Paintings from this week....

Busy this week getting into ACEO cards.
What are ACEO cards?  well, basically they are small
collectable cards measuring 2½" x 3½"

I painted 2 ACEO's for the

Facebook group 30 ACEO's in 30 DAYS

and separately a fun ACEO of
William (well I couldn't leave him out could I)

Over at Paper, Paint, Pencils & Pens 

we have the

SPRING theme until the 31st March

so I started with this Daffodil on
my homemade khadi paper sketchbook

 ~ both these were inspired by photos on

Paint My Photo 

Andre van de Sande & Frank Greenough respectively ~

and
Spring Lamb
(from PaintMyPhoto by Clare Smith)

Linking today to
PAINT PARTY FRIDAY
(with many thanks to EVA & Kristin for hosting)

Travelling along the Rhine in Germany

....sorry to repeat myself {{blush}}  I have added this post to Paper, Paint, Pencils and Pens, but felt it would be nice to add it here too.

Joining in with 

Paint Party Friday today (thanks EVA & Kristin for hosting)

+

joining in with 

the Queen of Creativity (thanks Kate for hosting)

 

***

We went on a River cruise along the Rhine some years ago in Germany.  There had been extensive flooding in the area, which you would think would be fine, it was a river cruise after all.  Sadly not a good thing as it turned out!!  Because the river had risen, towns along the river were at greater risk from the swell of boats travelling along it, hence our cruise boat couldn't travel from its dock in Cologne.  So instead of travelling horizontally we actually travelled vertically on the Rhine, the river was still rising when we were there.   That could only happen to us and the number of times I have told this I could not count {{laugh}}

We always see the cup half full, it's a wonderful way to travel through life. We benefited from this
event in that the Tour company arranged for a coach to take us along the route of the Rhine and stop at wonderful towns and villages along the way.  We gained, as ever, from the unfortunate weather.

Because it was such a lovely holiday, this is a place I would love to go back to.  Either by cruise boat or just independent travel along the Rhine and take in the wonderful scenery again.  (can you imagine the fun I would have sketching ahhhhh).

Paper Paint Pencils and Pens

Yes...Paper Paint Pencils and Pens

if you haven't visited this blog, then I thoroughly recommend it.  You can join in and add your drawings, paintings and sketches there.  Working to a Theme that changes regularly you will never get stuck for some inspiration.

Okay, so I co-admin.  on it...I am bound to sing its praises....but so worth joining.  Lynn Cohen in the USA is the brains behind this great blog.....

The current Theme is : "The town you grew up in"

February 16th-28th   suggested by one of our contributors Elaine Pang (jaguarish)

Here are some of my

sketches so far for the Theme....
and I have to admit having had a great time
looking back at the town/local area
I grew up in and called home for so long.

Lyndhurst Hampshire

Minstead Church New Forest

My Secondary school - Bartley

My first job was in this building - a bank.

The Pier Southampton

Thatched pub at Lyndhurst



Linking to

Paint Party Friday today

I hope you will visit 

both blogs:

Many Thanks to EVA & Kristin for hosting Paint Party Friday

and to 

Lynn Cohen for her work on Paper, Paint, Pencils & Pens.

HOPE YOU WILL STOP BY

AND TAKE UP THE CHALLENGE WITH US

YOU WILL ENJOY IT....I'M SURE.
 
*****  

Pen and Wash

Linking to:

Paint Party Friday 

today

with many thanks to Eva & Kristin for hosting

Sketches from our travels

Like I said in my previous post, I'm adding some sketches in this post of our trip away...but

Firstly one or two sketches from our trip to Birdlip in Gloucester.  I've already added some in my blog post dated 24th January here are some that escaped that blog post...

using a large moleskine journal I started with the map ...

 ....notes on the journey

We have just come back from another trip down to Buckfastleigh.  Great opportunity to sketch in a different town, and start another journal page with the map...

sketched from the car (it was warm in the car and cold outside, you get the idea)...

Looking forward to other trips away 

and more sketching!

Linking to

PAINT PARTY FRIDAY today

and oh my goodness, I've been selected by the

random generator for my

sketch on

 Sketchingwilliam blog!!!   

 

THANKS ya'll

*******

Bloom

Another sketch in my Stillman & Birn sketchbook.  I'm liking this sketchbook the more I use it, the paper is such good quality.  I can see why artists rave about it.

Sharing today with 

PAINT PARTY FRIDAY

many thanks to EVA & Kristin for hosting.

Watermouth Harbour + Paint Party Friday

Here's another painting in my Saunders Waterford Pad,

which incidentally I'm enjoying using -

It is a Rough paper, so I wasn't sure at first if that would

be a good thing, I usually go for NOT paper, the (in between rough and very smooth)...

but as things turn out I've really enjoyed putting paint and brush onto this surface.

I plan to crop this painting from the pad, frame and sell it.

~ WATERMOUTH HARBOUR, DEVON ~

Today, I am joining the party....

PAINT PARTY FRIDAY

Many thanks to EVA & Kristin

for hosting.

Devon cottage - watercolour + Paint Party Friday

Having had the Saunders Waterford pad for such a long time and not really using it,  I'm now finding it good fun .... I did this little painting the other day and after adding more layers of detail, it's time to share it with you.  I say, painting - I should say Sketch.  With the work in this spiral pad, I'm using it all for reference and experiment in preparation for larger watercolour paintings one day.

Again, I used my mop brushes - of which I have several...

As the mop brushes soak up so much paint, I prepare paint in small dishes as well as my palettes. So glad I kept these dishes from desserts - why throw away something this useful...

Today I'm linking with

PAINT PARTY FRIDAY

with Thanks to EVA & Kristin our hosts.

I hope you will stop by Paint Party Friday and 

see all the art work there.

***

A view in my sketchbook

...from our last trip away. We stopped near Helston in Cornwall and I sketched the view, which included this strange metal structure.  At first I thought it was to do with the local airfield (especially as there were helicopters buzzing around) but discovered it was part of an attraction at a theme park called Flambards!

Today linking to Paint Party Friday

with thanks to EVA & Kristin

for hosting.

(click on the Location tab below

to see where Helston is)

A Surprise Tea Party for Tracey

Today is a special surprise

for those of us who join into

PAINT PARTY FRIDAY

We are having

this TEA PARTY

for you TRACEY

S U R P R I S E !

and I got William the lurcher to help with the painting -

he thought it would be fun to pose for his picture

and send you

ALL THE BEST WISHES FOR THE SEASON

WE ARE ALL SUPPORTING YOU AND WANT YOU TO KNOW

WE ARE THINKING OF YOU

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 

Snow days and Paint Party Friday

Friday already and I'm Linking to Paint Party Friday - with many Thanks to EVA & Kristin - whilst sharing some Snow....

Just got back from the Brecon mountains in Wales.  A lovely time revisiting familiar places and sightseeing.    So, here's a few (a lot) of pix for you to enjoy and a little sketching too, which I thoroughly enjoyed doing at the time...(although I have to admit I sketched them in the car but didn't add the watercolour til later)...

Watercolour in my large moleskine book...

The higher we drove the more snow we found, but it was lovely to see the comparison between 'High and Cold with Snow' and 'Sunny and a bit warmer at lower level'...... 

close up...

and

I took some videos of the drive.....so if you have got this far perhaps you would like to see these.  Apologies for the dead flies on the windscreen, flies will obviously do anything to get in on a video!

In Video 1, it would seem that some drivers had more trouble with the icy conditions than us......

This area reminds us so much of our own Dartmoor,

especially when it is snow capped.

~ Have a terrific weekend all ~

Sketches over the last week or so....

loosely based on Ilfracombe Harbour,

I just decided to make it very basic and see how it turned out

....and this is what happens when I doodle whilst chatting on the phone!

This next photograph 

(yes I've sneaked in a photo)

should 

make 

you

 Smile

See....I knew you would

I tried sketching this, but didn't use a pencil outline first,

just used the paint to draw out the picture

- I looked for Shapes rather than looking at the subject for what it is -

then outlined in pen when the paint had dried

and finally I have done this next painting

from a photograph.   I won't show you the photo as it was

sourced from another Blog and I didn't ask permission first!

Shock!  What is that she says 'didn't ask first'!!!

Well, there is a reason, you see if the person

recognises this from the photo and Likes it, they

can have it as a gift. This really was a fun painting.  

I approached it in a similar way to the above painting, but

dropped a lot of wet-into-wet washes in.

 I have put it in a mount and clear cover

and if by chance it isn't claimed, I don't mind that either. I enjoyed painting it.

I'm Linking to Paint Party Friday today

with many thanks to 

EVA & Kristin for their hospitality

Have a great weekend all

*****

Barns

Following on from my previous post, with the farmyard, I've done some small 5" x 7" paintings.

The first two are with watercolour and ink...

and this final one with just watercolour..

I might turn these into cards of some sort, 

now there's another project to get my teeth into!

I am today Linking

to

PAINT PARTY FRIDAY

(with Thanks to EVA & Kristin)

***

HAVE  A REALLY GOOD WEEKEND EVERYONE