The Making of Dotty .... and an update

It's been a long time since I was here, or visiting your blogs.
Even longer since I've done a step by step painting.

Yesterday I got the time to paint - and I painted Dotty, from beginning to end. Taking pictures of the progress, we start at pencil drawing and end at the completed tabby cat that is Dotty.

I hope you enjoyed the step by step ... and the final painting too.

Dotty was painted on Saunders Waterford 140 Rough and is 15" x 11"
The paints I use are Winsor &Newton Artist Quality

The update on our situation is that hubby is still improving, but the progress is slow. We're not out of the woods yet. Thank you for your continued prayer and support.

My Sweet Valentine.... and a longer break..

Dear blogger friends,

It seems that it may be some time before my OH is better, so the break from blogging may be longer than I first thought.
As and when I have time to paint, I am. I am posting whatever paintings I do on my gallery site. There I don't have to write text, which I would have to do if blogging. Plus, the fun of blogging is in visiting you all - and currently that would take too much time. I am so sorry to be missing.

If you would like to see any paintings I do create, you can visit my gallery site here
If you join the mailing list, you will be notified every time a painting is added.

In the meantime, here is my latest
My Sweet Valentine

Thank you all for your understanding - and will see you again, when OH is better. xx

King of Hearts... and taking a little break..

I painted this picture as a gift for my husband, for St Valentine's Day.

King of Hearts

Saunders Waterford 140 Rough, 8 x 11 inches.

I'm showing it to you early, because I'm going to take a little break from blogging and visiting blogs.
My husband is not well at the moment, so obviously, I want to spend my time with him. I hope to be back sooner rather than later. If you pray, say one for us.
Thank you xx

The Night Watch ... and In The Beginning..

Here are my two latest paintings.

The Night Watch

and a glass ink bottle, which because I write novels, I have called


In The Beginning

and if you'd like to take a look at my latest novel, All in the Leaves, you can find that HERE

Waiting for Bedtime.... and a couple of practice pieces

You all know how much I like experimenting with my watercolour, so I tried a couple of different exercises, one from a magazine and one from a friend's painting.

Once these practice pieces were done, I created my own painting.
This is it:

Waiting for Bedtime

the two practice pieces are these:

lamb

bridge

As you can see, the practice pieces bear no resemblance to the painting I wished to paint. Sometimes that happens. I need to paint to get my confidence in what I want to do, going. So any painting works.
Rather than me thinking overly about what to paint for practice, I will look up "how to" paintings. I'm not overly fussed on the outcome, it's the practising which is important.
Practice is always important - and I'm sure that both my wildlife and river paintings, when I make them, will be all the better for these practice pieces.

A quick demo ends with a promenade stroll

When I had my friends over to visit recently, I did a very quick demonstration of painting.
Using one of their photos from a recent trip to the seaside, I showed them how quickly you can make a little painted memory of the day.

The majority of the painting was done quickly -less than 30 minutes. The branches of the trees were left until I had some time to myself, to finish it.

This I did recently - and here's the result.

Promenade Stroll

Painted on Saunders Waterford 140 rough, size approx 7x10 inches

Leaves Launch.... a floral painting

This is a painting of a floral gift, given to me to mark the launch of my novel, All in the Leaves.

I wanted to paint the roses and vase, so that I could always remember the flowers and my launch party - with a smile!

Leaves Launch

The  paper is Saunders Waterford, 140 rough - and the size is quarter sheet.
Many thanks to Lynne and Stuart for the flowers and the support.