#worldwatercolourmonth Week 2

Hi there, how are you?

I’ve been steadily plodding on through #worldwatercolourmonth set up by Mr. doodlewash . I’m feeling happier this week pushing through the doubting, gradually working out how everything works.

I seem to be painting mainly flowers; this is because they keep still as they’re being drawn!  I love hydrangea and have been trying to draw them for quite a while. They have been simplified a lot here which I am liking a lot.

If any one wants a better view they are on my instagram account fluff.n.nonsence (can you tell I’m rubbish at naming things?) and here are week 1 posts.

It’s interesting the colours I use most when they’re put together like this. I do have other colours buy these seem to be the ones calling to me at the moment.

Thanks for stopping by today. Till next time, have fun x

#worldwatercolourmonth Week 1

This is the first 8 days of #worldwatercolormonth 2017.

 

Hi there, how are you?
This week I have steadily been painting a watercolour every day for #worldwatercolourmonth if you would like a better view check them out on instagram here.

I’m painting on 4×4” (approximately) pieces of watercolour paper as a way to get used to using it. There’s no grand epic painting of any kind, more small doodles trying out techniques and getting to grips with how it all works.

My monkey voice inner critic is kicking off big time and I can’t say I’m extremely happy with the results but I’m going to carry on till the end of the month anyway because it can only get better from here.

Actually putting them all together and seeing them like this does make me feel slightly better about them and to be honest I am learning a lot about how the paint works ect. So, put the proverbial monkey in the box, sit on it and carry on regardless me thinks.

Thanks for stopping by and taking the time to read my ramblings. Till next time, have fun x

Finding A Tulip Tree

A sketch of tulip tree flowers I had found on the ground and taken home to study.

Hi there, how are you?

We were out walking in the park this week and as I looked up into the trees, there it was. I hadn’t seen it before, even though we’d passed the tree a hundred times before.

It is a flower from a tulip tree.  I didn’t even know there were tulip trees so that was a surprise.

I picked up a couple of flowers that had fallen on the floor like the magpie I am, so I could study them a little better and took a few photos on my ipod so I could sketch them later.

A tulip tree flower from the side

A tulip tree flower pictured from the front

In other news it’s July, and that see’s the start of world watercolour month details here.
there are prompts if you like to use them and there is a charity to support The Dreaming Zebra Foundation. you can find all details on the Doodlewash site

“Don’t miss World Watercolor Month 2017 in July as artists around the globe come together for the ultimate watercolor celebration! 31 Watercolors is 31 Days! Just use the hashtag #worldWatercolorMonth” (from the Doodlewash site)

#worldwatercolormonth Day 1 Starting small, a little watercolour daisy. painting any white flowers is always tricky. more practice needed.

 

I’m thinking I might try it and see how it goes. Hopefully painting in watercolour on watercolour paper every day for a whole month will give me lots of practice (that’s good for me right?)
So here I go, Happy world watercolour month.

Thanks for taking the time to stop by. Till next time, have fun x

 

Painting Pink Oriental Poppies In The Garden

Hi there, how are you?

The pink poppies have opened finally. They don’t last long so you have to be fast.

These are oriental poppies they seed themselves about the garden every year. Sometimes we get loads some times not so many.

For some reason I’m not sure why, the scanner changed the colour on some of them, in my sketch book they all look a similar colour. They are actually a pale mauve (lilac) with burgundy spots at the base of the petals

It looks like we had loads of poppies but really there were only two at the moment, I just moved around them on my little stool to get a different view.

I drew these with the brush pen, sometimes when I use a pencil I start to get bogged down in the details and spend my time rubbing out. With a brush pen the line goes down and that’s it, no rubbing out, just have to live with the marks I make.

Thanks for stopping by today. Till next time, have fun x.

Sketching Lionfish At The Aquarium

A lionfish drawn with a brush pen and a pork fish in fine liner and watercolour.

Hi there, how are you.

Last week was wet and rainy and we really didn’t want to dodge the showers outside so we decided to go to the aquarium. Usually we have some idea what we want to see but this time we just muddled around till we found something fascinating, to be fair there’s lots to be fascinated about.

We stopped at the Lionfish. They’re very beautiful and graceful and after spending quite a time staring at them took out our sketch books and started to draw.

Drawing the tropical fish at the aquarium isn’t easy because the lights are dimmed and everything is bathed in a blue light so I decided to use my brush pen so I could see what I was doing.

We saw the talk at the big tank, this is the one where they keep the sharks, you know the ones with the teeth! I didn’t draw them this time, too fast but there were some small schools of small fish and I managed to capture one of them, the lady said it was called a pork fish. We were sitting at the top near the back and it wasn’t till we came down closer to the tank I noticed it has yellow stripes. Next time I’ll put them in.

A quick sketch drawn and painted later from a photo. they appear to have a slight blue tinge but are actually pale brown in colour, but all the photos i’d takes show them to be blue.

This fish again drawn and painted later from a photo gives a better idea of the colour but still has a blue tinge from the light.

All in all it was a fun and dry day with the fishes.

Thanks for stopping by today. Till next time, have fun x

Sketching Wild Poppies

Sketching wild poppies.

Hi there, hope you’re well.

There are wild poppies every where at the moment. I love it when that happens, little pops of bright red in the hedge rows, the verges and any bit of unloved bit of soil. It makes me feel like summers almost here. We did have sun last week some time but now we have wind and rain (welcome to the UK).

I didn’t want to sit out in the rain drawing them so I went out with my little camera to take some pictures before the petals all blew away!

Trying to capture the way the petals move in the breeze

The poppies on the right are a brighter red than the others. I read that putting a thin wash of yellow under the red brings out the colour. It worked they do seem a lot redder.

Wild poppies with their tissue paper petals fluttering in the breeze are so delicate on their thin hairy stems.

As you can see some worked out better than others, some got away from me but over all, most do look like poppies so no complaints here.

I have a few poppies in my garden almost ready to flower, they are pink oriental poppies. I’m hopping they wait till the sun comes back so I can sit in the garden and take my time drawing them.

Thanks for stopping by. Till next time, have fun x

More Bees – Breaking Out The Watercolour Paper

Hi there, how are you?

I had drawn quite a few bees in my sketch book recently(you can see them here) so I decided to break out the scary paper again and see if I could do something that looked a little more finished.

I keep saying I’m going to use watercolour paper more often but I don’t, how will I learn to use it if I don’t use it?

So here is a nicely painted bumble bee, on watercolour paper, It’s not perfect but I’m really pleased with the way it turned out.

Ok so that was the good, now gird yourself for scary bee. I wanted to paint one of those lovely splodgy painterly bees that you see around the internet, after putting down the colours all I had was a splodge!

Three little watercolour bee studies.

I was going to throw it away in disgust and then thought “eh, if it’s going in the bin any way I can play with it some more”. I did the thing where you take a damp brush and pick the colour off to highlight the legs and eyes. It’s not beautiful but it was effective and it does look like a bee so I decided not to throw it out after all.
The other two bees were me getting in some valuable practice, as we can see I need it.

My favourite quote this week was from a book by Carl Purcell – Painting with your artist’s brain.
“Use plenty of water and paint, the purpose of painting is not paint conservation.” I think that applies to paper too.

Thanks for taking the time to stop by. Till next time, have fun x

The Sketching Of The Bumble Bees

Hi there, how are you?

A quick warning for the people who don’t like insects or bees, this post is full of them so maybe not the best place to be if you have a fear of them.

These last few weeks I have been practicing drawing bees. I’ve been looking at pictures of bees, taking photos and even small videos of bees to try to work out how they fit together.

This is a #tinyvideo of a #bee feeding on the nectar of a #chive flower. It's slowed down to try to catch some of the detail. #bumblebee

A post shared by @fluff.n.nonsence on May 27, 2017 at 6:10am PDT

 

These are all bumble bees but not all bumble bees are the same, some are black and yellow with white rears, some have orange rears, even in my own garden there are several different types. They’re really fascinating to watch.

Drawing bees in lots of different positions and sketching out the wings to remember how they fit together.

I hadn’t realised for instance quite how long their legs are compared to their bodies. The veins on the wings have a specific pattern and the two wings on each side hook together when they fly. (I’ve been looking stuff up)

Leaving myself small illegible notes to remember what colours I was using.

I also need to work on the colours I have in my box. I have a hard time with yellows, lemon yellow is on the green side, and yellow ochre is too dull. I also have a New Gamboge but it has a strange red tone to it which sort of works for the orange but I just haven’t found a yellow I’m completely happy with.

It’s fun to watch them flitting around the garden pollinating the plants and it has really given me a better understanding of them. Apparently the numbers of bees is dwindling so we have to look after them. The world will be a much hungrier and less colourful place without the bees.

Thanks for taking the time to stop by. Till next time, have fun x