The Walks

There's an old Victorian Park not far from my home, I was fascinated by the wet walkway in the evening light and yet I wanted to inject colour into what might otherwise have been a dark and dull vista.

I may do more to this... not sure yet. I have to leave it sitting awhile before I decide.

Gouache Experiment

Decided to try a little experiment with gouache and waterproof ink.

Firstly, drew the outline of the flower with pencil and then laid white gouache in places.




Then when the gouache was dry I painted over the whole thing with black waterproof ink.

Wait until the ink is completely dry. Then wash off under cold water using a brush to gently remove some of the ink. In theory, where the ink lays over gouache it should lift off revealing the white paper underneath and the ink where there was no gouache remains untouched.

The finish was not quite as expected - in fact, you could say it all went hideously wrong. lol

However, it is quite an interesting effect and I will try this experiment again. I quite like the effect, it's just the black lines across where it didn't quite work for me.

I think perhaps I need to lay the gouache a little thicker, allowing it to dry completely and then go over with the ink. I also think it might be better to try something a little more robust than 140 lb paper. This could be the reason the ink sunk into ridges or lines across the paper.

Gorgeous Gouache!

OMG! I'm in love! I have just discovered the delights of gouache. It's like coming home, I've found my medium, it's better than chocolate even!

This is just a small quick study and maybe if I try something larger I'll come down off this cloud but so far it's so wonderful to work with.

It's like using watercolour but without transparency, it's opaqueness means that it covers even dark colours. It's easy to make changes and yet you can work in detail much easier than with oils (at least for me anyway!)

I cannot wait to have more time so that I can really get to know my new love!

Lovely Lily

Watercolour on HP paper 16" x 12"

Spent all weekend painting - how lucky am I? The most wonderful time which made me wish so much that I had more time to paint, but alas bills have to be paid so it's back to the day job!

I am fast discovering a love of painting florals. Not only do you get to enjoy the visual beauty but you're also surrounded by such heavenly scents.

Obviously, this one doesn't really fit with what this blog is all about... making a painting within 60 minutes, but I really needed to show this just to prove that I can actually paint something decent.

My pride has had a dent recently and I'm feeling a little unsure of my ability to paint so every little success boosts my failing confidence and self esteem.

I hope you enjoy this one.

Lavender Fairy

Coloured pencil on Stonehenge paper 7" x 5"

If there are fairies at the bottom of the garden then I hope they look something like this.... because of where I live it had to be a Lavender Fairy of course!

The coloured pencil was a departure for me - I liked that I could get detail with them easily but I find them a little difficult and not as satisfying as actual paint.

I always think that a fairy must have wings something like a butterfly, but of course it doesn't have to be that way they could be very fine and transparent like a fly.

When I fiddled with this drawing in a software programme and made it negative, I rather liked the look of the wings.... interesting.

Pointillism Cat

Acrylic on Watercolour paper approx 10" x 10"

It was never intended to be a square format but that's how it ended. Sometimes that's the way life goes, you start off working towards something and along the way things change slightly and you see a different direction and go for it. That's not a bad thing, just means you're being flexible and open to change.

I liked trying pointillism, although I know it could be better. I need to work more on my colour selection and I may try another because it was rather fun to do, kind of therapeutic.

Hope you like.

Summer!

Acrylic on deep canvas
Summer is almost over here but I want a painting to remind me of the long hot summer. OK so it was more short-lived than long but I need a summer landscape to help me get through the cold winter months and I rather think this should do it!

The view is from my garden at the old house and I used colours to emphasise heat and sunshine. Hope you like.