Thanks giving

I have been painting roosters both for my own practice and for my class demonstrations. As a subject, roosters are colourful, varied and have plenty of character. As long as you don't actually eat the pour fellows, they are a very seasonal motif as well. Rooster images are considered good luck in homes. Here are some of my expressions of "roosters for luck"

 This was a class demonstration where I worked with no pre drawing and tried to get the value and the colour intensity on the first go. I hardly ever do get it in one layer but it is always something to aim for

We worked on some ink and wash techniques in the second advanced class. In this demonstration, I put the wash down first and then drew the rooster with an ink pen. It is a great way to get away from the temptation the paint inside the lines - there were no lines!

 

I have added more colour and plenty of loose line work with a bamboo dip den. What a great little character he turned out to be.

(These are all 10 by 14 inches)

Gone to the beach

Hello dear readers

I have no really good reasons for neglecting this blog but perhaps the best reason is that I had "gone to the beach" It was lovely and I'm back now. Classes are under way for the fall session and the Farmer's Market has it's last blast this week end. Summer has been wonderful and fall is in full swing. It is all good

Lilies by the Bunch

On July 24 Bunchberry Nursery in Upper Clements hosted the second annual "Painting lilies by the bunch" event in the beautiful gardens surrounding the nursery. The lilies were a little late coming on this year but there was still lots of colour and an incredible variety of day lilies to delight visitors.
I am continuing to explore painting with no pencil drawing on the paper - just wet the shapes and jump right in! This is an exciting method of working and when it works, magic happens. I also get a lot of duds but as I always say, "moving right along ..."

This one was painted a few days in advance to get some practice in before I had to do it with an audience. It is probably the best of the bunch - you never know what you are going to get.

A ribbon lily that Jill is yet to identify

I used some drawing to start this one.

hard at work

Small Studies

The Farmers' Market will open in just 2 short weeks so I have been spending some time doing some small (5 x 7inch) studies to have something new for the season. I am often using a subject that I have used for a previous painting. I am using my favourite pen to do the drawing and because these are so small, I do not feel bad about loosing a few if a wash goes wrong. They are fun to do and are definitely a product of my daily drawing project.

Artists Circle

The artists Circle (a painting group based in the Kingston/Greenwood area) asked me to do a workshop with them on painting florals. My previous two postings showed some of the preparatory work I did for this class.  I arrived at the community centre to be greeted by this fabulous display of spring flowers. I always enjoy working with this group. They are keen to try new methods and enthusiastic about painting in general.

Getting started

We started with a fun exercise to get used to the idea of drawing with the bush loaded with water and then dropping paint into the wet pattern. Try writing your name this way.

I dropped blue paint on one side and yellow on the other and then tipped and tilted the board to blend the colours. You get some beautiful colour mixes that could only happen with a wet in wet technique.





Planning the painting

These little thumbnails are always where I start. The top 3 are for the first demonstration of pink magnolias. The last 2 (bottom centre and bottom left) are the planning for my afternoon demonstration.






Pink Magnolias

I started with the middle blossom. I wet the whole blossom shape and then dropped paint on to the bottom and let it flow upwards. I controlled the flow by drying the edges of the petals with paper towel. I wanted people to be able to see where the wet part of the paper was while I worked so I tinted the water with blue which worked very well with these particular flowers.

Pink Magnolias (10 x 14 inches)

After the initial wash had dried, I added some shadow details to enhance the forms. I may work on this one a little more latter on but I like the simplicity of this painting as it is.

Cosmos

I started a painting of cosmos in the afternoon using the same methods described in my previous posting. I could turn these into poppies - I'll have to think about that.

Participants paintings

Well done everyone. We had a great day

Painting Cosmos

In preparation for teaching a workshop next weekend, I have been practicing more flowers with no pre-drawing. This is the painting so far:

Cosmos (watercolour 13.5 x 21.5 inches)

How I got there

Step 1: The thumbnail (1 x 2 inches)

This is the first and most crucial step in the whole process for me. This is were I establish the rhythm and balance of the painting. I have defined three large shapes of light, medium and dark values and where the focal point will be. At this point I am making all the major decisions about how I will approach this painting including colour and paint application techniques. I have a plan to follow when I start painting but I don't stick to it slavishly. I allow myself to react to the flow of the paint.

The first wash

I wet the top third of the paper and started with the yellow centres of the flowers. As the paper loses its shine I can start to define some of the petal shapes with pink. Where the paper has dried too much I sprayed and splatted some more water to help the paint flow. Any back runs at this point will add textural interest. Let this dry.

Laying in the darks

I have used the darks to define the petals on the main flowers. I tried adding salt for texture but once again proved that I have no facility with this particular technique. Perhaps this is a subject for a future posting, "Louise does salt trials"

Adjustments

I added more cool darks to the upper left and softened the edge between background and middle distant area. At this point, I let the painting rest over night and completed the details the next morning. 

The end

I worked slowly, assessing each step as I worked.

Magnolias

The Magnolia Society of Annapolis Royal has invited artists and craftspeople to create work "Inspired by Magnolias" for an exhibition during the Magnolia Festival in May. The show will take place from the 1st to the 29th of May at ARTsPLACE in the Chapel Gallery (396 St. George Street, Annapolis Royal)

All this drawing that I have been doing this year has given me the confidence to paint without any pre-drawing on the paper. I do make a few quick thumbnail sketches to establish the composition. 

 Pink Magnolias (10 x 14 inches)

For this first painting, I wet the shape of each blossom and then worked wet in wet. I controlled the flow by drying the edges of the petals with paper towel as I worked.

White Magnolias ( 13.5 x 21.5 inches)

I began this painting the same way, wetting the blossom and working wet. When the blossoms were dry, I wet the entire back ground working right over the branches and the central bud. I poured  mixtures of ultramarine blue and burnt umber, paynes grey, alizarine crimson and thalo green.