Back to Oils

I have to admit, it has been some time since I set up my easel for Oil painting.  Somehow I drifted away from it with Watercolours (which I love) and then I got into Gouache (in a big way).  The Gouache was the opener to me going back to Oils - Gouache being much more akin to Oil painting than it is watercolours.

It's good that the smelly mediums of Oil painting in the past - well, technically they are still there for some - but for me I'm making the most of the odourless ones, particularly for brush cleaning.  

Zest It!  is effective with a smell of orange - much more bearable.

Living near the sea, I had to get stuck into a Seascape - albeit small 8" x 6", but I'm also trying out some other mediums along the way and wanted to see how they worked on a small canvas board.

Here's the Work-in-Progress stage

~ to this stage it took about half an hour ~

then left it to dry off a bit overnight 

enough to come back to the next day and complete with finishing touches and details

Now it needs to wait for about a week to 10 days before I add retouching varnish to protect it.

(If the paint isn't completely dry at that point, providing it is on the surface, I can still add the retouching varnish and the painting will still cure beneath the varnish - the retouching varnish breaths - who'd have thought!)

~ Now I can't wait to start another painting ~

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The Walled Garden - Plein air painting

Another plein air painting session at Arlington Court yesterday.  Lucky that the weather came out sunny, having been very overcast during the morning.

I set up my easel in the walled garden this time and decided to do a watercolour of the foxgloves.

Bees were plentiful and {{busy bees}} too, but they didn't bother me.  Something nice about hearing bees a buzzing whilst painting.

(Look, I had even worn my coat over there, but found it much too hot to keep on, so my trolley looked after it for me)

I'm after a loose Impressionistic painting here...

Waiting for paint to dry, I poured myself a coffee from the flask I brought along,
just had to remember Not to dip the brushes into it instead of the water pot!

Glad I decided to do the foxglove painting

~ what do you think? ~

As an extra, here's a quick sketch of
The Old Granary which was about 5 minutes walk from the walled garden

 All in all that was a good painting session,
and I'm looking forward to the next time,
but where to paint?....ummm, you'll have to wait for that.


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Plein air at Arlington Court

The weather was perfect for plein air painting earlier this week at

Arlington Court

Decided to set up my easel in the gardens and found the perfect spot under the wisteria arch.  It gave me a great view along the pathway to the conservatory.

Perfect weather to dry my watercolours without having to wait too long.

Trying to Re-organise and Tidy my studio

....it's exhausting work

(fish-eye lens view)

Think I need a glass of wine 🍷

The difference a few brush strokes make

Okay I have to admit, this is only an example and not an artwork of great note.  However, I DID enjoy painting it.  On our recent holiday down to Cornwall I did, not only paintings for sale, but also sketching.  SOME of those sketches turned into little paintings in their own right.  I love it when that happens.  

Here's an example of how a FEW added details can bring a painting to life and make it pop.
This is with GOUACHE, so by nature it dries flat and opaque  ~ something I love about this medium ~

My initial wash of colour

St. Michael's Mount, Penzance

and then I added Permanent White 

(not much though)

plus a person on the beach

Is it just me, or does it POP now!

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Update about the plant I mentioned the other day....

Here's the blogpost   🔗

and the pictures of the plant

We had spotted this at one of the National Trust properties in Cornwall 

Trengwainton Gardens 🔗

One of my followers, Shammickite, suggested asking the Trust about the plant. So this evening I messaged them on Facebook, and to my surprise a very kind person there answered within an hour!!!

How efficient was that!

so now you all want to know the response which was:

Hello Ann, really glad you enjoyed your visit. The plant is olearia x scilloniensis.

OLEARIA  X  SCILLONIENSIS 🔗

(thanks Shammickite for suggesting I ask the question)

Elizabeth Hyde Photography

Our daughter, Elizabeth (known as Lil), is a great photographer and spending more time recently taking some awesome photos (I tend not to say the word 'awesome' very often, so you probably get the idea that I am totally biased here).   I like to think it is justified as myself and others point out that she 'has an eye for photos'.  

I've helped her with a Blog (I've made it more like a website).  She will eventually have a Link for selling photos, but we still have to work that bit out!  However, in the meantime I have added some photos for her, and Catergorised them too.   She has also set up a Facebook Page,  I have encouraged her to add a shop (another "work in progress").  

Let's face it these things take time to evolve, so bear with it and in the meanwhile

take a look at her blog/website and facebook page so far.

www.elizabethhydephotography.blogspot.com

and

Facebook Page - Elizabeth's Photography

📸 📸 📸

Oh my, this plant was pretty

I have no idea what it is called, but it was amazing, I just HAD to

take a photo of two to show you all

It has the prettiest little daisy-like flowers

here's a close-up

~ Hope you're all having a good weekend ~

Painting on location

One of the great things about going away, is it inspires paintings.   I have to restrict what I choose, otherwise I would sketching and painting 24/7 -  our recent trip to Cornwall was, of course, FULL OF INSPIRATION.   I did a lot of little sketches here and there, but restricted myself to only a handful of  landscapes.  I used Gouache as my medium this trip and thoroughly enjoyed using it.

These make great little reminders of the time in Cornwall, but will be useful to work them into bigger paintings.  I may even use oils, I think it would suit them....we shall see, but I will be sure to let you all know.