Another Hare!

I'm enjoying my hare theme so much I can't stop! This one is watercolour with coloured pencil on top.

 

 

Winter Hare Collage

I'm still enjoying my seasonal theme of hares in snow. I used a brayer and distress ink pad to create a simple background, and then cut all the collage pieces by hand. I think this one might make a nice greetings card.

 

.

 

 

Painting with Distress Ink Pads

More seasonal painting! I love snow scenes.

 

I used to keep my Distress Ink pads in a drawer and hardly ever used them. But I recently bought a nice wooden storage unit for them (second hand but in perfect condition. Total bargain!) and now that I can see them all displayed for easy access, I'm suddenly inspired to use them.

 

I used a mask/stencil to get the basic outline for the trees in the background, then painted them in freehand with a waterbrush (ink pads smeared onto my glass tabletop for a palette). I painted the hare freehand with a waterbrush, using several layers of soft colour.

 

 

Seasonal Painting

A simple little robin for my Christmas cards. Watercolour plus coloured pencil. I printed them onto watercolour paper and hand-finished each card with an additional layer of coloured pencil, so each card is unique.

 

 

Abstract Seascapes

Abstract seascape using watercolour and black ink. I was experimenting so I painted several, and these were the most successful. I like the breezy feel of this one.

 

 

Slightly dodgy photo of this one, as it was too big to scan.

 

 

Blue Cityscape

More sketchy experimentation using watercolour, black ink and white pen.

 

 

Blue Lady Collage

Collage and watercolour combo (everything blue is watercolour paint, everything else is paper collage). The image is a stencil I cut several years ago.

 

  

Abstract Landscape Watercolour/Collage

I started this with the intention of doing a pure watercolour painting, but I ended up adding a few black collage elements at the end. I'm quite pleased with how it turned out.

 

 

 

Watercolour Mountain Scene

I painted this one with help from a tutorial by Arnold Lowrey (I found it on Youtube). He's a great teacher - such a relaxing calm Welsh voice and reassuring manner. I'm quite pleased with how it turned out.

 

 

 

Bright Sunny Watercolour Practice

I love bright, lively loose watercolour paintings so I'm trying to learn how to create that look. I used watercolour paints for the initial washes, then some detail over the top with watercolour pens. I'm making a lot of mistakes but hopefully learning from them, and it's fun to use such lovely bright cheerful colours.

 

 

 

 

Finally Finished After 7 Years!!

Ever put a half-finished project aside in order to start a new one? Well, I do. And I do it A LOT!  I have dozens of half-finished paintings, collages, decorative plaques and even cards (I know - can I really not even finish a CARD?!) all neatly organised and waiting for completion. I'm embarrassed to admit some of them have been knocking around for several years! Usually, I'm too excited working on something new to revisit these old neglected friends, but this morning I woke up and had the urge to finish a decorative bird picture that I started about 7 years ago! So I did, and I now have a lovely feeling of satisfaction and closure!  It's paper collage over a watercolour background.

 

 

I like the bright colours so much I've put him in a frame on my studio wall!

 

 

 

Unfortunately I don't have the urge to work my way through all my unfinished projects, but one less is one less!

Coastal Collage

Collage (15.5 x 15.5cm)  using cut and torn papers (including maple paper) plus a small amount of watercolour wash. I'm quite pleased with the fresh feel of the nice bright colours.

 

 

Sketchy Ink and Watercolour

The very water-soluble ink in my Rotring art pen has caused me problems when attempting to add watercolour washes over a sketch, so I tried it the other way round - sketching the ink over a dried watercolour background. Just a scribble, but I quite like it.

 



Bold Tulip Painting

I really enjoyed doing the pansy tutorial, so I've decided to do some more large close-up flowers using my own reference photos. Tulips are my favourite spring flowers, so I've started with those.

Pansy From Tutorial

I found a very useful tutorial online by Birgit O'Connor, who makes lovely bold watercolour paintings of flowers. I finished my version in my own way, but following the tutorial was a great learning exercise, especially about how to get the water to carry colour in large areas. Here's my effort (based on Birgit's original).

 

 

Limited Colours Landscape Sketches

I've seen some great landscapes recently using very  limited palettes (just two or three colours) so I've decided to have a go. Here's my first sketch - I had no plan so I ended up using watercolour pencil, watercolour paint, pencil and acrylic paint! As I generally struggle with colour a bit, I actually find it enjoyable to be limited to three colours.

 

 

 

This one has a bit more colour but still muted.Watercolour crayons for this one, plus a bit of watercolour paint on top.

 

 





 

 

 

 

 



Watercolour Practice - Daffodils

More watercolour practice. This is one of the step-by-step projects in 'Ready to Paint - Watercolour Flowers' by Wendy Tait. I've cropped it down though, for a more modern look.

 

 

A Couple of Hares

More watercolour practice - this time some hares. This one is just watercolour paint (with me trying not to be heavy handed!)

 

 

And this one started out with a watercolour wash, but then I fancied giving him a bit more texture so I got stuck in with some coloured pencil (another medium I'm interested in at the moment. I've seen some amazing coloured pencil work recently...yet another thing I want to learn...I need more time!)

 

 

 They both need backgrounds really - maybe I'll return to them and add something.

 

Watercolour Practice

I've been trying to learn watercolour technique using books and tutorials. I've had some disasters (I tend to be heavy-handed with colour and tone) but I think I'm starting to make some progress.

 

I've traced some outline drawings (pigment pen) from reference photos and scanned them, so I can print them off multiple times. This allows me to concentrate on practicing the watercolour techniques without worrying about having to spend ages doing a drawing each time. Here's one of Chichester Cathedral with watercolour washes.

 

 

Still not very accomplished but definitely an improvement on earlier attempts (which weren't fit to be seen and went straight in the bin!) 

Watercolour Pencils

I'm getting into watercolour painting and have seen some nice examples of watercolour pencils used in conjunction with watercolour paint to create some nice effects. I hadn't used my watercolour pencils for years, so I got them out to have a practice. This is just an adult colouring page I found online - ideal for experimenting with the pencils and getting a feel for them. I penciled in the whole thing dry and then added water (using a water brush - such a great invention!) to create a first wash. I then let it dry and added subsequent washes to create dimension. A great learning exercise, and I have to agree with all those who love adult colouring - it's SO relaxing! 

 

 

Red, White and Blue Handbag

Another sewing project! I wanted a small shoulder bag to go with a particular outfit, but didn't want to spend much money. I had some plain off-white/cream fabric left over from an unused curtain, so I decided to use that with some heavy duty interfacing to stiffen it. I added navy and red stripes using ribbon stitched on to the panels before I stitched them together. I only had to buy a red zip, and a pair of metal clips / D-rings. total cost: less than £5. Bargain!