Early stages of At Sanctuary's Gate

Enamoured of this three colour background, I wanted to try one more very strong set of colours before I mute them somewhat.

I decided to move away from Ultramarine, Alizarin and Aureolin and use Ultra Violet, Winsor Orange and Green Gold.

The door knocker is derived from the old medieval knocker which used to stand on the North Door of Durham Cathedral. In medieval times, one only had to knock and ask, and Sanctuary was granted to anyone fleeing from the brutal justice of the time. The Law of Sanctuary was abolished in England in the 1600s.

So my sanctuary knocker is set floating in the sky, representational of knocking at the Ultimate Sanctuary gate.

Drawing on the paper first, before putting the background washes in. They were very wet, because I wanted to press some cling film into them to create those interesting textural marks. When the cling film was in place, I weighted it with a couple of books to keep the film pressed in the washes. If you click to make the picture large, you will see that more clearly.

Next I start to paint the knocker, building up the colour in layers.
For this, you have to be patient. Each layer has to dry thoroughly. I'm hoping it will be worth it in the end.

The Three Sisters

Yesterday I spent some more time on the step by step, and I think its finished. But I will wait a few days before I make that final call, because something else might pop out at me, or someone may come up with a suggestion that makes me think - oh yes, that would make it better!
That does happen, and I am not above taking suggestion to improve my paintings.

Sometimes when I visit other blogs, I am mindful not to say how or what I would change, because that would make it my painting - and we should allow each their own style! But at times, I can see how the addition of a darker shadow, or continuity in light source could improve what is there.
I'm happy for anyone to make constructive comments in the same vein.


Anyway, here's the first photo from yesterday.

Using a sap green and ultramarine mix, with varying degrees of stickiness, I painted some vague foliage and then some more defined foliage.
I did this because I wanted to express that the three flowers could be on a vine, or could be three flowers standing independently. I like that kind of ambiguity. Not always do I want my paintings to be clear cut, so that what you first see is all there is.
I then added some splatter , in dark green mix, and alizarin on its own.
To do this, load one brush with paint and then tap it against a second one, held at an angle that makes a cross - an upright one, like Jesus' cross - not an X cross. Make sure you cover the flowers with a piece of paper, if you don't want them splattered too :)

I looked at the painting for a while and the flowers seemed a little bland to me, so I deepened some shadows and added some veins. I made them stronger on the right most flower, to give one flower that stood out more than the others.
I think its finished now, unless of course, you'd like to come up with a suggestion to improve it.  I hope you've enjoyed how this painting has progressed.

One last hint someone else gave me. Click the picture to get the larger version, then squint as you view it. Apparently that gives you a rough impression of how you would see it on a wall, when you're seated!

The Three Sisters

Building some interest

Good morning, friends.

This post is not about increasing your savings, but building interest in the floral  painting :)

Underneath the flowers, brush in some clean wet water. Have your board at a tilt, so the water will run down a little.
With a light mix of ultramarine and sap green,  dab the brush just under the flower, so the wash blends into the clean water.

Also - make a couple of stems and swirls with the blue/green mix and add some aureolin dashes of paint with your rigger, to make some interesting flower spikes and vine type clingers.

With any luck, it should come out, something like this.

I am working at the day job this morning, but will be painting again this afternoon, so hopefully should have some more to show you tomorrow.
It will be building up some greens underneath the flowers. So don't wash your mix off your palette!

Time for a watch along experiment.

Do you remember the Famous Cactus? It had the swirly swishy background.

I was wondering what to paint, so thought to try an experiment.. the swirly background and a floral painting.

I have drawn the flowers from my imagination. Not sure if that's a good idea, but time will tell.

So here are the first few steps. If anyone wants to try this out for themselves - be my guest!

firstly, the drawing

Wet the paper completely, then add the background washes. A lazy S shaped swish of french ultramarine, alizarin crimson and aureolin.

after that has dried completely ( which takes a while as it was very wet) I add a second wash of aureolin to the flowers alone

that's it for today, will be back soon with some more stages.
Hope you've enjoyed and even feel inspired :)

Manifestly, Love

I don't think this pencil drawing needs any explanation .. it is....

Manifestly, Love

This picture will have a permanent place in my Gallery Site, 

Pat Elliott Paintings (click to visit)

A TV Star came to visit

Its been very exciting here - Missy had a TV star come to visit.

The star in question? Bubble the dalmatian.

Bubble was on The One Show ( see HERE at 38 mins in) and she was joint winner in the Waggiest Tail  section.

Missy was completely unimpressed by the shows hosts, Chris Evans and Alex Jones - who obviously weren't the stars on this episode. Clever doggy! :)

We had the very great pleasure of Lottie and Bubble staying with us overnight on Friday / Sat morning.

Lottie is the owner of Pawsitively Pets - and she's the very kind lady who posts Missy's favourite treats to us - she provides all manner of pet supplies, all you need to do is request them and Lottie will do her best to supply them for you!
She posts to us in Essex, so distance is no problem :) 

See HERE for Lottie's  website and HERE for Lottie's blog

If you're in Sheffield and looking for a dog trainer, you couldn't do better than to go see Lottie. I had the pleasure of walking Bubble on my own whilst Lottie got ready, and she walked like a dream, no bouncing or pulling - and she watched me and obeyed all the commands I gave. When you think Bubble is a deaf dog, Lottie has done an amazing job!

I'd also like to tell you about Rain Rescue. Here, Lottie volunteers her time and helps with the training of the rescue dogs, improving their chances of being rehomed .  You can see Rain Rescue's site HERE.
I think you can also see why Lottie and Bubble are truly stars, not just celebrities! Three cheers for you girls :)

Missy was a good girl, she learned that if she looked at me straight after looking at Bubble, she got a treat. That was great fun and very easy to do!

Then when Bubble was upstairs asleep, she made friends with Auntie Lottie

and now, when Lottie and Bubble are on their way home to Sheffield, where's our darling Missy? Asleep, exhausted by entertaining the famous :)

My Crystal Bowl

A Crystal Bowl and Strawberries was one of the projects my Painting Friends were creating on their painting holiday, Splash!

Although I couldn't make it to Florida, Mollie kindly provided me with a photo of the drawing to copy; from there I have painted this version of the crystal bowl with strawberries.

I have to thank Mollie Jones - she's an absolute star. If you'd like to visit her blog, go HERE

and here is my painting:

My Crystal Bowl