Hollyhocks and AVA starts again!

Hi everybody!

I am so sorry that the blog has been quiet for so long, but I think I must be getting back to normal, as I have been thinking about painting again.

The garden is beginning to lose  a lot of colour, although I notice that the roses may be about to give me a second showing. Poking above it all, I can see the top heads of the Hollyhocks, opening their last few flowers, and they seemed a simple and pleasing  subject to get me back into the habit of painting.
There is nothing complicated about what I did to achieve this painting, just a simple series of washes, letting them dry thoroughly where I did not want colours to bleed, and in this instance painting the background after completing the basic shapes of the flowers. ( The question of when I paint my backgrounds was the  most asked question at my recent exhibition in the Cathedral at Wells)

The leaves were darker than the painting, but I kept them deliberately light as I wanted the whole painting to be very delicate. Maybe that, in hindsight, was a mistake, but I could darken them even now if I decide to do so at a later date.

Paints and paper were as usual, Fabriano Artistico Extra White, 300 gm.

                                                                      'Hollyhocks'





By complete contrast, Avon Valley Artists met formally for the first time since the summer recess ( they continued throughout the summer months to meet, but without any programme of subjects0
and of all things, the subject was Transport/machinery.
Having not painted for a couple of months, there could have been nothing further outside my comfort zone than that. So my instant reaction is to tighten up and paint far to 'realistically' for my taste, but I post the result so that anyone who has the same problem can see that it happens to lots of us!

 

'Approaching Train'

 

 

The train was like painting by numbers and is as tight as I could make it, but I did have fun with the steam, the major reason why I selected this photo!!

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