Summer splash

Up until yesterday afternoon we were still having beautiful sunshine, which all my flowers appreciated!

So what did I paint this week, but a flower!

Here it is, a vibrant Summer Splash

The Juice Bar

Over on Painting Friends ( here ) 
we have a challenge to paint some coneflowers and butterfly.

So, this is what I've done, I call it

The Juice Bar

Its on Arches 140 rough ,  11 x 8 inches.
I hope you enjoy it :)

Patty's Poppy

My holiday's nearly over and I have been painting, just not as much as I'd like!
Isn't that always the way?

We were having a poppy challenge over on Painting Friends ( click HERE for website)  so I decided to join in .
I took the photo and cropped it further, because I like those images where you are in the heart of the flower.

Without further ado,

Patty's Poppy

This painting - and all the paintings I've ever made - can always be seen on my gallery website HERE

The Alphabet Paintings: R

The alphabet paintings continue with the letter R and a memory from childhood...

When I was growing up, I remember reading a whimsical tale of how God named all the flowers. When He was walking in the garden one day, he came across this pretty blue flower and asked for its name. The blue flower bashfully replied that he couldn't remember. So God whispered to the flower, "remember that I love you, forget-me-not"

Remember that I love you

Year of Painting, Rose.

On the Painting Friends forum, its time for the Year of Painting. This month we had a white rose as a reference to work from.
The idea of painting once a month is for you to analyse your work and grow from the experience.

Today, I thought I'd share the whole post with you, not just the final painting, as I did with V: The Other Side of the River.

Year of Painting (YOP)

Number Nine, Rose

Personal Goals for this Painting:

Firstly I set some goals for my thumbnail sketches.

These were :

1. do a thumbnail showing the scene as is.
2. on the other thumbs, show different crops and ideas
3. Paint all four thumbs.

I chose to paint all four thumbnails. Why I did this was to push myself to get more out from these YOPs. To try each technique and crop. To find something in each I could like and learn from.

So, here are the paintings:

Dark Rose 

 

8 x 11 Arches 140 Rough

I changed the colour of the rose. Solely because I'd not long since painted a white rose in “The Shadow of Your Love.”

I like this rose in parts. I love the bud and the background and leaves. Also the outer petals of the rose, but I feel I made a mistake to paint all the petals because I feel I've lost it in the inner shadows. I've painted in glaze after glaze to give a richer colour, therefore I can't lift the shadow without ruining the petal. A lesson learned – plan more if you want to be that literal and paint your shadows first!

Christmas Rose

8 x 11 Arches 140 Rough

Love the richness of this impasto version, it feels like a oil. That's probably because for the first time, I've painted it completely with a palette knife.

Its taught me that although its ok as a small painting ( 8x11 ) it would be stunning as a large, full sheet version.

Rosebud

8 x 11 Arches 140 Rough

This , I love everything about it. Lesson learned, take an element of a photo, that really suits me better than using the whole!

Sweet Rose

8 x 11 Arches 140 Rough

I love pointillism, it feels like meditation to me when I work in this way. Love the way this came out, reminding me of a sugar frosted rose. I wouldn't change it at all, I even like the way the petals have different colour variations.

Challenges Faced

Painting all four thumbs and trying to be creative with them all. Hardest of all was to paint the “as is” thumbnail, when it was never a photo I'd have chosen for a reference.

Share Personal Goals and whether you felt you Met Them

My personal goals were to be creative in all four paintings and to learn something from each, which I have done in varying degrees.

How I created the Paintings.

Multiple glazes in Dark Rose on the rose. Some negative painting in the background.

All impasto using aquapasto as well as watercolour and a palette knife in Christmas Rose

Loose background wash for sky in Rosebud and merging wet in wet washes for the rose and shadows.

All pointillism in Sweet Rose. A dot at a time. It took the longest time of all.

Size of Painting, Medium, Palette and Brushes.

The paintings are on Arches 140 Rough and are 8” x 11”

The medium is pencil for the under drawing and watercolour for the painting. (addition of aquapasto for Christmas Rose only)

W&N artists quality paint.

Palette colours used : transparent yellow, cadmium red, french ultramarine, sap green, olive green, indigo.

Brushes: round 12, round 6, round 2. palette knife.

Hope you've enjoyed this peek into my thoughts and practices.

The Shadow of your Love

Shadows.. I always think they make a painting.
So when I started this one, I decided to paint the shadows first.
When they were done, I loved it so much, its staying that way.
Here it is, painted on Arches 140 Rough , 15" x 11"

The Shadow of your Love

Anniversary Waltz

Every summer I like to buy a new book or dvd on watercolour and use it to inspire me to create in a different style.

At the art event I bought Ann Blockley's Experimental flowers in Watercolour - and its inspired me to be loose and wild in my flower paintings.

The Anniversary Waltz was named for our anniversary, but also for the two elements in the picture of the flower and the twig. They reminded me of a married couple. One bright and happy, the public face and the other muted and sturdy, like a backbone.

So here, for your delight,

Anniversary Waltz

and here it is with a mount around it, so you can see what its like when its hanging. 

AW on easel.

Stage Three

In this stage, I am painting another layer, but this time with more definition - and some negative painting too.


I really like this background and foliage technique, it is definitely one I will use again.

Sa Belle I

Time for another floral painting - again I am practising the techniques laid out in North Light's Big Book of Painting Watercolor Flowers........

and this one was the first painted in my summerhouse art retreat, so takes its name from that... "Sa Belle" .. which is short for Sa Belle Retraite.. and that's French for "her beautiful retreat" - which it is..


and here is the drawing

Flower painting III

Stage three sees the removal of the masking fluid after the thorough drying of the background washes.

You might notice, watercolour dries a couple of shades lighter than you paint it on !

I've also "lifted" out a few background grasses.. by running a clean damp brush over the paint, where I want the grass to be.

Flower painting

I'm on holiday, so its time for flower painting practice!

Using North Light's Big Book of Painting Watercolor Flowers, I have started one of their practice demos; flowers and a butterfly.

This piece shows you how to scale up a reference photo, by making a grid.
Here's the grid and drawing


Come back tomorrow for the next stage!