Friday 24 May 2013

My fruit down under!






This is how one of my fruity watercolours was used on a winter harvest festival flyer in Sydney, Australia.
Dee contacted me on behalf  of a small community centre/produce market asking if she could use my image and I  was happy to help.    I like how she used colours from the painting for the written text, the flyer  turned out well I think?






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Sunday 19 May 2013

Tree of life?





























A little bit of fun with ink and coloured pencil.  There are plenty of these old olive trees around here ...the older the better, I just love the twisty and knarled shapes.
Olive branches have traditonally been a symbol of peace for thousands of years and olive trees can live for hundreds of years leading to them being seen as a symbol of immortality.   Now what do you think I'm going to do with this one?  Wait and see!


Sunday 12 May 2013

The Colour of Onions























Even onions are beautiful, if you look closely you can see so many colours.  When I buy onions I always ask for a mixed bag just so I can admire them....well they do have different tastes too, the red ones are best in salads etc.
I got a bit confused with my shadows on these, there was a power cut while I was painting and my light sources changed, so I tried to fix it with a bit of coloured pencil!








Sunday 5 May 2013

Less is More!



On my previous post Polly commented that she was unsure what she needed to take when painting outside, so here is a post showing what I take when I'm out sketching.

I have a basic sketching kit that I keep ready in my sketchbag and it's getting smaller and smaller as I take out things that don't need.   I can spend too much time choosing what pen or colour to use and sketching is all about making quick decisions!



So here's what works for me:

My mini Maimeri watercolour set which I refill from tubes, originally it was only 12 pan but I squeezed another row in down the centre.  This is my favourite set as I have the colours arranged how I like them and the positions memorised making it easier to paint quickly.  There's even a little mixing palette that fits on top.

2 waterbrushes different sizes., I love the little Koi travelling waterbrush.
Derwent Sketching pencils 2B and 4B.
Small natural sponge
Paper towel
Stabilo water soluble pens in brown, grey and black
Pitt sepia drawing pen
A very small ruler
Homemade viewfinder for finding the best compositions
Large paperclips for holding pages down on windy days
Venezia and Moleskine watercolour sketchbooks
Insect repellant and suncream





This is my mini-mini version that fits into a pocket for sketching on the move, but the Koi watercolor field sketch travel kit below is on my wish list.





When you are out sketching take only equipment you will actually need, remember you will have to carry it around with you!





Wednesday 1 May 2013

Soon be Summer!





Summer is on the doorstep and beach huts will be going up on the beach.  My little painting shows just one, when in fact there are rows and rows of them.  They're not cheap to rent either!








I sketched this old villa while eating my sandwich at lunchtime.  I thought I had found a quiet spot but it turned out to be quite busy with people walking dogs and jumping in and out of cars.

Small paintings and sketching in my sketchbook give me a sense of having achieved something even when there's not much time in the day for anything else!