A whiter shade of pale ...

The next letter in the Craft Barn challenge is W. I must have over-dosed on paint with all my watercolour classes, because this is another entry where no paint is involved!

My chosen word is white. I've long been fascinated with colour - and the absence of it; how white comes in many shades, and how you can play with shadows to create shapes.

Hence this abstract piece! The definition of white was so long it would have taken up half the page, so I've just extracted one aspect.

Women think of all colours except the absence of colour. I have said that black has it all. White too. Their beauty is absolute. It is the perfect harmony.
Coco Chanel

Hug a tree!

I've now completed the short painting trees watercolour course, and found it the most difficult one so far!

I've learned a lot, but so much more practice is needed - anyway, here are my efforts.

I used a photo I found, which had far distance, middle distance, and near trees. I've made quite a few errors here, but I now know where I went wrong, so perhaps I'll have another go sometime, with the same picture.

Every time I go out now, I can't help but look at all the trees - shapes, colours, effects of distance ...

"Supposing a tree fell down, Pooh, when we were underneath it?
Supposing it didn't, said Pooh after careful thought.
Piglet was comforted by this."
A A Milne

Look - no paint!

The next letter in the Craft Barn dictionary challenge is K. This had me flummoxed for a bit, and isn't it strange how suddenly something pops into your head! Anyway, I was taken back to my childhood when I remembered my kaleidoscope, and how entranced I was with all the colours.

I then thought about a particular origami flower that I've used in the past on cards, which reminded me of my kaleidoscope, so ...

No paint was used in the making of this entry - which will probably be the one and only time, but, you never know!

Yesterday I went to the Victoria & Albert Museum to see the Botticelli Reimagined exhibition, which explores the variety of ways artists and designers have responded to the Botticelli's legacy.

The most popular painting to inspire others is this one - The Birth of Venus (painted in the mid 1480s).











And here are a couple of others -

This one by Yin Xin - Venus after Botticelli (2008)

And one of a series by Andy Warhol - Details of Renaissance Paintings (1984)













In all about 150 works from the Pre-Raphaelites to the present day, such as Rossetti, Ruskin, William Morris, and Dolce & Gabbana; as well as over 50 original works by Botticelli.

Fabulous exhibition, which is on until 3 July 2016.

You are my sunshine ...

Another experiment using acrylic paint and watercolour. I found a photo of a single sunflower, and painted it with heavy body acrylics onto watercolour board.

I had found a few very old watercolour boards when having a bit of a clear out; they aren't particular robust, but suitable for having a play!




















When dry, I then did a background watercolour wash, and dropped in some granulation medium to create a bit of texture.  also used a wax crayon to add some more resist.

Where the watercolour lay on top of the acrylic areas, I just wiped it off, so acrylic is a great resist with no effect on the colour intensity. I then went back to the acrylics and did some more shading on the sunflower and leaves.

Quite like the combination.

My painting inspired me to write another haiku -

Dark skies, pure sunshine
Petals curl in fond greeting
Sunflower my sweet friend

Riding on a puff of wind ...

I started an experimental watercolour at the weekend, and then I saw the next letter in the Craft Barn Alpha Dictionary challenge was T.

So - never to ignore a touch of serendipity - taraxacum (or dandelion) is my word.

I wanted to try dropping isopropyl alcohol (rubbing alcohol) into a wet watercolour wash. My first attempt was a bit of a disaster as I used too much alcohol into too wet a wash, and it wiped out most of the wash. I tried to recover it, but it did eventually end up in the bin.

So, I let the wash dry a bit, but then the alcohol didn't spread, so I helped it a bit by removing some of the wash with a round wet sponge and then dropped the alcohol in.

Nowhere near perfect, but I learned what not to do!

So ... make a wish!

The sunflower is mine, in a way ...

... that's a quote from Vincent van Gogh - so this is a sunny daisy!

I'm struggling with my painting at the moment, so nothing to show you, as one has already gone in the bin ...though I must admit I have been experimenting, so some disasters are probably inevitable!

The Craft Barn's other two-weekly challenge is about using different papers, so I thought I would feature a collage card I made, where I've cut flower petals from various papers, including book pages and magazine pages. Some of the book pages have been coloured with Distress Ink, as has the pale background.

Here is an appropriate poem from one of my favourite poets - Emily Dickinson.

The Daisy follows soft the Sun -
And when his golden walk is done -
Sits shyly at his feet -
He - waking - finds the flower there -
Wherefore - Marauder - art though here?
Because, Sir, love is sweet!

We are the Flower - Thou the Sun!
Forgive us, if as days decline -
We nearer steal to Thee!
Enamored of the parting West -
The peace - the flight - the Amethyst -
Night's possibility!

Happy Bank Holiday weekend - some of us may see a bit of sunshine!

A+++

The Craft Barn Dictionary Challenge letter this time is A, with no additional twist -so no brain ache this time!

I like alliteration (as well as the word itself), so went with that, and had fun doing a lot of doodling. I also used the letter in my alliteration example!

I first painted the words with acrylic paint, then did some doodling with the paint as well as some pens. Finally, threw a little Brusho at it for good measure!

Also including this in the current Paper Artsy challenge all about doodling.

Happy Sunday!

Earth laughs in flowers ...

...  a quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson, and I think that says it all.

For the final Line and Wash session I started another painting, as I had already finished the final project (see previous post).

Originally I was going to do another line & wash, but there is only a tiny bit of line in this one!

I started out using masking fluid over the flowers. I then tried another background technique which my class tutor suggested. She called it lake wetting. This involves brushing water over the whole area, twice. Then spend 5 minutes dropping in more water. Ultimately the paper is thoroughly soaked and can't take any more water.

Then I dropped in 4 different washes. Because the paper is thoroughly saturated there is plenty of time to get the effects you are after, and there are no hard edges. The paper takes an age to dry though!

I then painted the flowers in about 5 layers. The line element is in the form of yellow acrylic ink in the flower centres, which I did first.

Echinacea is my favourite flower ...

I started my next art course yesterday - Painting Trees. I'll be taking a break from classes after that finishes in 5 weeks time - phew!

Talking of flowers, my wisteria is in bloom - love that scent ...

Don't look down!

I've now finished my Line and Wash course, which I have really enjoyed, and learnt quite a bit along the way too! Although my watercolour washes are still proving challenging, but I think I'm getting a little better.

Our final project could be any subject and I found a fabulous photo of a pine tree tettering on the edge of a rocky outcrop.

I used acrylic inks with dip pens and twigs, and did most of the tree and rocks first.

Doing the tree first meant I had invested a lot of time and effort, and now ... deep breath ... the watercolour washes. I made up several washes and did some graduated layers.

Right - breath again!

I think it looks a bit oriental ...

... which leads quite neatly to my tree peony (I think they originate in China).

It is in full bloom - I love its big, bold, in-your-face, look-at-me flowers.

Maybe I'll paint it some time!

All that jazz ...

The next letter in the Craft Barn's Alpha Dictionary challenge is J, to be accompanied by - a dragonfly (really?).

Anyway, I struggled with this one. I've only recently done dragonflies for the letter D, and J is a difficult letter anyway. I didn't get much inspiration from reading the dictionary either!

I decided on jazzy ... I love colour and a bit of jazz too!

I painted a random background with acrylic paint, made a dragonfly stencil, and then threw a lot of colour at it!

Not my best entry - but that is going to happen when I'm all dragonflied out! (Or when inspiration takes a walk!)

So enjoying this warm sunshine ...

"What day is it?" asked Pooh.
"It's today," squeaked Piglet.
"My favourite day" said Pooh.
AA Milne