Practise, Practise, Practise : Daffodils in Watercolour

Yesterdays painting. 

Painted in my garden, nothing beats the feeling of painting from life

I am having a ball painting in my garden at the moment. Last night I left my studio with my favourite daffodil paintings placed on my easel.  You can see them in the image below. Walking in to see them this morning was an absolute delight!

The sun shone this weekend so I had a great time yesterday. First I went to a garden centre with my fabulous husband, John. I bought the first of  my summer flowering pot plants there and did a little gardening. It was fantastic to feel the sunshine on my skin again as I worked. I potted up a variety of plants and the colour in them already looks wonderfully tempting. I know in months to come I am going to want to sit and paint outside daily.

As I worked, a clump of daffodils beckoned my brushes and I couldn't resist painting them.  These are the flowers you see above. I am afraid yellow doesn't seem to photograph very well so this isn't a great likeness to the painting colour wise, but you can see the composition. It literally glows off screen.

I placed my favourite daffodil paintings on my easel last night when I left my studio. As I walked in this morning I felt instantly cheerful and eager to paint more.  Spring is such a great time of year for making us feel energised and ready to love life with all it brings our way. 

I can't wait to see what flows from my brush today. And I hope you find time to paint too!

My easel collection that greeted me this morning.

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Ready For Spring 2016

"Spring Medley"

Copyright Jean Haines

Spring Flowers in Watercolour

We have had daffodils flowering in our garden since early December last year. In fact many spring flowers have impatiently bloomed here during the winter months including primroses and cowslips. There is so much talk about climate change as the seasons roll into one another.

For me , I see each new year as a wonderful, huge, white piece of paper that is waiting to be painted. Just like those spring flowers far too eager to wait for better weather to arrive I too am eager for the year ahead. I have taken time out to enjoy being with my family over Christmas and I also needed some quiet time to recharge my own batteries after all the hard work I had put into my workshops, writing and exhibitions in 2015. Before I leapt into action in 2016 I wanted some time to reflect on what I want to achieve over the next twelve months. I actually thought I did know but I have been reading incredibly touching emails from artists who have either read my books on watercolour or attended my watercolour workshops. Each kind and inspirational comment has made me want to give more at a time when I felt I should sit back to paint on my own.

As much as I adore teaching I have to confess, as any teaching artist knows, it takes valuable time away from our own personal art journey which I have been putting on hold for some time. For example, it is now three years since I submitted to any Art Society Annual Show due to lack of time. Beautiful paintings I have created have been in my solo gallery shows, which to me is important as they represent me throughout the whole year. And wonderfully so with collectors now buying my art from all over the world.

And so I juggle my time between painting, exhibiting, writing and teaching. I made a personal decision to work this year on workshops but next year I will take more free time for myself to pursue experimenting and to enjoy studio time. Without travelling or teaching so much. But if this year is anything to go by I know I will change my mind by 2017!

My 2016 UK watercolour workshops are fully booked but the good news is the wait lists are currently still open in case of cancellations so if you aren't on my UK workshop list please contact me urgently. My 2016 USA workshops are also fully booked but a new course has opened in Lake Tahoe and this is the only location that still has places thanks to the wonderful organiser who tempted me to add an extra session due to their popularity.

But right now I am going to paint up a storm and share on my blog, hopefully inspiring  and sharing smiles because it is so good to smile!

Roll on Spring and roll on all those gorgeous new subjects to paint too!

Happy painting

Jean

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Daffodils Galore 2015

"All In a Row"

Yes, I am still painting daffodils. Its' as though I am addicted to painting in yellow at the moment but they feel so great to work on each day. Very spirit lifting.

This afternoon I started a new painting. I used my "Working from a starting point" technique as described in a previous blog post. Initially I created a row of beautiful daffodil centres and then gradually started adding petals around each one.

I have a fabulous tip to share. I always paint a few small studies prior to working on large paintings. These enable me to "warm up" and get to know  my subject well before I commence painting on my large fresh new piece of paper.

I also, sometimes, have a small piece of scrap paper by the side of my  work in progress. If ever I am in doubt of which colours to add next or which detail, I paint on the small scrap study first. Especially if I am working on something very beautiful. As seen in the image below. I used the scrap of paper to experiment with daffodil centres and petals before working on my main painting. 

The scrap however is beginning to look so nice I may turn it into a painting in its own right!

 

Large painting next to experimental "scrap paper" painting.

This is a brilliant way of working for those who are new to painting without the aid of a preliminary sketch. You can test colour  combinations, discover which detail is fine and which is too much, how dark your new colour applications should be with each brush stroke. And of course you can see if you are capturing the correct shape and proportions of your subjects.

Have fun painting and make the most of each seasons has to bring!

For me, its Spring daffodils!

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Positive Beginnings

Spring Easel 2015

It was so wonderful to walk into my studio this morning and be greeted by the glorious yellow paintings of daffodils from this weeks painting sessions. I had added final details to my loose daffodil watercolour painted in my garden on Sunday and placed more tiny brushwork detail to the long composition that I created yesterday. Leaving both on my easel  as a warming welcome this morning has given me such a fabulous boost to start my days' painting today.

Overnight, I had imagined working on a few wildlife subjects for a change but having seen these completed paintings I may just work on more daffodils while I am in the "Spring Fever" mood!

By the way, I have been asked about the paper I use for my floral work.

I highly recommend Bockingford 140lbs  where you are leaving backgrounds white and for more Botanical studies. I am in love with Saunders Waterford High White and often use Saunders Waterford 300lbs for my gallery pieces, rough surface mostly!

I hope this helps.

Saunders Waterford paper makes a stunning surface to work on for my watercolours.

Learning From Life

Daffodils from my garden

On my return from Australia last year I really thought I must have been jet lagged when our car first  arrived at our cottage. It was the first week in December and  by the side of the path leading to our front door were clumps of daffodils in flower. The next day I still felt tired from the long flight home but raced out to check I hadn't imagined what I had seen the day before. Sure enough, there were daffodils lining the pathways. I was amazed as this is the earliest I have ever seen them bloom. The next surprise , when wandering around our garden, was to see pale wild primroses blossoming too.

Unbelievable as it sounds the first clumps of daffodils are already way past their best. So I have started to paint them as they appear because by the time Spring arrives all my own garden flowers may have disappeared, and the Summer flowers will be on display.

But it is cold to paint outside and the frosty wind plays havoc with my determination to paint from life. But I have to. Why? I have become fascinated with working out which paintings of other artists are created from photographs and which have been painted from imagination or life. Sometimes we see similar things painted in similar ways. By painting from life I always have new colour combinations and  compositions.

For example, the group of flowers above had one bud facing  in the opposite direction to the three flowers facing me which were posing nicely for my composition. Several of the petals of one flower had been nibbled by wildlife. So in this piece, this isn't just me leaving areas to the imagination of the viewer. The sections left out  genuinely weren't there to paint. Nature actually aids my loose style more than anyone ever truly realises!

In the composition below a row of daffodils are swaying in the breeze. But I learnt a lesson from this scene. I have always found it visually pleasing to paint the heads of the daffodils all facing one way in the past, but of course they don't grow  this perfectly. The daffodil flower directions vary, buds appear amongst the clumps as the flower in a group blossom at varying times.

 

 "Spring Garden"

Work in Progress

  

I am still working on this glorious yellow collection and having so much fun because painting to me is sheer joy. It enriches my life. It isn't work or a chore. Its something I adore doing. And it is this passion that keeps me so very much alive and energetic.

But for now I want to get back to painting.

In yellow!

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Glowing with Life

 

Life And Times

Daffodils from my garden, coming to life in an almost abstract watercolour

WIP. Work in Progress

Its' cold. The temperature outside has dropped and frost covers the fields nearby each morning. I quite enjoy taking my Bearded Collie, Bailey, for a walk in this weather as it certainly awakens my senses. I always come back to my studio with a face glowing from the wintry wind. It is a time when using yellow or golds to welcome me as I enter my painting "haven" is a sheer delight.

Along the driveway to our cottage the first of the Spring daffodils are bravely making an appearance and, as always, I wish to paint them. But my style is changing each year. I find I much prefer the more loose interpretation I am leaning towards these days than the more botanical approach I have used in the past.

 A contrast of style on my easel. Daffodils painted with more precise detail on the left compared to my abstract way of working on the right, where flowers are discovered in a loose abstract background wash.

I love that there isn't a right or wrong way to paint. There is just " your" way. Whatever makes you happy when you are creating.

I am definitely very much still on an adventurous journey. Learning from my previous paintings and leaping ahead into the new. Yearning to discover new ways to paint, new colours and new subjects at every opportunity.

A host of golden daffodils

Paintings I will look forward to walking in to see in my studio tomorrow morning.

Life is good and I look forward to so many painting tomorrows! 

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Song For Spring : Daffodils in Watercolour

"Song For Spring"

A medley of Spring flowers in watercolour

I have a gorgeous collection of Spring flowers developing on my easel and in my studio. I am taking my time on each favourite wash, gradually adding tiny detail to make each sing just that little bit more. But there comes a point in any painting, when you love it so much that you simply do not want to put your brushes down. As happened with the above painting. I could go on with this. I could put a row of  blue muscari along the front of the lower part of the painting . But I know in my heart this is finished. Painting is like singing. Once the song has been sung you can start singing a new one or repeat what you have just sung, starting from the beginning allover again. I am going to sing a new song now. But I have entitled this piece " Song For Spring" as my heart felt like singing whilst I painted it.

I may change the lyrics in my next song though! 

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