Tiny Watercolour paintings

 I am struggling to complete eight 'Crystal Healer 'paintings by the end of the month.  I'm just not 'feeling it' at the moment.  To add to my procrastination I decided to paint two tiny flower girls. 

 I enjoy painting small especially when I hear voices telling me to go larger - paint bigger.  No person actually telling me what to do but the little self sabotaging voice that most of us hear from time to time.

I added some sparkle with gelly roll pens just because I could!

Citrine

Citrine is one of my Crystal Healers set of paintings.  Citrine is comforting, uplifting and happy! 

I had set myself a goal of painting 8 Crystal healers by the end of July using gouache paint.  I painted three: rose quartz twice, and then amethyst and then I decided enough was enough!  I hated painting with gouache!

Yesterday I went back to my watercolour paints and I am so glad I did.  I was miserable painting with gouache and with smooth hot press paper and multi-media paper.  The painting above is done on paper almost older than me!  It is vintage watercolour paper made in Somerset, England in the 1960's.  It was a pleasure to work with and I still have many more sheets to use.

My next character will be Aquamarine......................unless I change my mind!

More Painting Practice

I painted this in between preparing dinner today.  In fact, I painted two but preferred this one.  I followed a simple tutorial on skillshare.  The video was simple but assumed that the painter was already familiar was certain techniques.  I enjoyed doing this one and look forward to doing my own versions on a theme.

Multiple Landscapes

I've been trying out something different today - painting multiple landscapes at one time.  I painted straight onto paper without sketching first which is new for me.  I am the world's biggest critic when I look at what I have produced but know that many artists have a lot of work that they reject before putting their best work forward.  I am hoping that the more hours of practice I put in, the better my work will be.

I enjoyed the process of painting today - despite the outcome and time completely ran away from me.  Time to make tonight's evening meal now and put the paints away for another day.

Christmas Tree Girl, Angel Cat and a Dog

 My Christmas Tree girl looks a little snooty!

Wasn't so pleased how angel cat turned out but I am sure I will develop my skills the more I draw and paint.

The top two paintings took quite a bit of time to do over the weekend, however, the doggy sketch and quick watercolour over the top took minutes.  Guess which one my husband liked best?

Another Angel

I sketched another angel today.  I need to add some further detail but this is as far as I got.  I like the serene look on her face.  I shall probably keep on drawing and painting angels until I no longer need to practice them!

Painting in the Dark

I never seem to have good enough lighting.  Today was cloudy and overcast and I resorted to working under lamplight.

I am looking at my photos on here and feel embarrassed about showing my work.  I wanted to make an angel Christmas card and sketched a few 'cute' images.  I painted her using water colours and used a fine liner pen for detail.

I always feel let down that the image I want to present isn't the one that I end up with.  I think she has 'character' even if the painting skills are a bit wobbly.

Social Media Thoughts

I've recently started to post photos on Instagram.  I have been reluctant to do this but a lot of my old 'contacts' are on there and I felt I was missing out.  I am already wondering if this was a mistake.  So many of the photos on Instagram are carefully curated, it makes my efforts look totally amateur and probably not the 'experience' most people want when searching for their hearts desire.  I tend to make something and then take a snap shot of it, faults and all and it's there for all to see, dissect, admire or criticise.  I don't know if I am cut out for this kind of public exposure.

Although my blog is out there on the world stage I don't feel so vulnerable posting here.  Here is like a safe harbour and not the vast ocean of Instagram and other social media sites.   I am in a quandary what to do.  Sometimes I think I should keep my 'art' to myself and wait until I produce something I am 100% happy with, but what if that day never comes?  For now I think I will continue to make my creations public, after all we all have to start somewhere don't we?

A Fish Out of Water

I quit my job.  After a year working as a General Kitchen Assistant in a school kitchen, I realised that my 'good enough' job was not quite good enough.  A giant leap of faith will take me where I want to go.  I cannot wait for new (and creative) adventures.

* Fish painted by following Anne Butera's Skillshare class 'Learn to Paint Watercolor Goldfish.'

Universe

A Universe of pink, purple and blue planets!  These are not my usual colour choices but it was fun to experiment nevertheless.

I wonder what sort of beings could inhabit such planets?  The pale blue and white one looks rather glacial.  A place of crystal caves and spectacular ice formations perhaps?

Painting Planets

I was inspired to get out my paintbox after seeing planets painted by Melanie April Houten.  It was a good exercise for me to make colour swatches and get a feel for using paints again.  I discovered Melanie on one of Anne Butera's series on sketchbook conversations. Reading the sketchbook conversations is a highlight of my week as I know that they always manage to spark my interest and imagination.

It is wonderful to paint - not for an end product particularly - but to just blend paints on the paper and see what special effects emerge.  I have missed painting and should really get back to it even if only as a meditative exercise.  I can imagine playing some magical sounding flute or haunting Celtic music as I blend the paint and water across the page.  It is a wonderful form of mindful relaxation!

If you are looking for a hobby, I would definitely recommend watercolour painting.  You do not need a lot of materials to start out: a watercolour paper pad, a small pan of paints or a few tubes and a couple of paint brushes.  They needn't be the best quality when starting out.  Just get a feel for using the materials.  Wet the paper and then drop on colours and see what happens!  It is addictive!

Not in a Painting Frame of Mind

I started out the year with good intentions.  I was going to do this and I was going to do that and I was going to embrace art every day.  The reality is that I have hardly done a thing.  Today I 'forced' myself to stick down a sheet of watercolour paper and drop some paint on to it.  I just watched the paint do its thing.  I wasn't particular about the colours I chose and ignored if they would blend well together and whether or not they were warm or cool colour families.   Normally I would just throw away the 'wasted' paper but not this time. 

Doing art isn't just about the end result.  Doing art is a self expression.  Doing art is a learning process.

I read a really useful quote recently which is rather than saying 'practice makes perfect' a better terminology is 'practice makes progress'.  I know I need to practice to make progress with my art and unless I practice I am not going to even start to make progress!

So, today I made baby steps in putting down some paint onto paper.  I just need to keep doing this in order to build my confidence in expressing my creativity.

Slight Change of Plan

For the last two days I have found it extremely difficult to do my 'art every day'.  I now realise that I need to make some adjustments to my original project/plan/intention that I had for 2017 that was to paint/draw or create every day.  My revised plan is to do this when I can but for days when I am unable to get the paints out or draw I will be embracing art either on line or in books or visiting a gallery etc.  My intention is to have a place for art in my life everyday but not quite as I had originally envisaged.  Who is to say that plans need to be set in stone any way?

Above is a quick watercolour of a Brussels Sprout!  Not exactly a picture you would want on your wall but a good exercise in building up colour and layers and learning how to do 'veining' of the leaves.  The circles of paint at the bottom of the paper are the colours I used in the painting.

The postcard sized watercolour is lying on top of an Indian quilt that I was lucky to receive as a Christmas present.  It is block printed by hand using vegetable dyes and is 100% cotton and beautifully tactile.  I have just noticed how well the colours blend with the Brussels Sprout!

I hope that your first week of the year is off to a good start and maybe you are having to make some adjustments to plans, like I have.  We'll get to our goals in the end but a few diversions will make our journey's all the more interesting!

Making Swatches

I've been making swatches of my favourite set of watercolour paints.  I feel inspired to take up water colour painting again after a break of a few years.  My source of inspiration is my watercolour artist friend Anne from My Giant Strawberry who has demonstrated to me that with practise comes perfection.

It is lovely to have my interest rekindled.   Watercolour painting is like an old friend.  I have dabbled with acrylic paints but they really are not 'me'.  With watercolour the paints just glide across the paper as you move the pigment and water.  The results are unpredictable but is not life?

I may not blog as much as usual while I get reacquainted with my paints, brushes and paper but will be sure to let you know of any progress I make.

Flaky Painting

Since I started sketching this week, I thought I would go a step further and do some water colour painting too.  I used my rich and creamy Kuretake paints which are unlike any other water colour paint I have known with such vibrant colours.  For my inspiration I chose photos of flowers from a gardening magazine.   As I wanted a quick result I really rushed what I was doing and slapped on the background paint without much thought and care.  Annoyed and disappointed with myself I thought about how I could make my rushed work look acceptable.  I decided on covering the whole painting with sea salt flakes to absorb the water and create an interesting effect.  I used a spray bottle to add more water to see what would happen.  At this stage I had written off the painting anyway.

I left it overnight to dry out and brushed the salt off this morning.  Well, I brushed off most of the salt but some of it was stuck fast!  So, using my wax pastels I went over the flowers trying to add some detail back into the washed out effect colouring over crunchy salt flakes as I did so.  I am not really happy with how this turned out but I will chop up the painting and stick it on the front of a journal to learn from my mistake.  I don't know why I hurry the things that I do.  I guess that I am always wanting to try out the next thing.  I think I need to start an art journal with the words' patience is a virtue' and use that as my guiding mantra as I fill the pages!

I hope everyone is having/had a great weekend!

Immortalized

I won a competition back in February and my prize was a pet portrait of Gizmo. I was thrilled to receive the portrait last week.  The wonderful Lyn of everydaylife painted this watercolour of him with such painstaking detail.  Thank you so much Lyn.  I now have my naughty ginger muffin (that's my son's nickname for him!) immortalized on paper.  The portrait proudly sits on my mantlepiece next to my woodwose man and green man as a protector of our living space. 

If you haven't met Lyn already then please do go and check out her blog.  Her photography is amazing and visiting is a real treat!

Fabric and Paints

I decided that a simple presentation was the way to go with my fabric brooches and I used a hessian lined basket. I recycled cardboard from various food packaging and drew around a drinks coaster to get the rounded edges.  I didn't use safety pins on the back after all as they were very sharp so I went for standard brooch backs.

As these brooches will hopefully be sold at the farm with proceeds going to the community vineyard project, I wanted them to look rustic and a little folksy.  Whether people will buy them is yet to be known!

Not content with just playing with fabric, I decided to play with my watercolour paints too.  I just applied a wash of plain water to watercolour paper and let the paints do 'their thing'.  I didn't particularly like what I did so I used a viewfinder (just a card with an aperture) to find the most pleasing images, and then I drew around the inside of the viewfinder and cut the images out.  Watercolour paints are so unpredictable but if you just go with the flow they can produce some interesting results.

Stamping Scenes

One of my favourite crafts is rubber stamping scenes.

There are a wide range of scene stamps available from shrubs and hills, churches and cottages, livestock and wildlife. The challenge in using these stamps is that you have to make up the scenes yourself.

With a bit of practice I managed to put some convincing scenes together.

The next tricky bit is colouring the image. I used Aquamarker pens which are water based and used a paintbrush and water to blend. I still need to practise this technique but I am having fun whilst trying!

Dragon Fruit Part 2

Following on from yesterdays post, here are my painted dragon fruits! They were such fun to paint and I am sure I will paint them again. If you want to see a little bit more then please go over to my 'arty' blog at Mutant Trees.

Mutant Trees Blog Update

I have just updated my Mutant Trees blog with a new post for those of you who have been following my 'artistic pursuits'! You no longer have to look at the post of the 'alien spider' that has been sitting there since July!!!