Saturday 1 January 2011

Happy New Year

Watercolour and coloured pencil


Wishing everyone a happy and creative 2011!

This is the time of year when everyone makes lists and resolutions.  I prefer to set myself goals rather than try to keep resolutions.  A list of goals keeps me focused during the year and I also think about how I will achieve them.   The above painting was from the beginning of last year and one of my first attempts at mixing watercolour and coloured pencil.  This year I'd like to improve my watercolouring skills (last year I learnt to use oil paints at a painting class), but I need a good book to start me off...any recommendations?

This is also the time of year when people wish for a good year ahead and there are many traditions that hopefully will bring them luck.  In Italy they have one strange custom of wearing red underwear on New Years eve, so obviously I couldn't resist drawing these for you!




I hasten to add these are not mine and they were new.  Now you know what to wear next year!
Happy New Year to you all!







21 comments:

Vicki Holdwick said...

Cathy,

I wish you'd told me about the red underwear sooner. Of course, I would have had to go out and buy a pair.

I wonder what a person has to look forward to who wears ecru panties on New Year's Eve???

Lovely watercolor and pencil drawing and pretty panties.

xoxo

E*phi said...

Whoa! The trees are magnificent! I really love the light in this!
The red underwear is hilarious too.
If I'm not mistaken, the same goes for yellow underwear in Spain. :D

debra morris said...

Happy New Year Cathy, great trees. I love the play of shadows and the softness of the grass.
The knickers are great....will be wearing red underwear at Chinese New Year now (just in case it applies over here)

Unknown said...

The light and shadow playing in the trees is amazing! Beautiful piece. If you fin a good book for watercolor, let me know. Love the undies!

Sarah said...

Your trees are fabulous and I love the red undies - are you quite sure they aren't yours?!

Depends what kind of watercolouring you want to do - I really like John Lovett's style and approach and he has lots of free tutorials on his site http://www.johnlovett.com/

For a more traditional approach Cathy Johnson has written lots of books (from EDM too!) and also has cds avaialble
http://www.cathyjohnson.info/catalog.html

Have a happy and creative New Year!

jenna said...

Great trees! Love the undies too. I actually did wear red underwear on New Year's eve, without even knowing of the tradition. Maybe I should've have done a drawing before I put them on ;)

Unknown said...

Great trees Cathy!

I'll have to try wearing red undies next New Year's eve, bit late now. Nice drawing of yours.

Margaret Ann said...

Absolutely in love with your tree...it is scrumptious! And as for the undies...what an unexpected surprise...nice delicate lacey touch! Well done...well done, indeed! :) Happy New Year! :)

Cathy Holtom said...

Sarah - Quite sure they're not mine..tooo small!
Thanks for the watercolour ideas :)

Unknown said...

Beautiful trees and I really love those panties! I have a lot of watercolor books, but since I've only looked at the pictures for the most part, I couldn't tell you if one is better than another! Maybe that will be my goal this year!

rrARTz said...

your trees are magical, but i love the panties! happy new year!

Jim Bumgarner said...

Yeah, the trees are nice, too. Lol

Lynn said...

I love the soft colors in the tree drawing. And red underwear? What a weird and charming tradition!

Anonymous said...

Love the red undies!!

A tired retired recluse @ Swallowcliffs.blogspot.com/ said...

What kind of luck? As Betty White said when Barbara Walters asked her if she was still sexually active... "if I get lucky", lol.

Alex said...

Hahahaha... interesting! I love the branches and the underwear is so well drawn too! Happy New Year to you too Cathy ^^

Revelle Taillon said...

Nice undies! Don't be shy!! Why shouldn't they be yours! Nice to see all your work. Gorgeous as usual!

Ann said...

The trees are so beautiful. I've come back to look a couple of times now. You seem to have a good grasp of watercolor to me! I will second the Cathy Johnson recommendation for watercolor instruction books. Another one I really like is Sterling Edwards, Creating Luminous Watercolor Landscapes. Happy 2011 to you too! I loved the red panties story :-)

Cathy Holtom said...

Thank you all for the lovely comments!
Ann - I am pleased you like my trees... thank you for the book recommendation, I will have a look.

ANAIS G. BURGOS said...

Lovely drawings, Cathy, love them.
Here, in Spain, we have the same custom of wearing red underwear on New Years eve. The tradition says that if you wear it, you'll be very lucky in the new year :) [but if you don't wear any of those red underwears, you can have the same good luck: I assure you ;-) ]

nanke's stuff said...

As soon as I read this I marked my calendar on Dec. 31, 2011 to remind me to wear red undies! Your trees are wonderful - I love how you handled the shadows and the hazy background. And the undies? Nothing but fun! nancy