The Winter Robin

This little robin was created in drawing inks and water.
We see a little family of robins visit our garden - and when I wanted a subject to try out my drawing inks on, a robin sprang to mind.

I hope you like the result.

The Winter Robin 

 

Showtime

From one of the flowers in my garden

Showtime

on Saunders Waterford paper, 140 Rough - and size, 15" x11"

It's a wonderful time of year in the garden, flowers are blossoming and there's beauty all around. When I need to be quiet, I sit outside and the garden offers me calm. I've needed that since the beginning of this year and I'm delighted to say that hubs continues to improve. Thanks to all of you for your continued good wishes.

Snow.

No dreaming necessary, here's the real thing - and its set to stay for Christmas!

My front garden (under there somewhere!)

So pretty in pictures. 

So treacherous to walk or drive!

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

Clematis - the next stage

Here's the next stage in my clematis.

I've removed the masking and painted the first washes on the flowers.
There are some more details to paint on the flowers, more dark greens to go into the foliage and the foreground leaves and the rusty structure to paint.
Then she'll be done :)

Clematis

Out in my garden, I have some different varieties of clematis growing.
This particular one I thought would make a nice painting.


Here's the pencil drawing




then I got carried away painting and didn't photograph as much as I should for a work in progress, so you can see its quite far along.
When you are winning with greens - you don't stop!


If I was going to paint the obelisk black as it is in real life, I wouldn't have masked it. ( the masking is blue)
But I have in my mind to make it a rusty metal structure, to add a little more interest.