Seeds of ideas

Concentration whilst exploring creativity is exhausting!  When deep, very deep in thought, I pace around, cast things aside, stack up a line of cold cups of tea and generally stare a lot at half finished paintings! But in the midst of all this, there are few things more exciting than experiencing an idea develop.  Watercolour is such a "feeling" medium.  It almost begs you to play and have fun and taunts you with possibilities.  The relationship you have with your medium has to grow over time and with confidence, seeds of ideas can develop.

I read an interesting article yesterday about inspiration.  It basically said "don't sit around waiting for it to happen. All the best ideas come out of the process, they come out of the work itself."  Chuck Close.   The theory is, in a nutshell, you have to keep working.

My hound is very important as it has shown me how I can play with colour, tone and counterchange in such a way to almost make the subject come forward out of the paper.  It's a very exciting process!

Thanks for sharing with me and I'll post more soon!

www.kayeparmenter.co.uk

Pick up patience

This painting is one of my favourites from my collection of shoot paintings 2013.  It was one of those magical moments where owner and dog were at one - completely oblivious to my artistic intentions!  They were focused on the beaters coming through the woods to flush the birds.  They were focused and waiting so patiently!

And for this reason, I would love to dedicate this post to a very special lady.  For all my art friends, if you haven't been introduced to "your art image" - Kathryn Roberts is an entrepreneur and business owner providing coaching and courses for developing your art business and finding balance between your personal and financial aspirations.  Kathryn also sends free weekly artists action points by email and I always find that her emails are totally relevant and thought provoking.

Todays email with the "Artist Action Point" was about focusing and being patient....fabulous!
Thank you Kathryn for your great emails and courses.

www.yourartimage.com

To the Beat

When I attended a shoot last November, there was so many working dogs that caught my attention, it was difficult to know where to point the camera first.  I stood by and watched this Weimaraner for a while as he was waiting with his master before beating.  He walked around his master’s legs, backward and forward, many times and then, in a blink of the eye, he rested his chin on the arm.  It was a gentle gesture, almost to say, “come on, when can we go” but there was no pulling at the lead and just silent communication between the pair.

One overriding memory of the day for me was how happy the dogs were.  Clearly they were all doing  something they loved and, at the end of the day, no amount of mud, cold or wet could dampen their enthusiasm.  I have so many images to paint from and many small sketches I drew on the spot, I’m not sure which to choose next to paint –   thank you Kingsdon Shoot, again, for a memorable day!

www.kayeparmenter.co.uk