Mini Abstract 5.

A quickish gouache and water colour mini-abstract done this afternoon, just to let off steam.  This worked out as I intended but it would have worked out far better in oils.

"Mine Field"  

Mini Abstract - 9.52 x 9" - Gouache and Watercolour on Watercolour Paper

Drawing of another era

This drawing and watercolour was influenced by another painting - a sort of homage but I can't find out who the artist is; I screen-grabbed the image so long ago. I adore the viewpoint. This was my first attempt and it was done very quickly for an online challenge. I will work up this style when I have more time but, in the process of making of it, I was inundated with new ideas for bigger works. Lovely to work with pen on a ready-made background which consists of splashes of watercolour.

"Long Time Ago"

Waterolour, Pen, Gouache on Cartridge Paper - A5

Quick Sketch III

This was done in ultra-quick time. I had a load of small A5-sized paper with watercolour markings all over them and I started painting and drawing on them today allowing myself to be led by the marks. This one reminds me of the illustrations I used to love in childrens' books. I guess it is the innocence and softness of the lines.

"Avoiding the Day"

Pen, Watercolour, Gouache on Cartridge Paper - A5

Another quick drawing this time with gouache.

Another quick drawing/sketch this afternoon. Same subject, different photo. I cannot replicate the sitter's face as I am so out of practice. Again the lighting for the photography defeated me. I do see some improvement over the last effort though, so that's something.

"Inspired by Anna (2)"

 Pencil, Watercolour & Gouache on Cartridge Paper - A5

Old work revisted

Two years ago I started a work in oil for The Virtual Paintout challenge and didn't finish it because I just couldn't get the colours right. I then tried to do it in gouache and watercolour and it still didn't work out but I found this half-done work a few weeks ago and was determined to 'fix' it. I didn't!! However, I then became determined to 'finish' it to some level of competence. I couldn't match the glowing oranges and rusts of the original photograph as those colours just didn't exist in my collection of gouache tubes and the detail was too fine in the original photograph to transpose to this small format, especially in that long line of small houses on the left. I also should have used a finer grain of watercolour paper to make detail work easier. The only thing I am really happy with is the tree, and even that needs some fine-tuning but I can't do any more without muddying the whole work. I now have lots of work on the go for a year-end project which might be a bit too ambitious for me taking into account the little spare time I have for painting on the weekends. We carry on.

"Lane in San Miguel de Allende"

Gouache, Watercolour and Coloured Pencil on Watercolour Paper 6" x 6"

Peony - Sketch

This started out as a sketch for a bigger work but ended up being a bit more detailed than planned. I just couldn't help it for some reason. The colour of the peony was such a violent pink and very difficult to paint and photograph, but it was luscious and I just couldn't stop. I learned a quite a bit in this tiny work, one being that the surface of the watercolour paper I was using was a bit too rough, but overall, it's not a real issue. Learning a bit each day, these days.

"Shocking Peony"

Gouache, Watercolour on Watercolour Paper

6.5" x 5" (Approx.)

Experiment 2.

I really don't know how I dare post this, but I am not in the mood to edit my work right now. I feel like showing what's coming off my shaky little production line as it goes along. I might delete all my mediocre work at the end of the year as a gift to myself but posting on my blog helps me in very strange ways. Long ago I promised myself I would do a sketch or small watercolour each night to keep the old elbow greased with the obvious goal of learning a little faster than I would if I only painted on the weekends when time, good lighting and 'studio' set-up was more conducive to supporting good work. Last night I started this homage to my favourite self portrait of Rembrandt. I had previously done it in charcoal and liked it apart from the fact that some of the proportions of his features were slightly wrong. In this much smaller work, the same problems arose in capturing his features accurately. I did a tracing and found that tracing marks do not take on watercolour paper very well and even though the face is much closer to the original portrait than my charcoal work, it is frustrating to discover that only a millimetre out of exactitude can totally destroy a work. I retraced over it tonight which improved it slightly and tried to hide some of the mistakes with pen and ink and pastel. It's a start, even though a little rough and tumble.

"Sketch - Homage to a Rembrandt Self Portrait"

Watercolour, Pen and Ink, Pastel on Watercolour Paper 6" x 7"

Twitter Exhibition in Moss, Norway - SOLD

A few weeks ago, one of my Twitter artist friends, David Sandum, decided to stage an exhibition in Moss, Norway, to raise money for a children's library. Via Twitter he invited everyone with a Twitter account to send in a postcard sized painting on paper to be sold off to raise funds for this library. I thought this was a super idea and sent in the painting below. I based it on the photograph I used for one of my favourite asparagus paintings in July earlier this year. (Holy mackerel...was it that long ago?!) I had started out with a painting of a tube of oil paint standing on its 'head' but that didn't work out with gouache for some reason or another, hence the asparagus' emerging again. It is more simplified than the oil painting, but it was fun to paint and include the colours of the beautiful Norwegian flag. I haven't been painting for ages due to time constraints, but now that I have absolutely no deadlines to meet, or paintings to send into a challenge, I am going to paint and draw completely for myself. I look forward to seeing what crops up in my work as I also feel a new creative energy rising. I'll let everyone know if this painting sells. They are going for about $20 so there's hope that someone might want this. I hope so anyway.

"Asparagus for Norway"
Watercolour and Gouache on Watercolour Paper - 6.5" x 5.5" (Approx)

Secret Garden, London.

This is my first submission to the Calypso Moon Artist Movement. Our challenge was to paint our Secret Garden. I live in a very green area of London, alongside beautiful vistas of trees and grassland just a stone’s throw from the Thames River, but, for me, none of it could be classified as ‘secret’. My ‘Secret Gardens’ are the great parks of London, and they are truly ‘Great’. I have my own special corners in these elegant spaces where Londoners come to relax and absorb the beauty and because one can be so anonymous in these masterpieces, a sense of owning a personal spot becomes very real. My secret garden is really ‘secret’ so I am not telling where it is. It is a wonderfully serene corner and I have the feeling that it has been there for a very long time; nothing new, nothing cultivated; just a naturally occurring place of peace. Strangely the vista I have chosen to paint is interesting for its lack of flowers; it’s just a cacophony of greens, layered one on the other with alarming subtlety and complexity.

Depicting the myriad variations of green was something I found tough, but I had set myself the challenge of pulling off this monochromatic scene. Possibly the end result might have been more convincing in oils as I would be able to blend the colours with a bit more subtlety, but I decided to stick with my own personal challenge of learning about 'water colour and gouache' as a medium all over again, and I am finding some marvellous surprises along the way. This work took me six hours.

"Secret Garden, London"
Water Colour & Gouache on Paper - 11.5" x 11.5" (Approx.)

A Lane in Provence.

After finishing my challenge for the Virtual Paint Out I felt that I had spare creative energy to release and I wanted to paint something special. I just couldn’t find any inspiration anywhere in my large library of photographs or even any items of interest from my home for a quick still life. I eventually landed on a photograph of a lane in Provence, France, and chose to do this water colour. I want to paint two water colour sketches per week, and this week I have only painted one. However, I enjoyed this at the end when it came together, but after two hours work, it looked so boring and similar to the other two I have painted recently. It then hit me; it needs a figure. I have to confess that for me all landscapes have added meaning and pathos with a figure in it. I don’t know why this is, and I could go on about it, but this work looks a lot better with the small figure on the path; just a suggestion of a woman hurrying off somewhere. I made her much smaller than a photograph would have shown a real person to scale, and this was intentional as it always adds to the grandeur of the surroundings. What I like about the effect of adding the figure is that, for me, it seems to take the scene back in time and maybe that is because I put her in a long dress. Who knows?

"A Lane in Provence"
Water Colour on Paper - 10.5" x 10.5" (Approx.)

Water Colour - Value Sketch

I promised myself I would complete a couple of water colour sketches each week and I have managed to do that (just). I was hoping to do more, but I hurt my neck so for two days I really didn't feel up to it. I chose this landscape from a beautiful photograph of the European Lowlands, probably Holland or Belgium. I would post the photograph here but I don't know who to attribute it to. My basic intention was just to get the effect of the low-lying land with the stretch of sunlight just touching the horizon. The photograph had a serene drama that I have missed somewhat although I am closer to it than I was last night. A day makes all the difference to how one views a painting. I also found the exact rendering of the values very difficult, and I would lay over another dark wash here and there, but it is getting too muddy as it is. I also think there are some superb photographs that don't translate into good paintings, no matter how good the painter is. That is not an excuse for my work here, but to be original and inspired, I think I must get out into nature myself and take my own photographs, or even do some plein air work. so, if all goes well with my artistic plans this weekend, maybe another water colour will appear on this blog tomorrow. I am hoping to start a challenge work, but I have 'sketched' such a complicated response in my mind, that I might have to backtrack a little. That will be in oil, so I am looking forward to seeing how I respond to oil again as it is so much slower than water colour.

"Lowlands Landscape - Sketch"
Water Colour - 11" x 11" (Approx.)

1,2,3, Testing.

My first foray into watercolours after decades was huge fun. I just didn’t know where to start as I had no references, so I made up a scene. I really wanted to paint some sort of landscape so I had to make it up so who knows what type of tree this is as I certainly don’t recognise it, nor do I recognise the terrain from any of my travels. A pastiche of sorts, I suppose. I can see so many mistakes, especially with the composition. I should have brought the top branches and leaves forward more, but I am not perturbed about them at all and I just love the way watercolour dries immediately. This instant drying of the substance was quite a shock and I had to stop putting so much gouache on the tray - rather reminiscent of acrylics. A change of pace was what I needed and I think if I can keep up with a couple of sketches during the week, I will feel that I am progressing with my art. I am only painting on weekends and it does take some warming up on a Saturday morning to get into the swing of things and feel as though the process is seamless. It isn’t seamless, so I need to do more during the week. This is such a basic work, I hesitate to post it, but I promised myself. Now, I'm on to start, and hopefully finish, a long-outstanding charcoal sketch project that has been languishing in the corner of my mind.

"Imaginary Landscape with Tree"

Watercolour & Gouache on Paper - 11" x 11" (Approx.)

Shopping & Rambling - But No Art

At work this afternoon all I was able to do was dream of painting and getting back home to the easel. Paintings were running around in my head and I found it hard to concentrate. The solution? I came home via the art materials store. If fiscal responsibility were my forté I would choose another route to come home because the ‘art shop’ is right underneath the station where I end my journey and I find it almost impossible to resist going in for a browse. However, tonight I really did need to buy some water colours, and I hoped to get in a ‘practice run’ with my new purchases once I got home. However, I hadn’t realised how incredibly tired my eyes were, so I decided not to do a thing other than sort out my new purchases like a child. I didn’t buy too much – seven tubes of gouache and some brushes, but these were ridiculously expensive and amounted to £51.00. Ouch!

I’ve decided to add water colour works to my small repertoire and as I have never tried gouache, I am aching to give it a go. I photographed the magnificent objects together with some ancient bottles of inks and pens I have had lying around and hopefully by the end of the weekend, I shall have at least one small work to post here. I shouldn’t tempt fate like that because I have other works on the go, but I think a foray into watercolours will free me up a little – I have hemmed myself in a little lately and I am sure things would be very different if I had a bespoke studio, but until that time comes, I am going to stretch myself in small ways. Now I'm off to rest my eyes in a dark room. Really.

Gorgeous New Tubes of Gouache and Brushes!

Old Pen and Ink Supplies - What could go wrong?