White Swan

Browsing through my resource folders, I came across this beautiful picture of a white swan. Although the subject seemed daunting, I could not resist having a go and putting all I had learned about the versatility of white Acrylic Gouache into practice!

I started on Hahnemuhle Matt paper...450g...as there was going to be lots of wet paint on the paper and I did not want it to buckle and have the paint run into the depressions and dry darker than the rest of the image. I did a fairly careful drawing of the head as this is the most important part. and gave myself just a brief outline of the whole body shape.


I was aware at this point that the beak and eye would be right in the centre of the painting, but was not sure how to get over this,so I at least made sure that it was  in the top third of the painting.

I painted the head, neck and beak in a quite figurative way and let it dry completely. I then added the background colours by wetting the paper and dropping in various pigments,including Indigo, Cobalt Blue and Quinachridone Magenta, allowing them to bleed freely into each other. I kept the top corners darker than the rest of the background, and kept it lighter around the feathers so that the white gouache did not have too much work to do covering dark areas.


I then simply built up passages of mostly yellow ochre for the underpainting and white acrylic gouache for the feather highlights. There was some Paynes Grey, Magenta and Indigo. The initial white areas had plenty of water as well as paint as this enables the gouache to be blended into the background, but it was obviously used neat to do the top feathers and the water droplets.

Before adding the final splashes, I darkened the areas around some parts of the bird to make the white areas stand out.

A very satisfying final splatter of white gouache and the painting was finished. It is not quite as vibrant as the original photo, but I think it does reflect my personal style of painting and I am very pleased with the result. I must do a few more animal paintings in the future!!

                                            'Swan'    26cm x 36cm watercolour inc. gouache

Elderberries : Limited Palette

We are back to the formal programme of subjects at AVA, which means no weekly hiding in subjects within our comfort zones. It was, however, a gentle beginning for us all as the only criteria was the use of a limited palette. This was described simply as two tubes, pans or sticks of  'paint'.

What was interesting about this subject was the need to begin with a subject that could be well described using only the two pigments, and then to explore the palette to try top find two pigments that could give you the greatest range of possibilities.

The first consideration was resolved, thanks to a neighbours  beautiful Sambuca Nigra bush on the border of our two gardens. The leaves and berries are not dissimilar to each other in colour and they lent themselves to a bit of artistic licence.

Having settled on the source material, I then had a good look at the possible pigments. I needed a rich burgandy for the berries and something which when mixed with the red gave me some lovely darks as well. In the end, after a bit of trial and error I selected Quinachridone Magenta and Pthalo Green.

I chose a sheet of 450g paper as I knew there would be plenty of water with the initial wash, and I have been having problems with buckling recently.The paper is  Cornwall Matt by Hahnemuhle which is becomming one of my favourite papers at the moment.

I sprayed the paper with plenty of water, using the spray can give nice textures when the paint is dropped in, as you can see with the green in the top LH corner.

I dropped in paint selectively but at random into the water and tried to create a few darks in the middle. When the wash was dry, I was a bit disappointed that there was not too much pure magenta left, but the paper is too expensive to waste, so I had to carry on. Whilst it was still wet, I used a straw to blow a few random twiggy shapes out of the base of the painting. I find this helps to keep the work a bit loose.

When the wash was dry, I simply painted in the berries and twigs and identified the leaves by using their negative shapes. As I could only use two tubes of paint, I could not get back the highlights in the berries which was a bit of a problem. In hindsight, I should have put tiny drops of masking fluid on the paper before doing the wash and this would have given me some hightlights. I tried to leave paler patches where possible and deliberately painted berries in the white paper patches to give really fresh colour and bright white highlights.I also added a little white acrylic gouache to some of the berries on returning home!

Because I did no drawing, I did not get quite right the way the stems grow from the main branches, so it cannot be described as a botanical painting, but I am quite pleased with the result. It does show what a lovely range of lights through to very darks that you can get with just two tubes of paint!

Sorrel and Honesty

Along the same back lane where I picked the blackberries for the previous post, there has been lots of sorrel in the hedgerow. When the sun shone it was the most glorious colour and I could not resist clipping a couple of pieces to bring back into the studio.

I also had some new sprigs of honesty, so decided to combine the two, as this would enable me to use lots of my favourite colours.

                                                                  Sorrel And Honesty
                                                      Fabriano Artistico 300g Rough paper

The paints include Indigo, Teal Blue, Paynes Grey, Quinachridone Rust, Transluscent Orange and Yellow Ochre. I also used white Acrylic Gouacheon the honesty and for the splatter.

Blackberries

Now that the exhibition and my stint at Invigilation at our local University are over , it has been lovely to have a couple of clear days to pick up a paint brush again. I wanted nothing too complicated or thought provoking, so I picked up a branch of blackberries from the lane down which I walk every day whilst collecting our morning paper and spent a few very happy hours painting the lovely fruit.

I put on a wash of Quinachridone Magenta and Indigo to start with. I left it to dry completely before adding a little Apatite Green Genuine. Adding the green too soon can make the other colours go very dirty.

Without ant more preparation, and no drawing, I painted the fruits with a combination of Quinachridone Purple, Ultra Marine Blue ,and Indigo for the dark fruits and Opera Pink, Qiunachridone Coral, Sap Green and Yelloe Ochre for the unripe fruits.

A bit of splatter and I felt it was finished. One of those paintings where perhaps less is more, and I think lots of white in the background helps to keep it fresh.

It was lovely to be painting again, especially as there will be little chance over the next couple of weeks as I have been called for Jury Service.

                                                                     'Blackberries '
                                                           Cornweall 450g Matt Paper

Now that I see the painting on screen, I think the two pairs of dark fruits are too similar but not sure how I might rectify this. I will give it some thought, but might, in the end, leave it as it is.

Catch-up

Things have been a bit hectic over the past few weeks, getting ready for and stewarding our exhibition in the Cloisters of Wells Cathedral. It was a great success and despite our anxieties regarding the change of venue within the Cathedral, we were very pleased with how it all looked and visitors seemed very pleased with the standard of both the display and the paintings.

Towards the end of the week it was a bit chilly and damp, but that was a small price to pay for such an impressive venue.

During this time I have done very little painting, with one exception.
My daughter and her partner went north to watch the Tour de France cycle race and profitted from their time there to do a bit of exploring. They came across a lovely village with a ford and a row of traditional cottages.
My daughter took a photo and presented it to me saying that she thought I would enjoy painting the garden!

Because she had gone to the trouble of getting the photo I did not like to say that the main subject of the image was the buildings and really buildings are not my thing! I did feel, however that I should at least have a go on the premise that all objects are just a series of shapes and possible to paint in a reasonable way.

With tongue in cheek and a bit of trepidation I did my best and sent a photo of the finished painting to  daughter and son-in-law.

The next thing I know, son-in-law, Dave, has managed to track down the owners of the property, sent them a copy of the painting and they appear to be totally delighted with it and would like to own it.

The photo looks as if the building is leaning badly to the left and the water runs up hill to the right! Sorry about that.....my poor photographic skills

It has now been carefully packed and dispatched for them to see, and I await either their approval and a small cheque or a return of the painting. I somehow think it will be the former, and I am flattered and delighted that one of my few attempts at buildings has achieved some small success.

Having said all that, this week at AVA, with a free choice of subject, it was back to painting flowers!

Anemone Japonica

About a week ago these lovely flowers began to open, and although it is great to see that they have survived, I would not expect them to be in full flower is my north facing garden until the middle of August. If I could only choose one flower to grow it would be these. At the back end of the summer when the greens have lost their freshness and lots of the star performers have finished flowering, they are a beacon of light in sun and in dark corners alike. If they are out now, what are we going to be left with going into September. That's nature!!

It is a while since I painted these flowers, I have two examples hanging on the walls in the house, and often forget that I can have another go.
It is interesting to see if my style has slightly changed over the years.

there is not a lot to explain in this painting. I did the drawing first and because they are white flowers, I painted the background to give me their shape. I kept the colours very muted and soft so that the ring of stamens would be the focal point.

                                                                  'Anemone Japonica'
I am quite pleased with the result and it is nice to compare it with others that I have done in the past.
The painting was done on 'Cornwall' 450g matt paper by Hahnamuhle which I think helps the soft quality of the finished painting.

Field of Red

I had such a lovely time creating 'Bluebells Abstract' so I thought I would create a sister painting but of poppies.
The Bluebells gave rise to some debate about the actual flower depicted. There was some suggestion that it was more Hyacinth than Bluebell, so we compromised and I called it 'Field of Blue' ( See blog posted 3rd June 2014 ).Hence the title of this piece....'Field of Red'.

I used exactly the same technique as the previous painting so any details can be seen on the previous post, and I have become a little anxious about repeating myself, since Peter Ward was informed that his blog contained too many pictures and in future he would have to pay to post picture!!! He was then locked out of his site. He is trying to rectify the matter, but it does make me a bit wary of posting all the stages involved in my paintings.
I am sure I have lots still to go, as Peter has been going ages longer than me, and his posts are very picture based, much more than mine, but it does not hurt to be wary. If anyone reading this post has had the same experience we would love to here from you.

Anyway, back to Field of Red. I started by sticking some distressed builders linen scrim to the lower foreground in a slightly circular shape to produce some texture. I attached it to the painting with gesso.
 The background was then painted , using lots of Pyroll Red and Apatite Green Genuine, with other pigments added. I was very careful to let the green dry before adding the red, as if the two colours mix they become very dirty.
I then painted in a few field-like marks, and then using pva medium I stuck down my bits of painted doiley.
I completed the collage with circles cut with a hole punch from the edged of the doiley paper.
I finally added a few green streaks over the red area to give me some stems.

Sorry, the greens on the left look a bit blue, but they are actually very fresh 'new grass' colour. Must be the light when I took the photo!