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The last time I painted a landscape was in my third year of university, which was well over four years ago! I wanted to paint something special for my mum's birthday card, and what better than the old farmhouse that my family and I lived in during the early 90's. This is a beautiful house overlooking the countryside of west Brabourne, framed by a lovely walled garden and outbuildings. My mum and I have very fond memories of our time here, and we could certainly tell you a few stories about it's resident ghosts!
I used acrylics for this painting, as I like to create slightly impressionist landscapes and I enjoy blending the colours with a thick paintbrush or a pallet knife to create clouds and vegetation.The house looks a bit wonky, but this definitely adds to its character. I distinctly remember the crooked ceilings and floors and doors that creaked and whistled.
Painting this image has inspired me to have a go at some more acrylic landscapes, and maybe even try to paint some in watercolour. I also have to start thinking about some new images for my upcoming Spring show at the Church Mouse Gallery in Hythe, which will be happening in May. More details will be posted here nearer the time.
I have had a rather long break from painting over the Christmas holiday. I was away from home for most of it and so there was no opportunity for me to focus on putting paintbrush to paper.
However after a few practice sketches to help me get back into the swing of things, I have produced this little number.
Waxwings are one of the most spectacular winter visitors to our shores. Their lovely creamy pink feathers, punky crest and black eye mask make a striking image. There have been huge flocks spotted all over the UK, and a retail park in Folkestone, Kent was lucky enough to have a flock of nearly 400 visit its car park. It did not take long for them to devour all the berries on offer!
It was not easy trying to get the colouring of this bird correct. The main colour is a mix of pink, cream, blue-grey and orange! I layered all the different colours over one another, using more 'paynes grey' in the shadows around the feet. I think I am most happy with the head of the bird. The flash of orange next to the beak, and the crisp red of the berries make a lovely contrast. I will probably do a few studies of these Waxwings, as I find their colours and characters to be very interesting.
Here is my first completed entry for the David Shepherd 2011 competition. Big cats, including Snow Leopards, are quite popular subjects in this competition. It was an Amur Leopard that got me through to the finals last time so I thought I would focus on a similarly endangered species.
This was a very difficult image to initially sketch out. The face of the cub especially, took a good few hours to get right. The other challenge was to create the 'fluffy' look of the fur. These leopards have incredibly dense fur to keep out the cold, and this is what differentiates them from other big cats. To recreate the fluffy look, I simply flicked the black and cream colours onto the paper. I also outlined the form of the leopards with white ink. I kept the background simple, as these cats live in snow covered mountains. A wash of paynes grey and more flicks of black completed the picture.
I want to enter two paintings, and so this weekend I will set to work on either a Scarlet of Hyacinth Macaw. These will be perfect subjects for the 'Endangered' category.
Well this is the first painting I have attempted in quite a few weeks, and I am not sure I have done a great job! It will take a few trial and error pieces to get back into the swing of things.
I wanted to paint something Autumnal, and the image of goldfinches feeding on the seed heads of teasel is a common sight at this time of year. The birds cling on at all sorts of strange angles to get to the seed, and I wanted to convey this in the painting. I am happy with the colouring of the bird, as the bright red and gold feathers really stand out. I am just not sure that the feet are quite right, and I may need to add some shadow where the bird meets the teasel. The lighting is slightly questionable at the moment.
It is now time for me to get to work on my entry for the 2011 David Shepherd Wildlife Artist of the Year competition. I am going to paint an image for the endangered category once again, and my chosen subject will be a snow leopard. It is going to be hard, but I think the mottled fur will look good in my splattered watercolours.
I have neglected both my painting and this blog for the past two months. In my defence, I have barely had a weekend free since moving house in August. It took a fair few weeks just to get everything unpacked and put in place.
However I have found some time to get out and enjoy nature. Autumn is by far the best time of year to visit woodland. I had a stroll through Epping Forest this Saturday, and it was idyllic. The reds and yellows of the fallen leaves contrasting against the green foliage was beautiful. The sun shone only too briefly, but long enough for me to get a few photographs. There was also a vast amount of different fungi bursting through the floor, which I found fascinating . Only last week the London papers reported that people were stealing crates and crates of fungi from the forest. It would be a dreadful shame if greed were to rid the forest of it's wonderful flora and fauna.
If you haven't done so already, I recommend a visit to Epping. You will find it very inspirational. It has certainly inspired me to pick up a paintbrush again and try my hand at some landscapes.
These two girls are 'white star' chickens, and have beautiful white feathers. They also lay beautiful white eggs. There's nothing they like more than sitting down and enjoying the sun, and this is the best time to grab a pencil and sketch them. I know the hen lying down looks a bit odd, mainly because she has a big floppy comb! I simply had to include it, as it gives her so much character.
I always struggle to paint white subjects as I usually do not include a coloured background. However the shadowing on the feathers is a wonderful shade of blue, so this is the easiest way to outline and add depth to the hen. I do think I could have improved the painting slightly by adding a warm cream or yellow colour, to give the impression of sunlight illuminating the feathering.
In other news, this Friday I will be submitting four paintings to the annual SWLA exhibition at the Mall Galleries. Fingers crossed that my images make it through the judging process to the final show on the 22nd of September.
I'm a little embarrassed to say that it has been over a month since I last picked up a paintbrush! My rather lame excuse is that there has been a lot going on,
such as trying to find a new job and house-hunting.
I wanted to paint something I was confident with to help me get back into the swing of things. I grew up with a garden full of chickens, and one day plan to have some of my own. In the meantime, I have my parents chickens to observe. They are very curious creatures, and if you step into their territory they will come and watch what you are doing, poke around at your feet, or sometimes just stare at you with those slightly Dinosaur-like faces! This character is what I aimed to capture in this hen.
Black Rock chickens have one of my favourite 'colour schemes'. The black feathers shine blue-green in the light, and the neck feathers are peppered with a glorious orange. I tend to avoid backgrounds in my paintings, but I felt adventurous this time and threw down a rusty, farmyard orange/brown frame using big, bold brushstrokes. I assure you, even though the border looks uneven, it is straight. The camera has just managed to distort it!
I hope you like this curious girl. It has certainly inspired me to get painting again!
The last time I painted a landscape was in my third year of university, which was well over four years ago! I wanted to paint something special for my mum's birthday card, and what better than the old farmhouse that my family and I lived in during the early 90's. This is a beautiful house overlooking the countryside of west Brabourne, framed by a lovely walled garden and outbuildings. My mum and I have very fond memories of our time here, and we could certainly tell you a few stories about it's resident ghosts!
