Normal Service Will Resume...You Know The Score

This last week has been an education in stress levels. In other words, if my hair wasn't dyed purple it would no doubt have gone completely grey. 

I'm behind on my art project, I can't afford those lovely, relaxing moments with my pad and paints. And it's very telling how much those stolen moments have meant to me. With that in mind...

I'm going to keep using these prompts. They are giving me the opportunity just to paint, not to have to think of subjects. Just paint.

This time I'm going to upload in batches, it seems to work best. And I might use pastels instead of watercolour or mixed media or possibly something else. I'll take these ideas and run with them.

Meanwhile, it's bad to the stress. I'm not quite out it yet...not quite. 

Another Little Bunch of Sketches - Day 17-20

It seems to be working, uploading a few at a time. So here we are again, let's go.

Day 17 - Shells

Oops, missed the plural, so just shell then. I have dozens of shells, collected from all over Scotland, whenever I visit a beach I look out for interesting shells and sea glass. It makes for a happy day. Simple things and all.

I had difficulty in trying to make the shadows not look as though the whelk shell was coloured. I don't know that it worked so well. Again, this is another subject I'd like to come back to in more depth. Yet painting everyday has been very cathartic, even though the results are sometimes iffy at best.

Day 18 - Plants

For weeks we had beautiful violet-coloured hyacinths filling the living room with their rich, heady smell (or as youngest son put it "Wow, they stink!") The flowers are gone and the leaves are now gathering sunlight for the bulb. Yes, my disastrous gardening efforts are about to attempt to regrow hyacinths rather than chuck the bulbs in the compost.

We'll see what happens when the leaves finish their job and begin to die. Until then they are still resplendent in green.

Day 19 - Eggs

Oh dear, it looked okay but the dim February light was kinder than the camera on my phone. It didn't work as well as I thought and I didn't realise that until uploading the photograph. 

Many years ago I visited Germany just before Easter and bought a set of plastic, decorative eggs. Hence the brown string. They now sit in a dish on the hearth. 

Let's call this one a fail.

Day 20 - Bugs

Okay, see what I did here? Ho ho, clever clogs me.

In light of last week, when this bottle saw me through the night without coughing up a lung, I thought it apt.

A bit wonky but lots of fun to do and that's the point.

Play Stopped By Cold

My darling youngest son kindly passed on his nasty cold to me so this week has mostly been spent with a cough that makes me sound like a barking seal and battling against a river of snot. 

Nice.

Again, updates are a few days at once. Some better than others, it's calming to paint when you know you should be working but can't because stringing more than a few words together is impossible. Under the influence of cough syrup you see.

Day Twelve - Puddles (and a new word that I sort of already knew)

If you can't read my scrawl it says "Hoppipolla (Icelandic) - Jumping into puddles"

I remembered the word from this by Sigur Ros -

Love the song and the video, why I didn't find out at the time the meaning of Hoppiloppa when, from the video, it's kind of made obvious. For what are puddles made for if not to jump in?

Day Thirteen - Rainbows

How tempting would it have been to draw a stupid looking bear or egg type creature? (Yeah, only me then.)

Painting an actual rainbow would have been interesting but would have reminded me too much of being back in primary school. Maybe throw a unicorn into the mix for luck. So I went with the idea of colours, colours in nature and, of course, that meant (to me) - 

Day Fourteen - Fire

One of my favourite places on this earth - Timanfaya means fire mountains. Apt.

Day Fifteen - Leaves

I haven't managed to kill this plant yet. 

Yet.

Day Sixteen - Rocks

I might come back to this one again but rocks to me mean the Scottish seaside - rocks and beaches in equal measures to be fair.

Went far too dark in the background hills, makes it look like another piece of clothing on the line.

It's That Day

by Stewart Bremner, buy this and his other artworks here

Seven to Eleven

I did forewarn this challenge with the disclaimer that I would mostly be doing quick watercolour sketches and not to expect much. That has come true. So here we go with the dodgy and skew-whiff -

Day Seven - Bone

Oh, see what I did here, the prompt was bone and I painted a bone china cup and saucer. (At least I think it's bone china, I wouldn't know the difference. It's from my grandmother's tea service so I've probably guessed right.) 

Day Eight - Birds

I want to keep practising on items in front of me and as the local birds never stay in the same spot for long then I decided to honour a little ornament I have.

Day Nine - Silver

Oh-oh, almost binned this, then I remembered, it is all good as no one immediately paints perfectly. And if they do, well, boo to them! It's *meant* to be a silver ring.

Yes...quite...oh dear.

Day Ten - Mammals

Just one mammal, my mammal - believe it or not (and I think you'll believe it) this is my first time sketching Happy Dog. He stayed long enough to get this done before wandering over to see why I kept staring at him.

Day Eleven - Trees

I have a few birch trees visible from my window, so I added some more. All "contemporary" like. Yeah.

Despite the somewhat dubious results, I am enjoying the 20 minutes I'm setting aside each day to paint. I'd like a little more but earning pennies is taking up nearly all my time at the moment. How lucky are those who can afford to do this all the time. I've been pushing myself too much these past few weeks and the ME/CFS faerie has granted me a stingingly sore throat and barking cough as a reward. I can't stop.

Tomorrow it's "puddles" - I've lost track of the days and the boys only had Friday off so far. It's February break, any break would be nice.

Day Six - Bees!

Day Five - Landscapes

(Hint: when taking photos of somewhere try to write down the location. It's always helpful.)

I think if I worked on this a little more it might actually be okay.

Day Three (sort of) and Day Four #Worldwatercolorgroup Challenge - February

First the easy one:

Day Four - Fruit

Bonus, you get to eat the subject afterwards. Not always the case, especially if you're a portrait artist. This was fun. Note to self - sketch more fruit. Then eat it.

The reason I skipped Day Three? The prompt was "fossil", now I could be a jolly japester and paint an old person but I'm trying to be polite. We do have one fossil, for the life of me, I can't remember what it's called. Sons bought it on one of their visits to Dynamic Earth in Edinburgh. It would be an interesting sketch so I may come back to this if I get the time to look for it.

With this in mind, I thought of something that would still encourage creativity. My other favourite - reading. And there's only one book that came to mind.

By the author of two of my favourite books (The Girl with the Pearl Earring and The Lady and the Unicorn if you're asking), this is the story of Mary Anning. An amazing woman with an intriguing life. Once again the familiar tale of a woman's scientific achievements either being accredited to men or dismissed altogether. She overcame this adversity to become one of the most renowned palaeontologists of the 1800s.

Hey, maybe instead of sketching a fossil I don't remember the name of I should do a quick sketch of Mary instead? (Dangerous as I'm not a portrait artist at all and avoid people where I can.)

Watch this space!

A Twofer - Day One and Two of Watercolour Challenge

Day One - Sea Life

And the sharp eyed will notice the use of pastel in what is supposed to be a watercolour challenge but it's my painting so "ner"! This was a lot of fun to do. It didn't start off as a seal, I had a play around with the background without a formal plan of what would happen. I did think it would end up as a landscape of some form. But I do love seals, from watching the little harbour seals play off Newport beach in Millport to trying to distinguish them from grey seals. I'm incredibly bad at recognising the little differences. Last year I thought I spotted baby seals, turned out it was otters!

Day Two - Flowers

Following orders for this one and yes, my inability to recognise things also includes flowers so I don't know what this is. I have lovely hyacinths which have wilted somewhat, I should have maybe painted them instead so I didn't sound so daft. Am noting I went slightly (more than slightly) skew-whiff on the glass pot I used but it's meant to be a quick sketch so I'll blame that.

Goodbye January

Usually, January is a slow, seemingly endless grey month. Not this year, this year will go down in history, hopefully not as a precursor to the awful events that follow but as a warning. 

So that was January.

Edith Holden

Elsa Beskow

Rie Cramer

 

Still Life

Two Servings | Jaye Schlesinger | Elliot Fouts Gallery

Diarmuid Kelly

Kleine stapeling II - Ingrid Smuling

Flour, Egg and Sugar Bowl

Starting Wednesday

My only artistic outlet at the moment seems to be hours of browsing wonderful images on Pinterest and as lovely and comforting as that is it's not a patch on actually creating.

I miss the art class only because for two hours all I concentrated on was the painting or pastel or sketch in front of me. Being in that creative bubble was extremely healthy but I can't switch off enough to replicate that at home.

So, does anyone care to join me on this? 

Perhaps I'll only be able to fire off a quick sketch, I'm in the middle of starting a new venture in the hope that I can stop being a poor mouse but I need to force myself to take a break. I might even end up continuing my posts on artists as they are so enjoyable to collate. But I'll stick to the theme. No taking bets on when I tail off as happens occasionally (all the time) when I have such noble intentions.

January has been madness, February needs to be that moment of calm before Spring. 

Vulpes Vulpes

The Way Through the Woods - Hester Cox

Uuju aka Paula (Finland) -Kesakettu (The Summer Fox) from the Fox series, 2012

Hello, Mr Fox - Belle and Boo

Too soon perhaps

Photo by groene_inkt on Flickr

Un ami pour Lucas

Photo by _bobi + bobi on Flickr

Friday 13th

It wasn't the mad masked man, Jason Voorhees, who showed up to ruin the day but my own bad penny version. I wish I was strong enough not to let it turn me upside down but I guess I never will be. The worst part is that it worked it's way between Eldest son and so I sit tonight with a gut-wrenching sadness.

At times like this, I feel adrift, that I wish it would end. Even though I'm aware of how completely unreasonable I'm being. Ten years on and I should have moved away from this but I can't and that's something I have to deal with. Perhaps it's me. It's probably me.

I mustn't leave it like this so here is a comforting image from Elsa Beskow. I've lost my inspiration to draw and paint, I need to get that back, for my own wellbeing. Let that be the anchor that holds me fast when all is churning around me.

Green Woodpecker ~ Charles F Tunnicliffe

Familiar to anyone fortunate enough to own vintage Ladybird books or to those old enough to have read the originals, Charles Tunnicliffe illustrations brought each subject to life.

He was much more than the illustrator of children's stories, as wonderful and inspiring as those little books were. Born in Macclesfield, England in 1901 he studied at the school of art there before winning a scholarship to the Royal College of Art in London. He later moved to Anglesey, Wales.

Known best for his naturalistic scenes, he worked in several media - including watercolour, woodcut and oil. As well as the Ladybird books, he illustrated many RSPB magazine covers and was a recipient of the RSPB Gold Medal.

After his death in 1979, his personal collection of work was bequeathed to Anglesey council as long as they were kept together and made available for public viewing.

They can be seen at Oriel Ynys Môn gallery.

A New Year Resolution

Gilmorehill in Snow (circa 1930) by Tom Maxwell, Scottish, 1870-1940

Yes, I know, resolutions are a bad idea but bear with me. 

Every day I want to do something creative, even if it's only sharing someone else's talent (in fact that's possibly the better idea).  I have an entire Pinterest board...okay, several, full of inspiring images. This world is going to be difficult and tumultuous enough this year so, for the sake of the mental health of all then I will persevere. 

Let us begin with a Scottish artist and a scene that will be familiar with Glaswegians, that impressive building is Glasgow University. This etching is from around 1930 and is so wonderfully atmospheric, you can hear the crump of footsteps, muffled in the heavy snow. For such a simple piece it conveys the scene entirely. 

I sound like I'm about to disappear into that awful artistic elite speak, I'm not. When you see a piece of art that reaches out and keeps you looking, long after all the details have been taken in, then it's a talent to be appreciated.

Tom Maxwell is not very well-known, which is a shame. He was an illustrator for the Evening Times, a daily newspaper in Glasgow. His home and studio were based in Elmbank Street, Charing Cross, Glasgow. If you go on Google Maps you'll see the street has some original buildings left. The Glasgow City Council town planners have a lot to answer for.

Sinterklaas by Rie Cramer

December, wintermaand (1938)

Marie "Rie" Cramer was born in the Dutch East Indies, October 1887. Daughter of a ship's captain the family first settled in Arnhem, the Netherlands, where she began to study drawing. Continuing at the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague when her family moved there, she published her first books.

Known best for illustrating children's books she also provided illustrations for adult literature.

In The Style of Caspar David Friedrich

Wanderer above the Sea of Fog (1818)

Martta Wendelin (Finnish artist, 1893-1986)

Summer Sketches

The weather is as stormy as the news these days. There is only one solace - 

pen

paper

watercolour.