Art Society Exhibition at Raven
Look at my Flower Paintings
Good morning everyone. My apologies for not being around very much, but I have been very busy with arty stuff. There’s a lot more going on now and I don’t want to miss an opportunity! Anyway, Penistone Arts Weeks is over now and I’m pleased to report that I made a few sales with my flower paintings. For example, these two here, the Sea Thistle and the Sunflower went to new homes almost straight away. Then I sold my poppies painting ( in the image below). Despite the fact that it was on display in quite a shady spot, as you can tell in this photo!
However, it was a great experience to be in a lovely, busy cafe in the middle of town. Happily. being involved in this art festival with other creatives has lead to other exciting events. For example, our group have been invited to show work in a gorgeous florists and gift shop in town! So, I chose another of my flower paintings to go on display.
Actually, I think that this will look good in the beautiful surroundings of Hacketts, which is right next to St. John the Baptist’s church, in the old town centre. Of course, I will report back on that soon. Meanwhile, I haven’t stopped painting! And, I couldn’t resist following along a free online tutorial on watercolour painting. And this dreamy portrait of a rose was the result! Since then I have painted a vase of carnations, but I’ll save that for another post! You could have a look at more flower paintings in this post here.
January Sale in Wakefield Gallery
Good morning everyone. Things are still a bit dodgy here, so I’ll hurry up and write this post while I can! Actually, I don’t think that I showed you this acrylic painting before. In fact, I almost forgot that I had painted it. And I found it while going through my stash. Because I was looking for work to put in our January sale at The Urban Commune.
This one was a study in watercolour for a series on flowers, seen close up. Perhaps you remember four small canvases in acrylic – sunflower, oriental poppy, cone flower and pansy in this post here ?
While I was looking for unframed stuff for the January sale, I pulled out my pink pig! And I do remember the fun I had painting this, with the help of Simon, our tutor. Happy Days!
New Techniques in Floral Abstract
Good morning everyone. This is just a quick catchup post, to show you what I’ve been enjoying painting, a floral abstract. Actually, I’m working my way through a course by Suzanne Allard, see here. In fact, I have experimented with loose floral abstracts before, as you may have noticed on this blog. And, I’ve used other media over the paint. But I never felt like I knew what I was doing. So I’m very pleased that I found Suzanne’s tuition on line. Because she guides me through the myriad possibilities of adding crayon, oil pastel, ink and so on. And in a way that I can understand.
To be honest, I created the background for this painting a while ago, for a different project. However, I thought that it would work well. And I muted the intense colour of the acrylic paint with oil pastel in places where it needed it. As can perhaps see in this close up. You can see another loose floral abstract in my own style in this post here.
Paintings Inspired by Online Tuition
Good morning everyone. When I have ten minutes or so spare, I will always do a quick sketch.( In between finishing off online tuition projects!). On this occasion I quickly sketched a doodle in watercolour, limiting myself to three colours. When it was dry, I doodled some more, adding some black calligraphic marks on top. Later on, I strengthened these marks with one of my new soft oil pastels. Of course, you may have realised that this was influenced by the Painting with Yvette course that I am following. Otherwise I never would have tried putting this kind of a motif on top of a background.
Now this idea is something else that I picked up from online tuition. But unfortunately I can’t remember the details, I look at so much lovely stuff online. Anyway, I did in fact take the idea and do my own version. And the method is to take images of motifs you have chosen to use as inspiration for an abstract composition. Then incorporate them into a design, without doing a realistic painting of them. For example, for this piece I sourced good photos of butterflies and flowers. Then I isolated the shapes and colours that pleased me and tried to make a harmonious pattern. Actually, it does fry your brain a bit in the process! But, I’m still keen to do more. See more intuitive abstracts in this post here
Mixed Media Art Therapy Sketch
Good morning everyone. This is just a catch up of the quick art therapy watercolour sketches that I do in my sketchbooks. Actually, this particular one took a little bit longer, as I wanted to add more after the initial twenty minutes or so. Well, I made some shapes and colours with my travel watercolour set, which I keep very handy in my living room. And, I usually do this when I have gone a whole day without arty activities! In fact, it never fails to lighten my mood, however I’m feeling. So, I consider it a very useful way to look after my mental wellbeing. Also, it is almost entirely stress free because I make no demands on myself as regards the quality of the work. And, it’s purely experimenting and, of course, you need not show it to anyone, unless you choose to. Perhaps you could try this easy art therapy sometime! And let me know how you get on.
Anyway, after the first pass, I put the little sketchbook on the table till next day. And looked at it a lot. Then I strengthened the yellow,green and brownish red with oil pastel. Next I doodled a bit with marker pen and white gel pen to bring it together. And, it definitely cheered me up!
More Art Therapy
Finally, this is another another quick piece done to calm my nerves and I did this in one pass and left it as it was. If you want to see more, have a look at this post here.
Painting Clematis Flowers in Watercolour
Hi everyone. I saw something online explaining how to do a nature inspired abstract, so I thought I’d have a go. The idea was to study the subject you have chosen – in this case, glorious pink clematis. Then, make a small sketch, recording the details you really like. And then, let your imagination go wild! (That’s the bit I like!) I’m not sure it’s finished, the pink isn’t vibrant enough for my liking. But it was interesting.
You can see why I was inspired! Anyway, just to finish this quick post, this is the same scene (a few years ago) with a different treatment. Acrylic, and painted more slowly. Also with a bit of artist’s license on the colour!
Little Hand Painted Cards or Prints?
Good morning everyone. Today I thought I’d show you two little hand painted cards I made a couple of weeks ago. Well I had been looking at YouTube and thought I could try it out. The flower is just intuitively painted, but the challenge for me was the tiny size of the paper. In fact, only three and a half inches by five. And that’s tiny for me! Also, the other technique I tried out here was to put down the background first, something I never do. Actually, there’s gold paint on here too, to give the whole thing a bit of sparkle. But, you maybe can’t pick that out on the screen.
The sunflower, another of my hand painted cards.
To be honest, I love painting flowers, especially the ones I pick from my own garden – see here . But I made this one up – not something I do often, because my visual imagination is quite poor.
Any way, I practised laying down a background first and this one was in watercolour wash with a subtle design in white pen. If I remember correctly, the flower itself was in acrylic. To tell you the truth, often when I’m doing mixed media, I grab anything on my workspace. It all gets added to the mix, then I forget what I used!
The Printed Card
Finally, do you prefer the hand painted cards or the print? This is one I had printed last year from an acrylic painting of carp rising to the surface of the water to be fed. Actually, my intention was to try to show the bodies of the fish covered by a thin film of water. As I recall, the theme of our Art Society project was ‘Under Water’. Undoubtedly, the cards made by hand are more special, but I have found that people also really appreciate a print. Fortunately, you don’t have to make your mind up. Because you can just do both!
If you want to see more flowers, have a look at my gallery here . And, don’t forget, if you find anything you like, go to the Contact Me page on the menu and send me an email. Because, everything is for sale at reasonable prices!