Another watercolour .....

This is the beginnings of another Exercise in Paul Talbot-Greaves Book 30-Minute Landscapes.

Actually, that's a laugh 'cos it took me four days to complete it! Anyway here I did the 'middle' pale colours first (he tells you what colours to mix on the palette) then came down the right hand side for the bushes and over to left for more bushes, then the green tree in the middle (as the pale colurs were then dry) and finally the path.
Now I've added leaves in the top left hand side and more colour underneath ....

Then I added the tree trunks and suddenly I had depth.

Finally I added the shadows on the path and a few under the trees on the left, and titivated a little bit - I think it is done. This one was the most complicated I've tried so far. I'm almost ready to try a photograph of my own following his techniques - just have to get the right picture!

Acrylic, watercolour and gouache

I've been playing again in my sketchbook, and this is the result. I used acrylic, watercolour and gouache paint all in the one piece, each for a specific reason, as explained in Linda Ravenscroft book. My sketchbook is approximately 6" x 8"

Firstly, I drew the picture in pencil, then outlined the drawing in sepia pigma pen, and rubbed out the pencil

I then stippled the background using acrylic paints. On reflection I should have masked the toadstool shapes and stippled them afterward - thus avoiding that ragged edge you can see!

I've now added water colour, painting the toadstools and covering the green area with some of the watercolour to fill in all the white bits (except of course for the fairy slippers!)

Now I added the gouache paint, hopefully rescuing that edge on the toastools. It is better than it was, but next time I will think about masking! Watercolour is transparent but gouache is not, so the majority of the paint under the toadstools is gouache. I painted the fairy slippers last - made out of holly leaves with a berry bobble of course!
Finally I used the pigma pen to outline the original drawing again, as most of it had almost disappeared under the paint. I might try to add some 'frost' to the leaves under the toadstools, when I've had a bit of practice!!

Till next time ..........

Seascape watercolour and some stitching!

I have been having another go at watercolour painting from the book I bought...

Again, it doesn't look much like the one in the book (but it isn't supposed to is it?) but I am chuffed with how it turned out. I did it in the wrong sequence of course (!) and I've got too much yellow in the reflection but I'm still chuffed with it. I like the reflection of the rocks in the water - and following the instructions it actually worked - amazing!!

This is another exercise in Linda Ravenscroft's book - I drew the mushrooms first by copying them from the back cover of her book. The background is stippled acrylic paint, and the rest is watercolour on the top. I love the way the background comes through the watercolour. The stalks of the mushroom are just white paint - all the colours are the acrylic showing through. Magic!

Here is another exercise using wax crayon on a painted background then scratching it off to try to create Fairy Wings. I used copper and silver metallic wax crayons.
If you click on the picture you should get a closeup view.

Finally, just to let you see I am still stitching ......... just a little scan of the piece I am working on
for the next Kindred Spirits Exhibition. I'm stitching into a piece of rusted fabric I did last Summer - quilting it to death so to speak!!

Till next time ......