Artist Showcase

As my regular followers will know, I like to showcase artists and their work on my web site. For the first time, I've invited an artist back to do a second showcase. It is my good friend Ingrid Ormestad and I'm delighted to be displaying a new selection of her work. I find Ingrid's excellent use of wet-in-wet quite inspirational and I know of nobody who does it better. To see Ingrid's showcase, click here ... Artists Showcase

If any of my blog followers would like to be showcased, please use this contact form to get in touch.

Rose

This is something different for me, and I'm quite pleased with it.

Most of us have a favourite Rose, or a Rose that has a special meaning to us. Like many pet owners, when our beloved dogs pass on, we like to buy something for the garden as a token of remembrance. Our last pet was a brindle greyhound/sheepdog cross called Tess. Soon after she died we came across a rose at a garden centre called "Tess of the D'urbervilles" and we just had to buy it.

This Rose has no special meaning. It is just one of the Minature Rose varieties, but it's small size in no way detracts from it's beauty.

Gulf Challenge

A short while ago, Sandra included me in her Gulf Challenge. Here is my effort.

Lime Kiln - Mark 2

Well, I did the Lime Kiln in watercolour and I'm really glad I did. When I first chose this subject I had considered it to be an easy picture and when I found it more difficult than I'd expected I thought it was because of the acrylics. Having done it now in watercolour I realise that the picture was harder than it looked. I'm not sure which I prefer and there is less of a difference in them than I'd expected. The acrylic looks flatter somehow.

It's been an interesting exercise and quite eye-opening.

Lime Kiln

I decided to have a go with acrylics. To get the feel of them I wanted a simple picture and chose this view of an old abandoned Lime Kiln that I discovered in Yorkshire last year. I struggled to get a decent wash down for the background hills and found colour mixing difficult, although that applies to everything I do any way. I'm not pleased with the end result but don't know how much of that is down to my using a new medium so I will do this again in watercolour when I can, just to help me better appreciate the differences between the two mediums.

Gulf Challenge

One of my followers, Sandra, invited me to take part in the Gulf Challenge. I have agreed though available time is an issue. Still, I will get there.

In the meantime, I remembered this photograph I took a while ago of a Black Headed Gull. The Gull's expression says it all. Click on the photo to see a larger version.

Artists block.

It's been a while since I last posted art in my blog and that's because I haven't done any. There are many reasons ... very busy at work, jobs at home, family issues, other online distractions ... and there just aren't enough hours in the day. When I do find an opportunity to do something, I usually have only an hour or so and, to be quite honest, just can't seem to put my mind to getting out the stuff and looking for something to draw or paint.

I always believed 'artists block' was where an artist simply couldn't summon up suitable idea's in the same way as 'writers block' leaves an author devoid of words, but now I'm wondering if it's also a case of "can't be bothered". If you have any tips for getting the juices flowing again, let me hear from you.

This drawing was done a few years ago and is of a character created by a friend. It was a project to create a 3D image using computer software and he did very well. I couldn't resist getting it down on paper.