Sketching the little visitor

With family visiting over Christmas I got a new subject for my sketching....little Hamish the cocker spaniel

playing in the garden

whispers with grandad

playing with his squirrel rope toy

Today I'm linking with

Paint Party Friday

(with many thanks to Eva & Kristin)

WISHING

YOU ALL A

VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS

Deck the halls

....well not quite yet!

The tree has been purchased.  The decorations out of the loft.  Rooms prepared (in other words we have cleared out loads of rubbish)...Oh, we aren't Hoarders if you are thinking that  (cough).  That is unless you happen to look in my studio space ...I have to admit that over the last week even I have been shocked at the amount of 'rubbish' I have 'put aside for a rainy day'.  You know, the items that you 'think' you will need one day.  So I have been very focused with 'clearing out'  and boy does it feel better AND best of all it LOOKS better.   Now I have plenty of room to start saving it all again (laugh)!!....No, not really.....

During all this madness of clearing out, I didn't feel like doing serious art.  But you know me,  I can't keep away from it for more than a few seconds, so I found a little project for myself to just Play and have fun using some of the scrap paper we were clearing out.

 Some roughly drawn Santa stockings..

Painted and adding some glitter at the top

using Tacky Glue

I stuck some thread on the back (as you see I didn't bother to paint the other side of them as I'll hang them up so that doesn't show!)..

and there you have it....little Santa Stockings out of scrap paper......and fun to make

Photo Share - Woodland

I'm rounding off this week with another Share Photo.  Hope some of you will be using my pics from Monday and Wednesday's posts....... here's another for you to use as and when you like...

Have a great weekend

Photo Share - Summer garden

I'm going to Share some photographs with you this week - so if you would like to use this one in your art, then please go ahead....

( a complicated photo with lots going on - now there's a challenge for you).

-  Have a good week  -

Where's Wally

I know to some he is known as Where's Waldo....

and low and behold

our daughter found him

whilst she was 

in

Spain...

HERE

HE

IS

I think the roads department must have been the
first ones to spot him because they
put a sign up pointing to him!




 

Double ended brush

I might have mentioned this before.....or did I only 'think' about doing this particular post item!?!

Anyway, bear with me  - Here's one of my cheap brushes, I wouldn't recommend doing this with expensive Sables!, but this particular brush comes in handy for so many different areas of a painting...

I sharpened the other end of it with a pencil sharpener...

when I need to add some trees, fences, posts etc. to a landscape

just turn the brush round -

you don't have to go searching for 

the right tool, you have it there already

Depending on the effect you want ...

   If you go straight in on the wet paint (as with the example above) you get
a darker outline (basically the paint fills in the lines you have drawn)

 If I had waited a bit longer I could have got a whiter outline 

A useful brush to have if you are out and about painting and want to

keep your supplies to a minimum

**************

Mixing Greens

We all know that Yellow and Blue together make Green, but I have experimented with some combinations of these just to see how different they might be:

 1.
                                   Aureolin                Ultramarine Blue

2.
                         Cadmium Yellow           Ultramarine Blue

Changing the Yellow, altered the Green - that was using the Yellow as the first colour with the Blue added to it.

but what happens when I use the Blue first

3.
                         Ultramarine Blue              Aureolin

4.
                              Ultramarine Blue     Cadmium Yellow

Subtle changes but certainly changes.

I then tried a different combination - this time with Prussian Blue.....

5.
                             Quinacridone Gold    then added        Prussian Blue

6.
                              Prussian Blue   then added   Quinacridone Gold

Quite a significant change with this.

So the moral of the story is - Try different combinations of colours - Experiment and have fun with them - make notes of what you have used, that way you have some useful colours to instantly fall back on when you are doing a painting.

Hope this has given you some ideas

Have a great week

***************

Wordless Wednesday

Roses

Here's a photograph I took some time ago, but thought some of you may like to use it as a reference for a painting.....

not an easy subject, roses are difficult.      Hope you like the photo even if you don't use it for a drawing.

Hope you have a great weekend

**********************************

Tuesday Tip - Christmas Chains

I reckon everyone has made their own Christmas Crackers at some time, or at least knows how to make them.  Get the inner of a kitchen roll - cover with paper - add what ever for the inside  (you can buy the pulling/banger piece in craft stores)- pretty up the edges - and you have your own homemade cracker!

Thought I would show you another Christmas idea - using the inner roll of either kitchen or toilet rolls

using some left over wrapping paper   

                                 

use a glue stick and cover the cardboard tube

 

and roll on the wrapping paper     

 when that's done, cut into varying sizes - wide and/or narrow however you want....

like this...

 and make a few...

Cut some Whole....but also cut some to join up with each other....this next video may help show you what I mean...

 (before someone says, I know I had the Top still on the Glossy Accents!....I was just showing the idea)

You can make the chains as long as you like...

Varying lengths can be hung up around your room, or added to your Christmas tree - How about adding extra Sparkle too here and there

***

 This could make a very good project to do with the kids during the holidays

or when you are watching TV

So start saving those inner tubes

***

  

Fir Cones

Having found some very large fir cones, I was busy deciding what to do with them....

when a certain lurcher called William came up to see what I was doing.  

Unfortunately I wasn't quick enough with my camera to capture the expression on his face as he looked at these weird objects

 ...so instead I did a quick sketch, hopefully capturing that look....

he wasn't sure if it was going to move

One of those hilarious moments!

Wordless Wednesday

Mirror Mirror

Following on from my post on Friday, I thought I would just say something about the mirror/reflection
photo I had taken....



My wall mirror in the studio (a left over from when daughter lived at home)  has proved so useful when painting.   When I am unsure how a painting is 'balanced'   I just turn the painting round to face the mirror....that way instead of seeing 'what I want or think' should be in the painting, I actually 'see' only the 'structure' of the piece......

if something is out alignment (eg. a tree leaning wrongly - or a mountain top going too far in the wrong direction) the Mirror will show it up immediately.  It is so helpful.


example as with this landscape...I face the mirror to see if I'm happy with it...

 I adjusted some of the 'values' of light against dark....

Friday's painting happened to be on my large table easel, so turning it round wasn't an option.  In this case I used a small hand mirror instead...

the small folding mirror helps when doing plein air paintings too.

Hope this is a useful tip and a help

 when you are unsure of a painting

************

 

 

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Beach fun

.....the useful thing about my new camera is that I can capture close ups without getting my feet too wet!

looking towards Woolacombe....

I can leave husband, our daughter and the dogs to go into the sea...

pose for mum...

floating heads...

and along the beach towards Putsborough

with the inevitable close-up.....although not to the full setting...

If anyone would like to use part or all this posts photos for painting/sketching etc. then please do so.