A Watercolourist's Garden

Scabious, Cerinthe and Malva and something different...

2014-05-13T13:58:00.001+01:00

Some quick sketches trying to capture the essence of these beautiful flowers.

This scabious I have had in a pot all winter and it doesn't seem to have minded at all!

These have appeared in the front garden after me flinging a few seeds, that I'd had hanging around for years, last autumn. I have to say I'm delighted and surprised to see them as very often seeds just 'flung' don't usually amount to anything after they've battled through all weathers and pests. I painted this yesterday evening when the second flower was tightly wrapped. They are such a bright pink I think Opera Pink would have been a good colour to use but I don't have it as I'm pretty sure it's fugitive.

I just love the deliciousness of these Cerinthe major 'Purpurascens! They have seeded nicely this year.

Here is something else I'm working on which is a lot more detailed and a different kind of painting experience.

It's painting on de-sized calico with fabric paints, silk paints and the occasional bit of acrylic ink; inspired by the wonderful textile designer Sarah Campbell. It's taking ages but I like it and eventually it will be made into a bag. The thing is I'm starting to think it'll be a shame to cut it up!

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Leucojum In Situ and Helleborus Orientalis

2014-03-18T19:05:00.001+00:00

Middle of March already and what glorious weather we've had here in Suffolk. I thought I'd paint this leucojum in situ as in some respects it's easier than doing a study of the plant. I do love it with the little white flowers shining out like stars on crisp, cold night. I used a bit of masking fluid for the flowers. It comes in handy sometimes for such things that would be very difficult to paint around. In can be a pig to get off and can tear the paper if left on too long. It also leaves a very hard line but I wouldn't be without it for special occasions.

This is a beautiful hellebore that a dear friend gave me as a seedling many years ago it is now blooming wonderfully in the herb garden.

The background I had to paint rather dark so the petals would sing out from it. I also dropped a little sea salt into the damp washes to add some texture and interest.

I'm so happy to tell you that I have, after many longing years, a greenhouse! A beautiful greenhouse that I shall probably be putting into a painting very soon.

Happy Spring, everyone. X

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The Holly and The Ivy........Oh and The Roses!

2013-12-16T19:05:00.001+00:00

I have quite a lot of ivy covering fences but the holly I was only just in time to pick some with berries on before the birds ate every single one of them! The holly tree is my miracle tree too as I've been growing it for about 15 yrs without a single berry and then a couple of years ago I was wandering around the garden talking to myself and the plants (as one does) and said to it, "I want berries on you!". Low and behold the next winter it was covered. Both I and the birds are very grateful indeed. The power of words....

A little reminder of summer roses on a dark, wet, December day.

Merry Christmas and God bless us one and all!

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Chinese Lantern, Malva, Hypericum and Swiss Chard

2013-10-28T19:09:00.001+00:00

Every season has it's joys and Autumn has it's bright earthy colours, rich grassy smells and sometimes wild weather. This morning we had the gale that was forecast unlike the 1987 one which took everyone by surprise. Hardly any damage here in the garden I'm happy to say. Though I will have to cut down the kerria japonica which is somewhat leaning.

Chinese Lantern

Here are a few plants I've had a go at painting and some were easier than others. The Swiss chard proved rather difficult to capture. Here's a practice sheet I did with a few different ways of working. None of them really worked so I even resorted to masking out the stalk with masking fluid or liquid frisket.

(The tissue was for lifting out colour in case you thought I'd been blowing my nose!)

This was ok until I did the stalk and then, no, it still wasn't right so I just painted another one straight. I'm not happy with this one either but never mind.

Next was a malva which I had to look up because I couldn't remember what type it was and it's Malva Parkfieden. A very pretty apricot colour and the plant reaches to about 5ft rather like a hollyhock.

Hypericum are always pretty with their berries changing from orange red to black.

I had fun with these and I've discovered rather a nice yellow from Daniel Smith which when dropped into wet colour it disperses it and creates an interesting effect. Nickel Azo Yellow.

Dropped into Winsor green and Burnt sienna.

Dropped into Quinacridone red and permanent magenta.

Until next time, happy painting/creating :)

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Hydrangea 'Annabelle' 1 & 2

2013-09-11T21:00:00.001+01:00

What a wonderful Summer we had here in the UK! I still have quite a few flowers going strong and this is one of them. I'm drawn to white flowers as I love the contrast of light and shadow on them when the sun is shining.

I had a palette of : Moonglow (Daniel Smith), Indanthrone blue (DS) Rhodonite Genuine (DS), lemon yellow, Indian yellow and Brown Madder. The paper is Fabriano Artistico 140lb

It's still just a sketch but not bad I suppose.

The weather has somewhat changed but hopefully the sun will come back soon for a while at least.

......3 Hours later...... Annabelle 2

This one is far more loose and more interesting for it too - more colours and heavier paper which is Saunders Waterford 200lb rough. I've used a half inch flat brush in this too which gives a nice sharp line on the clematis.

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Hemerocallis

2013-08-22T10:37:00.001+01:00

Or Day Lily. I'm quite fond of day lilies although some don't go on for very long others seem to grow into big clumps with many flowering stems.

'American Revolution' watercolour

This one hasn't grown up to be clump yet but it's getting there. Now I thought it was called 'Chicago Blackout' but then I found a label, in a rare bout of tidying up, from an 'American Revolution' so now I'm thinking that's what it is, because I haven't got another dark red one.

You may think this painting is looking rather messy and that's because I used diluted gum arabic in the process with lots of spraying, squirting, blotting and lifting out. It's given some texture to it though.

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Clematis and Currants

2013-08-09T13:27:00.001+01:00

It's a while ago I picked these to paint and they're shrivelling nicely on the studio windowsill now! I did pick lots more that day too and made two jars of redcurrant jelly.

When I'd painted those I thought I'd paint some of my clematis too. Well 'Prince Charles' was the one in question and it's a lovely pale mauvey blue and very delicate. I have since been trying various colours and ways of doing it without much success. Most of my trials have been on the back of watercolour paper that I'd already ruined the front of! Anyway I only like certain parts of the trials so I cut them up and here they are.

The mixture I ended up with was phthalo turquoise and permanent magenta and a very watery wash at that to begin with. The lovely bits of light here and there in the green is cadmium lemon yellow which is rather fun when you just drop blobs here and there.

I've been watching various youtube videos and have discovered quite a few interesting watercolourists. Among them are Joseph Zbukvic's whose work is absolutely beautiful and then there's Jean Haines whose work is very different but lovely, loose and flowing. She also has a blog and books.

Next I'm going to try a day lily and it's a beautiful dark red. No more whispy blues for a while me thinks.

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Rosa Eden

2013-07-22T13:20:00.001+01:00

Eden Rose

Just one of the roses in my garden called Eden. I love it because it has the most wonderful big fat buds all creamy white with pink edges. I've used a couple of colours I bought from the Daniel Smith range last week which are rather nice - Rhodonite Genuine and Green Apatite Genuine and the paper is Fabriano Artistico 140lb Rough.

I also discovered the solution to my stand up palette contraption with my dad's old braces! (I knew they'd come in handy one day). I kept them when he died in 1994. He was an artist too and was full of wild and wonderful ideas as you can imagine from this photo which he sent me as postcard in 1983. On the back he'd written, "There's life in the old dog yet!". For some reason he doesn't appear to have his teeth in! You can read about him here Hamersma UK

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Quick Sketches in The Heat

2013-07-13T16:12:00.001+01:00

I ventured out yesterday in the lovely sunshine we've been having after altering the lid of a cardboard box to make a sort of tray to hold palette, water, brushes and rag...

I made a hole in the cardboard to hold the plastic cup of water. Then all I had to hand was some 2"wide lace elastic which I tied around me and the tray! If you remember when they used to sell ice creams in the cinema during the interval that's what I wanted it to be like so I'd have both hands free - one to paint with and one to hold a small piece of watercolour paper. Needless to say my husband looked on with a bemused look on his face. I think he's quite used my oddness now though.
It sort of worked but I had to keep tying more knots in the elastic! It would be ok sitting down with it on my lap - some slight modifications are needed I feel ;)
I'll do one of that rose in the studio I think and make a better job of it too.

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Papaver Somniferum

2013-07-05T11:11:00.001+01:00

This appeared this morning with all the sunshine. I'm not sure of the name apart from Papaver Somniferum as I didn't sow it this year certainly but I may have done last year. Fortunately it sowed itself!

Papaver Somniferum

The paper here is Saunders Waterford 140lb Not. I'm going to try some heavier rough paper soon.

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Campanula Punctata 'Silver bells' (well sort of)

2013-07-02T16:41:00.000+01:00

Campanula Punctata 'Silver bells'

I confess this is not in the ground yet. Very often they do hang around while I'm deciding where the best place would be to plant.

Now I just leapt into this with brush, paint, water and no plan. The stems and leaves went every which way and I was too impatient so it could have be much better if I'd thought a bit. I do like the colours though.

Rose Trials

These were just a few doodlings from my head. Those blobs at bottom left are a mixture of French Ultramarine (which I made up myself with the powdered pigment) and the lovely Quinacridone Gold. All those little petals in the middle I did with a rigger brush (small with long hairs used for boat rigging and good for tree branches) and then dropped in darker pigment for shadows in the centre. This was on the back of an old painting on Bockingford Rough 300lb. Notice I'm not bothered about leaves.

I'll be doing some roses as I have about 40 in my garden!

Love Light, Love Colour

2012-11-09T20:42:00.001+00:00

Yes I'm still at it. To live is to paint for me and if I don't I get grumpy! I'm embracing colour and my love of flowers, fabrics and china. Exploring colour relationships and interlocking shapes and tones is a lifetime lesson and can be a struggle too.

These two oils survived the struggle, I'm happy to say.

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Freeing Up With the iPad.

2012-03-30T20:17:00.001+01:00

Reflections, River Stour

This became . .

After watching David Hockney on his iPad I was excited to get one and paint with my finger! I discovered to my delight that I could be very free and loose with it. As I live near the river Stour I took my iPad down there one afternoon in this lovely weather we've been having to try it out. I took photos and did some quick painting.

....this.

This came from...

this.

Now what I need to do now is translate the technique to oils.

Textured Garden Cherub

2011-03-31T20:30:00.000+01:00

As texturing photos with layers in Photoshop is all the rage I thought I'd have a go at it.

This is the original taken late last Summer in my garden. I fell in love with this little chap and as he was reduced in the local garden centre he came home with us.

I cropped the original and changed the colour/saturation. Then I added a few different textures (I'd already experimented with ink and charcoal on different papers and scanned them) as layers - changing the opacity on some. The edges needed that old look so I had to do that from scratch there and then making a new file that I can use again.

old photo edge (Feel free to use this if you like. You'll have to scale it.)

Why was I messing about doing this when I should have been painting? The truth is sometimes I just can't do what I think I should be doing. It's as if my hands are tied behind my back or I just plain talk myself out of it more's the point! Anyone else feel the same?

A Splash of Watercolour

2011-02-16T20:58:00.000+00:00

While I'm in the mood for posting. I'm sharing a little urge I had.

Watercolour is a challenge but its unpredictability is fascinating and compelling. So the other day I thought I'd abandon all fear and carefulness and jump in for a splash (literally) of the stuff! No setting up a still life, no planning, no careful draughtsmanship, just acrylic ink, imagination, years of failures, my homemade bamboo
(leycesteria actually) pen and blobs of gorgeous, wet, glowing colour.

It was very enjoyable, I have to say but maybe I'll do just a teeny weeny bit of planning in future.

Printing on Fabric

2010-12-10T20:59:00.000+00:00

This is my printed (upside down -I couldn't be bothered to go back to Pshop and turn it around!) fabric of the rose I painted digitally in PainterX. The fabric is a plain cotton and I gave it a good covering of Golden Digital Ground (white matte). I did tape it on 3 sides to a piece of plain A4 paper so it would feed nicely through the printer. It printed well - quite crisp and because of the base it is washable. I initially printed one without any ground and that also printed quite well but got a little creased and a few inky black bits. It also washed straight out so on the remaining roses from the piece I coated first the back and then the front with fabric medium to seal the ink in. When this was dry I ironed it on both sides. When I did my washing test it seemed to work fine! It also has a softer hand (feel) than the one with the digital ground.

Having done it I wondered what I should then do with it/them? To find out you'll have to go to my other blog LaziDazi!

Digital Painting

2010-12-01T20:35:00.001+00:00

There is something about snowy, cold days that makes me feel sort of homey, if you know what I mean. I feel blessed and very grateful to be warm and have such a wealth of materials to work with, as the mood takes me. This particular media happens to be virtual! I've been playing in Corel Painter X (it's X1 now) with pastels.
The idea is too see if I can print it out on to fabric and then work something textile/stitchy on it.

I think that will have to wait until tomorrow now as it will mean a lot of fiddling with glue and such.

I'll let you know what happens and it might turn up on my other blog Lazi Dazi . Then again it might not work so in that case it won't!

Stay warm, cosy and rosy.

Something Cheery for a Foggy November

2010-11-16T19:22:00.003+00:00

Suffolk Hay Bales Acrylic on board 28"x24"

Hello Peoples

I have a new follower after all this time. How nice and welcome!

I'm not sure if this is finished but I'd thought I'd post it as it reminds us of heat and sun which we occasionally get in an English summer. I'm indebted to Su (her lovely blog is su-livingontheedge.blogspot.com) for this one as one day last summer she very kindly turned the car around and parked up a leafy lane in order for me to take a photo. So thank you, Su.

Looking at this painting as I write this post and being able to see it much smaller in front of me (rather than on the end of my nose in the studio), I think that I'll have to adjust the ratio of pink and orange on the biggest bale as it's almost 50/50. Just a thought . . .

Funny How Things Change

2010-10-21T20:55:00.000+01:00

Lately I've been fiddling around with fabrics and threads. I've even done a bit of felting too.

It seems my love of texture has now been expanded to include all these lovely goodies. As for materials I thought I had everything one could ever need for mixed media work and then I realised how wrong I was, especially after visiting The Knitting and Stitching Show a couple of weeks ago. I bought shiny silks, embroidery threads, wonderful Wensleydale curls and wool tops. I bought feathered yarn and Lutrador and microwave dyes!

I haven't done a 'painting' for weeks and I'm now thinking of a different blog to encompass my latest love.

I'll let you know when it's ready although you never know, it may be just a fling, just a fleeting infatuation! Somehow I don't think so. Funny how things change!

Textile Art - My First Piece - Secrets of the Sea

2010-09-07T19:49:00.001+01:00

Secrets of the Sea 24cm x16cm

I find textiles quite compelling these days.

You need to look a bit closer and then I'll tell you what I did. (click on image)

For this piece I painted layers of garden fleece and ironed it in between baking parchment. The edges have been shaped with a soldering iron too. I added silk organza and then a mussel shell previously covered in gold leaf and a little 'secret' of threads was encapsulated (using running stitch) inside a 'bubble' (heated blasted) of polyester organza.

The whole thing was then free motion machined on to painted pelmet vilene. To finish I added a few seed stitches, loose threads and beads. The organza hiding the shell was pierced with a soldering iron to reveal the sparkle of the threads inside!

Phew! Well there we are. I think I'm hooked.

Embracing My Romanticism (briefly!)

2010-08-13T20:22:00.000+01:00

I haven't been here for ages I know. Ah, but I've not been idle!

Rose Arch (oil on canvas- 16"x 20")

I've been skipping down the leafy lane of textile art! That is I've ironed garden fleece, painted it, blasted it it with hot air, melted cellophane, painted that, free motioned (machine- drop the feed dogs stuff) and embroidered different fabrics. I've wet felted, dry felted and broken all the needles in one go on my little needle punch gadget. All in all I've had a lot of fun but in between I've still not drifted from my beloved oil paint.

As May took a bow and June made her entrance my beautiful roses whispered gently to please be painted. Briefly embracing my romanticism I gladly obliged and I'm glad I did because as I was playing with colours, as I've done so for so many years trying to find a good combination, I happened upon my now colour palette. Instead of putting out a blob of every colour I own I now have a select few to place exactly in the same position on my palette. "How very ordered of you," I hear you say. Yes indeed and I fondly call them my 'heart colours'!

A Few I Did Earlier

2010-05-05T16:33:00.005+01:00

White House, White Moon 22"x 18" acrylic on paper

Monet's Bridge 23"x18" acrylic on paper

Three Tulips 11"x15" acrylic on paper

These paintings were worked incorporating my own printing blocks which I make specifically for each painting.

Have lost my way a little lately and have wandered into a whole new world of textile art! There's a mind boggling array of materials and techniques to get to grips with. Of course the paint is there too lurking in the background with threads, wools, free motion machine embroidery and all sorts on top. I've only been experimenting so far but you might get to see some. That is if I don't get bored first which I'm prone to do!

Appointment in Venice

2010-03-09T21:03:00.001+00:00

Appointment in Venice
22"x16" acrylic on watercolour paper

Well I told you it would be very different! I might put it away and let it cook for a bit.
I've been busy on The Treasure Tree doing SEO- challenging but interesting! Also I'm building another fine art website for all my paintings.

Oh and I've wandered back to oils and that's on my easel at the moment.

Appointment in Venice- Step 1

2010-01-22T14:39:00.001+00:00

First things first- the bare bones. Step 1

This is a start for my next painting. Using runny acrylics rather like you would use watercolours I have blocked in my colours and tones. There is already a strong tonal (lights and darks) pattern which will act as a plan for me. I will go in refining shapes but keep to my plan of tones with little variations here and there.

I'm using 140lb not watercolour paper.

There are some gorgeous colours here- burnt orange, quinacridone magenta, ochre, cobalt violet. The deep reds compliment the greens and the cobalt violet the yellow ochres.

My next thing to do will be to make some printing blocks. Venice abounds with wonderful shapes so I'll have lots to choose from. I'll be doing some arches and railings, foliage for the walls and the gondolier of course. I might just paint him though.

The finished painting will look quite different to this!

A Time to Paint

2010-01-15T19:29:00.000+00:00

Well Christmas has come and gone and 2010 has poked its head above the snow and somewhere along the line I have tired of the impasto oils I was so enraptured by before!

I'd started another oil of a garden and just found myself becoming bored, very quickly. Since then I have ventured back to acrylics and discovered that texture, of which I am so fond, can equally be portrayed by pattern.

In the image from the previous post parts of the painting have been rendered using my own personal 'stamps' or printing blocks. These I have made from dense foam by drawing into it (melting it) with a stencilling iron.

Each painting has some unique symbols which I make specifically and possibly others I have already made and can be used often.

I have done a few but they are not photographed yet. I'll put some up soon so you can see what I'm talking about.

We are surrounded by patterns! Did you notice the fabulous patterns in the snow before it became slush? Even some tyre tracks were things of beauty!