Pat Elliott Paintings

The Alphabet Paintings - Z

2012-05-28T00:18:00.002-07:00

So here I am, the last of the alphabet paintings :)
Hope you've all had a wonderful weekend.

For my Z painting, I chose to paint

Zen Rock Garden

There's something quite fascinating about this painting, because if you stare at it long enough the rocks seem to levitate!

Thank you all so much for sticking with me through the Alphabet series.

I hope you've enjoyed them, and if you would like to see them all together go HERE

Now I'm off to visit all your blogs :)

Ta-ta for now!

The Alphabet Paintings - Y

2012-05-22T00:33:00.000-07:00

On the final straight now for the alphabet series!
This is my Y painting.............

Yeoman Warder

15" x 11"

Arches 140 Rough

WN artist's quality paint.

Like all of my paintings, it will have a permanent home on my gallery site, HERE

The Alphabet Paintings... X

2012-05-18T00:25:00.000-07:00

The X painting, all finished... not a plant, a flower or an X-ray!

I present to you.............

Xenolith

15" x 11"

Arches 140 Rough

WN AQ paints

Of course, all those with an interest in geology will have no doubt guessed my X .. for those who don't know about geology, the explanation of a xenolith is HERE. I hope you all enjoy the picture.

Out and About

2012-05-14T00:21:00.003-07:00

Good morning all!
We had a beautiful day yesterday so we all went over to Belhus Woods.
See HERE for information on the woods.

Over at Painting Friends (here) we've got an "Out and About" group who in the clement weather go off and sketch their local area. I've joined up for it :)

I took my trusty backpack, the frame of which converts to a seat, with my sketching kit and doggy necessities in it.

Then I sat and quickly sketched a few pieces at varying points in the walk.
Its ages since I sketched outside (not counting my back garden!) and I did feel a frisson of nervousness. Hence why the sketches were my quick scribbly style. I shall have to go out more often, until it becomes second nature again.
Thankfully, the weather looks set to co-operate!

I'm wondering too, if many of you go out and about sketching or painting?
Do you take someone (or some dog) with you? Are you part of a sketching group, or are you a solitary soul?

Breakfast on the Patio

2012-05-11T00:10:00.000-07:00

Good morning everyone :)
Now all the computer work is done, its time to get back to painting!
Here's my latest effort:

Breakfast on the Patio

Now that this is done, my brain is turning towards the next in my alphabet series, which is going to be an X ! That should be interesting - and I can promise it won't be a xylophone or an x-ray :)

Busy bee!

2012-05-08T01:02:00.001-07:00

Good morning all.

I've been a busy bee recently, redesigning my main website, which is for reflexology. You can see the new look HERE
Sharp eyed viewers will spot that the banner is now the same over my main site, my painting gallery site HERE and this blog!

So with all the work involved, I went bug eyed and felt I was glued to the computer. Stir crazy too, so even though it was raining we went to a local country park for their plant sale and I bought some new plants, some for outdoors in the cottage garden, some for inside, in the conservatory.

Here's a couple of photos for you to see whilst I now get on with catching up with all your gorgeous blogs!

entrance to the country park

can you spot the house in the woods?

Indoor orchid

and another one!

Missy stakes a Claim!

2012-05-06T01:22:00.000-07:00

What do you buy the man who has everything?
Storage!
Which is exactly what I did, in the form of this footstool whose lid lifts to reveal lots of storage.

It matches the sofa perfectly. So I cover it with a throw, because Missy doesn't like the feel of leather. I do, it suits my asthma better than fabric. Still, I can easily wash throws!

Then who should jump up and claim it?
Missy of course!

and she looks so comfortable on it too.
Daddy will have to sneak his stuff in when she's gone to bed :)

Breakfast Chez Moi

2012-05-04T00:03:00.000-07:00

Good morning, one and all.
Would you like to come breakfast with me?

This is what you're likely to have. :)

Breakfast Chez Moi

Over on Painting Friends, this month's title challenge was "Breakfast Chez Moi" with the idea of us all sharing what we have for breakfast, in a painting.

Coffee and a croissant is my favourite... what's your favourite breakfast?

The Alphabet Paintings: W

2012-05-01T00:12:00.000-07:00

I wanted to have fun with this, and that I certainly did.

My "W" painting...

Waves of Perfume

The Art of Reflexology

2012-04-25T00:01:00.000-07:00

I created this painting with just three colours: Opera Rose, Cobalt Blue and New Gamboge. Painted on Arches 140lb Rough, 15 x 11" in size.

Reflexology is my job, and I felt like creating a painting that would give me as much pleasure as the job has done, for the last sixteen years!
Hope you enjoy it .

The Art of Reflexology

Ultraviolet Quartz

2012-04-23T00:01:00.002-07:00

Sometimes its a good idea to paint in one colour, it helps you with seeing lights and darks. This is what I did with this little painting - an 11x8 inch, all painted in Ultramarine Violet from the Winsor and Newton artists range of paints.
By the way, there's not a scrap of white in this painting :)

Glynis, I hope you notice the FeltPet of my little Spotty! She stands right here on the glass computer table, where she still brings me much pleasure.
There is a FeltPet of Missy too, but that wasn't in the right place for this painting :)

Ultraviolet Quartz

The Juice Bar

2012-04-20T00:01:00.001-07:00

Over on Painting Friends ( here )
we have a challenge to paint some coneflowers and butterfly.

So, this is what I've done, I call it

The Juice Bar

Its on Arches 140 rough , 11 x 8 inches.
I hope you enjoy it :)

Two Surprises!

2012-04-17T00:01:00.001-07:00

I have two surprises to share in this post.

The first was I was fortunate to be one of the recipients of a small painting by Judy of De Draad Aquarellen.

This is it:

Isn't it gorgeous?

If you haven't seen Judy's wonderful watercolours, you will be in for a rare treat if you go to view her blog HERE

You won't regret it - I love her style, its so beautiful.
Thank you Judy, for my gift. It will be framed, hung and treasured forever.

and the second surprise?
I was searching to find what would make a garden interesting to a dog, to stimulate them. I found there should be paths for them to patrol, and different levels in the garden, including a spot they could sun themselves and view their domain!
So we made a surprise build for Missy :)

What's this for, daddy?

Its for viewing my domain?

And for sunning myself?

I like it, I do!

I hope your days are also filled with lovely surprises.

Patty's Poppy

2012-04-15T00:01:00.002-07:00

My holiday's nearly over and I have been painting, just not as much as I'd like!
Isn't that always the way?

We were having a poppy challenge over on Painting Friends ( click HERE for website) so I decided to join in .
I took the photo and cropped it further, because I like those images where you are in the heart of the flower.

Without further ado,

Patty's Poppy

This painting - and all the paintings I've ever made - can always be seen on my gallery website HERE

The Alphabet Paintings: V

2012-04-12T00:01:00.001-07:00

Here's the finished painting.
I hope you've enjoyed watching it come to life.

Valerie's Violin

alphabet in progress, 3

2012-04-11T00:01:00.001-07:00

wet the violin body and added one last wash of wr/bs. Leave to dry.

Wet the sound hole, drop in indanthrene and paynes grey. That fixed my "mistake" . Wet the top shadow of the fingerboard and painted it with an indanthrene/aliz crimson mix, dropping in some burnt sienna. Wet the lower plate and drop in the ib/ac mix only. That's because it is a plate, not a shadow! Let it dry.

Paint the shadow to the bridge and the string shadows.
Wet the area of the shadow - but also the back of the bridge, then wash with a dark sticky mix of ib/ac and drop in some sticky mix of bs.
Drop in and walk away!
Leave the paint to mingle to produce interesting shadows. Use a few flicks for string shadows.
Let it dry

Remove the masking on the strings.
From here there's a bit of tidying up to do to make the strings look neater. Some dry brush in sepia on the curve, then she'll be done!

Next time you see the violin , it will be the finished picture. I hope you've enjoyed the step by step process.

alphabet in progress, 2

2012-04-09T01:21:00.000-07:00

Here's the next stages:

wet the sound hole areas and drop in some indanthrene blue and paynes grey

These are the colour mixes I'll be using on the body of the violin. I find it useful to paint swatches on a strip before I start to put in large washes on the painting.

Mix up two washes in preparation. Raw umber and burnt sienna, then winsor red and burnt sienna.
Wet the violin body, leaving the finger plate dry. Wash the ru/bs mix all over the wet area, then drop in some of the wr/bs mix in places where the violin would naturally be darker. The bridge, the curve, the bottom mid of the painting. Leave to dry.

On the bridge and the lines of the curve, paint in a second wash of the wr/bs mix and leave to dry.

Paint a third and last wash of wr/bs mix on the bridge and this time on all of the curve and let these dry.

Now, those of you who know violins will probably have spotted that I've made a mistake here. For some unknown reason, I overlooked painting the mid section of the sound hole on the left. Probably because the crop split it in three and I wasn't paying enough attention as I worked out colours.

It enables me to give you a great lesson that I have learned - and that is "never panic"
Leave the area alone to dry and later on we can fix it.

I've seen many people who have made a mistake, seen it almost immediately and then straight away dive in and try to rectify it.
Don't do that!
Pound to a penny the painting will be ruined. Let it dry. Fix it later.

Which is just what I'll be doing -and hopefully you'll see a great painting still !

An alphabet painting, in progress

2012-04-07T01:33:00.000-07:00

Its been such a long time since I've done a step by step post, that I thought I'd do another! Photo courtesy of Morguefile's copyright free photos.

You can follow along or even paint along if you like!
If you do that and finish it, post it on your blog and I'll link to it :)

Either way, I hope you enjoy the following.

First the pencil drawing of the violin

then mask out the strings. I use W&N Masking Fluid, but any rubber mask will do. Its just to resist the paint when you paint the body of the violin, without any fiddly paint all around the strings !

next I'm painting the bottom right corner, which is background to the violin.
Wet the curved corner first, then drop in some alizarin crimson, some burnt sienna and some payne's grey. Leave to dry.

Last for today, wet the whole violin and then drop in - in a random fashion - some new gamboge. As you can see, I accidentally touched the corner of the background and it flared a little into the violin. Don't worry if that happens. blot it quickly with a dry brush and leave it be. Once overpainted, it will add character to the violin !
You can see I'm from the "don't panic" school of painters :)

Until next time...

Eastertime..........

2012-04-06T00:15:00.001-07:00

Good morning my blogging friends,

Wishing you all an Easter filled with love and happiness.

... and thank you, Lord, for your sacrifice, on the first Good Friday.

The name of this painting, Immolatum, comes from the beautiful Ave Verum Corpus - and it means "Sacrifice"

Have a blessed Easter, all .
xx

The Alphabet Paintings: U

2012-04-03T00:01:00.002-07:00

Here we go with another Alphabet Painting.
This is a "U" which means I am nearly at the end of the series, with only five more to go.

Hope you enjoy this latest offering :

Urban Nights

I'm on holiday now for two weeks. We're not going away, but I expect I shall be in the summerhouse and hope to have some paintings to show you!

Awash with Daffs and a Sea Change

2012-03-30T01:19:00.000-07:00

I love daffodils, they tell us spring is here at last !
I painted a loose, washy set of daffs, just because they were there :)
Hope you enjoy them .

Awash with daffs.

Arches 140 Rough, 8" x 11"

A Sea Change is a significant transformation - - and I've had one of those!
Since the anguish of thinking two of my original paintings had been lost by the tracked mail service, I decided that no longer would I send originals in the post. Can't tell you the emotions that happen when you think pieces are lost. Never wanting to go through that again, I decided instead to make prints, cards and posters available on RedBubble. If you look to the right and click their logo it will take you to my profile on there.
That is a big change for me, one I hope will also make my art more accessible to all.

Diva

2012-03-28T00:01:00.003-07:00

This is my latest painting, "Diva"
The mask was a photo I found on Morguefile, a free photo site by creative people. They allow other creative people to use the photos for free.

The story behind this painting was actually a story written for my creative writing course. I thought it might be nice to create a painting to match the title.
So here she is,

"Diva"

Hope you enjoy it!

No Easy Way

2012-03-23T06:04:00.000-07:00

Here's my latest painting, inspired by a line from a Seneca play "no easy way from earth to the stars"
I hope you enjoy it .

No Easy Way

Year of Painting, Self Portrait.

2012-03-20T01:02:00.000-07:00

Over at Painting Friends, its the last of the Year of Painting -

Number Twelve, Self Portrait

Personal Goals for this Painting:

The goals were for me to make four thumbnails again and paint all four, finishing this year of painting with a flourish.

Here are the four thumbs.

After I finished these, I thought I'd start with the pencil portrait as that would undoubtedly take the longest. The basic shapes were there when I thought, ah, go on, paint this one. So I did.

When it was finished I called it “Prime Time”

Prime Time

Challenges Faced

Painting the portrait came quite easily, especially because I had chosen to be quite kind in my depiction. Near the end I started to get emotional, as I always do with my dog portraits when I think I have the likeness.

Then the name popped into my head “Prime Time” and I got really upset.

I'd chosen a double portrait, me and my dog, because I am really uncomfortable with painting myself alone.

It struck me then that this photo was taken in our prime time, that for both of us there was more behind than there was ahead.

That realisation brought me up short and I was choked.

I put the painting in my folder and I couldn't paint any more of the thumbs.

Share Personal Goals and whether you felt you Met Them

My goal was to make all four thumbs into paintings.

The emotion of painting Prime Time put paid to that, so no, I didn't meet my goals.

How I created the Painting.

I had a line drawing to begin with.

Then I started by painting myself as the background figure, followed by Missy in the foreground.

Not photorealistic, but reasonably realistic. I didn't bother with wrinkles, sure I didn't see any!

Size of Painting, Medium, Palette and Brushes.

The painting is on Arches 140 Rough 11” x 8”

The medium is pencil for the under drawing and watercolour for the painting.

W&N artists quality paint.

Palette colours used : yellow ochre, aliz crimson, permanent rose, french ultramarine, sepia, burnt sienna, cad red.

Brushes: round 12, round 6, round 2.

Missy and her 6th Anniversary!

2012-03-18T00:01:00.006-07:00

The 18th March 2006 was the day we adopted our darling Missy from Battersea Dogs and Cats Home.
She was approximately 8 years old at the time.

A great day for all of us.

Here she is, the gorgeous Missy

and we had to buy a couple of toys and some chewy shoeys, didn't we?

Let me at him!

Straight for the jugular!

enjoying the shoe chew :)

Happy Adoption Day, our darling girl. :)
You've brought so much joy, laughter and love into our lives.

Thank you, Battersea, for keeping Missy safe in your love for two whole years, while she waited for us. We can't thank you enough.

xx