Puppy with Snow on his face

So one day, I was taking my 8-year old Granddaughter back to my house after collecting her from school and stopped at a local supermarket to pick up a magazine for my other half. Granddaughter spotted a comic she liked the look of, so I bought it for her. A while later, we were all sitting around quietly at home and the peace was shattered with a loud, piercing shriek. It was a squeal of delight and excitement. Granddaughter started jumping up and down and shouting "How cute, how cute, I just love him!!!". When she'd calmed down enough to talk coherently, she showed us a photo of a really cute little puppy playing  in the snow, with snow on his nose and plastered all around his muzzle. "Yes, he's really cute" I said supportively as my heart gradually returned back to a more normal rhythm.

A couple of hours later, I heard those words that mean "Uh-huh .... what's coming next". Granddaughter said "Gra-an-d-dad". "Yes" I replied. "Would you do a painting, just for me?". "Of course, if I can" I replied, "What of?". "This really cute Puppy" came back the response.

The rest as they say, is history, and "Puppy with Snow on his face" now hangs on her bedroom wall.

Dog Portraits I've had the pleasure of painting

Kiya

Rocky & Alfie

Buddy

Pelican

I came across this chap in 2016 at Birdland in Bourton-on-the-Water, a small picturesque town in the English Cotswolds. We've been to Birdland 2 or 3 times now and we see something different every time we go. This chappy was flying when I first spotted him but by the time I'd readied myself for a photo, he had splashed down - literally.

More Animal paintings

Puffin

Lion in Ink

Badger

Rowing Boat

Pen & Wash of an old broken Rowing boat

When walking around a local area of small lakes, I saw this broken and rotting old rowing boat on the opposite bank. I never go on such walks without my trusty Nikon so I cranked out the telephoto lens to it's maximum magnification and snapped a shot. I've cheated a lot with this one because the background is a heavily overgrown woodland with a good mix of shrubs and trees and I just didn't fancy painting all that shrubbery. I think I've put in enough to give the idea of the setting. 

More boat paintings

Small boat

Fishing Boat

Barmouth Viking II

Puffin

Another quick watercolour for my forum's monthly painting challenge. Unlike the challenges set by most forums, this challenge involves everyone painting the same subject from the same reference photo. The end result isn't so that we can decide who is best (because art is so personal and subjective anyway) but so that we can see how others tackled the same subject. I can't count the number of times I've seen my work alongside the others and thought "Why didn't I think of that?". 

We also have a critique section and I encourage beginners to offer critiques. They usually reply that they don't feel 'qualified' enough to criticise the work of others, but I try and get them to understand that by studying closely the efforts of another artist they will learn a lot about their own efforts.

Sheesh!!! I've been painting/drawing for 25 years but I still feel like a beginner. LOL.

 

Some more watercolour paintings

Rose Hip

Badger

Robin on a Spade

Badger

I've never been very good at painting animals with watercolours. 

I think the problem I have is my eye for detail. 

When I'm painting buildings I want to paint every brick; with trees, every leaf; with birds, every feather; and with animals I want to paint every hair. 

Knowing the problem doesn't necessarily mean I can fix the problem, as can be seen here.

Robin on a spade

 

Just a simple watercolour of a Robin perched on a spade handle. This was another of the monthly painting challenges set for members of my forum. 

I'm not a great watercolour artist because I take no notice of what sort of paper I'm using nor what brand of paints are in my palette or their quality. Over the years I've found that my watercolours don't really look any better or worse depending on the materials used, only on how good or bad my painting has been. 

I envy those artists who can tell the difference between various materials but I have to be honest and admit that the choice of paper and paints is something that's never really interested me. That said, it is a totally different situation with pens and pencils. I do have favourite drawing papers and I most definitely appreciate the quality of the pencils and pens I use, and maybe I'll comment on those in my next 'drawing' post.

I guess the above explains why I've always favoured graphite and ink work over watercolours.

Some previous forum projects

Rose Hip

Cannon

Turtle

Rose Hip

 

In my Art Forum we run a few projects and challenges every month, as a bit of fun. Most members of this very small  online community join in and it is nice sharing our work and seeing how others have tackled the same subject. It's not a competition to see who's painting is the best, but a sharing of approaches and techniques that widen our own appreciation of our chosen medium. 

Another big benefit, which I for one appreciate greatly, is that it puts before us subjects that we wouldn't otherwise consider tackling. Take this Rose Hip for example. Left to my own devices, a subject such as this wouldn't cross my mind - it's just not my cup of tea. Also, some subjects are well outside our comfort zones as I suspect most artists stick with what they know they can do. 

Tackling new subject matter and being dragged outside our comfort zones may not sound like 'fun', but it is, and I'm convinced my art has improved as a result.

Some previous forum projects

Cannon

Kitten on a fence

Turtle

Cannon

I came across this ornate cannon, and others like it, when I visited the quaint and whacky village of Portmeirion in North Wales. Portmeirion sits in the estuary of the river Afon Dwyryd and it's cannons sit along a harbour wall guarding the village from attacks by boat.

Whether or not these cannons are functional or merely decorative is something I've wondered about because they wouldn't be very mobile without wheels, and I wonder how well those curved legs would withstand the forces of the gun firing.

For those who've never been, Portmeirion was built by an eccentric millionaire who shipped in unusual looking buildings brick-by-brick from around the world. They are painted in bright, vibrant colours and the village is more like Disneyland than a regular village of houses. There is a ship semi-built into the harbour wall, so there is no way it could float. The village is a fantasy land, and it is for this reason that I suspect the functionality of the cannons. That said, they are great to look at and made a very interesting subject to paint.

A litle more about Portmeirion

Portmeirion

Turtle

There's not a lot to say about this one. It's from a photograph I posted in my forum as the Monthly Painting Challenge, and this is my attempt. Obviously it's a Turtle and I painted it using watercolours - what else can I say. LOL.

Small boat

One of the projects, or should I call them 'challenges', that I run in my Art Forum, is what we call the Monthly Painting and Drawing Project. This is where I post a photograph of what I hope is an interesting subject, and the members all paint or draw it in their chosen medium. 

We find it an interesting way of appreciating how other artists 'see' the same subject and how they  apply artistic licence to create their own interpretation of it. Every month I create a web page showing all of the submissions so that we can compare all the paintings/drawings side-by-side. This isn't about deciding whose is best but about learning from our peers and appreciating the achievement of others.

As for the subject of the painting, I saw this small boat bobbing on the water in the marina in Torbay. Torbay is an area of coast known as "the English Riviera". There was just something about it that made me want to paint it and I knew it would make a great subject for the monthly project. 

I couldn't decide whether to paint it or draw it, so I did both. LOL.

Other boat paintings on my web site

Scarborough Boats

Boy with Boat

Spurn Lightship

Iris

I moved into my present house in the winter when the garden was as 'dead' as it could be. I could see that I had inherited many Iris plants, and that pleased me as they are one of my favourite flowers. What I hadn't expected was the range of varieties in the garden. Some with small flowers, many with regular size flowers, and one with giant flowers. And the colours range through bright yellows, cold blues, warm oranges, autumn colours and deep Indigo's. 

That first summer I couldn't wait to get outside with my camera and as each bloom opened I was delighted to discover 16 different varieties. As a fairly useless, uninformed, wanna-be gardener I have no idea what the names of them are so I lump them all into one category ..... "Gorgeous". 

It was obvious that I'd have to paint them at some point, and the one above is the first.

 

Rainbow Trout

The weather here is not very good today and the constant rain and gusty winds are keeping me indoors, yet again. I've decided to have a 'lazy' day today and spend the time in my Den-cum-Study-cum-Office-cum-Studio and get some art done.

It's been quite a while since I last painted anything using watercolours so I decided to dust off my brushes for the latest Painting Project in my art forum. I confess to struggling somewhat with the colours and tried to add multiple layers of paint which seemed to be the perfect way to create lots of green muddy gunk. As it happens, though the painting isn't as 'fresh' as I would have liked, the finished article doesn't actually look as bad as I thought it would.

Paynes Grey

A long time ago, an extremely accomplished artist I know told me not to use Paynes Grey but to make my greys using other colours, especially if needing it for shadow work. As time went on I found I was seeing this advice more and more but I couldn't stop using Payne's Grey as I found it such a useful addition to my palette.

One day I discovered the work of James Fletcher-Watson and just had to buy one of his books. With interest I read about his usual palette and was thrilled to find that it always included Paynes Grey. From that point on I stopped worrying about having it in my palette on the basis that if it was good enough for James Fletcher-Watson then it was more than good enough for me.

A couple of months ago, while catching up with my old issues of "Paint" I was taken by an article in the March 2013 edition by artist Alan Goodall. The article is actually about the All Weather Wonderpad, but my interest was more with his subject and technique. His featured painting was a Pen & Wash but he only used one colour ... Paynes Grey. His washes were built up by adding multiple layers of varying strengths and I felt compelled to attempt this myself.

So here is my version of the scene at Watendlath in the Lake District. This was a really useful tonal exercise and I thoroughly enjoyed building up the values layer by layer. I don't know whether it's my love of pencil work that makes me biased towards graphite shades but I'm really pleased with the way this grey monochrome painting has turned out. And yes, Paynes Grey will always have a place in my palette. ;-)

Rose

A few weeks ago I decided to paint a flower. I thought it would be a 'start today - finish tomorrow' sort of painting, but boy, was I wrong. First of all I didn't have as much time as I'd planned and had to work in many short sessions as opportunities presented themselves. I don't like working like that, especially with watercolours. Secondly, and more importantly, I found it much harder than I'd expected and just couldn't get the colours blending together the way I wanted them. I found some of my glazes turning to mud and it took me a while to realise it was whenever I used Alizaron Crimson as part of the mix. I suppose all of you experts out there already knew this, but I didn't. Several times I 'lifted off' the muddy area's and tried again. I finally achieved a result I could settle with and so I'm calling it 'finished'.

But I think I've made a very bad mistake with regards to composition. To give the flower bloom a grounding I invented some foliage but I'm not at all happy with the way it looks. It's too contrived and I now think a single stem with just 3 or 4 leaves would have been better. Anyway, it's all about 'learning' and I certainly learned a lot doing this one.

On a positive note, it's not that long ago I'd have attempted something like this using single washes and going wet-in-wet, which is not something I'm good at. I feel that by using many layers I've achieved a much greater depth to the painting. It may be a more time consuming and fiddly process, but it pays dividends with something like this.

Merry Xmas

It has been far too long since I last posted on my blog, and even longer since I spent any time visiting the blogs of my friends here in in blogland. As we all know, life sometimes has a habit of getting in the way. But I couldn't let Xmas pass without getting in here to send my very best wishes to you all.

The painting above is one I copied (for my own amusement and pleasure) from a Xmas card I received this year. For quite a long time I have been wanting to find a subject that would allow me to work again with watercolour and pencil, and I really liked the opportunity this scene provided. It's all a bit rushed, especially the buildings and background trees, but I like the way the graphite background has pushed the Robin, Holly and Post box to the front. I will definitely being doing more of this mixed media combination.

Though very busy I have been keeping my hand in with occasional small sketches. As you know I really like working with pen and soluble ink, and loose watery sketches like this one of a small church surrounded by fir trees was great fun to do and only took a few minutes. This was using a new Rotring ArtPen which was a birthday present back in October, and I really liked the way it flowed over the paper. I also received a set of Carbon Pencils which I haven't yet been able to do a lot with but I believe they can work quite well with water to, so I'm looking forward to playing with them in due course.

A few weeks ago I painted this Fairy for one of the Painting Projects in my Art Forum. This was something completely different for me as I studiously avoid painting people. That's something that I really must address and when I'm able to get back into my art properly I think 'people' must be high on my agenda of things to paint. It's too early yet to be thinking of New Years Resolutions but when we get to that point this may be a very good subject to put near the top of my Resolutions list.

On the other hand, I'm hoping good ol' Santa will bring me a new Macro lens for my camera. I have a page on my web site showing the flowers in my garden during every month of the year. The present photo's are passable but I'd really like to improve on them and then paint them. I quite fancy doing more floral work. Hey, if we were living in the sixties I could do paintings of the Flower People and kill two birds with one stone. lol.

Finally a word about 'motivation'. I have none. Lifes little tests have a way of knocking the stuffing out of us and robbing us of what inspiration and motivation we may have once had. I have recently come to realise that when I say "I haven't got time" I really mean "I don't feel like it". That has to change and I am determined that it will change.

I wish you all the very best Christmas you can have and, if I don't see you before, a very Happy and Peaceful New Year.

Iris

A while ago I painted a Rose and it was my first serious attempt at applying multiple layers to a watercolour. I found the technique of adding glazes quite alien to anything I'd done before but was determined to have another go when time allowed. Well, here it is ....

As I neared the end of the process I was sensing that the pigment on the paper was very close to turning to 'mud'. Parts of it were feeling a little over worked and other parts where losing their luminosity. I think one more glaze would have been a step too far. My guess is that some of the pigments I used lacked sufficient transparency but I'm also thinking that maybe I mixed some glazes a little too dense. I think that more water and a better understanding of transparent pigments would help a great deal.

Still, I'm not disappointed in the result and it was great to be holding a paintbrush again. And I'd love to hear any tips from all you competent exponents of glazing out there. 

Tempus Fugit

... or, in other words, Time Flies. It certainly is doing for me. I looked at the number of posts I've made on my blog so far this year ... 7. We're halfway through the year and I've managed only 7 and I missed the month of April completely. I decided to throw together a quick post just so that I don't miss June as well.

This week, for the first time in a very long while, I actually found a few hours to do some painting. I had a go at this anemone which I found in the Reference Photo section of my forum. I used the layering technique I learned about a while ago but applied my own thinking to the method rather than follow 'instructions' rigidly. I felt much more comfortable doing it this way and I'm not disappointed with the result. I've still got a long way to go with it but I definitely felt I was understanding more.

On another matter, I've finally dragged myself kicking and squealing into the 21st century ... I've bought myself a tablet ... a Samsung Galaxy Note 8. There are many reasons why I preferred it to other tablets, one being it's built-in pressure sensitive digital pen. I've tried a few doodles and doubt I'll ever do any serious drawing with it, but it's great fun and I'm now on the lookout for the best drawing software to go with it. Don't be surprised if you see some digital doodles posted here from time to time. I'm also hoping my new tablet will help me get round your blogs more often as I'll be able to use it at times when I can't normally get to my PC.

Our local Art in the Park exhibition ended last week and I had to go and collection my "Fuchsia 'Winston Churchill'" painting. No, it did't sell, but I'm not disappointed. There was a time when I mistakenly thought that a person couldn't be classed as a proper artist if they didn't sell their work.  Since then I've come to realise that it's not how much we sell that makes us an artist but what is in our heart. We should be called 'heartists'. lol.


I had taken my camera with me to the park, as always, and on the way back from the exhibition I detoured to the lakes. An enjoyable half-hour with my camera resulted in scores of photo's to be scrutinised once back home and I'll close this post by sharing 3 or 4 of them with you.

Thank you for stopping by and I hope to get to YOUR blog very soon.

Trying something new.

Though I haven't been getting any time for art recently, I was away on holiday for a few days the week before last and I decided to have a go at painting a flower by following the instructions in a new book I have by Michael Lakin. He is a wonderful botanical artist and I thought it would be interesting to try his technique.

The subject is a Rose and included with the book was a tracing, so I can't take any credit for the drawing. The painting process was hugely different to anything I've tried before. It involved putting on pale graduated washes, letting them dry, and then adding another, gradually building up the painting in layers. I know some of you already work this way and I was keen to experience it for myself. In total I put on something like 7 or 8 layers. It was interesting putting a wash of French Ultramarine on top of the Cadmium Red petals ... something I would never have dreamed of doing.

I started the painting nearly 2 weeks ago and it has taken me 3 sessions in all to complete it. I was surprised at what a slow process it is. I shall definitely try this method again soon but I'll leave it until I have enough time ... it's not a method to be rushed, that's for sure.

And big apologies for not getting round your blogs as much as I'd like ... I'm missing all your wonderful art.

Trial run!

During one of my plein air walks in early summer, I took a photograph of this fabulous house. I was taken by the manicured lawns, the perfectly planted flower beds and borders, and the structural framework of the surrounding trees, especially the large Copper Beech tree.

It has been quite a while since I last used my brushes and I felt the need for a bit of a practice before painting anything proper, and when I flicked through my library of reference photo's this one jumped out at me. As a 'refresher' practice piece I wasn't too fussy about lines and colours but I really like the way it's come out and wish I'd made a greater effort. So, I will be doing this one again and hopefully benefiting from the trial-run.

Sheepish looks.

Like so many of us this time of year, I'm afraid I just haven't had the amount of time for blogging that I would like. I've attempted to get round a few of the blogs I follow but I'm doing very well. If I haven't visited YOUR blog recently, please bear with me ... I'll catch up soon.

I've also had no time whatsoever for my art. I haven't touched a brush or a pencil for weeks. Actually, that's not quite true. I did find myself with a little time last week to do something so picked up a small 9" x 6" pad and selected a photo from one of my recent walks. Some of you will remember my encounter with the flock of sheep and this is taken from one of those photos. I don't usually try and paint animals so this was quite different for me. It was fairly quick and 'wet' (by my usual standards) and I enjoyed watching the colours blend. I must do more of this sort of thing.

One small matter I'd appreciate some help with is the 'miniature' pencil drawing shown in my last post. I am completely stunned by the wonderful comments from you all. When I knocked out that small sketch I had no intention of producing a keepable drawing. It was just a few minutes sketching and as such I gave no thought to paper or placement. As you will see from the attached photo, the sketch is stuck at the top of a scribbles page in an A5 sketchpad. In view of the good comments it has received I've decided to keep it but think it may get lost (thrown away) if I leave it where it is. The only idea I've had so far is to cut it out and mount it into a very small photo frame. If anyone has a better and more original idea, I'd love to hear it.