Watercolour painting for a friend update.

I have been working hard on the watercolour painting for a friend. I have now drawn in the ragged robin and begun the painting of the Geum Rivale. This is very slow work and I don't want to rush it. The leaves on my plant are changing colour to beautiful shades of gold and red. I am trying to incorporate these colours in some of the leaves but not all. So far so good.

Watercolour painting for a friend.

Today I have been adding the next plant to the watercolour painting requested by a friend. He has chosen three of his favourite plants and I have completed the drawing of the Geum Rivale ready for painting. The Fritillary had been completed and it is always nerve racking when you are adding other plants to the composition. The Fritillary painted nicely and I don't want to make any mistakes with the next two plants. The third choice of plant is the Ragged Robin. I will add this to the right side and it will take the full height of the painting as it is the tallest plant of the three.

I had to enhance the photo to show the drawing.

The Geum Rivale is drawn to the right and behind the Fritillary.

The Ragged Robin will be added to the right of the painting approximately where the pencil is lying and take up the full height of the paper. Fingers crossed all goes well.

Watercolour painting. Dove cote.

Had a good class today. My students are producing lovely paintings. I reassessed my watercolour painting of a friends Dove cote today. I have had the painting standing at the end of my kitchen over the weekend. I find this very useful. It helps me decide what works well and the areas that need changing. I darkened the shadows directly below the shrubs but then took a drastic step. I did'nt like the tree trunk in the background, it had'nt worked, so I removed it. I am now much happier with the painting.

Painting. The Dove Cote.

I have been painting, over the last couple of days,  my friends garden. I had drawn the sketch for this painting two years ago but had never got round to painting it. I had taken lots of photographs, so I thought it was about time I completed the painting. I find this type of painting difficult because I have concentrated on botanical painting for a long time and find it difficult to paint more freely. The drawing was already finished on rough paper. I am reasonably pleased with the results but, after the workshop with Judi Whitton, a  lighter feel may have been achieved if I had used smooth paper. I shall leave the painting for a few days in a prominent position to see if anything else needs to be done. I have already noticed that I need to increase the shadows directly under the shrubs.

Painting at Patchings with Judi Whitton

I had a lovely day on saturday at the Patchings art, craft & design festival in Nottinghamshire. My husband had been kind enough to treat me to take part in the workshop by Judi Whitton. Judi has a lovely free and loose style of painting that I so admire. I myself am a very precise accurate painter, hence the botanical painting, but I would love to loosen up my style and do more landscape paintings. Judi began the morning by demonstrating her style of painting by showing us how she would approach the painting of a lighthouse. It was then our turn to have a go. We were encouraged to use our own style of painting taking the aspects which suited us from the demonstration. I worked from a photograph of Italy that I had brought with me. Judi uses smooth paper for her work and mixes the paint on the paper. I use smooth paper for my botanical work but had'nt thought to use it for landscapes. I was very pleased with the resulting painting which I finished at home on sunday morning. The workshop was very useful and many thanks to Judi for providing me with an enjoyable mornings painting.

Wall hanging project

Hi, I have been hard at work on my design for the wall hanging I will be making as part of my City & Guilds course. The design is nearly ready to submit to my tutor to receive approval before I go ahead and make it. I want to use shades of purple and lemon as they are complimentary colours and should look great together. The wall hanging will be 19.5 " x 30" excluding the the hangers and the wooden pole. I will use ribbon through the pole as the means of hanging the emboidery.

The top section will have two rows of a gorgeous silver sequined ribbon. There will then be a section of suffolk puffs in a variety of purple and lemon cotton fabrics. The different sections will be stitched onto a darker purple fabric which in turn will be quilted and the same fabric used as backing. The next section will have appliqued teardrops attached which will have bead and crystal button decoration.

 

This will be followed by five rows of triangles each worked with a different design. I have used patchwork for two rows and tucks for two rows. I have also made a mitre fold for one row. The colours will be varied. Each row will have nine triangles. The final part of the hanging consists of nine handquilted free hanging teardrops. This I hope will make the bottom of the wall hanging more interesting. This will be lots of work but I hope it will look great. I have first to make the embroidery panel for the course, the design of which has been approved by my tutor. Keeping busy.