Fields of Gold

I wonder, was it what you expected?
It will be added to my gallery site, where you can see all of my previous paintings!
that's here, at Pat Elliott Paintings.

Pouring FOG

Here I go with another painting using the pouring technique..  this time I am being very daring and not having a drawing on the paper at all.

I want to see what I "feel" this painting should be.

So here is the first photo, just some masking fluid, poured onto dry paper - and combed downwards - with a hair comb, yes!

and the second, after the paint is poured.
I stared at the paper, this way and that, trying to decide what to paint as a subject. 

I decided that the paper should be sited this way up - and that the left hand side reminded me of wheat or barley blowing in the wind..

I wonder if you can see that?
I wonder what you would have made of this background?

Tomorrow you will find out what I did - because I took this background to art club, and finished the whole painting within the two hour class!

Here's looking at you!

This beautiful pink hydrangea came with us from the old house to this new one.

It was white with a hint of blue in the old house - but flourished to a glorious pink when planted in this new environment.

And here's my darling Missy, who also flourished when planted in a new environment!
 
Here's looking at you, kid! 

Pond Life

More plants were painted, this time in the foreground, a darker mix of greens. Then some rusty red spiky grasses in the very front.
The upright sagitta leaves had a couple more washes to define them more - and then I painted their shadows onto the statue,

All this adds up to my finished painting -

Pond Life

Pond Life will be added to my permanent gallery site

Pat Elliott Paintings

Feel free to pop over and have a browse!

painting the plants

In this stage, lots seems to be happening, as I paint the plants in.

The plant behind is painted in a pale grey-green to make it appear further away in the distance.
The one to the side of the statue is a green-grey mix (more green than grey) .
This is because I want it to appear closer than the farthest plant, but not too close. That honour is reserved for the foreground plants and the tall leaves. So they must be more noticeable than the others.

I have also defined the features on the statue some more, with further layers of grey.

the painting continues

and in this stage, you can see that I have added a pale grey wash all over the statue and am going back in - starting with the top feather - to deepen the colours and produce a three dimensional effect.

Statue by the Pond

I am continuing to paint the statue from my garden.
He is situated just behind the container pond I have on the patio - so he appears to be peeking out from behind the greenery!

I had painted the background with washes of French Ultramarine and yellow ochre. 

From there, I painted the first washes of sap green on the upright leaves of the sagitta pond plant.

Inspiration. Where to find it?

There are times you are completely at one with your creativity and you know exactly what you want to paint, what you want to say in that painting and you even know exactly what techniques you'll use.

Then there are times you want to paint, need to paint - but there is no great calling from any one subject.
What do you do in times like these?

For me, the answer is, I go to my garden. Within it there are many statues. Each one was bought because it had something special about it - and this quality I will endeavour to paint.

Do you have a store of inspiration? Is it your environment, or photos of places you have visited?

Here is the beginnings of my new painting, inspired by my garden statue, Ferdinand.

the pencil drawing

adding background washes of french ultramarine

and yellow ochre

Mary Deere

I was playing around, painting a Friday Foto from the Painting Friends forum (thank you, Mary).

So as a treat - and because Tonya has no patience (tee hee) - you can see beginning to end of this one, all in one blog post.

So here we go with painting Mary Deere :)

drawing the deer

First background washes

enhancing the foreground

adding some background and painting the deer

after adding a few more shrubs, here she is, the finished painting :

Mary Deere