Spring Fever

LOVE this little Daffodil! No, sadly NOT from the garden, but the garden centres all have daffs, tulips- SPRING!! I am shooting masses of pics so that once these are gone, I can draw and paint them. I am having SOO much fun - but in fits and starts. Can't seem to get six minutes in a row between housework and medical appointments. Never mind, as and when is good!

Big full sized white daffs with ruffly yellow centres.  When I am finished with them , and they with me, I'll put them out in the garden to enjoy again.

 I just got carried away with abstracting this one. It IS out of focus, but I meant it like that. All I want is the "essence"!

And here, the focus is on the "ruffle" so I can see it to draw it. 

SUCH a pretty bloom. This will be lovely in the garden eventually.

Did I ever say how much I love the back sides of flowers? Well, if not, I DO!!! Look how cool this is!

I have not really started playing with these yet with pencil and paint but I shall- SOON! I did do a couple of quick painting exercises from my book the other day- semi successfully. Parts of these, I like. Other parts are just silly but it is all enjoyable. I have ordered a tube of Schminke Transparent Orange paint and have HIGH hopes that it is as stellar as it is reputed to be. Stay tuned!!

A little transparent sketch on a piece of partly used paper. PARTS of this, I really like!

Parts of this, I am pleased about! The orange cup came out pretty well but the petals are a MESS! Never mind, Rome wasn't built, and all that!!!

It will not let me zap this shot of the whole exercise. Sorry! I shot it on my phone and it is BAD AND upside down. No prob! Turning it around will NOT make it a masterpiece!!!

So, you see, kind folk, I am not without projects. I AM, however, without time so if anyone has any extra, please let me be the first to know. Happy creating, everyone!!

Looser and Looser!!

Last night , I started painting a rose, based on the lessons from Atmospheric Watercolours and inspired by my fading Valentines Day Roses-- and THIS is where I finished up...

Amateur, fiddly, too much "detail" - just NOT what I am after but at least better than the first try.

Today, I had some time to myself and decided to try again. I restudied, reread and then WENT for it!

MUCH looser. Still pretty primitive but I DID manage to STOP  in time so it is just an IMPRESSION of roses.

Then, I got wild and crazy and tried a potted primula. 

I am FAIRLY pleased with the direction this is going but I am NOT relaxed at all. I find myself VERY uptight and ended up with a headache, Not to worry. I believe you will never  achieve any degree of excellence until you have put in your 10,000 hours of practice! I MAY have chalked up TEN hours so far. I hope I live long enough to get the rest in !!

On a more mundane level, I am also working on colour charts, mixing colours and paint outs of various colours. I am being stingy with my paint as I have had to start again from scratch so don't want to have to buy TOO much more just yet.

My paintbox so far

Some really messy paint outs

Some mixing charts

This is fun and a good reminder of what mixes with what and what is just NASTY! I actually don't find ANY colour to be nasty. Anyway, just what I have been up to recently. Stay tuned for more AMAZING revelations- HA HA!!!

Loose Woman??... not quite!

You have , no doubt heard of Loose Women ? Well, I aspire to become one :-) I am aiming in the right direction- I THINK, at last. At the moment, I might better be described as a Loosening Woman!

Relax, folks!!! We are talking painting techniques. I have always been a VERY controlled painter and drawer- see my earlier post, "A Little blast from the past- the distant past". I have been reading, watching videos, practising and getting all fired up and inspired and yesterday, FINALLY began to see the beginnings of a loose style. Yay, me. Now, I am NOT calling this high art- not even art, but I do see a loosening and hope VERY much, to see more. Here is the result... the first and the second.

The bigger one was the first- WAY too much messing about. The smaller was done today and it is MUCH looser- more what I am aiming for. I could do more with the little one but as it is NOT very sizeable, I think I will just leave it and try the same idea again, larger and when I am wider awake.

I work hard at whatever I do and this will be no different. I have no guarantee that I'll succeed but I SHALL work at it and I SHALL be aiming to win! My Valentine's Day roses are still looking wonderful so before they drop all over the table, I should draw a couple of them for practice. Can't do that tonight though as Canada is playing GB in Womens' curling. Our girls REALLY need a win.

A little surprise!!!

I have three siblings- two sisters and a brother. I am the eldest (VERY elderly!) then my first sister is eight years younger than I, then another sis four years later and finally, my "baby" brother, four years after this! Anyway, it is my first sister I am on about today. She now lives in Mahone Bay, NS and while she has been there, she has taken up rug hooking - with a vengeance! I knew she'd been doing it but have never seen much of her work - so I asked for photos. Holy Moly! She's amazing!!! I always knew that but this confirms it. I will share what she sent me ( with her permission) and will add to this post later when I find a couple of other shots.

Enjoy and stay tuned! There's more to come!!

A little bit of everything!!!

Valentine's Day roses- from my SISTER!!!

Aren't they lovely!!! They got touched by frost a bit unfortunately but they are just STUNNING- creamy white, pale pink edges and touches of soft limey green. I just LOVE them! I am hoping to get some face-on shots of them to use as a guide for some painting. My DH never thinks of things like this but Shelley, like me, is a romantic and saw these, fell in love with them and got me a bunch!! LOVELY- the roses AND the SISTER!!! She is a Rug Hooker and I am trying to get her to send me some pics of her work. I wish I could talk her into a joint show!!! We'll see :-)

I have finally finished Bug Lunch and The Beech Leaves except for the labels and this shot represents my proposed submission to the upcoming Fibre Content show.  Hope the jury likes me! The centre piece was made a while ago but has never been in a show and fits the time constraints, so... It is Berberis berries on bare winter twigs.

Not a great picture. It is from my phone in the bad light in the dining room!

AND, all afternoon, I have been playing with with my paints and brushes doing colour studies- well, STARTING to do it. I need to work on a much larger piece of paper for a big chart and then get a new watercolour sketchbook to make more intense studies.

Pretty sloppy but I was working on a small piece of paper so the wet colours ran into each other sometimes. I need a bigger piece so I can leave little spaces between colours. I really DO love playing with colour. I'll flatten this curly bit of paper and it will go into the sketchbook.

So, you see, I am "cookin' again"! Feels good but I am still not relaxed enough to REALLY enjoy it. It will come for sure. I need to do some more Zentangles. They are good for concentration, control and confidence building- at least for me. I hope YOU have all been gainfully employed this week. I'll post this now and maybe have something cooler for tomorrow!

Decision made - for better or worse!!!

Well, I decided on keeping to the same coloured thread and changing to a SLIGHTLY looser, more traditional stipple over the bright patches of my background. Thanks to all who made suggestions!

The whole piece, all quilted. I chopped the left side off a bit with the camera because I couldn't see well . There IS a bit more plain to the left of the far left leaf.

I am including some closeups of the quilting so you can see what I did.

Here you can see the difference between the pattern quilted on the dark part of the fabric and the brighter bit behind the lighter leaves.

I have a couple more just to show you what I did to quilt the leaves themselves. I do like intense background quilting to make the subject really jump up and get noticed!!

 Now, I need to scramble to find enough dark fabric to face the quilt and to make a hanging sleeve. Then, make a label and... Bob's your uncle! Thanks again for the good advice, dear friends!

Life's a Beech!

Started quilting the Beech leaves. Now I am in a quandary! This is a horrid picture stuck on my design board and full of pins but just intended to remind you. The quandary involves those golden "sun spots" top left and far right. Here's what I am doing at the moment....

Quilting this background called for an interesting thread colour- a purply brown, as that's what the colours are in this hand dyed background piece.

I have done my background quilting around most of the leaves where the background is dark.

NOW.....!!!!! I am ready to start thinking of how to quilt those "sunny " patches. Here they are...

This is the top left one and...

This is the far right bit, behind the leaves. 

The problem is this. Do I do it all in this deep purple brown thread with the curved lines I have used behind the leaves, keep the same pattern and change thread colour to a goldy-er thread colour or- do I change thread colour AND pattern, maybe a small stipple??? I am truly buffaloed. Now I wish I had made a different background piece.  What do YOU think? All suggestions gratefully accepted.

                                                             HELP!!!!

Maybe as it is Wednesday, I'll post this over to the needleandthreadnetwork.blogspot.com There are LOTS of creative minds over there. Have a look!!