Most people know my phobia of greens lol, but every so often you feel like you need to push into something new, so I just had to go for it and i'm quite pleased with this one. Haven't come up with a title yet, something I really struggle with, so at the moment it's "Untitled"
The greens are mixed from some new paints I got while in the US. These were the American Joe paints, mixtures of Skips green and Sky Blue...
Some progress pics along the way. Sorry about the quality but these were taken with my new iPad and haven't got used to editing with it yet.
First wash of blue and pink mixes.
Cerulean
Permanent Rose
Colbalt Blue
Nest adding in some flesh tones.
Aureloin and Permanent Rose
A touch of Burnt Sienna
Still too cold so strengthened up the flesh tones, even a touch of Cadmium Red used in very dilute washes, really warms it up.
Next the greens, The green in the face is showing a little stronger than it actually is.
A big thank you to Gunnar Salvarsson for allowing me to use his photo.
TIME TO VOTE . . . You said it was your favourite painting so I entered it into the Ken Bromley cover competition. Well I'm thrilled to say I made the shortlist.. You can vote here for your three favourite paintings. http://www.artsupplies.co.uk/covercomp/
Please vote and share
This was painted from a photograph I took of my beautiful granddaughter Zahrah. She has gorgeous bundles of curls so I could play with all the twists and turns I saw in it. You don't always need to paint every strand but just enough to show the viewer what you are seeing. Some photos I took along the way.... The drawing ready and masking put into the eye. I don't always do this but as I wanted to spend time experimenting on other things I didn't want to loose concentration there resulting on no highlight. You can of course go back it with Acrylic, Goauche and many other products, but then we couldn't call it watercolour, could we? ..... it is also never the same effect as leaving the white of the paper.
This is generally how I start most paintings and a style I have developed over the years, where by I paint with water. I don't was large areas as some artists do but instead draw with my brush as if it were a pencil, with clean water only.
Time to add some paint with light washes at first.
Have added some colour to the eyes. I generally have to get most of the eyes done first, If they don't work then the portrait has no soul.
A close up of the eyes at this stage, still more to do but gives me enough to know that it's worth carrying on with.
Now time to add some more colour to the hair, but painting this section slowly and building it in different tone and colour.
Here I called it done. I loved trying out different colours in the hair, using colour as tone in the depths of the curls. Please take time to vote in the competition, there are many amazing artists there to choose from, each with their own style.
After not wetting my brushes for almost 2 months over Christmas and the New Year, I was getting desperate to get painting again.
When you think you might be a bit rusty, try and relax and enjoy it. Tell yourself it doesn't matter if it doesn't turn out, after all you don't have to show anyone if you don't want to, you're doing it for you.
All artworks on their website have been donated to the eightbyeight Project by their creators,
to help them raise funds for Camille’s Appeal.
In April 2013 the eightbyeight Project are bringing an exciting and innovative exhibition to Eden Court, Inverness.
'Childhood Explored' will feature donations of work from around the UK
and beyond, from professional, semi-professional, student and hobbyist
artists, photographers, craftspeople and other creatives from diverse
disciplines, celebrating what Childhood means to them, and rising
awareness of Camille's Appeal’s vital work. All profits raised from the
sale of work go directly to the charity
You will be able to purchase these or any other works through their website. www.eightbyeight.org
This is an amazing project that I first discovered when an artist friend Ruth Harris, donated her work and shared their facebook page. Numerous wonderful artist have now joined in and donated their work too. Please take a moment and look through their website HERE, where you will find lots of information along with the continually updating gallery of works that are being donated.
Please help support this wonderful cause. Go to www.eightbyeight.org where you can view the work as it's being added daily.
All profits from website and exhibition sales will be donated to Camille’s Appeal to help their work with children who are fighting or rehabilitating from cancer.
I wish them all the success with this project and am honoured be taking part in it.
This is one I started towards the end of 2012 only just getting the first wash down, then not picking it up again until 2013. The object of painting then was not only of course portrait practice, but more so to get the brushes wet again after the Christmas holidays.
I'm not sure if it always works, leaving it so long. Sometimes the moment has gone from the painting, the inspiring thoughts you first had when wanting to get it onto the paper. I find I'm usually better to start it again with renewed freshness.
Pure Watercolour 140lb Arches NOT Paper Mostly W/N paints Ref photo courtesy of WetCanvas
I've been working on a few new ideas that i'll share as soon as i'm finished, if they work of course. Meantime have been fitting in new paintings as well. Just can't tear myself away from painting portraits and more so from
those of African children. They just have something that really grabs your
heart. This is one that was finished late this week and has just come off of Exhibition and will be on sale on my website shortly.
With thanks to Steve Evans for the use of his photograph as ref.
One thing I've been working on are new greetings cards as they seem to be getting quite popular
and am almost sold out. I will be putting those on my new website too
soon, so they will be available direct, in either singles or as part of a
collection, I'll update here as soon as they are ready.
Monday I spent a most
wonderful evening at the opening preview of the Essex in Mayfair
Exhibition. I really enjoy these occasions as it's a chance to chat with lots of other fellow artists, catch up on what they've been doing and how they are getting on. There is such a wide variety of artists working in various mediums and subjects, means the work is so interestingly different, always making for great topics of discussions.
The exhibition was opened by Tom Coates, as our president Ken Howard is away. Tom is a wonderful artist and a very entertaining gentleman all round. He chose a wonderful landscape painting of London which was awarded the Ken Howard prize, and the rest of the evening we tested the wine of course and admired the art work on display.
I was thrilled towards the end of the evening to have sold one of my paintings. The highlight for me being to actually meet the buyer. I'm always intrigued to know where the paintings are going, what appeals to them about it, why they want to buy it. On this occasions I chatted with the lovely young lady for quite some time which was thoroughly enjoyable. We talked about the collection I was working on "Children of the World", what grabbed me to paint these children in the first place, the emotions I was trying to get across to the viewer and why, which she totally understand having the same love for Africa. It was really so wonderful to talk with her.
"Hidden Tears" part of the Children of the World collection
The eyes shown in this post are from new collection of watercolour portraits I've been working on.
The eyes are almost always the first part I paint in any portrait. They are the soul of each person and the life of a painting, if I don't capture the feelings behind them, then I don't carry on with the painting, I start a fresh.
Whilst working on this new collection I knew I needed to push myself to achieve that extra something i'm always looking for each time I pick up my brush. This is part of the inspiration that keeps me painting.
As artists we need to grow continuously and we can only do this by experimenting and practice. It doesn't always result in a beautifully executed paintings, but that's the way we learn, and it all becomes part of the journey. No painting is ever a waste of time, quite the opposite, as we often learn more from our so called mistakes.
For a long while I painted a variety of subjects, very often avoiding portraits, with an impression they were much to difficult for me, although I tried the occasional sketch from time to time. It was mainly after the birth of my first grandchild that I had the real desire to paint them. As artists we often change direction on our journey, enjoying various subjects along the way. Somewhere along that road most of us get drawn to a particular subject, one we really enjoy painting more than any other, one we feel more passionate about and become more inspired by, for me that subject is portraits.
As I have never had any formal training and am entirely self taught when it comes to portraits, it really has been down to lots of practice and experimenting, and most importantly the desire to paint them. I have however watched the endless free videos on Youtube that are so generously given by artists of all levels and will always be grateful for those who share them.
I would say the biggest help to me has been the studying of features done mostly by pencil artists.I can't stress enough how drawing skills comes in to play. Becoming more comfortable with the understanding of a feature such as the eyes, along with being able to draw them reasonably well each time, leaves your mind free to paint and bring them to life.
Practice painting just the features on scrap paper until you become more familiar with them, you'll be surprised the benefit of this when it comes to painting a complete portrait. Draw daily, even 5 min sketches and doodles, it all helps. I know I have a long way to go still and probably always will, but whenever possible I practice daily, even if only a quick sketch, and I can't tell you how much this has helped me. ....
I've written this partly as i've been asked many times how I got started in portraits, along with hearing so many other artists say, as I once did, how scared they were to attempt them and how difficult they are. They are no different to any other subject. All you need is the desire to paint them along with the discipline to practice. I don't think there is any subject more rewarding than this to paint.
I hadn't realised it was so long since I updated my blog. I've been really busy for the last few months with various projects, but I have been putting work on my FB Art page completely forgetting to update here as well.
This is one I am continually working on while learning at the same time. We are very fortunate at our Art Club Ilford Art Society, where we have an amazing teacher Mark Charalambou, who has been with the societys for over 25 years. Mark trained at St. Martin's
School of Art and is a successful professional painter in his own right.
Mark gained his Post Graduate Art teacher's Certificate from the
Institute of Education at the University of London. He tailors tuition
to each individual Member due to our wide range in abilities.He has taught me so much over the past year, especially painting portraits in oils, which is why this painting continues to change.
I've added more and different colours to her chin and lower face. This was to build on her character. Zahrah is so full of energy and trouble in a cute lovable way, and who doesn't stay clean for longer than 5 mins, far from a sweet little miss perfect which she would have looked like had I painted lovely smooth skin. I just need to be careful not to over do this though. It was hard getting a decent photo of this so it is showing a little grainy.
I still need to close the gap between the mouth and nose, i've aged
her a bit too much here. The beauty of oils is of course that we can
keep changing our work, having said that, it doesn't hold the same joy
and unpredictability of painting with watercolours does, not for me
anyway.
The likeness gets closer with each painting session, along with my own progress on mixing colours. I have found this so different to working in watercolour and a real learning curve, and one wich i’m really enjoying.
The previous stages, started with a basic outline, then placing in some tones with various skin colours.
It is a long time coming and took quite a long time to edit as well. I didn't realise how hard it would be to video myself. Quite nerve racking at times, but at the same time so enjoyable.
I have made this in response to lots of requests from friends wishing to see how I work, especially painting portraits. Special friends that have supported me in my journey, this is for you with my thanks.
Make a Wish Video
I've tried to share some of how I work in this video. Unfortunately because of the way I work there isn't any time to stop and change the angle of the video camera, or zoom in at various times. I also found once played back that I need to work on better lighting. it was quite a dark day, raining most of the time, which didn't help. It has left the painting a bit washed out, but i've shown photos of it at the end of the video which is nearer to the original. the other thing I found difficult was to talk as well, hence the music. Something else to work on for the next one.
*****
I work in various ways depending on mood and subject, this is one of the ways. Although you obviously need to learn techniques, I do believe a lot of it comes from how you feel. You need to feel what you are painting, which is what adds that something extra to it.
I know this not a professional masterpiece, but I do hope you enjoy watching this and that it helps even a little on your journey in watercolours.
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I welcome you to join me on my Art Page on Facebook.
I've had some problems on the progress of the older sister. It is an old black and white photo with little detail in places. The side of her face is in heavy shadow especially the nose, and her eyes are almost shut with squinting through the harsh sunlight. I need to be careful how much detail I do put in this one. I'm going to let her sit for a while, while I think on it....
I've brought in more colours here, including green. I'm treading very gently though with these colours..... I still need to do some more work on the hair and ribbon, but don't want a completed look on both sides of each girls face. Although I will probably put in some darks immediately next to the face and where the hair meets on both girls..... I need to let this all sit for a while now to see how much more it needs and if it's working for me.....
I've been asked by friends to share more of how I work so here are some progress photos for you......
I may have lost the likeness on this a little, but am still going to finish it as it's all good practice as they say...and it's surprising how much you learn when you relax with no pressure, and often find it all comes together at the end.....
Have started painting around the eyes. For me this is the most important part of any portrait, they are the soul of the painting as well as the person. If they are wrong then I don't go on with it.
For the eyesi've also used Burnt Umber & Venetian Red. ( Be very careful with Venetian red, it will kill your painting if you use to much of it.)
If you look at the right eye I have placed some BU with a rigger brush.
You need to make this juicy enough so it doesn't dry instantly.
Keeping with the rigger and painting only with clean water I paint the rest of the detail in. As i'm doing this I touch the pigment already on the paper and let it flow in where ever it wants too. Do not try and control it too much.
I carried on with a larger brush doing similar around the nose and mouth...
The area right of the mouth and nose has 3 colours in it. Ven.Red, B.Um, Per.Rose...
I pick these up as I go, no mixing on the palette or on the paper, they are placed almost next to each other and mix where and when they want too, you just have to nudge them occasionally....
.In other words, I change colour as I see or feel it. I often do this by just wiping my brush quickly across the colour in my pallet, which I have already sprayed with water before hand. Picking up different colours as I go.
I've also added a touch more Perm Rose to her cheeks....I've scanned these steps so it shows a bit harsher than it is, it's much softer IRL.
next I went on to put some of the hair in so I can see where i'm going value wise...I don't tend to work in a technical way, more one of feelings and emotion, moving around the painting and adding colour to the next area that grabs my attention
After a few initial sketches I drew it onto Watercolour paper, trying to have as least pencil work as possible. There was still things I wasn't to sure on but had drawn it so went on with it, if it didn't work it would still help on colour knowledge for the next one.
I often change the way I paint portraits, depending on my subject, how I want the finished piece to work, and even sometimes just the way I feel at the time. I knew I didn't want this one to be quite so loose as I normally work, I also wanted to try and keep that old fashioned look to it, so chose my colours differently....I went with Raw Sienna instead of my preferred choice of Aureolin, Permanent Rose, Colbalt Blue, and Cerulaean Blue
This is just the 1st wash, unfortunately the light had gone and the colours are a little washed out here....
Recently I held my first workshop in Dubai. Yes I did say first! No one can hold workshops without having a first one, although I do teach on a one-to-one basis.
I was very fortunate to be visiting two wonderful friends in the UAE, Chris and Pat Southcombe. Chris is a professional artist and Pat a retired Art Gallery Manager. They organised and arranged everything for the workshop, so I knew everything that needed to be done, would be done professionally, and all I was left to do was teach.
Although I know there is still so much out there for me to learn, I am at the stage where I am comfortable with my art to teach others, although initially the idea of doing this to a class full of students was a little daunting. I thought on the years of being a retail manager and holding meetings, along with a few, but very valuable words from Chris, which I will always remember and suddenly put me at ease.."Just be yourself"
I visited the art centre the day before to get a feel of the space that had been given to me, and to organise the room. My main thoughts were that of the students. That they enjoy the day, be inspired when they leave, and have learnt something new to take away with them to experiment with, so they too can move forward with their art. I thought long and hard on this and recalled the few workshops I had been to, what worked, what didn't. I was fortunate to have recently been to a workshop by Trevor Waugh, and learned a lot from his way of teaching. I wanted to achieve that balance of showing them how to, by doing demos, along with time to work on a one-to-one with each student continuously as they set off to try what they had learnt, stepping in with the next demo when needed. This turned out to be very successful.
The morning of the workshop saw us up at 5am and on the road to Dubai by 6am. This meant we avoided any traffic delays from Sharjah to Dubai.We arrived at 7am, 2 hours before the workshop started, making sure we were well prepared for anything the students may have forgotten. Extra paper, water pots, paints, brushes, rubbers, everything in fact that one needs at a workshop.
Students arrived on time and set up their equipment eagerly awaiting to start. We started the day by working on preparing their drawings for the portraits. I then did a small demonstration on painting daises loosely, explaining what I was doing and why. The students then spent 15 minutes just loosening up. There was a lot of laughter as most of them hadn't painted my way before. This helped to relax everyone before starting on their large white clean sheet of paper.
I had decided it would be easier for everyone if we all painted the same image. I had pre drawn and we produced large images of the photograph for those who were not confident in drawing, to be able to trace it. Unfortunately we had not time for portrait drawing lessons, and the aim of the workshop was to paint a portrait in watercolour.
Everyone gathered around my table and I started a demo of a portrait from one of my own photos of my grandson Isi. My first demo was to paint the portrait starting with an overall wash of colours. I worked so far then they all went off to have a go. This was followed by demos on how to paint the features. I then showed them an alternative way by starting with the eye and painting out from there. This was very well received.
The end of the day came round far to quickly. I was so pleased that the students had a finished portrait to take away with them, and some even went onto a 2nd one. The enthusiasm was wonderful to see and be part of. I had produced a step by step guide for painting eyes, a colour chart for skin tones and a colour properties guide for them to take away with them.
Everyone had a wonderful time and I know I certainly did. I have received nothing but positive comments from all the students, along with being asked when I will be returning to do another workshop.
* * * * * I owe a very special thanks to two wonderful friends, Chris and Pat Southcombe. They played a very large part in making this happen and the whole day very successful, fun and professional. This I shall always remember and be forever thankful for.
As I have never had any formal training and am entirely self taught when it comes to portraits, it really has been down to lots of practice and experimenting, and most importantly the desire to paint them. I have however watched the endless free videos on Youtube that are so generously given by artists of all levels and will always be grateful for those who share them.
Recently I held my first workshop in Dubai. Yes I did say first! No one can hold workshops without having a first one, although I do teach on a one-to-one basis.
Students arrived on time and set up their equipment eagerly awaiting to start. We started the day by working on preparing their drawings for the portraits. I then did a small demonstration on painting daises loosely, explaining what I was doing and why. The students then spent 15 minutes just loosening up. There was a lot of laughter as most of them hadn't painted my way before. This helped to relax everyone before starting on their large white clean sheet of paper.
