Red or black

Red or Black

This is a subject that I have covered on a couple of occasions.  I am inspired by the sharp, shiny shoes whilst challenged by the soft, diffused reflections.  Against these two opposites, I'm also considering contrasting colours, light and composition.  It's quite a complex piece! 

Visual stimulation is all around us and for much of the time, I wonder whether I simply take it all for granted.  I guess this is one of the things that I love about painting,  thinking about a subject makes you take the time to look in finer detail.

I wish everyone a happy week to follow 

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In the pink!

Whilst I will temporarily have to say goodbye to pink tomorrow, I'm sure to return soon as it's such a beautiful colour to work with!  I've enjoyed these  ballet studies and I wonder at times if  I subconsciously love pink because I am so outnumbered in our house!!

In truth though, I love all colours in watercolour.  Friends visited today and they bought their lovely dog with them - his fur was a beautiful rich golden colour and, as we discussed this, I found myself seeing the colours in his fur as I would see them in my palette - perhaps he's a subject waiting to be painted ;-)

I have a full week of painting ahead and I can't wait!

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Routine chaos!

During the Summer Holidays, in relaxed mode, I read a couple of books "focus on your aims" and "the on-purpose person" and I started afresh in September full of new ideas on exactly now I can achieve the many objectives I constantly set myself.  After a couple of days, I was laughing, as many of the ideas were impossible to achieve in amongst the chaos of everyday family life.

But, and it's a big BUT, I am trying to stick to a firm weekly routine and it seems to be helping.  We can all spend quite a long time on social networking, watching the television or running around doing everyday tasks but with a little careful planning it is, I think, possible to re-organise and prioritise your time.

I have already made time to develop an online tuition course which I'm finding really exciting and very soon I'll be looking for people to join in with a free trial.  I'll post more details on this soon.

Thanks for looking!

Kaye

www.kayeparmenter.co.uk

Big Children!

Big Children!

During our holidays there were a couple of occasions where I saw adult birds looking after their offspring who were larger than them!  I managed to take some lovely photos of a swan and family of cygnets and I watched them for ages, preening and feeding - the parents seemed to be trying to let go and, at times they swam ahead, just looking back occasionally to check on their "little ones!".  It was lovely to watch.

On the technical side to this painting, my previous experience was telling me to lay a dark wash between the chests of the swan and cygnet to give maximum tonal contrast around the focal point.  But my heart and instinct told me to leave a passage of light between the two :-)

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Demonstration Day - Yandles

Demonstration Day - Yandles

I smiled yesterday, remembering times when I've sat in the marquee at Yandles, demonstrating watercolours with a river of water running under the chair and table - our weather is so hit and miss!  Yesterday was gorgeous,  a sunny day, warm marquee and a steady stream of visitors wandering through watching the demonstrators at work with their crafts.

I covered subjects from Exmoor Ponies, to Badgers, Sunflowers and Lyme Regis!!   I was touched by the number of people who said that they were going home to pick up their brushes after watching me paint - they said I made it look easy.  Funnily enough, although not nervous anymore about painting in front of people,  I am still apprehensive that my demonstration may not produce a good painting.

Having thought about this many times before, I can probably say that I have this worry every time I face a blank piece of paper.  This, though, is the beauty of watercolour - I don't aim to control it and there are days where frustration can set in, and other days where magic can happen in front of your eyes.

There were a few moments of magic yesterday, and I was grateful to have the opportunity to share these with the visitors at Yandles and hopefully inspire others to pick up their brushes.  

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Seeing the light

Alas, this is the end of my postcards now as we have now left the Lake District and returned to Somerset and, although this marks the end of our trips away, I have one more busy week at home before returning to my studio to paint larger work for galleries and exhibitions.  I have really enjoyed sharing the postcards with you all and it has been lovely reading the emails from the people receiving them.

With lots of time to think when we were out and about on walks and cycle rides,  I have new ideas and hence quite a schedule is approaching in September!   I wanted to share the above photo which is one of many favourites - I noticed the light on the hill, grabbed my camera and stood in awe looking at the amazing light.

Seeing the light can happen in so many ways!   

Postcard 9

Perfect picnic spot!

We have been visiting the Lake District for years and years.....pre marriage, pre children and we've seen some changes over this time!  Today, we visited Ambleside and Grasmere - our one and only attempt from Alan for a bit of retail therapy and we were surprised to find charges to use the public loos in both places - seriously is this British??!

We've seen increased commercialism and noticeably changes to paths for protection to the environment.  But...this little picnic spot, for us, is the "Old Lake District".  We found it by accident last year, it has a gentle, undefined path to the most beautiful, peaceful and unspoilt view towards Ullswater.....

Please don't get me wrong everyone, I still love the Lakes - it will always be very special to us, we've too many happy, funny, and lovely memories and, after all, change is probably inevitable and necessary?

www.kayeparmenter.co.uk

(ps - a little video of the red squirrels is to follow shortly!)