Doll clothes.

I have been busy today. I made a skirt for myself. I haven't yet taken any photographs. It was a very easy to make skirt but I am pleased with the results. I have also finished three doll dresses. All the dresses are based around a simple bodice but I ring the changes with different skirts and different trims. All good fun.

This particular doll suits these styles of dresses a treat.

Doll clothes.

Went shopping today and bought some lovely fabric to make a couple of skirts. I also bought some squares of fabric to make doll clothes. I have made a doll dress which looks ready for summer. I love this print and it is just the right scale for the doll. Great fun. More doll dresses on the way.

Pansy painting continued.

Today my students continued painting the pansy flowers. We started by painting the stems, sepals and the very centres of the flowers with a light green wash (Cadmium yellow pale, Prussian blue and a touch of Alizarin crimson). The next stage was to paint the top surface of the leaves. Two green colour mixes were made (one mid green and other a darker green) using Cadmium yellow pale, Prussian blue and Crimson alizarin. The leaves were painted one at a time and the paper was moistened with clean water before applying the paint. The two greens were applied to the leaves to correspond to the light and darker areas. On the demonstration leaf, I painted, I also reserved a pale area to represent the light shining onto the leaf. Whilst all the washes were wet I used the tip of a dry brush to lift out the veins. The next stage is to add shading to the leaves and to define some of the veins using a combination of the two paint mixes already used. The final stages will be to complete the stems and sepals and paint the under surface of the leaves.

I have finished dying the fabric for my City and Guilds embroidery course and have now to draw up the design for a wall hanging and prepare samples of the techniques I will use. I have a good rough plan of the wall hanging but have yet to decide on the size and scale of each section. I will be using a design based on a pattern taken from Tutankhamuns sarcophagus. I am also cutting out some little doll clothes. Definitely keeping myself busy.

Peony painting.

I have finished the Peony painting today. I am very pleased with the leaves. I have decided to use an oval double mount around the flower which I think really echoes the shape of the flower nicely.

Painting a Peony

I love Peonies and now the flowers are back in the shops I thought it would be lovely to paint one. I have spent part of the weekend painting a small study of one bloom of these beautiful flowers. I completed the flower yesterday and today I have painted the top surface of the leaves. I have the sepals, under surface of the leaves and the stems to finish. I hope to have these completed tomorrow.

Painting Pansies continued.

Today My students and I continued painting the pansies. It was time to add the details to the flowers. The yellow just below the the flower centres was added first followed by the dark patterns that occur on the bottom three petals of the Pansy flower. To add the dark bib shape detail to the pale flower I made a stronger mix of the petal colour. I wet the whole of the bottom petal with clean water and waited until it was just damp and then added the strong mix of the petal colour closely studying the flower to create the correct shape. The petal was then allowed to dry thoroughly before I painted the two side petals in the same manner, slightly diluting the paint. The purple pansy bib details were then painted. The colour for this was a much stronger mix of Winsor violet and Alizarin Crimson.

I then added the fine veining to the petals by using the very tip of a pointed brush. The veins were softened with a damp brush (brush was washed and wiped on kitchen roll to remove excess water) by gently running the brush over the vein lines. Shading was then added to the flowers to show where one petal overlapped another pruducing a shadow. The same shade of paint was used as for the bib details but a little more water was added. The paint was applied to the petals were the shadows fell and this was then blended away using a damp brush to produce a soft edge. The way to create a soft blend, before the paint begins to dry, is to tickle the very edge of the paint applied. This encourages the applied paint to spread softly into the area dampened by the brush. This can be seen on the photograph where the side petal overlaps the back petal. Any little creases around the edges of the petals can be tackled in a similar way. Apply the paint to one side of the crease where the shadow occurs and with a damp brush soften one edge. The backs of the flower petals tend to be lighter and a little duller (use a weaker colour mix) but the techniques are the same. Next week my students and I will be tackling the first stages of the leaves and finishing the flower centres.

This is one of my paintings showing how mastering the techniques for painting pansies can enhance a composition.

Painting ACEO's

Today I have been painting ACEO's (art cards,editions and originals). I love painting these tiny watercolours. I have painted two garden paintings based around a pond and two small paintings of  a Narcissus. These were paintied from photographs I have taken. I usually paint from the original plant but I felt inspired to paint the flowers.

I am also studying for a City & Guilds level 3 Embroidery certificate. As part of the course I am studying colour theory and have been dying fabric samples. I am using primary colours and cold water dyes. So far I have dyed some fabric samples yellow and am now redying some with blue to see what shade of green I produce. I have found that the synthetic fabrics have not taken up any of the dye. Hope to produce some interesting effects. Next stage is to try the red dye.

Painting flowers

I have been looking at the photographs of my flower paintings. It is frustrating that the background always appears blueish even though the paper is white. I will have see if I can find a way of compensating for this effect. When I try and adjust the background, the colours of the painting are altered and I don't want that.
              I have purchased an eraser brush from Billy Showell (amazing botanical artist). It can be used to lift out small highlights and even up slightly wiggly edges on stems, leaves etc. Can't wait to have a go and see what its like. I will report back when I have used it.

Painting Pansies in watercolour.

             Today we continued painting  the Pansies. The drawing was completed last week and my students have drawn a variety of compositions including single flower heads, buds and leaves scattered across the page to a group of the plants. I prefer to use an H or HB pencil for botanical or floral painting so as not to leave too much graphite on the paper which can make the flowers look dirty when they are painted. The paints I use are Winsor and Newton artist quality and the paper, Saunders and Waterford 200lb high white.
             We began in the class by painting the pale flowers (not the purple flowers) and the colour used was a mix of Alizarin crimson, Ultramarine Violet with a touch of Opera Rose. I like to add Opera Rose to a colour mix to keep the brightness of the wash when it dries. The pale flowers ranged from a dusky pink to a more lavender colour depending on the age of the flowers, so the colour mix was adjusted to suit the flower (more Alizarin Crimson in the dusky pink flowers, more Ultramarine Violet in the lavender shaded flowers). Always keep paper propped up slightly to prevent paint causing run backs.
              To paint the petals we wet the whole petal with clean water (leave to dry for a few seconds so the paper is just damp) and dropped the colour around the outer edges of the petal. To create the effect seen on the petals, with a clean brush wiped on kitchen paper a couple of times, flick the tip of the brush through the paint just applied and down into the damp area. This with practice will produce the pretty effect seen on these petals.  Leave this petal to dry before painting the petals adjacent to it. The next stage for these flowers will be to paint the darker areas near the centre of the petals. My students will tackle this next week.
             My students then applied the first watercolour washes to the dark purple flowers. The three bottom petals are a different colour to the two back petals and were painted with  two colour mixes of Dumonts Blue and Winsor Violet. The first mix has more Winsor Violet than the blue and the second has more Dumonts blue added than Winsor Violet. Wet the petal again and wait a few second so that the paper is just damp before applying the first colour mix around the outer edge of the petal and the second colour mix towards the middle and bottom of the petals letting the colours mix at the edges. The colours used for the two back petals were a mix of Winsor Violet and Opera Rose (mix 1) and a seperate mix of Winsor Violet and Alizarin Crimson (mix2). These were applied in the same way as the side and bottom petals, wetting the paper first. Mix 1 was applied near the edges of the petals and mix 2 more to the centre and bottom of the petals. Always leave a petal to dry before painting an adjacent petal. The dark areas on the bottom petals ( I call these bibs) will be tackled by my students next week.

Doll dresses completed.

Preparation for my class.

Been for a walk this morning and it is a beautiful day. We began painting Pansies in my class yesterday. They are cheerful little flowers and we have a really pretty pinky/lavender shade flower to paint which makes a change. This flower requires a slightly different technique which was fun for my students to try.I have finished the doll dresses and pleased with results, they look cute.


Pansies to paint.