I've found where I belong.....

Here......

www.shinberglevinas.com

I was browsing on the internet the other day and came across this picture of a studio. Just look at that light!!! Wow!

I can see myself one end with my paints and Jim the other with his photographic studio (in my head this space is big enough for the both of us).

I don't know who lives here, but my, I am in love....

Off to dream now so have a great day!

My sketch challenge

I have started the sketch challenge set up by Kelly Berkey and I chose the picture I liked the most – the one of her back. For me these poses are heaven as I love drawing the back....don’t know why, I just love the contours and shapes. When I attended my life drawing classes I always tried to move my easel so that I had this view...mainly because I struggle with faces. So here’s my first one in the challenge: I really enjoyed this and used a pencil I bought years ago called black beauty. It’s a thicker pencil and is made of bonded lead, which gives a thicker and darker line without having to press too hard.

I was going to draw this picture (and any others) on big pastel paper as when I draw a person, this is how I like to work, preferably using pastels, oils or charcoal. But this time I thought I would use my A4 sketchbook as not only will it keep all the drawings in one place and I can see my progress, but also it means that I can sit on the sofa and draw or take it to work.

I haven’t drawn in ages (I usually paint) so this is really good to do especially as art teachers have told me that as an artist, you should draw every day. Anyway, here’s what I learnt when starting this challenge:

~ If you are due to go out, then don’t pick up the sketch and carry on as it will make you late! :o)
~ This has already sharpened my observation skills
~ When I started this I wanted it to be perfect especially as I will be posting it online, but I then started worrying about it....so I took a deep breath and relaxed and worried less about the end result and enjoyed the process more
~ It’s all about the journey

I really enjoyed this and I had forgotten how much I enjoy drawing as well as painting.

Have a great day!

A sketching challenge...

Through this wonderful blogosphere I have come across the amazing work of Kelly Berkey. Her jewellery is so lovely and unique – I love it! She is also part of a community of other female artists and Kelly decided to set up a weekly sketching challenge. So she asked her partner to photograph her and she posts up one picture a week for people to draw or paint. A few people have joined in, and I have decided to dip my toe in the water and have a go.

As quite a few paintings have already been done, I decided to pick a few of the previous challenges and give it a bash. I am really hopeless at drawing faces....I never put them in my paintings if I can help it. When I did a life drawing class a few years ago, I always drew anything BUT the face....so some of these will be a real challenge for me. But I am looking forward to it and will post my offerings whether I like them or not.

On another painting note, Willowing's art class started yesterday and I am looking forward to getting stuck in :o)

Hope you are having a good day!

Helen

Time to learn and have some fun....

The friendly and inspiring Tam from Willowing.ning has created a free paint class called ‘The Heart of Art’ which I have just joined. Normally she charges for her workshops, but she has offered this free to anyone, and at the last count, 865 people have signed up – that is amazing!

It’s not the usual type of art I do, but at the moment I am trying out all different methods and mediums to see if I can find my style. So I am looking forward to being crafty, arty, sewing again and trying something new.

The class starts on Monday 18th (oooh tomorrow!!) and runs for 4 weeks.

I will post up my attempts here, and thank you Tam for being so generous. It is true what they say, by giving to others you receive back tenfold, so you will absolutely flourish!

Have a great Sunday everyone....I'm off to take up another creative challenge - post to follow soon! x

A haven of tranquility

I am fortunate enough to have a place where I can be creative...an area I can store my paints and paper and set to when the mood presents. After not having such a space for years, I fully appreciate it. But my, wouldn’t it be lovely to have one of these......

Above - centralhi.com

Below - from Housemartin blog

Above - www.channel4.com

A mature garden, a room with lots of light and a beautiful environment to let your creativity flow.......

Sounds perfect!

Have a great weekend!

Helen

The fourth one...

A while ago I blogged about producing 4 paintings in a month....I did achieve this (yay!) but the time after has been so busy that I haven't been able to blog about it. So here it is...

I decided to continue using the same scene and this time drew a rough outline of the buildings in pastel, in a colour similar to the colour of the pastel paper.

I then started blocking in the various colours to build up the picture.
I then started to add more details, correcting the lines, adding windows and some shadows.
This painting didn't take long, I would say an hour tops, but it was fun to do.

Looking at it now, there are things I would change, but that is what painting is all about - by doing you learn more than any video or book can teach.....

Have a great day!

Helen

Three out of four aint bad....

In my last blog entry I mentioned that I wanted to do one painting a week, for four weeks. Am I on track. Well kind of. One isn’t quite a painting, but more of a sketch, but illness, and having a bit of a social life got in the way.

So far I have completed three out of the four pictures and just have one more to do, which I don’t think is that bad going.

I started off painting a version of a St Ives scene, although my artistic licence meant that I opted not to put in a few buildings. I then decided that all of my pictures would be of the same scene. I find it quite interesting to paint the same scene using different materials and mediums as it not only helps me familiarise with it, but I like to see how using different mediums changes my style.

The first painting was on canvas and painted using acrylics. I primed over an old painting I didn’t like – this is well worth doing, as canvas’s can be expensive. Then I sketched out in yellow ochre the outlines of the buildings.

I selected my palette of muted colours and set to work. Here’s the result.






My second painting was created on arches watercolour paper and collage, acrylic inks and acrylic paint was used.

I tore up some handmade paper and stuck this on to the watercolour paper using Golden Gel Medium. I then started to drip inks over the canvas, using a misting spray to help the paint merge on the paper. This gets quite messy so it’s best to put down some plastic sheeting or newspaper if you don’t want your worktop to get stained.

I then dipped card into paint to create the outline of the buildings and started to build up the picture. For the beach I used a texture medium and once dry I painted over it and dripped inks and sprayed water.

I will say out of all three paintings I had the most fun with this.

The final picture was drawn using a fountain pen and Quink on cartridge paper. I then used water to give it some tone. This is great fun to do and because I didn’t draw the picture first, it really makes you concentrate on the lines. I made some mistakes but as far as I am concerned, it all adds to the picture.

My final painting in the series may well be done with pastels....I’m not sure yet!