Birds.

 Graphite, watercolours, acrylics.

'Greenfinch',  Graphite, in sketchbook.

'Greenfinch'.  Watercolour,  in sketchbook.

'Greenfinch', watercolour, loose sheet, 7.5 by 11 ins.

'Australian budgerigar'.  Watercolours, in sketchbook.

'African yellow hornbill'.  Acrylics, 8 by 11 ins, orange paper.

Well, that was a fun week.  Birds everywhere.

Some graphite drawings, some watercolour sketches to figure out colours, and techniques, e.g., whether to paint over a graphite sketch,  or put washes straight on blank paper  with no underdrawing.

As you can see, I am still experimenting.

The last painting is a bit of an odd-man-out.   It was one I had started many years ago and this week, I just added a few paint strokes to complete the portrait.

Birds are becoming an addiction!

Have a fun weekend.

Bye for now.....

Watercolour British birds.

 Watercolours.

'Jenny wren'. 

'Robin redbreast'.

'Nuthatch'.

'Nuthatch, looking for food'.

Some small paintings of British birds.

Reference photos from pmp-art.com.

Guy Fawkes night tonight.   There were some fireworks last night but Susie didn't blink an eyelid so that was a relief.

Bye for now.

From June and Susie.

Feed the birds. Watercolour art.

 Watercolours.

 

Fantasy.

'Feed the birds', Watercolour on A4 paper.

Realism.

'Gone fishing,'  Watercolours, Paper 7 by 11 ins. approx.

Some watercolour practice this week.   

Birds seemed to want a showing this month  It is Birdtober apparently, but I'm not following along with this project.  Coincidence only.  I only just found out about it!

Birds look deceptively easy to draw or paint.  But they come in an assortment of colouring and patterns, behaviour and poses, which  can be a bit overwhelming for the painter.  I bought a bird identification book this week so hopefully that will help with painting these wonderful creatures well.

My fantasy work is from imagination, where anything goes, and my kingfisher was from a photo reference on PMP-art.com.  They have an excellent array of photos on many subjects, not just animals, which are free for artist members to use.

Here's a link.

PMP-art

Have a lovely weekend.  Do some art!!

Bye for now.

From Susie and June.

P.S.  She likes to sit on my knee when I am painting!

Animals, watercolour experiments.

 Pen, watercolours, gouache.

'Old yella.'   Barn owl.  Pen and wash, 10 by 12 ins., paper.

'White hare.'  Pen and wash, A4, paper.

'The lemur gang.'  Pen and wash, 7 by 11 ins., paper.

I am using inexpensive paper and paints to create these animals in my colourful watercolour style.  By using inexpensive supplies, I feel free to experiment with my supplies so that I get better aquainted with watercolour for future final works.  

That's the plan, anyway.

Paints used here are Japanese watercolours which seem midway between English watercolour and gouache, so I think you get the benefit of both in one paint supply.

Kuretake Gansai Tambi is the make of the Japanese paint I use, which I buy from Amazon.  Lovely rich colours, big pans.

We are having some sunshine after a grey week.  I hope you have a lovely weekend.

Bye for now.....

In the bird garden. Acrylics.

 Acrylics mostly.

'In the bird garden', 12 ins sq., paper.

close-up

Recently, I am enjoying exploring texture in paint.  I am using palette knives and shapers as well as brushes to spread paint on the paper.   

The above artwork is a scene from imagination but I loved visiting the tropical bird parks in NZ when I lived there and I enjoy visiting the birds in my local zoo here in England.  I haven't been to the zoo, or even the park, since this crazy lockdown at the beginning of 2020 though!!

What is you new favourite technique or subject currently?

Bye for now.

Coming in to land

India inks.

'Coming in to land', India inks, A4 Cartridge paper.

This was done in a scribbley doodle style, which I find is always good to use when I want to discover imagery for a future painting.  Its fun to scribble until you think of an idea, but it can be nerve-racking when nothing seems to appear.   However,  keep going... and then, as if by magic, a subject will arrive!

This was my first try out of Dr Martin's India ink.  I used a Mitsubishi pen for the drawing and then Dr Martin's teal blue for the sky wash.  In the past, I have used mainly Daler-Rowney FW acrylic inks, which are opaque;  I rather like the Martins transparent ink for the background here.

This was inspired by the surrealism project going on in the classical forum at wetcanvas this month.

That's all for now, folks.

See you later.

Whimsical birds and new lapdog tray

Showing off my new lapdog tray for arts and crafts.

Lapdog set up for colour pencils.

'Visitors to the bird bath', mixed media, A4 card stock

I got a lapdog tray this week and had a lovely time trying it out with my colour pencil set up.

My colour pencil project started out as a line design which I coloured in a random manner.  

A couple of whimsical birds turned up in the design and I added wax crayon and acrylics over the page to make the final image of 2 birds visiting a bird bath.  This was mainly to get something from my work on the lapdog.

View LAPDOG tray here

http://www.lapdogtray.co.uk/

This tray is great for sitting in front of the TV and doing some arts and crafts projects whilst watching your favourite programmes.  It has an inner compartment for storing various bits and pieces such as your erasers, sharpeners, and glue sticks, etc.  I'm looking forward to using it in the long winter nights ahead.

Bye for now....

Trees

Journal52 challenge for this week :- trees.

'Trees', journal52, page spread.

A simple idea - 'birds need trees'- was my response to the challenge.  

I want to keep up with the challenges and finish the year with journal 52, so that I have a full journal to show for it....and so I am doing the challenges fairly quickly and slapdashedly to get them in on time.  That's OK.  At least, I am learning what art journalling is, or can be.

This was going to be monkeys, but it would have taken up too much time to compose and paint.  I had the bird tissue paper and stamps so I took the easy road!!

Nevertheless, I like the page.

Bye for now...

Seeds

Acrylic painting.

'Seeds', acrylics, around 14 by 11 ins., paper.

This was painted from a drawing I did earlier this year.  I left it sketchy to see if I wanted a night or day scene, so perhaps it is a preliminary study, rather than a finished work.

Forgot to say, the tabby cat is my cat Rose from 1990's, RIP.  She also was the 'star' in a children's book.

Bye for now....