With a little Help.. .

Good morning friends.
Had a wonderful day yesterday, on my birthday :)

There were art goodies, a trip out with a friend and when I came home, there was a bouquet on the doorstep! That made my day and I didn't think it could get better, but when Paul came home from work, it did! He'd ordered an extra present for me and had kept it at work, so I wouldn't see it! (Does he think I'd peek? :lol:)

I had a little help from Missy in opening that present, she puts her paws on the box and gently takes a corner and starts to tear. Its great fun watching her - sorry the pics aren't the best - but you get the idea. :)

Can I help, please?

This is a good corner to start!

Inside the box was a singer sewing essentials storage box! Crammed with threads, pics, tape measure and all a sewing girl could need :)

Now all I have to do is play with the art goodies, sew something simple and show you some pictures next week! Have a great weekend, all.

Champagne and Strawberries.

A little while ago one of our Painting Friends, Deb, provided the group with some photos, which we could use if we so desired.

I have created a new painting using one of her photos.
This one:

Champagne and Strawberries.

In other news, Missy has recovered from her limp, the vet thinks she has arthritis. She has to have painkillers and omegas to help the condition - though she still jumps around like a puppy! She'll be 15 years old soon, so she's doing well for her age. 

and I am still working on the novel. It needs to be 100k words and I am up to 40k. I'm hoping to have the first draft finished by the end of Feb next year. 

Drawing Portraits

A few days ago a book I'd ordered arrived in the post.
The book was a 10 day course on how to draw portraits.

Now, you've seen me draw portraits before, so why would I want this book?
Because when I draw, I meticulously measure each feature to make sure they are correct. Its time consuming and painstaking.

I wanted to draw freely and for it to be fun.

So I started the exercises in this book - and against the author's instructions I did all the 10 days in one day, doing each exercise only a couple of times and using pen not pencil.

I did that because I wanted to fly through the exercises to see if the whole method was one that would work for me - and if I used pen, then I would not be so meticulous. I'm used to sketching in a scribbly fashion, so that's what I did here.

 "Cutting Away" to get the outline of the Face

Placement of features by judgement - connecting lines show how I made the judgement.

Finished portrait

Now, having done all the exercises, I've found that I can get a reasonable likeness when in total all I've spent on these scribbles is a couple of hours.
So, the instruction works for me! 

I did another quick portrait, which for artistic effect, I have only detailed the darker side of the face. Once, on my City and Guilds Watercolour course, we were shown some paintings in which only one side was detailed. They looked more powerful than the fully worked up versions.  So does this portrait, to my eye.

So there you are - no measuring, no artificial aids, just me, a pen, a piece of paper.

I'm so impressed with this book, I am going to go back to the beginning and do all the exercises and repetitions in pencil - just as the artist intended.

At the end of the ten days I have every confidence that I'll be producing freehand portraits that are full of character  - and fun for me to do!

The book "Why Measure" can be found on Amazon HERE .

The Tulip Field

On this painting, I wanted to be impressionistic, so I used a technique similar to pointillism, but more "dab -illism"

Viewing is best done at a little distance, so sit back from your screens and take in...

The Tulip Field

Where the Heart is.

I think the title of this, my latest portrait, speaks for itself..

Where the Heart is

Hope you've enjoyed watching me try out this new technique.

I will definitely be adopting it and combining it into my usual style.

and I just had to show you this darling picture of my two sitting next to me on the sofa..

Companionship

I may be writing lots more than ever before, but I haven't forgotten how much I love to paint, also.

This weekend just gone I had a day with an artist, who was teaching me loose techniques.
I watched, copied and absorbed.
Then I painted alone, using a pot of parsley and some apples to create a still life, trying to put into action the earlier instruction.
This is the first - and I've called it  " Companionship ".