Snowdrop Time

Snowdrops

Hi there, how are you?

There’s been more poking around in the garden and I’ve discovered the snowdrops.

These small unassuming white flowers tell us that though winter is still in full swing but spring is just around the corner. The garden is preparing for new growth and the warmer weather is on it’s way.

After snapping one or two photos and I ran back into the dry warm house.

I made lots of little studies in my sketchbook, little buds all closed up in their capsule’s waiting to pop, small white droplets hanging down as the flowers slowly open.

Snowdrop bud sketch

I found a small piece of arches watercolour paper, just big enough to paint on (roughly A5 in size). The paper is rough not cold-pressed a very different painting experience than usual.

I drew something simple because I didn’t want to use masking fluid.

The background was going to be dark green with blue and purple dropped in (left image). It looked OK whilst it was wet but once dried turned a murky grey.

snowdrow wc before & after — Snowdrop waterccolour before & after

Since I wasn’t really fussed about it I thought I’d experiment a little more, maybe a dark blue background would work?

Ultra marine blue and a touch of indigo, the flower shows up better not sure it’s an improvement though, but it was fun trying.

As more snowdrops pop through I’ll take more photos if for no the reason than I really enjoy looking at them.

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

New Year Orchids

red orchid watercolour — Red orchid watercolour.

Hi there, how are you?

This week two of our orchid plants have flowered, a red one and a new flower with a bucket shaped flower.

The red orchid has small angular petals and the leaves seem to grow out of vertical flat bulbs.

I haven’t yet drawn the bulbs but maybe I will if only to document the whole plant.

(Above) the whole flower stalk is painted with watercolour.

The flowers are a deep burgundy colour not the purple you see here. Have tried and failed to produce this colour with any medium so far, so obviously I need to keep trying.

Below are two sets of three flowers drawn with coloured brush pens, the top three using a deep wine colour and the bottom with magenta underneath the wine colour.

For some reason the scans all look purple?

red orchid brush pens — Red orchids drawn with brush pens.

The other orchid was a mothers day gift last year. The youngling handed it to me in two parts as the flower had dropped off in transit, hehehe. I was very exited to see it bloom this week.

As I said it has a kind of bucket flower in green and pink and small green two toned leaves, very exotic indeed.

new orchid watercolour — New orchid in watercolour

I painted the whole plant first then had some fun experimenting turning the flower as I drew it to better examine the shapes.

The left side drawn with a brush pen and right has a little colour added.

new orchid brush pen — New orchid in brush pen and watercolour.

I’m hoping that like the other orchids the flowers will last quite a while so I can keep on drawing them.

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

Happy New Year 2023

Best nine chosen by the algorithm.

Happy New Year everyone! It’s hard to believe we’re into 2023 already, the years are flying by.

This is a little round up post for last years artiness.

The top image is chosen by the algorithm and as expected contains many Inktober’s. If you post every day as part of a challenge they are much more likely to be shown and seen.

I like all of the images but the variety is small and chosen by a machine so I took a look at the images I have posted this year and picked my favourite nine.

Still some Inktober’s and also a few things that for one reason or another resonated with me.

my favourite nine 2022 — My favourite nine 2022

Poppies always a favourite.

I love the background on the butterflies top middle.

Two little dragons on number 1 sons card made us all smile.

Goldfish facial expressions are a hoot.

A Christmas card using an experiment that turned out way better than I though it would.

A cute little bird from the zoo.

Happy Yin yang fish.

Who doesn’t love a monkey with a moustache,

and the fun loving octopus.

Different media and subjects but full of happy memories.

Thanks so much for the support last year I really appreciate you taking time out of your busy lives to visit, like and comment, I have also enjoyed visiting you, reading and seeing all of you wonderful creations.

Here’s to 2023.

I hope you have some happy memories from last year and that you make many more in the coming year.

Till next time, have fun x

Doodling

Hi there, how are you?

We’ve been away this week, dealing with home helps, shopping and general elder care so doodling is all I have really managed. I’ve just been pulling up old photos on my phone in the odd moments I could find.

They are mainly drawn with fountain pens that are still filled with red and blue ink left over from Inktober, might as well use it up.

The little blue frogs (above) were masters of disguise. From the top they are the same colour and texture as the rocks they were sitting on and incredibly difficult to see. One little frog was sitting on the glass of the aquarium and unbelievably was a lovely pale blue.

I snapped it’s picture as it hopped across the glass.

The fuchsia are all but finished now, just a few weather worn flowers hanging on so I snapped a few photos before leaving. Glad I did they came in very handy.

Penguins at the zoo quickly sketched in red ink, maybe I should have used the blue?

They’re a bit scratchy but I like the way they turned out.

These were flowers in the botanical gardens they are a pale yellow and looked lovely blowing in the autumn breeze.

Here they are drawn with a red crayola pencil as that was all I could find at to draw with at the time.

These are all very sketchy and drawn mainly to occupy my mind, I find just a few minutes each day to take my mind off things, a little meditative and relaxing.

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

Inktober 2022 week 5

Turtle

Hi there, how are you?

Inktober 2022 week 5. by the time you read this Inktober will probably be finished but I’m not quite there yet, still a little more to do.

1. turtle (above). I quite like this one, there’s only a tiny amount of pink in some of the shading so more monochrome than the others, I think it fits the subject though.

2. teapot. Not sure what to call this really, bits of things? It makes a nice composition though.

3. cockerel. I wondered if I painted a cockerel (rooster) with two colours how it would look.

Interesting.

4. magpie. This time of year everyone draws crows, magpies are corvids too don’t you know hehehe. It looks cool standing on a pumpkin.

magpie on a pumpkin — Magpie on a pumpkin

5. bird. This is actually based on a blue tit. It’s interesting the difference the colours makes.

6. ginkgo. I saw a ginkgo tree on a walk the leaves an autumn gold, very inspiring. These turned out a little graphic, fun to draw.

I still have a couple more left to do as I’d missed some hopefully I’ll get them sone soon.

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by. till next time, have fun

Inktober 2022 Week 1

01-yin yang fish

Hi there, how are you?

October again, already! Time to play with ink again and participate in Inktober.

I bought some new ink (seriously, like I need more ink!) had to make up the postage and they found their way into my basket hehehe.

Hopefully his year there will be experimentation as I play with the new inks, and maybe some old ones and this will lead to generating a few new ideas

1. yin yang fish. (above)

2. cosmos flower and a butterfly, blew the background with a straw.

3.daisy and a bee, a little asemic writing around the edge. A fancy way of saying it looks like words but it doesn’t mean anything, just squiggles.

4.cherry blossom, a wash of ink with bleach painted onto the surface. I’d seen other people do this with fountain pen ink and wanted to give it a try. It’s a bit messy and smelly but it’s an interesting effect.

I’m not following prompts, unless they appeal to me, I’ll just be plodding along at my own speed to see what happens and if I’m lucky I’ll manage to finish the whole month and have some fun at the same time.

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by. till next time, have fun x

Last Fuchsia Of The Summer

fuchsia watercolour sketch

Hi there, how are you?

It’s September, the end of the summer months, and the fuchsia are having one final bloom.

My little plants have had a difficult year with the weather switching from fierce heat and drought to wind and torrential rain; with each change the newly formed flowers have withered or fallen then with determination flowered again.

I should be finishing off the course I’d started but I didn’t want to miss the last few fuchsia flowers.

Above, It’s quite hard to mix that pale sugary pink, it worked a little better when mixed with a little gouache mixed in with the pink but not ideal. Looks like I need to do some colour mixing exercises.

Below are the buds of a different fuchsia plant. The outside is a deep crimson red and the inside is purple. I’m hoping to see the flowers open before the flowers drop off.

I’ve been practising hatching with the brown fine liner again. It’s just the one flower drawn at about A5 size, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked this one.

Next I drew some in graphite even managing to sketch a few tiny cyclamen flowers. (very happy to see they are still alive) I love the way the flower curls up once the petals fall.

Once in side the house I decided to give the fuchsia a light wash of watercolour, it’s pale but I do like the effect.

graphite fuchsia sketch — Graphite fuchsia sketch

Time now to get back to finishing last weeks course me thinks.

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by. till next time, have fun

Blooming Agapanthus

An agapanthus & bee watercolour

Hello there, how are you?

The lovely agapanthus are blooming whoot!

Two little pom poms of blue flowers standing in the garden making not only me happy but the bees also, they really are buzzing around collecting and pollinating.

When I get chance I nip out and draw them.

Above a watercolour of one flower and a little bee. This was painted without and pencil guides so I’m quite happy with the way it turned out.

Below is drawn with a fine liner, it’s just an outline really as that was all I had time for, I need to practice my shading.

I thought it would be fun to do a few pencil sketches. I have the stub end of a blackwing pencil (the youngling throws them away when she deems them too short so I finish them off).

I like the way they turned out but the graphite in these pencils is dark almost as dark as a 4b pencil and they are quite smudgy so I’ve sprayed them with a fixative, it seems to keep the smudging to a minimum.