Catch Up - Poppies, Roses and Dandelions

Sorry that the blog has been a bit quiet recently, but things are quite difficult at the moment., I will write my usual style of post when things are calmer.
In the meantime, in order to keep the blog active, I will try to post my paintings, and hope you enjoy looking at them.....some better than others, but all taken from my own garden.

Using the landscape

Inspired by the most magnificent display of cow parsley on the central reservation of a duel carriageway, I was tempted into trying to paint some flowers in the landscape rather than as specimen blooms.

I tried the cow parsley first, and although I had no source material for the background, I was quite pleased with the result for a first time effort. The sky got a bit muddy, so I put that part of the painting under the cold tap and managed to wash away a bit of the top paint, but it still remained a bit dark.

I then had a second go using foxgloves, trying to keep it a bit lighter and fresher, but the same scene more or less, but adding a tree on the RH side for a bit of balance.

Both paintings are done on 'Andalucia' paper from Hahnemuhle, ( something new I bought from a recent art fair ) 500gm weight, rough on one side and smooth on the other, both side suitable for painting. I used the rough side, but I did find the surface a bit soft for using with masking fluid. It needed to be removed as soon as possible.

 

I now need to get out and take some photos of fields, hedgerows, pathways etc so that I have a few more background ideas to use!

Rhododendrons and Things

After a totally disastrous few weeks at Avon Valley Artists, trying to paint the compulsory subjects well outside of my comfort zone, I was determined to find a little time to paint something I really enjoyed doing. First, though, in a spirit of 'Wart and All' as Peter Ward would say, there was the 'Cityscape', followed by 'The Sky' and finishing for the summer with 'Interiors' They say it is good to be pushed beyond that which we all know, so hopefully I did learn something in the process!!

                                                   'Cityscape' Pastel on Black paper
Would help if the buildings were upright and the RH green building was a lot more subtle. It looks much better on the pc with the light shining through, than it does in the flesh!

 

'Storm Clouds At Sunset'  Watercolour

Again a painting that looks better here than it does in reality. Turner never seemed to

have a problem with keeping his colours fresh. Mine are VERY sludgy in the middle.

 

                                  Interior.........'Sunny Corner'  Watercolour on Cornwall Rough
Far too tight and unimaginative. I wish I could paint this sort of subject really loosely, but just do not seem to know how!


Back then to the painting that gives me such pleasure...........
This week, I have been finishing a painting of Rhododendrons from the garden. They have been splendid this year, I just wish I could do them justice, but I have really enjoyed it. Sorry there are no progress photos, but I have been working in late evening and my cheap camera does not render the colours very well except in good light. Must get a better one!

                                  'Rhododendrons' Watercolour on Leonardo 600gm rough paper

White and PinkTulips

Whilst doing my weekly shop at the local supermarket, I could not resist adding this lovely bunch of  tulips to the trolley.
What really attracted me to them - apart from the fact that I love painting tulips - was the very delicate colours which had a sort of sugar icing feel to them, which I thought I might attempt to capture. The darker flowers had the same sort of bloom to them that can appear on plums and grapes etc, so I knew it was going to be a challenge.

 

There is not a lot to say about the process, my palette and paper were the same as always, and I started with colours dropped onto wet paper which I allowed to merge into themselves, being especially careful with the greens to avoid losing the freshness, which can happen when they run into other colours.

When the wash was dry, I drew in the shapes of the flowers lightly in pencil, placing the shapes where the background suggested they should go, looking for areas on the perimeter where I could lose some of the edges, to keep it loose.

Then it was just a question of painting in the shapes, using a selection of pinks and blues, blotting out areas which I wanted to keep white, and making sure the stems looked natural as they passed behind other flowers.
I painted both flowers and leaves together as this helped me to see how the composition was developing, and as usual, I painted up to but not over the lines, so that when the paint was dry, they could be erased.

I tried to keep the leaves as delicate as the flowers, but I am aware that they would normally be a stronger green than this.
I finished by adding some white acrylic gouache to some of the tulips to hopefully give that 'bloom' mentioned earlier, and then my normal light splatter of the same gouache to hopefully loosen up the image a bit.

                                                              'Pink and White Tulips'
                                          Watercolour on Fabriano Artistico Extra White
                                                                 300g rough paper

Paintings at Art Group: Catch-up

Time seems to be whizzing away, and with all the family issues that have needed dealing with over the past couple of months, painting, except on a Thursday morning, has had to go on the back burner. It means that I have only produced art fulfilling the group programme and there are no accompanying process photos, but I thought I would post the paintings to keep the blog active before I write another post in my usual style.
So this is what we have been getting up to over the last few weeks at Avon Valley Artists Group.....



GLASS AND/OR CHINA

ANIMALS

SUNLIGHT AND SHADOWS

RAINBOW OF COLOURS

RURAL BUILDINGS (after John Blockley)

 

I hope you enjoy looking!

 

Rhubarb

 

 

As The topic at Avon Valley Artists was Fruit and/or Vegetables, I looked out a small picture of Rhubarb that I had keep for ages with the intention of having a go at painting it. I think I must have been mad. I can honestly say that the leaves of the plant were probably the hardest set of inanimate objects that I have ever tried painting!!

I did not discover this until it was well under way. I had done a fairly loose drawing of the leaves and just thought that I would deal with the 'how' later. I might have given up before I started otherwise!

 

 

 

 

Once the drawing was ready, I started with the sticks of fruit and their background, trying to vary the colours a bit to make them more interesting. I worked from the centre outwards and left some slightly more yellow than the bright pinks in the middle 

  

I tackled the leaves, by painting very pale backgrounds of Naples Yellow and then using stronger yellows and greens, including Yellow Ochre, and Serpentine Green to paint around the veins allowing the background colour to be seen.
As I moved across the paper, I tried to get darker and freer, using Apatite Green Genuine with the Serpentine Green to produce the variety of colours. I then added some very dark green in he top RH corner to give some depth.

Writing this description makes it all seem so simple, but the leaves of Rhubarb are very distinctive and  I did want to portray their blousy ebullient character and did not want them to appear flat. It took a long time and I was never really sure it was going to work.

Since finishing the painting, I thought the sticks seemed a little pale, so I added a bit more colour so that the painting did not seem so top heavy.

                                                                         'Rhubarb'

                             Watercolour on Fabriano Artistico Extra White 300 gm paper

Snowdrops

 

There has been a bit of a thing going this month with Snowdrops!  When the subject at Avon Valley Artists was 'Moody Blues' I painted the  delphiniums shown in the previous post. One of the other members of the group painted a snowdrop from the picture below, which I think appeared in an issue of Gardens Illustrated magazine. She was not very happy with the result and asked if I would like to borrow the picture and have a go myself.

 



 

I used some 450gm Cornwall Matt paper, knowing that the background was going to need lots of washes. I did a simple pencil drawing, and applied a border of masking fluid around the edge of the flower. This way, I did not need to be too careful about the washes as the edge of the flower was protected. I used combinations of Apatite Green Genuine, Indigo, Ultramarine Blue, Winsor Green, Teal Blue, Indian Yellow and Quinachridone Pink to create the background. I  put on the washes, being careful not to go over the same place twice, adding one colour at a time and allowing it to dry thoroughly. The edge of each wash was mopped and dried with tissue so that there was no hard edge of any colour and the colours all looked as if they has merged naturally.

 

I then painted in the single snowdrop and stems, trying to create a lost edge on the LH side. The added dark ink seems a bit harsh, but in the actual painting, there is no solid line where the extra colour meets the original washes. 

 

When the painting was complete, I realised that I rarely painted snowdrops in the past, but the little clump in the garden has spread a bit and I was able to pick a couple to bring indoors. They have such a short season, so I also used some garden magazine photos, to give me a variety of growing positions.
I wanted this painting to be a delicate clump, so I did a careful pencil drawing, which I would remove as usual as the painting progressed.
I started by painting the central darks around the stems and then worked out from the middle

I had chosen to paint the variety with dark green markings on the petals, but in hindsight, I do wonder if I would have been better to paint the snowdrops with plain white outer petals. I think the painting has become a bit fussy as a visual image. I am not saying that I am displeased with the finished result, just that there may be a bit too much green and not enough striking white. (Although very little of a white petal is actually white)

 

 

When the painting was complete, I thought the leaves on the LH side were a bit pale against such a dark background and they stood out too much, so, since this photo was taken, I have darkened those leaves, and it greatly improved the balance.