No pressure!

Frequently I say on my workshops and courses, how important it is sometimes to take the pressure off when you are painting.  Quite often, we are working towards deadlines, be it for galleries, exhibitions or simply the desire to produce a painting good enough to frame for our own walls.  Sometimes, along with this aim to try and produce a masterpiece, can come a feeling of frustration and disillusionment.

Taking a small piece of paper and simply painting for the fun of it, can sometimes result in the freshest and most spontaneous of paintings and it's a great exercise to do in between painting larger pieces.  Often you can have ideas that can then translate into larger works and the process can refresh your palette in so many ways!

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Black or White

It's been a week full of painting for me, and having worked on some landscapes, I decided to have a complete change of subject matter with these Zebras.  Faced with whites and blacks, the painting could seem pretty straightforward but as ever with my paintings, it's never really quite that straightforward!  I've got lost edges, found edges, merging colours, angles and shadows to contend with.  There's also a few colours in there you may not expect......Artistic Licence is just the most wonderful thing!  Have a great weekend everyone :-)

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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

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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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