Hard To Reach

Blackberries on a Bramble Branch

Study

Why is it that the sweetest berries are always out of reach? I can guarantee that when I am walking through countryside alone I always, without fail, see the very best berries either high up on top of a hedgerow or far from my arms' length. This evening I saw a branch that had grown way above a bramble bush with juicy, ripe blackberries just begging to be picked. Of course, I couldn't reach them. To make matters worse, leaves had fallen so the length of the bramble was fully exposed making the fruit look even more tempting!

I stood and looked at the composition and then came home to my studio to paint what I had seen. Reluctantly, leaving the fruit where it was.  I used a small study I had already started which meant all I had to do was add the detail which was the annoying  out of reach branch.

While I worked, this little painting gave me much food for thought.  Many things in life are not easy and I tend to think this is somtimes a good thing. For example, going to a supermarket and simply buying a punnet of blackberries wouldn't have given me the same sense of satisfaction as finding them myself. It is exactly the same when learning new painting techniques. Anything that is easy to achive doesn't appeal to me so much these days. I look for art challenges daily. If I can't find any I make  some up!

I just don't believe that picking up a brush and doing what I know I can do is enough. I want to continually learn, grow and improve my skill as a watercolourist.

So in a way, I am placing a very high branch of "treasure" just out of my reach and I will continually strive to reach it. And when I do, there will always be another branch to aim for!

Artists Tip of the Day: Don't settle for what you can reach, aim even higher ad set yourself exciting new goals continually!

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Autumnal Inspiration

Hawthorn Berry 2013

There are times when I find being outside far more valuable to my painting than being in my studio. The inspiration I find from seasonal colours tempt my texture and palette experiments .There is no better time of the year than Autumn for  playing with red and gold pigments to achieve magnificent washes that zing with both energy and life. 

This morning I took Bailey, my Bearded Collie, for a walk and we both looked for treasure. For him it is usually a stick, not just any stick but one takes him ages to find. But once he has found "the one" he brings  it home carrying it proudly as if no other dog before him has found such a wonderful treasure. He makes me laugh.

But he makes me think about myself and what I look for as my own "treasure" on these early morning walks. I am never looking for just a hawthorn berry for example. I am always on the look out for that special berry that is unique, with either light playing on it or maybe its' sitting on a branch in a slightly different way to all the others. When I have found "the one" I happily bring it home to my studio and try to capture what I have just seen, in all its glory in the countryside. Via my finsihed painting I want viewers of my art to feel how I felt when I first saw my "treasure". So my special berry becomes far more than "just" a berry. It becomes an integral part of a new compsoition that was a joy to  work on while my painting developed.

This wonderful life of being an artist and seeing through an artists eyes makes the simplest of tasks like dog walking a sheer delight. Nature is my best teacher and  my inspiration increases daily from the changing seasonal scenes outside.

What better way to start any day than by looking for treasure. 

Whatever yours is have fun finding it!

Bailey in our garden with yesterdays stick!