Exhibition!

The pictures are framed, wrapped in bubble wrap and waiting to be hung this afternoon in the ZetlandHotel for my first solo exhibition tomorrow...very exciting

Rhododendrons in may

Rhododendrons in may, a photo by connemaracolours on Flickr.

From a sketch done last spring, this is one of my favourite subjects. Initial wash of quinacridone gold, turquoise and quinacridone. Once completely dry I worked into the negative spaces with the same colours.

Apologies for the awful photo! I took with my phone whilst rushing off to the framer to get it framed!

Black currants

Black currants, a photo by connemaracolours on Flickr.

I was rushing to the framers with this one and the rhodedendrons so I took it with my phone, a disaster!

Red Currants in July

From my stash of sketches from last summer, the mysterious red currant bush. It has the most lovely perfusion of leaves above and below, with stems intersecting through the middle, then here and there a gorgeous handful of berries shining in the summer sun.

They are spectacularly, eye-wateringly  bitter so best freeze them or eat them with heaps of strawberries and cream. Stored in the freezer, they're a delicious winter treat - with hot melted chocolate....

Initially a wash wet-in-wet (over a sketch) of quinacridone gold, quinacridone red and turquoise and let them run into one another. Once dry, I started to work into the negative spaces and kept working at layering the tones until I could do no more.

On Arches 140lb Hot pressed paper (not my favourite!)

Thoughts of Spring

The days are perceptively longer as February rolls in, but winter winds still fill the air. It'll be a few more months before the rhodedendrons are in bloom again, but sketches from last year keep me reminded of them. From a sketch last May, using quinaridone gold and ultramarine mix for the green, and some pale washes of quinacridone red (as it's a strong staining pigment) for the blooms. I used a crochet hook dipped in the red to create the stamens. On Arches 140lb NOT paper.

Winter time...

..here in Ireland is wet, damp and mild with short days, not very conducive to painting! However, the weather is forecast for dry, cold spells later this week which I look forward to, some out door sketching.

This is from a sketch in a friends garden last summer, watercolour on Arches 14lbpaper. The apple trees were amazing, looked like they had never been pruned so wild long stems seemed to break out from the main tree and expanded through the garden. An initial wash done using quinacridone gold, alizarin crimson and cerulean blue (mixed on paper) over a pencil sketch. I then worked wet-in-dry to fill on the negative space around the drawing, and allowed the paint to run and disperse over the paper.

Do you paint throughout the winter?

 ovmain

2013!

To all the readers of this blog,  and browsers who come across it, to those who leave comments and those who don't, I wish you all a spectacular 2013, may you continue on your journey with joy and may you dare to make your dreams come true.