Winter Berries 2016

"Winter Berries"

I am still very much wearing a nurse "hat" at the moment. While my husband is recovering from surgery I have had little free time to paint. It is amazing how well we work as a couple but at the moment everything in our home depends on me, so painting is a luxury I look forward to as and when free time allows.

Right now part of my husbands rehabiliation is walking and I am using this time to find new inspiration which has come in the form of winter berries hidden amongst the foliage on our country rambles. But I have painted holly and ivy berries so many times before and I was reluctant to paint them in the same way.

This afternoon I tried a new idea and it worked beautifully. You might be surprised at how I prepared the paper for this new approach to working in watercolour but as I am now heading into a new year, full of new workshops and a new literary project I'm going to keep my new technique a little secret , just for now because it is fabulous and so much fun. Naughty of me to mention it I know but if art was only about one way of creating, even I would get bored of painting!

You can see the beauty of flow in this section of the above winter berry painting, with gorgeous icy effects forming.

 Ice effects from preparing the paper surface prior to painting

 After creating the above composition I couldn't resist painting another simple berry scene. While I was in the mood. When there is so much going on in life and you can't concentrate on really serious detail or complicated pieces it is always best to paint something from your heart, something simple and usingc olours that make you feel relaxed and wonderful.

I loved painting these pieces today and now I have some great ideas for new work when I am next in my studio.

 

 "Winter Berries Too"

Artist tip for today?

Simple.

Go for a walk.

Look for treasure

Bring one simple thing home and paint it in a way that is different to how you usually paint

And most importantly?

Have fun!

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Berries in Watercolour 2016

"Fall"

 Berries in Watercolour

Following on from my previous blog post I have now added to two of my experimental washes. 

Below are the three warm up washes I created this morning, by choosing subjects to paint that I could easily see from my studio window. I should explain that it is raining outside so I am painting inside in the comfort of my painting haven rather than facing the damp, cold  English weather outside. 

Following my warm up washes I chose one at a time to work on further, taking each to a finished stage but I am also using these experiments as an idea for future work.

Below you can see this mornings warm up washes.

 Warm up washes. The berry wash has cling film on it to create patterns for foliage..

Once the wash of the berries was dry I added individual berries on top of my first wash using gold and red shades. This stage you can see  in the image below.

 Stage 2. Adding bolder coloured berries on top of my first wash.

Next I sat and observed the real berries outside. Their foliage fascinates me as it is turning with the approach of Fall. The leaves are yellow, gold, red and green and the stems connecting the berries to the branches are also interesting. Soon my focus was  moved well away from the gorgeous, ripe, round berries to the interesting shapes surrounding them. I loved adding leaves, then stems and finally more berries.

I am delighted with the result below but I can only achieve this effect by sitting and studying the real thing. Far too often we paint without actually looking closely at what we are painting. We race to add colour. We race to complete a painting. But we don't take time to simply look and that really is the most important part of being an artist. 

Looking.

"Fall"

Now of course I want to paint more berries which is the point of my exercises. To make me want to paint even more than I do already.

Oh how happy I am to be an artist!

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A rather odd close to my blog but I have recieved an email from a kind follower of my blog letting me know that an artist is not only copying my art but they are also copying my blog posts with very little personal interpretation or addition of their own unique material. They are recommending three washes a day, and warm up painting exercises like mine as their own original ideas. All taken from my books, blog and DVDs. Including my subjects. I am not going to contact or name the artist. But I will say this to them. When you use another artists material and publish it as your own you are not hurting the other artist at all but you are losing respect and credibility as an artist yourself.  So if you are reading this message, please try to share your own work and your own teaching ideas on your blog. In the long run, it is you that will benefit.

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