Creative Instruction

Do you, like me, love to create something?
Do you take instruction in any way?
I remember one of my early tutors in one class being asked which books she'd recommend for people new to watercolours.
Her reply was that people buy too many instructional books and don't paint enough!

Sometimes I feel guilty of that, but books are just so delicious - and I always do at least two of the demos in each book. New ideas spring from different techniques .
Can you have too many books so you get creatively stifled? Can you?

The first painting holiday I went on was a mixture of nerves and fun!
Oh, I was full of nerves to start with, but once the sketching and the washes started, nerves were forgotten :)
I was so worried I would be the dunce of the class, you know - but everyone was so different in their style, that not one could be compared to another. All lovely in their own way. What a relief!

Taking painting holidays can be pricey, so in my last house I had a summerhouse converted to an art studio


- I would take a week off from work, take an instructional book and my painting kit down there and create.. with no expectation of perfection - just the joy of creating.
Another studio is planned for this new house :)


On one of these weeks, I created these...




Do you go on creative weekends or weeks? Do you have a studio?
Tell me all about it...

The Sweetest Easter Chick

The sweetest Easter chick flew into my life over Easter - and cherished it will be.

She came sitting on her own little egg -of the Cadbury's Creme variety -
and she was made for me by my good friend Beryl.


Little Easter Chick is going to be named Goldie - after Golden Beryl - one of the Beryllium family of precious gems.. click here to read more on the gems

for truly the chick is a gem - as is my friend, Beryl xx



I hope all my readers had a great Easter!

Set Upon Your Sands

And here is the finished painting :

Set Upon Your Sands

This painting will be added to my permanent gallery site
Pat Elliott Paintings

Pharaoh

Now I paint the Pharaoh.

Eyes are painted black, with a hint of light in them, hopefully giving him a surprised expression.
The rest of him is painted using a shadow mix, enough to give the suggestion of form.

Peeling plaster completed

In this stage, I have finished painting all of the peeling plaster, which shows the terracotta underneath.

Adding shadows helps to give the illusion of the plaster peeling away with time..

Terracotta and plaster sarcophagus

Every now and then, my head likes to have a complete flight of fancy in a painting.
This is that painting.

It started with a sarcophagus, terracotta in construction and with paler plaster over the top, with traces of gold left upon it.

Then my imagination kicked in..

I can't show you the drawing as all of this was drawn and painted within my two hour stint at art club..

Getting excited..

over plumbing!
We bought a house that needs some improvements made; one we decided to make was to put a space saving toilet upstairs between the two bedrooms.
It should only take a day and a half, according to the plumber.

This is exciting to me because I use one of the bedrooms for painting - and having an upstairs facility means I don't have to traipse all the way up and down stairs for water ( or the convenience) when I paint :)

I also painted this acrylic painting to brighten up a dull corner in our living room. I was never going to show you a painting of a toilet, now was I?