Gardens and The Need to Plan

I love to visit gardens, especially this time of year when everything is beginning to bloom. I fantasize about sitting down with a sketchbook and patiently, slowly and carefully drawing each detail of the beautiful flowers.
But I never ever do this.

You might have noticed I have flowers in most of my recent paintings. They're invented and evolve as they appear on the canvas. I don't have a plan, not even what colours I'm going to use. Maybe this is why it takes me so long? ;)
I envy artists who know exactly what they're going to paint, what size, colour, materials and subject matter.
The photo above I took at the weekend at Westbury Court Garden in Wiltshire. This garden is meticulously planned and apparently is the only restored Dutch style water garden in the country. It was originally laid out between 1696 and 1705. Now there's planning for you!

I love the detail and orderliness of this drawing of the gardens. It's an engraving by Johannes Kip, made in 1707. Much of the surrounding area has changed today but the water gardens remain. I didn't take a photo of the water! Oh well ;)

I forgot to take a picture of the water but I did notice this enormous tree.

I've no idea the exact date it was planted but it's got to be well over 1,000 years old don't you think?

So getting back to my painting habits, here's the latest work-in-progress.

Unplanned,
happening in front of me as I speak,
no idea where it will go,
more flowers?
wings for the hen?
more leaves?
different shaped leaves?
I could go on.....

The hen's getting bored with all this prevaricating. "Finish it!" she cries in despair.

I don't have an answer to that.
Do you?

Garden Paths

First of all can I say a massive thankyou to all of you that have 'liked' my page on Facebook. This picture above was an illustration I did a while ago and it seemed so fitting to celebrate the occasion. (I added the text afterwards!) Thankyou to my bloggie friends too! I really enjoy your visits and your comments here.

Do you remember the painting I was working on in my previous post? I've now finished it and given it a layer of varnish to protect the surface. It's now ready in waiting for its next adventure. I hope someone would like to buy it and give it a new home. :)

(The copyright watermark won't appear on the actual painting.)

I love to look at people's houses and imagine what it would be like to live there. I do admire pretty gardens too and wish the magic garden fairy would do all my gardening for me, well maybe not all of it because I like to do a little bit of planting when I'm on the mood but I could do with some help if I'm ever to get close to the garden of my dreams! ;)

 The new painting is painted on 2cm deep canvas and it measures 25 x 35cm. I've used coloured tissue paper and acrylic paint to achieve the textures and layers and added touches of white ink for the 'smoke'.

I've fixed the back with D-rings and string so it's ready to hang on your wall. It's now listed for sale in my Etsy shop and if you have any questions I'd be more than happy to answer!

Please click here if you'd like to see more details :)

Summer Breeze

What's happened to the weather? It's raining and windy and my gas was switched of all day yesterday so it was cold too! This little sketch popped into my sketchbook from my windy head.

I finished this painting on canvas above a few days ago, it's called 'Safe Harbour' and soon after finished the other painting (with the bird flying a kite) too.

I didn't have a name for it until the end and I decided upon 'Summer Breeze'. That was a day when the sun was still shining but the wind was beginning to stir. Summer Breeze sounds quite soothing doesn't it and I quite like the song of the same name. :) That guitar intro takes me back to being 13 before teenage angst really set in!

Windy and rainy it might be but my latest painting is filled with a peaceful setting of pattern and colour.

I like textures and the effects of different painting techniques and I'm trying to balance randomness with pattern. Not an easy task when I'm a bit of a neat freak with a love of the randomness of nature! What do you think,  more neatness, or more random?

Happy weekend everyone!xx

In Time For Bank Holiday Weekend

I do believe this painting is at last finished. I'm going to call it 'Safe Harbour'.

I was working on two paintings at the same time and finished the other one today too! Here it is...

I don't have a title for it yet so any suggestions??

Both these paintings are a combination of coloured tissue paper, collage and acrylic paint with lots of layering.

I used runny acrylic for the darker part of the background. I like the way the wet paint makes these spots when it's dry!

I used stencils and patterned paper and went a bit over the top with the fluorescent pink and had to tone it down a bit. I was developing a tendency to become addicted to it!

It's bank holiday in the UK so I'm very pleased to have these finished in time. :) I'm going to close my Etsy shop until Tuesday, so until then,

I wish you all a lovely weekend.xx

Blanket, Plants and Painting with Tissue

So.

I've finished my blanket and the days are getting sunnier. 

It'll be lovely for cool evenings, or as a rug to sit on outside?

The sun is encouraging my perpetual spinach, just look at all that greenery sprouting forth. The lavender seeds in the tray on the right are being a little more cautious and who can blame them when the sun teases us so much, one moment there, then the next moment a distant memory?

My painting continues. I'm having fun layering coloured tissue paper onto the acrylic. It gives instant colour and if you don't like it, you can paint straight over!

Here's another painting I'm working on.

This one is using the same technique of tissue with acrylic. I like to work on more than 1 painting at a time because I can give each one a chance to dry a bit before thinking about the next stage. These are very different subjects to one another aren't they? I don't know why that happened. I know some artists have several very similar paintings on the go and any one time but I find I jump from one subject to the next.

Birds have been a fairly constant theme of mine. I wonder if they'll appear in my harbour picture? I shall let you know.

Inspiration from Huguette Caland

Feeling a bit stuck with my painting this week I thought I'd look at this video again of a lovely artist called Huguette Caland. Born in Beirut in 1931, she now lives in California and is so happy all the time it's a joy to see. Her enthusiam for life and her creating comes across in the film.
Her work is beautifully detailed but not at all laboured. It has the appearance of textiles with lots of patterning which appeals to me. :)
Let me show you some of her work, easier for me to show than to desribe!

Rossinante 4

Undercover III

Untitled

Rossinante 7

Aren't they lovely? I'm feeling some detailed patterning coming on ;) 

If you'd like to see more of her beautiful work, visit her website here.

Two Birds Colourful Painting

I've finished the painting that I showed you in my last post. Above is a crop of it. Can you see the other bird on the right hand side? It looks as though that's the other bird's reflection doesn't it? As though he's looking in the mirror!

 Here's another close up crop of the same painting.
I made lots of layers of lovely bright pinks, blues and golds and made some scratching zig-zag patterns while the paint was still wet.

Here's the whole painting. It measures 40 x 40cm, (that's 16inches square). It's hanging on my kitchen wall at the moment but it will eventually be exhibited in the summer. I'll tell you all about that another day. :)
I've put a gallery on my new website, CLICK HERE to see. If you'd like to leave a comment on the guestbook page that would be lovely! :)

Bye for now, have a lovely weekend. :) The sun appears to have arrived at last! xx

Colourful Days

'Opposites Attract' acrylic on canvas

I'm so behind with everything I do believe I haven't shown you this finished painting yet! It's on canvas and I've used stencils for the textures. I like the randomness of the flower design, it was great fun to do!

So what next?

 This is the one I started before Easter but being so busy doing other things it's been sitting on the easel waiting for me. Today I will definitely be painting today because I spent the best part of yesterday designing my website. It's got some more tweaking to do but I'm happy with how it looks for now. Would you like to see?

♥ CLICK HERE! :) ♥
I have a guestbook page there and I'd love it if you take a moment to sign it.x

My crocheted blanket is growing slowly. It's kept my knees warm on these cold evenings while I work on it. I hope I finish it before summer!