The Famous Cactus

You all know I belong to a painting group called Painting Friends?
Its like a little family - and the last week the majority have been on holiday together in Indian Rocks beach, Florida.

It was a painting holiday and the projects were kindly shared and video-ed for those of us who weren't there.
Thanks to Deb for taking the videos, and to Mollie for this particular project.

If you'd like to join the Painting Friends forum, please do go have a look HERE and tell them Pat sent you.

This is my version of Mollie's cactus.

The Famous Cactus

Failte, Cara

I'm half Irish; so when I painted some Waterford crystal filled with fruit, it seemed natural to give it an Irish title.

The title is Failte Cara,  which means, "Welcome Friend"

This little painting depicts a welcome to any friend who visits, and a refreshing treat.

Failte Cara

Drawings, table and connection

Good morning friends!

Shall we go in reverse order?
We will, so I'll start with connection. I reported a fault with my internet service on Saturday - and because it was the weekend, had to wait for Monday until an engineer could come.

What a wonderful man he was. My connection was having an intermittent fault, holding then dropping the service. It was so irritating, because you guessed it - it dropped when I was part way through something. Each and every time! 

This man was like a dog with a bone - he wouldn't leave until he had it fixed good and proper! The equipment got changed, the lines were tested, the microfilters, the junction box, the telephone exchange. He found the reason why and fixed it, though he was here between 8am and 4pm!
He's my hero :)

So what did we do with no proper service?

Hubby refurbished an old table to fit in with our colour scheme; it will live in the porch.

I completed a few drawings ready to paint:

and Missy was just grateful when all the works were done and she could rest!

Hypnotised - the year of painting .

We are into month five on the Painting Friends Year of Painting.

This is where you get to see all the thoughts, hopes and execution of a painting.
Enjoy :)

Number Five : Ocean

Personal Goals for this Painting

Firstly I set some goals for my thumbnails
These were:

Do a thumbnail showing the scene as is 1
On two thumbs eliminate different elements 2,3
On one thumb, be off the wall. 4
Choose which one of these thumbs to paint

Choosing 3 , I decided to paint the scene as an oil, using watercolour and aquapasto medium, and using impasto techniques.


So here's the finished painting

Hypnotised

What works and what could be improved.


I'm pleased with the feeling of oil, but because I still reserve white, I think the white of the breaking wave could have been improved. I need to go watch some waves break to improve my observation.


Challenges Faced


Painting a wave from a photo – without lots of real life observation. I need a sea trip!


Share Personal Goals and whether you felt you Met Them


My goals were to make the four thumbs again, pick a technique for painting, namely impasto.
Did I manage that? I think so, though I can see room for improvement.


How I created the Painting.


I created the painting by painting the wave first. A few different colours and strokes, then scumbling along the crest of the wave to give a foam effect. Dry brush for the foam on the shore and simplified figures, with just shadow and light. Sand was yellow ochre and a little sepia too.


Size of Painting, Medium, Palette and Brushes.


The painting is on Bockingford 140 Not and is 15” x 5”
The medium is pencil for the under drawing and watercolour and aquapasto for the painting.
W&N artists quality paint.
Palette colours used : French Ultramarine, Indigo, Yellow Ochre., Sepia.
Brush: Kolinsky numbers 12 and 7

A thing of Beauty

The kitchen is finished! And very beautiful it is too.

I have watched it grow from the bare bones of stripped back walls, to the room where I can create a culinary masterpiece.How creative my builders are.

Whilst I've watched the building, I in turn have been watched.
The workmen have been the first to see my new paintings and have marvelled at how I created them.

Seeing them work reminds me of art.
We start with the bare bones of a blank sheet of paper  - and from there something beautiful grows. Whether we draw or go straight in with paint, whether we paint loose or tight, abstract or realistic... we create. It will be a thing of beauty. Even the paintings we may think - oh, that's nothing - others will see the beauty we sometimes miss.

Just like my kitchen.

Happy creating, whatever you create. Never lose the wonder.

If you want to see all the kitchen photos in one place, go HERE

Cuthbert leaves Lindisfarne

I photographed all the stages of this painting, because I thought you might like to see it.
If you don't, skip to the last photo :)

Saint Cuthbert was the Bishop of Lindisfarne (Holy Island) and he was buried there when he died. Sadly, we had some naughty marauding Vikings sail across the water, who just loved to turn up and pillage, loot and all manner of unspeakables.

So when the monks had gist of another invasion, they exhumed the body of the Saint and carried him across the water to England, where his final resting place is Durham Cathedral.

There is a brass sculpture (first photo) to commemorate this voyage - but I tried to imagine how it would be when the real monks were carrying Cuthbert across the sea. And I had to include some fog, for my painting friend , Peg..

 the sculpture.. thanks to Lynne for the use of her photo. xx

my pencil drawing

first washes where there will be no fog

adding more washes to the visible parts

first swishing over the fog area in sweeping strokes with a wet brush, then dropping in the fog colour mix.. 

Adding in a touch more colour to the vestments beneath the fog and some shadow on the faces - and we have the finished painting:

Cuthbert leaves Lindisfarne

Belhus Woods - Missy's day out.

We went to a fun doggy day at Belhus Woods today.
It was a day in aid of bull terrier rescue, but all dogs were welcome.
Missy thoroughly enjoyed herself - and given when we first adopted her she wasn't too keen on other dogs she did really well, with confining herself to a bout or two of yapping. That quickly ceased when daddy sat on the floor with her, and fed her cheese biscuits :) 

Belhus Woods is local to us, its a beautiful place for a walk, with or without a dog.  We met two friends there, who came back to ours afterwards for coffee and cake. And to pick up a couple of paintings - "Gently Down the Stream" and "after Kahlo's Love Embrace" They had four dogs between them, so we really had a doggy fun filled day.

I took a few pics, so you can enjoy the day with us:

Belhus Woods, the field section

Open field, grass very dry, due to heat.

The fun day stalls with Woods beyond

Go that-a-way, mummy!

We even saw an old fashioned plane fly by!

Missy being a good quiet girl :)

Missy and Paul in the woods

Home, please - I'm getting hot!

Safely belted in for the journey home.

Heat and being good are so tiring!

I hope you enjoyed our little journey through the wood and field .
No doubt some of those tree shots will be making it onto my easel  - and I'm seriously tempted by the one of Paul and Missy too :)

Creature comforts!

Whilst all the planning of the kitchen was going on, Missy wrapped the builder and tiler round her little paw!

The builder made her a little present - her very own pet tray made from the same worktop as our units. That was a complete surprise to us, but not to Missy! She's used to adoration :)

 and then, the tiler laid a beautiful, natural slate floor. When he'd gone, Missy was delighted to find that this floor was wonderfully cool on a hot day. What bliss to cool your tummy !

She showed the tiler some of her tricks - and he found it unbelievable that a rescued doggy could learn so much and would do the tricks for him too!
His staffy, Dylan , is in for some training now :)
Hope you do as well as Missy, Dylan!

I'm for dogs !

The builders are doing the fiddly bits to the kitchen to make it beautiful and the electrician is fitting sockets and lights!

Somewhere in the melee, I found time to paint these three, which I have donated to a local dog rescue (South East Dog Rescue) for their online auction to raise funds for building some new kennels.
Auction is HERE if you'd like to bid :)

The paintings:

and, in other news, for all my blogger friends who have been concerned for us, we are not near the areas in London where the riots have been taking place, we have only watched it on the news, as you have. 
Thank you for thinking of us. xx

For Claire and Sarah

Claire is a friend of mine, and Sarah is her sister.
Sarah passed away recently and was laid to rest yesterday.

I was thinking about them both and a couple of songs kept running round my mind. Firstly was the old nursery rhyme:

"Row, row , row your boat
Gently down the Stream,
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily,
Life is but a dream"

secondly were some lines from a Stevie Wonder song:
"You are the Sunshine of my Life, forever you'll be in my heart"

I liked the idea of flowers being placed on the water and travelling gently down the stream.  So my flowers are the colour of Sunshine...

For Claire and Sarah, in memory of a life shared, in memory of happier times.
Until the sun shines on your reunion..

Gently Down the Stream

Exploding Into Life

Morning all - the kitchen is progressing really well.
If you would like to see the progress in photos, go to the Kitchen Specialists blog HERE

I managed to do a painting also!

Exploding Into Life

Its one of those paintings, that if you look very closely, you will see all manner of things within. Already I can see a dog and a face! Happy hunting should you care to join in :)