new painting stage III

Suddenly, there's an awful lot of this painting completed.
That is because, dear reader, I took it along to my art club, where I don't stop to photograph stages.

I go to an art club once a week, for two hours.
Art can be so solitary, its a welcome event to have like minded company whilst you paint. Every person paints their own picture, though if you are stumped for inspiration, the tutor provides a demonstration piece.

All that is left for me to paint now are the horse and rider.

new painting stage II

The sky goes in - a lovely broad sweep of colour, suggesting a clear day with a little cloud.

Clouds are fascinating - there are many different types, from cirrus to cumulus to stratus. To read about them, click here .

What always fascinated me was that when you start to really look, clouds aren't all white .... they have many different colours in them.

new painting stage I

I was trawling through the umpteen photos I keep on the computer - looking for something to catch my eye, so I could paint it.

Today it was the turn of a horse and rider, who we originally saw a few years ago, on a fun day out in the country.

We were taking Missy here, there and everywhere to get her socialised with all different situations and smells, you see ( something you do with an under socialised dog) . This gave me many opportunities for taking photos that I could use as paintings .

Here's the drawing:

Unbowed

I have a friend who likes to paint - and every now and then we get together to have a "Painting Day"

On this painting day we like to try out new techniques.
When we get a finished painting at the end of the day, it delights us too :)

Does it delight us as much as the coffee and currant buns we ate?
Hmm.. not sure... but one thing is for sure - the painting will last longer than our currant buns did!

Here's my version of the rhino



and click here to see Beryl's : Beryl's Musings

Inspiration

Sometimes I'm asked where my inspiration comes from - and the truthful answer is " from everywhere!"

From my grandfather who served and paid a very great price

"Remember Me"



to the plight of homeless dogs

"Change my World - Rescue Me"



to the words of popular songs (this one was Eric Clapton's Tears in Heaven)

"Beyond the Door"


And then I find inspiration in common things around me, such as a coffee cup and a book

"Code318"


and Missy running for a ball

"Come to mummy"


a sculpture in the woods:

"Bear in the Woods"




and as you've recently seen, one of my garden gargoyles.
To paraphrase a certain popular song : Inspiration is all around. :)

‘Everything has its beauty, but not everyone sees it.’ Confucius

The Princess and the Pea

I am sure most will be familiar with the fairy tale "The Princess and the Pea"

The woman who purports to be a Princess sleeps on a bed with twenty mattresses and twenty feather beds on it - and underneath all those -unbeknown to her- is a pea. In the morning, she complained of a bad night's sleep due to something in the bed bruising her back.
Thus her Prince knew she was a Princess.

For the history of the tale, click here.


This morning I stripped our bed for laundry, neatly folding the duvet and fleece throws and placing them in a stack on the end of the bed.
When I returned a little while later - what did I find?

A certain little girl who looked so regal and imperious, she put me in mind of the Princess!

Gordon .. The Big Blue

I have sharpened up some of the colours to make the whole effect more striking.
I'm quite pleased with the finished article.

Gordon.. who looked so fed up, I decided to call the painting "The Big Blue"

The Big Blue