Greetings and Welcome to you!

First let me explain how this site works.  Each Post listed under Categories covers a different art related topic and is frequently updated as needed.

IMPORTANT!!!   TO OPEN A TOPIC YOU NEED TO CLICK ON ITS TITLE UNDER “CATEGORIES” IN THE R.H. SIDE COLUMN >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 

Note: Newest post = “Figure Drawing” 

& just upgraded post “Perspective help”

ALSO ANNOUNCING A SECOND FREE WEBSITE :

http://www.spriteland.wordpress.com

offering CREATIVE FUN FOR KIDS along with environmental education…e.g.

 Enchanting Stories (some animated), Painting, Drawing & Craft ideas, the magic of  Perspective drawing,  Cartooning, Optical Illusions & a unique opening offer where children can send in their drawings to be colour-animated and published on the web to share with children all over the world!

A BIG THANKYOU TO ALL OF YOU WHO HAVE UTILISED THIS SITE, GIVEN FEEDBACK  & CONTRIBUTED!

I hope you enjoy both sites.

Cheers! JULIE

DRAWING PEOPLE!

OK now don’t be daunted! I know most people think that figure drawing is about the hardest to do – along with portraiture.   Why not give this method a go?

This is a basic introduction to figure drawing – one where you don’t need to go into the study of every bone and muscle unless you wish to.  This is a method using CYLINDER FIGURES.  Lets begin with a chart showing an average adult model .   Proportions are different for children and the head is much bigger in relation to the body, changing as they grow. 

Everywhere we bend (elbows, wrists, shoulders, waist, hips, knees, ankles) you draw a circle or oval (depending on the angle of the figure you are looking  at). In between these circles or ovals, cylinders connect them – along with masses for the head, chest and abdomen.  

Notice that an armspan roughly equals the height in an adult – also that half way from top to bottom is the pelvis (not the waist as is commonly thought).  Being aware of the quarters is a great help in figure drawing – (top of head to chest, chest to hip, hip to knee, knee to heel.)

Here is a break-down of the cylinder figure to make it clearer:

Have a look at the slideshow to get the idea of using cylinder figures as a basis for getting the proportions right…after which you can clothe your figure as you wish.

Note as you watch the slideshow how the mass of the chest in a standing figure is distributed over the leg or legs taking the weight.  When we walk or run, we lean forward ready to put that weight over the leading foot.

 If slideshow needs activating, click on the X at the top right hand corner or ‘View all images”…

Wooden models from Art shops serves limited purpose, mainly because most do not bend sufficiently to emulate natural poses.

What is more useful in this slide show is the demonstration of drawing your cylinder figures with a black marker OVER THE TOP of figures in the sports pages of the newspaper.  

Don’t know where to start?  Just draw a circle or oval at every joint plus the waist over the top of your newspaper sports figure.  Some joints may be hidden – if so, just leave them out.   Now join up those circles and ovals to form cylinders in between, just as you see in the first illustration.  Here are some examples…

In these action shots you will notice there is a lot of what we call ‘foreshortening’ where parts of the body will be coming towards you.  After doing a number of these exercises you will develop a feel for this. Here is what I mean by foreshortening…

  In this example the circle for one knee is INSIDE the oval for the hip joint! The most important part of all drawing is LOOKING and trusting what you see.    In fact, I believe twice as much time should be spent observing the subject as looking at the paper while you are drawing. That way, more of what you can see of your subject will be transferred to your paper and less of what you know about it.

BE AWARE THAT THE MOST COMMON FAULTS IN FIGURE DRAWING ARE TO MAKE THE HEAD TOO BIG, HANDS & FEET TOO SMALL AND THE LEGS TOO SHORT.

Of course the proportions of our body parts change as we grow…here is a chart giving average proportions from baby to adult. There are huge variations so please treat this as an approximate guide only…

Below is my method for drawing people – I start with a faint cylinder figure foundation, then I move to clothing, mapping the light and shade as it falls on the figure. I use this method as a basis for painting as well as for drawing.

When you clothe your cylinder figures you will need to look closely to see where the creases occur wherever the figure bends and the way the fabric drapes itself.  Just watch and experiment with quick sketches and it will become second nature to observe these things.

Note that the weight of the chest is usually over the foot taking the weight – just as we lean forward when walking, transferring the weight onto the leading foot. Also be sure if you are drawing a hat, that it fits over the head and doesn’t appear to perch up on top looking too small.

So that you get a better idea of  how the mass of the torso, carried weight etc. is distributed, we will switch to skeletal images to better illustrate this…

From a good understanding of cylinder figure drawing, you can progress to learning bone & muscle shapes etc. later or simply clothing your cylinder figures may be enough.

Along with the tips on how to LOOK and draw what you see (in the post “DRAW, YOU  CAN!”) & a little practise every day, you will be drawing figures fluently before too long – and most importantly, have fun doing it.

THE HEAD REQUIRES A BIT OF SEPARATE STUDY:

Although this is covered much more in depth in the posts about PORTRAITS, lets just look here at how the head joins the rest of the cylinder figure.

The head can be thought of as a sphere plus a jaw, joining onto the cylinder of the neck. Note the angle of the neck – not straight up and down like a flower on a stalk! In a child, the jaw is less developed. 

Now for a few examples of figures in artwork in which I have used various methods of rendering. In each case I would have begun with a very light cylinder figure in willow charcoal, which can be dusted back to be a barely visible guide when adding more detailed drawing.

Firstly here is “Heather” in charcoal and “Rebecca” in pastels…

You can see how the love of line, light & texture can entrance the artist in you. These were all drawn very quickly in a Life Drawing group.  Next is “Jacqueline” in Pastels

One of Tony’s and my favourite occupations is to do lightning gestural  impressions on the spot, usually back or side views so as not to intrude on the privacy of the subjects. The object is not to obtain any likeness but rather to capture the action or body language.  Often it requires taking a mental snapshot and then putting it down, as the person has inevitably moved on!  It’s a great way to train your photographic memory if you like a challenge!

Sometimes the quick sketches become reference for paintings like this one above of my late husband, John, cleaning fish at MacMasters Beach.  It always attracted young onlookers and made a nice study.

MORE THAN ONE FIGURE?

This brings us to the problem of sizing and placing more than one figure in a drawing or painting.   There is a guide which deals with standing people all the same height on level ground (which almost never happens!)  Not greatly helpful, but neverthless here it is:

 The thing I find helpful is to “think myself into the composition”.  For example, if it is a street scene – I imagine a doorway where I want a figure to be & put a mark where the feet would be.  That is the most critical thing.

 Next I  put another mark where the head would be in relation to the doorway.  OK so now I have a top and bottom mark, so I can put a half way mark for the hips and go for it. 

 TIP: Make the head smaller than you think you will need at first and increase it later if needed once you have sketched in the rest of the figure.

In this next French scene I challenged myself to include seated and standing figures in many different attitudes and sizes. It was very difficult. The only way to really learn is to jump in the deep end and try.  Sometimes I sketch a figure on a separate piece of paper and place it on the painting to see where it fits most comfortably size-wise.

 In the painting above “Artists at Nundle”, I worked from quick sketches on the spot to create the oil painting back home in the Studio.  Sizing the figures fell into 3 areas – foreground, middle distance and far distance – the far away figures needing to be the ‘right’ size in relation to the house.

In the next study, this group of Artists set up right in front of my Studio at MacMasters Beach and so became the ideal subject!  Being absorbed in their work meant they didn’t move very much and gave me time to paint them!

Finally, if you don’t feel like studying all those muscle and clothing shapes etc. why not have fun with your cylinder figure itself? This next painting was based on just that, with some of the figures moulded in Fimo for three dimensional relief:

Or perhaps you could have fun outlining group shapes. The shapes of the spaces (which we call negative shapes) are helpful in drawing too.

However you enjoy figure drawing, I hope this post has helped you in some way.

Cheers,  Julie

PS  I have just been asked if a post to help with drawing animals, especially horses, could be created.  Yes, why not? I’ll work on it soon so “watch this space” as they say.

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EACH POST IS ON A DIFFERENT TOPIC & REVIEWED REGULARLY.

In an earlier post I covered  ‘Exploring an image with options’  and this Post is an extension to that - with some fresh images rendered in a number of ways, some physically and some using Photoshop Elements program. 

It is so exciting to share the artistic journey and look at some of the options open to us in expressing a subject.

I will start with some original paintings I did some time ago of the Australian bush, then altering them to show different approaches.

Here’s the first, painted in oils from a quick reference photo (long lost, sorry) on a camp with my late husband John along Mooney Creek on the Central Coast.  It had been raining and the bark was wet, accentuating its colour and the creek was like a mirror – so beautiful.  One could ideally imagine sitting there near the creek bank painting in situ – but not so, as there were numerous leeches ready to suck our blood!  Just a quick admiring “oohh” and “aahh”, a snapped photo – and we had to keep moving!  At home in the comfort of my studio however, the scene fresh in my mind, I was able to depict a bit of the magic…

Now lets look at a couple of other alternatives for portraying this scene…other directions I could have taken to depict it.

Maybe it would make a nice diptych (2 complementary panels) using simplified areas of tone. To try this out I scanned the photo of the painting into a file, then opened it in Adobe Photoshop Elements programme on the computer and opened an image altering bar called “FILTER”.  I then used an artistic tool called “Cutout”. All of the tools used to create the images below can be found in the ‘Filter’ menu, apart from colour changes which I altered in “Quickfix”.   My version of Photoshop is 3.0, but I think the current versions are very similar.

Anyway, I press a few buttons  and hey presto!…

Once again, I made a copy of the original, cropped it and played with it, turning it into a pointellism approach…

Next time I cropped the image only slightly, then applied the Photoshop “Cross hatch” tool to it. These tools give you lots of option like the direction and length of the strokes. Its a great way to try out an idea to see how it looks before you actually choose to create your artwork that way.  We might as well put this technology to good artistic use!!! Of course I don’t feel I would have to follow these options exactly – just use them as guides to bounce off.

Next I try a Photoshop tool called “Ink Outlines” to see what that does to the original image…

Yet another option would be to go semi-graphic with it, using a tool called “Poster edges”.  If you like black you may like this…

Right – now there are lots of different approaches and of course, there would be countless more!

Here are some versions of another different landscape:

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Here is another painting of an afterburn in Bouddi National Park as I chose to portray it at the time. It was quite a large oil painting and I was taken by the red revealed under the burnt bark of the angopheras (or Sydney red gums).  It seemed as though the saplings had captured something of the fire itself!  I popped in a magpie to “go with” the black and white in the painting – can you find him?

My painting above was based on realism with a bit of exaggeration – but what if I decided to stylise it more…using say “Cutout” in the artistic tools.  Would it be more exciting? What do you think?

Yes, I like that very much. How would it look with more greens to contrast the reds?

Wow! I really like that dramatisation, do you? This is the advantage of Photoshop – you can try things out before putting paint to canvas!

I wonder how it would look if I were to crop it and apply “Watercolour” in the Artistic tools…

Gosh! That’s exciting too.  I could mount a whole exhibition based on versions of this one painting!!!

This next trial version is using a Photoshop artistic tool called “Colured Pencil”… Hmmm. what do you think? It’s different! Very subtle.

Now how about getting a general idea how this composition would look in black and white…

Ah! Now I think this style below has possibilities. It  is called “rough pastels” in the Photoshop artistic tools. I think I would like to print this out and use it as reference to do a pastel study. I’m very fond of directional shading.  This angle is usually comfortable for right handers to render – left handers may need to slant the pastel strokes the opposite way.

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OK – now next, let’s look  at one of my rather plain unfinished landscapes and see if we can render it in some more exciting ways…

Below, I tried using perpendicular pastel strokes on a dark brown paper…

Then I decided to try things out on Photoshop again. The version below is using the “Watercolour” tool…

Hmmm. I like it, but I think it’s a bit busy. What if I simplified it a bit more to strengthen the drama? I can do this by adjusting the slider rule in the “Watercolour” tool…

Yes, I think that is much better, do you?  Sometimes “less is more” and makes for a stronger composition.

OK – now for a few more fun possibilities to try… what if I make the trees dance? This is using a tool called “Liquify”.

Then I go for a kind of jigsaw shape effect…using the “Cutout” tool…

Well! That’s different isn’t it?  Somehow the shapes seem to represent Northern Hemisphere disiduous trees though rather than Australian Eucalypts.

Now I think I will try altering the colouring of the original image I scanned in, to cool colours – moonlit perhaps?

That’s a new slant!  I wonder how that would look with ink outlines…

or rendered with ink in directionsl shading…

Gosh, one could go on and one, opening up to choices.  Here is one last one playing with little islands of shape in light outlines…

Finally, here is an interesting approach used by my partner, Tony, in painting a local bush scene…

Did you enjoy that?  I hope you found it as exciting as I did and when you next look at a subject, maybe pause a while and imagine how it would look in some of these renderings before you choose to depict it.   By looking at options like this, you come to know what you gravitate to and understand more deeply your own preferences and taste.

Anyway, happy creating – however you do it! 

Don’t forget – the joy in life is to do what you love and love what you do!

Cheers,   Julie

EACH POST IS ON A DIFFERENT TOPIC & REVIEWED REGULARLY.

 Hello again!

Whether you are an artist or not, you are sure to have lots of fun playing with DIGITAL tools – either in programmes like Photoshop Elements, Corel or others.

In other posts I have demonstrated ways to alter a digital photograph of some of my existing paintings using the creative computer program “Adobe Photoshop Elements” for example…

 Now for the rest of this Post I will work with  photographs only.

I use Photoshop Elements 3.0 which has been superseded a number of times since, but it suits me for my purpose.  Maybe down the track I might update and have even more magical tools at my fingertips!  I use my program in conjunction with a Wacom tablet and pen but this is not necessary unless you wish to paint and draw using “brushes” in the computer.    A conventional mouse is fine for the image alterations made below.

Most people who use Photoshop use the programme to enhance their photographs by cropping, altering contrast or colour, or changing the number of pixels in the image to reduce the file size (e.g. 580 pixels width is ideal for emailing).   However by duplicating your image in the EDITOR you then have some spare images to play around with by using the image altering tools in the FILTER MENU. This is what I have done in this post.

 Below are examples of working with a few digital photographs of natural patterns  plus a couple of home subjects (flowers in the studio and Tony’s dinner plate!).  I scanned them in to my computer, opened them with Photoshop Elements  & played with the tools  to alter them.  This is an exciting and time consuming pastime and stretches the imagination incredibly!   You can be as creative as you wish, turning your photographs into art!  

In the interests of sharing with you then, here is the first of the versions sets I created. .. my initial picture taken of  a few fallen  gum leaves on a tarred road in nearby Bouddi National Park. It was raining, so the leaves and road were wet.

Here is the original photograph:

Now here are some of the altered images.   I was following the lines of interesting pattern making in choosing these results and intend to use one or two to print out for reference to paint from.  In this way it is a wonderful tool for artists, helping to develop ideas and pursue choices before beginning to actually paint.   

This first tool is called Cutout and it simplifies the photograph thus… 

From there I altered the cutout image with the watercolour tool…

Then some methods of twirling the image to make a more contained pattern…

Now some different background colours…

Back to slight twirling…

From here on, I am a bit vague about which tools I used – but it will give you an idea of the directions you can take in altering the image…

I’m going to find it very hard to choose one to paint from those – there are so many I like. How about you?   Just imagine the natural patterns around you that could be photographed and transformed!  Rusty iron, or an old weathered wall, bark on a tree – so many subjects everywhere!

Next I scanned in a photograph of some leaves in a puddle on the same road.  Here is the original picture. You can see the gum trees reflected upside down in the water.

Now I play with this image.  I decided to turn the above picture upside down to work on it. This rendition has a mystical quality about it.  I think I would love to paint from this as reference.

The directional shading below gives an atmosphere of rain and wind don’t you think? It’s very artistic and decorative.   I like it very much. It would suit a painting done in pastels.

Before I left this image, I cropped part of it and made it more abstract…

This next photograph is of lichen on a rock in the Australian bush:

Now here are some results produced by playing with this image on Photoshop…

What a lovely pattern it makes!  This would be a great way to produce fabric designs! I think it will give it ink edges to see how that looks…

Next, I cropped part of the above and pushed some of the shapes which already suggested animals!   You can see how imagination can carry you away – its a bit like cloud watching!

Speaking of clouds, I wonder if I can make the above image more cloud-like…

Yes I think it is more like clouds don’t you?  Now what about trying something really crazy! This next one looks a bit like the patterns you see in beautiful slabs of agate polished and held against the light!   I can’t believe all these wonderful effects and I hope some of you might be inspired to enter into this creative field – if you haven’t already!

This next photo was one taken by Tony of the back view of a still life (vase of big artificial poppies) set up for our art class.  As you can see, everything was just left as it was – art materials on the table etc.  no attempt to “tidy it up” as a painting subject. I’m using this because it shows that you don’t need to set up anything special to photograph and just about any picture can be altered to be more interesting, as long as it has a variety of shapes and colours.

Having scanned the photo into the computer and opened it with Photoshop Elements, I decided to get rid of some of the shapes in the background to simplify the image.  I did this using the paint pot filler and a neutral colour. This was so that the flower shapes could be seen more clearly.

Next I used a filter tool called Posterise…

Next I tried delicate watercolour…

Then neon glow!!!

Now how would it look rendered in pastels?

or maybe just chalk and charcoal…

This next one highlights the edges of the shapes with a diffused glow…

These versions are all so different and varied, its hard to believe this last set all began with the one flower photograph isn’t it?

Now here is a bit of light-hearted fun!  … Tony’s colourful dinner before he ate it!  He’s been a vegetarian for over 50 years. 

Lets see what artistic changes can be made to this photograph…

Not bad. I wonder what it would look like with glowing edges?

The cut out tool is good for simplifying…

How about if I twirl it a bit…

How about ink edges?

or maybe try pointellism?

Or how about just a nice rich abstract design…

By changing some of the shapes to blue, I played again with the posterise tool which gives black edges in whatever width you choose…

Finally, just to be outrageous, NEON!

Oh yes – this isn’t really a suitable subject but there is a tool which turns your pictures into tapesty designs too!

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Next, I would just like to share with you 2 photos I took recently of the beautiful patterns on the trunks of Australian scribbly gums.  The “scribbles” are caused by small insects wriggling around under the bark and when the bark is shed, the pattern they make is revealed.  I chose not to use filter tools on these 2 images – I don’t think I could improve on Nature in this instance!

Aren’t they wonderful? Nature’s abstracts – so unique!+

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 So there you are – just a few digital photographs altered in a small number of the countless ways available through Photoshop Elements!   Incidentally, I am not employed by Adobe or on any commission in promoting this - it’s just something fun to share - another approach to creativity and a marvelous tool for Artists expanding their horizons.  

NOTE: Because each filter tool has several slide rules giving infinitely varied results it is almost impossible to convey any kind of “recipe” to you.   Its just a matter of  “throwing away the recipe book” and experimenting.    Different filter tools suit different pictures best so you just need to try them out and allow your own personal tastes to guide you. IMPORTANT! Before you start, don’t forget to make duplicates of your image to alter so that you keep your original intact!   (Once you are in the Photoshop Editor, just go to EDIT and click on DUPLICATE THIS IMAGE.) 

Some say you need lessons for using Photoshop, but I just jumped in the deep end and played and I think you would learn just as well that way too with this type of program, writing down what you do as you go and learning one tool at a time.  I find the help section where you type in a question very good too though I think that has been dropped from the latest Photoshop programme versions (which is one of the reasons I like to stick with my 3.0 version).

Now switching from digitally altered photographs to digital art, I would like to share with you some work created entirely on the computer by artist Bev Langby, who uses Corel painter program with tools like ‘Artists Oils’ and ‘Palette Knife’, which she says to her is  like working with real paints! Like myself, Bev uses a Wacom tablet and pen.

They are entitled 1. Pink rose 2. Latin beauty 3. Tango passion and 4. Kaylee…

Thank you for sending these examples in to share Bev. You certainly use digital tools in a very painterly way.

Just before I close this Post, I will share with you a new discovery I just made within Photoshop Elements 3.  It has a facility for elementary ANIMATION using gif files (Guidance on this can be found on the web by typing in “Photoshop Elements 3 Tutorial Animation”) .

I am told that .gif files are not an ideal platform to use for websites (you need to convert .gif files to .swf, which you can do with a free converter) but  I have managed to animate the 3 children’s books “Spriteland”, “Regie Rock Sprite”, “Wallaby Watch” and ”Bush Sprites of Australia” using this method (the latter adding audio voice-over on a lovely little program called Artoonix. These can be seen on my site for kids:  http://www.spriteland.wordpress.com   

Well! You can see how one thing leads to another! Thanks for viewing this post about digital art.  If it interests you, you can view more in the post “ Landscape options”.  

Cheers,  Julie

EACH POST IS ON A DIFFERENT TOPIC & REVIEWED REGULARLY.

At the risk of leading you into a highly addictive realm of creativity, I would like to share with you some of the options of altering an image using the computer program “Photoshop Elements”.  If this is new to you, I have a feeling it might be like opening up a real surprise packet!  I am even doing some animation on Photoshop - (see www.spriteland.wordpress.com .  

I have an older version of Photoshop (no. 3) and use it in conjunction with a Wacom tablet and pen which allow me to draw and paint with infinitely more control than using a mouse.  (In fact I would equate drawing with a mouse to something like drawing with a brick by comparison.)

However, if you just wish to scan in an existing photograph or painting, then play with options in the computer,  it is not essential to have the tablet and pen.  My partner, Tony, uses a mouse only and has a wonderful time creating altered images.

We use these sampled options to help visualise the best way to developing a particular painting – trying out rendering, lighting and colour effects, cropping, simplifying. We then print out  our favourite rendition to use as reference to paint from.  

 No doubt everyone will find their own ways to use the Photoshop Elements program and there are other paint programs  that offer similar tools. 

The example  I am using in this Post is based on the small painting below which I painted on site at Tallow Beach many years ago.  I would now like to paint a larger work broadly based on this and will use Photoshop to help me decide how best to do it.   My plan is to paint in an atmospheric way using some strong design elements.

Firstly, I scan in a digital photograph of the painting – and here it is…

Next I started to play with it, creating a warmer less fussy version as well. I first altered the colouring on Quickfix and then applied the Cutout tool to simplify the image...

Now – time to play with these two images in various ways…first using the watercolour tool…

Hmmm beautiful,  but a bit busy for what I am after.  I wonder how it would look simplified

or even simplified further!  It’s fun to push the barriers, responding to your own likes and dislikes…

How about a bit of pattern making thrown in using cooler colours – I think this was achieved using a tool called “define edges”…

Then I tried using the Liquifying tool….Mmmmm I feel as though I AM the water – pushing the image around in swirls! This is a very exciting tool. Its like painting the energy in the atmosphere (like Van Gogh!)…

Now it was Tony’s turn to have a go with the liquifying tool.  As you can see, we had a different touch…

There are slider bars for infinite variations with each tool, so to duplicate a result would be very difficult. When you get a result you like, I suggest you save it and then work on another duplicated copy.  That way you can save a number of varied results in a folder to compare next ot each other.

This next one was created using the cross hatch tool…

The next utilises a tool called Pastel…

Then I had fun with ink edges…

and Posterising…another way of creating dark edges

Maybe if I used dark edges and pushed it towards more abstraction…

or even white edges!  How would that look?

Wow! There are so many options!  I can’t believe it! The trouble is, I like too many of them.  It will be so hard to choose which to use as reference to paint from, but I will!

I like this next one (Ocean ripple tool ) – it really captures an ocean whipped up by the wind doesn’t it!

OK – time to try some crazy ones before I finish, just for fun!  I could go on forever and there are other images I want to play with as well!

This next one is mosaic…

and now craqueline…

Now film grain…

and finally, the embossing tool…

Here are some options for altering a streetscape I painted in oils, using a painting knife as well as a brush.  I have scanned in the original, then played with the image in Photoshop:

OK – so that is just a tiny glimpse of just a few of the options available in altering digital images with Photoshop Elements.  No, I am not a sales agent for them, I just fell in love with this amazing program that stretches the imagination.  

Whether you are an artist or not, I think most people would have a wonderful time playing with images (photos or artwork) scanned in and opened with Photoshop!  Just think of the wonderful original cards you could make, if not more!

Let’s hear from you … what effects do you like best?

In the next Post I will use a few photographs of natural bush patterns and gradually abstract them into designs.  It makes creativity so much easier and I just wanted to share these discoveries with you.

Hoping you have been inspired!

Cheers,

Julie

PS Just a tip: some tablet/pen sets may have the Photoshop Elements program included so check before you buy it separately if you intend to get both. I found this out the hard way by buying the program first and then the tablet, ending up with two programs.

Hot on the heels of the last Post on beautiful Ireland, I wish to include this short Post covering the creation of a large semi-abstract painting in acrylics I recently completed.

Tony and I ended our tour of Europe with a short stay in Brussells, Belgium.  From our hotel room, I opened the curtains to look down into an incredible DEMOLITION SITE opposite. The site was not visible from the road due to a high metal fence.  No doubt it was making way for one of the incredible glass fronted high rise buildings we saw elsewhere in Brussells (which we loved, by the way, because they reflect the sky).

At first, the sight from the window shocked me – it was so confronting – as though the very soul of this old tenament building had irreverently been laid bare as the outer walls were reduced to rubble.   I could see the character of each room – wallpaper, tiles, remnants of plumbing fixtures and a fireplace on each level connected to the one chimney.  I wondered about the people who had lived there, warming themselves at those fireplaces stacked one above the other – passing each other on those stairs or chatting at the entrance.  I could even imagine that well fed ginger cat basking in the sunshine, perusing the comings and goings – the homeliness was still so evident.

These photos were taken late afternoon and then the following morning.

At ground level I could see the red entrance leading to the stairwell – the marks of the now non-existent stairs clearly visible on the wall.  A tenacious vine was still clinging to the outer wall, hanging on for grim death in the midst of the demolition process.

I can’t really explain why, but my heart went out to this old building and the people it had served for so long.   It was a stark reminder of the transient nature of our physical existence and the personal things that serve us throughout our journey through life.

As if to echo my thoughts in some way, a woman pushing an old lady in a wheelchair appeared below the fenceline, shielded from the messy demolition site beside them.

Here was another metaphor – there seemed to be a connection between the woman in the wheelchair and the old building … life moving on past yesteryear into a new phase. 

I know “constant change is here to stay” but somehow this scene caused me to pause in the process of everyday living, to acknowledge and reflect on the past that has served us well – offering (like this old building) support, shelter and numerous liaisons and lessons … a continuous on-going process.  I don’t know how many of us do this, but I feel it is important to let go with a degree of reverence and acknowledgement when we pass into a new phase.

Anyway, on returning home, I decided to develop a painting from my reference photos of this scene which, aside from its philosphical depth, offered fascinating shapes with which to work.  I decided to treat it as a semi-abstract and enjoy playing with colour. 

Here then are the stages of “IF THESE WALLS COULD TALK!”

First, I sketched lightly with willow charcoal – then washed in shadowed areas with diluted blue acrylic to begin to establish the composition. What wonderful varied shapes and angles to play with!  The eye craves variety and this certainly offers that!

I decided to darken the shape of the fence at the bottom enough to throw interest towards the brighter areas behind.  My strongest compositional tool is dark against light and I know from experience that if the majority of a painting is darkish in tone then the eye will be drawn to the lights.  

Next it was time to establish some of the warm colours and apply them in a balanced relationship to each other.  This is my secondmost important tool in composition – playing warm colour against cool. I also decided to make the fence more interesting by adding folds into the shape.

The aim in these next 2 stages is to get rid of the white of the canvas.  Whilever there is white, all the other colours look fresher than they really are – so to compare and judge how the painting is going, I need to cover the whole surface with suggested tones in light, medium & dark areas.

Ah! That feels better!  Now I can begin to use full bodied paint and play – try things out, standing back often to analyse if each move is improving the painting or not.  This is an instinctive thing and I love this process.  Here I get totally involved, constantly making choices & experimenting.   How much detail?   How does this colour look next to that one? Which area is most interesting and how can I focus on it more.  Play this part up – play that part down.  This is how the artist’s mind functions mid-stream…

After calling it “finished” for some months, I recently took it down from the wall and worked on it some more to prepare it for a current local exhibition where It is offered for sale at $A1500. The painting is on a stretched canvas 75 x 100 cm – light to transport and hang without added framing.   This is very popular in Australian modern decor these days.   I see it is as an advantage for everyone – works can be exhibited this way and anyone in the future can frame to their own taste if they so wish.  It’s all about options. 

I have noticed however that exhibiting an unframed stretched canvas requires a well planned composition that will “hold the eye path” without the containment of a frame.  It also seems to particularly suit abstracts or semi-abstracts such as this one.

Here is a slidshow of the process again, for easier comparative viewing.

To activate slideshow, click on X at top RH corner.

I hope you enjoyed sharing this process with me, which is what this blog is all about.

If you would like to share your art experience with others, please contact me via Comments. 

Cheers for now & I wish you well in your life journey.

Julie

          Above: Acrylic study by Julie of Glengarriff cottages in west Cork.

Hello all & welcome!

In August/Sept. 2007 Tony and I (as 2 recycled teenagers) spent the most wonderful, inspirational visit to Ireland and fell in love with it.  We flew into Dublin and spent lots of time in County Carlow, later travelling by car down to West Cork & the southern most tip of Ireland (Cape Mizen).

As well as some of the artwork it inspired, we would like to share overall impressions with you via our photographs.   

The first thing we noticed, apart from the incredible emerald green (so different from Australia’s colouring)  was the use of stone everywhere in buildings and fences…

Some of the fences were built with a stile to enable humans to climb over, but still keep animals in.  It reminded me of the old rhyme “There was a crooked man and he walked a crooked mile – He found a crooked sixpence upon a crooked stile!” 

Because of the moist climate, beautiful mosses, lichens & tiny plants grow on rocks everywhere. We found them absolutely enchanting. Nature is so quick to soften and embellish whatever man builds in this charming part of the world…

This natural blend of man-made and natural growth in parts was spectacular – as in these ivy coloured buildings…

In every town we visited from Dublin to Glengarriff, the buildings were painted in bright colours and flowers festooned window boxes and lamp-posts.  The people were as colourful as the towns and always ready for a laugh!  It was truly delightful! 

Above: A small ’same day’ watercolour impression from memory of Killkenny.

Below: Photos of various wonderfully coloured buildings.

We felt there was a gentleness about Ireland – from the soft misty rain on the mosses to the twittering birds in the hedgerows and generally the unhurried humour of the people.  Some of our happiest hours there were wandering the narrow lanes lined with tall hedges (which act as wildlife corridors), picking blackberries to eat and thistles for the ponies where we were staying. Every now and again a black faced sheep would come to the fence to greet us, and we could glimpse here and there remnants of the ancient roads just wide enough for a donkey cart.

We sampled the trains, starting out with a trip to Dublin on a Sunday with hundreds of footie fans from Waterford. Below is picturesque Kildare Station.

We headed, as usual, for the Art Galleries past the famous statue to Mollie Malone of “Cockles & Mussels” fame. Do you know the song?

and Grafton Street, famous for its buskers…

After a feast of jigs and ballads, we again made for the Gallery – then had to flatten against  building as rain showered down.  Suddenly, from around a corner appeared a laughing procession of colourful people tripping along sharing umbrellas…

This later inspired the painting shown in the slideshow here…

If slideshow needs activating, click on X in top RH corner.

Other art studies were inspired along the way – this one in pastels from a ‘home coming’ scene glimpsed from the car.  I had to combine my memory of the people & dog with the reference photo taken as we whizzed past. 

I developed the next pastel study from a quick sketch done in an Irish tearoom in Glengarriff…

Then I had fun with this colourful corner in Bantry, exaggerating the quaint nature of the whacky buildings and steep streets…

Tony then did a lovely charcoal sketch of his beautiful grand-daughter…

Below are some small pastel & watercolour studies I did while we were in Carlow. Tony did some lovely ones too but unfortunately forgot to photograph them before they left his hands…

The pattern of sunshine and rain made for great skies the whole time we were there…

So we had a lovely time viewing the country through artistic eyes and weaving in small artworks as we went along.  It really enhanced our appreciation of everything we saw.

Still more surprises lay in store for us during our visit to Ireland…

A heatwave with a day on a sandy beach at Crookhaven with fair Irish skins going lobster pink in the hot sun…

A visit to Garnish Island, in a tiny ferry blown by a strong icy wind – only to find the other side of this beautiful gardened island sheltered and sunny…

Garnish Island is near Glengarriff in West Cork…a sheltered fissure in the coastline where seals bask on the rocks and fishing prevails…

Gorgeous gardens…

Magnificent old castles…

and a walking stick shop in readiness for exploring some of KILLARNEY NATIONAL PARK – rich with mosses, ferns and lakes in an old growth forest…

Here, Tony’s grandson spotted a leprochaun or two which he drew for us…

“If you ever go across the sea to Ireland” as the song says, we hope you get to take a jaunting ride at Killarney and maybe even strike a hot enough day to go for a swim!

It truly is a beautiful place!

Thanks for sharing and we would love to hear your stories too.

Julie and Tony

Hello & Welcome!

Two artists tripping the world together like “recycled teenagers” – this was a dream come true in 2007 for Tony and I – & especially for me, since I had never been overseas before beyond Australia & N.Z. We spent a wonderful time in Ireland visiting family – then caught a ferry to Fishguard in Wales, train to London and from there on across the Chunnel to join the Eurail in a loop around Europe, staying in Paris, Torino, Florence, Venice, Zurich, Frankfurt, Brussells and London before flying home via Hong Kong.

My partner, Tony and I both loved Ireland (next Post) and Venice best of all and in Venice like countless others,  we fell in love with the picturesque canals reflecting age textured buildings…

the elegant Gondolas handled so ably by the skillful Gondoliers…

 Leisurely pedestrian friendly streets (no cars!) full of aged buildings and history…

 Countless exotic shops full of colourful masks and Venetian glassware…

and of course, afternoon GELATOS!

In VENICE the sounds were different to everywhere else we visited in Europe.  Without the noise and pollution of cars, instead the busy boat traffic conversed through a varied language of muffled toots and horns - from deep authoritative blasts of large liners…

(Above: The “Norwegan Jewel”)

 to high pitched repetitive pip-pips of small vessels – all merging with the swish of water flowing in their wake…

Long balmy evenings saw families emerge from afternoon siestas to dine ‘el fresco’ at the numerous restaurants – the children able to play safely without the dangers of road traffic… though of course if you lived there, all children would need to be taught to swim as early as possible with so many waterways honeycombing the city!

Even bicycles were fairly rare, no doubt due to the number of steps involved in crossing the numerous canal bridges in every shape and size imaginable…

It also greatly surprised us that in a city existing so much at salt-water sea level (sometimes below!) green parks with avenues of huge long established trees formed part of the scene…

Another surprising feature was the somewhat alarming lean on many of the buildings & towers!  We were told that some of the buildings require flotation to combat the sinking!

Naturally there were countless artists displaying their work for the tourists and people the world over would be familiar with many of the images portrayed…

As Tony and I wandered the less ‘touristy’ back streets and narrow lanes of Venice soaking up the atmosphere, we became more and more entranced by the textures of the buildings and hypnotic reflections in the canals – also of course the wonderful shapes of the gondolas, boats & barges.  Literally every corner we turned was “paintable”! It was overwhelming and our cameras and sketch books worked overtime!

I made several attempts at capturing these impressions in paint, but found it difficult to “break new ground” in rendering an individual approach – since these subjects have been painted so often by so many artists throughout history! 

Also, our photographs were so wonderful they were a hard act to follow! For example here are a couple of reflection shots I took that really stand best as photos!  I wouldn’t attempt to paint them because they are so beautiful just as they are – although I did enjoy enhancing them with Photoshop!

Still, I will share with you here my few painting attempts. Tony did rough sketches but hasn’t developed them yet.

First I did a very quick study to begin to “get in the mood” & tune in to the amazing perspective of the canals. which lend themselves to tall paintings. Getting the angles is tricky so I used my “clock method” (pretending that each line begins with the angle created by the hand of a clock – so I ask myself “what time is that angle?”) This method is fully described in Post 23 on perspective. 

My next attempt featured mainly the reflections that fascinated us so much…

Then finally, I tried a favourite semi-abstract approach of mine – bending the lines and playing with the shapes. This at least gave me an individual approach!

   Here is the reference photo I took to work from…

The following slideshow shows the stages in developing the painting…

  To activate slideshow please click on X at top right hand corner (or ‘view all images’).

Finally here is my painting of the tiny lane where our apartment was located.  It looked different every day as various coloured clothing was hung out to dry! Incidentally, although in a very old building, our apartment was newly refurbished and very comfortable.

Below is a photo of Tony leaving our apartment…so you can see where the painting is taken from…

Tony has his shopping bag ready for the wonderful fresh fruit and vegetables on a barge in the nearby canal…

So that’s about it from me on Venice.  We feel so privileged to have paid a visit there.  It was absolutely nothing like our preconceptions and was far more captivating and beautiful…also very clean.  The salt water was clear, there was plenty of healthy green weed growing on the pylons and we saw absolutely no rubbish floating in the water.  

We would advise anyone visiting however to explore the back streets away from the crowded tourist areas and our only criticism throughout Italy was the lack of public seating available – so wear old clothes and get used to sitting in the gutter or on any available step!  Hard surfaces (often cobbled) make for tired legs that do need a rest now and again!

Have you any memories or thoughts to share about Venice?  We’d love to hear.

Best wishes to all,

Julie & Tony

There have been a number of requests for guidance in using WATERCOLOURS and whilst I am by no means an expert in this, I will pass on what I know and have tried, to offer some guidelines.

Why do I say “Watercolour painting is for patient people”?  Well unless you buy heavy 300 gsm paper you have to go through the stretching process, preparing a day in advance. You also need to plan your painting and sketch it in very lightly and accurately in pencil with minimal disturbance to the paper (yes, I mean rubbing out!) The exception to this would be if you were doing wet in wet accidental type paintings with no drawing.  Generally you have to wait for each wash to dry before continuing to paint. (You may find it is good to work on 2 or 3 paintings along together to avoid being idle while you are waiting, or use a hairdryer.)

 You need to be pristine clean, with 2 water tubs – 1 for adding to the paint (distilled preferably) and another for washing your brushes. If you are concerned about maintaining the acid free quality of your paper, you should only handle it with gloves and wear them while you are working.  Adding clean water to a wash can be done with an eyedropper to avoid sullying the water as you might if transferring it with a brush.

Finally, when you have completed your beautiful translucent masterpiece, it will need very special framing.   Watercolours need to go behind glass, with a mount so that the painting does not touch the glass.  Also a waterproof backing is needed.  This is to prevent mildew over the years.

Now I’m not trying to put you off, because there is nothing so beautiful as a well executed watercolour painting - but you need to have the right temperament to handle all this. Personally, I haven’t – although I have tried to give you a few demonstrations below. OK so lets get into it…

                     Various water based paints have different qualities, such as:

Acrylic – which is no longer water soluble when dry and comes in transparent, opaque and fluorescent varieties.

Gouache – which is opaque water based paint, water soluble when dry – much like the early poster paints.

There is even a range of water soluble “oils” available these days.

Watercolour pencils which give drawn lines or shading, but can form a ‘paint’ when wetted with water via a brush

and lastly, PURE WATERCOLOURS – which will be the subject of this Post.

The term “Watercolour” usually relates to pure finely ground water soluble pigments, used on special Watercolour paper and without the use of white…the transparency of the paint allowing the white of the paper to glow through instead.  Occasionally, some artists use a small amount of white (called Chinese white) but the purist approach is not to use any.

Watercolour paints come in tubes and in pans…see illustration.  A Palette needs to have dishes for mixing different coloured washes before applying.  If I were using the tubes, I would put out the colours needed in the small hollows and mix washes from them in the large ones by taking a little paint across and adding water.

Brushes need to be soft (usually synthetic these days) and hold plenty of paint.  The larger the painting, the bigger the brushes needed – although some small ones for detail re always necessary.  Large “mop-like” round ferrule brushes are best for big washes – always care for them by pointing them up after washing & blotting dry.

When you buy watercolour brushes, some come pointed up with a soluble glue in the bristles to keep them in shape. You need to thoroughly wash out that glue before use.  Should your brushes need it from time to time, a wash in hair shampoo and then conditioner can restore them.   Another tip is to dry them flat to avoid water running down and being trapped in the ferrule. This can rot the wooden end of the handle over time.

There are also watercolour pencils available which offer a drawn line to a “paint” when wetted.  These are handy for small travelling  studies.

The little stack pack of pan colours  looks like the picture below when put away and is also very convenient for travelling.   Some of these come in a box with a palette inside the lid which is even better.  If I think I’ll be using most colours in a block range like the ones below (not in a tube) I spray them with water to begin the softening process – then it is much quicker to work the paint up when I am ready.

Here are the warm and cool layers unscrewed so you can see…

Watercolour papers come in different weights, qualities and textures (rough, medium and smooth). Most are acid free to help avoid mildew in the future.  Anything lighter in weight than 300 gsm needs to be stretched so that it will not buckle when washes are applied – so personally, I only buy 300 gsm.  However if you do need to stretch your paper, here is the procedure…

1.  Soak your paper in water well – many soak it overnight.

2.  Take the paper out, holding it up until it stops dripping – then spread it onto a backing board, smoothing from the centre out with a soft rag.

3.  You need a special gummed tape to secure it (available from Art shops).  Cut 4 lengths to fit your paper.

Take each one at a time and slide through clean water quickly then apply to paper and board.

4. Overlap the paper to form a border and smooth the gum tape out well as you go.

5. When you have finished with the gum tape, be sure to put it away in a plastic bag to store so no moisture will enter and spoil it.

6.  Now your paper needs to dry thoroughly before you start painting.  As it dries it will pull taught as the water evaporates. It is now stretched.

With opaque paints such as acrylic and oils, it is usual to work from dark to light in establishing your composition…however with watercolours it is the other way around.   You need to work from light to dark, preserving the transparent integrity of the washes and avoiding “making mud”…so creeping up on any dark areas is the way to go, leaving them until last.   Thinking tonally is important in all paintings.  Here is what I mean by tone:

TONE IS THE DEGREE OF LIGHT TO DARK, AS IN THIS PICTURE.  IT IS EASIER TO SEE TONE IN BLACK AND WHITE GRADIENTS.   TRY TO KEEP THAT OBSERVATION WHEN YOU LOOK AT THE RANGE OF LIGHT TO DARK WHEN COLOUR IS INTRODUCED…

A PERSONAL TIP:  WHEN I PLAN A COMPOSITION TO PAINT, I THINK IN TERMS OF 3 TONES ONLY – VERY BROADLY….LIGHT, MEDIUM & DARK.   JUST PLANNING WHERE THESE AREAS WILL BE GIVES ME A CLEAR PLAN TO WORK TO.  THIS MAY WORK FOR YOU ALSO.  IF YOU CHECK OUT POST 18 YOU WILL SEE HOW  I USE THIS PLANNING.   RIGHT NOW HOWEVER, LET’S GET BACK TO OUR FOCUS ON WATERCOLOUR.

Many people are enchanted with watercolour because of “wet in wet” effects…

In the illustration below there is a combination of wet in wet blurred edges in the leaves, wet on dry for the flower petals and stems and a waterproof pen for black detail.   The extra lines around the blossoms are done with watercolour pencils – which are great for detail…

The trick with watercolours is to START WITH THE LIGHTS AND GRADUALLY WORK TOWARDS THE DARKS (The opposite of oils or acrylics as a rule).  In this illustration below, please look at the beautiful transparency in the shadow within and on the side of the boat…that is the beautiful simplicity and purity of Watercolour painting…     

Below is another example of washes, thinly applied – using warm and cool shadows and leaving the light areas clean.

Sometimes it might be useful to use masking so that you can apply washes right across over (in this case, the house shape) and later peel off the mask to reveal white paper.  Mask comes as film frisk in sheet form and masking fluid in a bottle.  The house shapes have been cut out and put down from film frisk and the foliage texture applied with masking fluid here.  You can see where I have removed some of the foliage mask to show the white paper.

Note: It is important to remove masking fluid as soon as practical – if left too long (overnight for instance), it may damage the paper when rubbed to remove.

Below is an example showing a clean roof line contrasted by the darker foliage behind. The roof has a nice “dry brush” edge created with stronger paint/water ratio and a flat brush dragged horizontally to the paper.  Then with a clean brush & water, the colour is softened out away from the roof into the shadowed areas.  It’s all about contrast – you can’t show up light against light can you?

Below is an example of Australian Flannel Flowers where I had to realy concentrate on painting the negative spaces between the flowers to show up the flower shapes, leaving the white petals with minimal paint…the idea of cutting one out and letting it escape over the mount was to give the feeling of growth and freedom instead of being contained in the rectangle.

It might be useful here to show you how I went about painting these wildflowers…

 First, sketch your flowers lightly in pencil.  I would normally sketch much lighter than this, but in order to photograph it I had to go a bit darker…

With a medium round brush and plain clean water wet the areas between and surrounding the flowers, going over the stem areas.

(Many artists used distilled water and wear plastic gloves to keep their work acid free – as most watercolour paper comes acid free. Acid can enter the paper through our fingers, paint and the water used.  The benefit of this is that once framed properly with a mount under glass, the finished painting should resist mildew in years to come.)

Next. mix a wash with plenty of clean water.  Incidentally, always have 2 tubs of water – 1 clean to add to washes and the other only for washing out your brushes.  That will help keep your watercolours clean and pure.

Drop the wash into the wetted areas, tipping the paper to get it to flow into details areas. Please yourself as to what angle you wish to have your paper as you work for different effects.

Keep adding a little more paint until the shapes of the flowers are defined more clearly.

Next, being aware that white flowers are never all white, look for the shadows on the petals and apply these…also some colour to the centre of the main flower.

Flannel Flowers often have darker tips to their petals so my next step was to paint these…

 I must apologise for the discrepancy in photo colouring in this exercise. It is a “sunshine and showers” day and the light in my Studio keeps altering, which affects the camera pickup. In this next stage I have finished defining the flowers, gently creeping up on the darks.  Knowing when to stop with watercolour is the hardest part!  Just try to keep each area as transparent as possible, yet have still have enough definition.

Ah!  The sun has come out!  Now I photograph the finished example in full sunlight for you to see! I have added the stems and leaves with a fine brush.  I think the stems are a bit heavy lookng so I might carefully wet only them and blot gently with a rag to bring back the translucency.  Because watercolours are soluble when dry, you can do this with any area where you have been a bit heavy handed.

OK so I hope that was helpful.  This process could apply to many subjects and with watercolour more than any other medium, I think you really have to be aware of the negative shapes between the objects and contrasts in tone.   Rather than drawn lines, a defining edge is created by different tones meeting.  Even though you may need a light pencil sketch to begin with, it’s good to remove it where you can and just let the paint tell the story.

Here is a simple study for you to try – 5 daisies at different angles. Sketch them in lightly, then create a background wash around the drawn shapes. Let happy accidents stay as part of the effect. This is the first stage.

Next, add some soft shadows to the petals and paint in the flower centres. Then a bit more definition to the foliage.  That’s it!  Don’t overwork it…keep it fresh!

 Just a personal hint re watercolour paper, if you buy heavy weight 300 gsm I can honestly say from experience that is is worth every cent. Not only can you use one side, but if that doesn’t work out – you can use the other as well and there is no need to stretch it.  Then if your second attempt on the side doesn’t work out, you can undercoat the paper with acrylic and use it for an acrylic painting (or if rough texture, even pastels).

The painting below was a demonstration in using a plain candle to rub on textured watercolour paper where I wanted the paint to resist – so in putting a wash over the water and rocks, there remains a broken sparkly efect.    In this painting I used acrylics instead, which can be used as thinly as watercolour or as opaque as you wish.

Next here is a slide show of a simple landscape in stages that I prepared to try to impart some method to you. This example was done on 185 gsm watercolour paper, properly stretched..

If slideshow needs activating, click on X at the top RH corner or “View all images”…

One lady emailed asking for a seascape demonstration in watercolour – so here is my effort.  Now I am making this a combination of what to do and what NOT to do in that I am using  185 gsm paper in a pad and not stretching it!  Let’s see what problems it brings and see if I can find a way out… 

Wet the sky area with plain clear water ready to apply a wash. If you don’t do this you may end up with hard edges you don’t want.

I decide to apply a warm wash first to make sure I keep a sunny look…

It looks bright in the pan, but it is so diluted that when I apply it the colour is very soft.

While I have this colour handy, I apply it to the sand area as well, a bit stronger because it is in the foreground and colours are always stronger closer to you.

Oh oh – the paper is buckling somewhat so I put a minimal amount of the wash on the water and rocks to marry up the sky and beach  and try to even out the wet and dry areas on the paper.

Next I mix a purply wash for the sky and apply it gently over the soft orange. The first wash needs to be thoroughly dry before you do this.

Once again, while I have this colour in the pan, I deepen it a bit (I am mixing red and blue together to make the purple) and apply to the headland + define shadows along the water edge.  I have to apologise for photo colour discrepancies once again – the light in my studio is varying on this “sunshine and showers” day.  Where possible I photograph in strong sunlight.

Next I add some blue to the water.   You can see here how the unstretched paper is responding to the varying areas of moisture – not good, but I will keep going and see what I can do to fix it later.

I continue defining, trying to keep the overall transparent.  It’s not easy!  The colours tend to dry paler than they look when applied wet so allowances have to be made for this.

I am nearly there, but the painting lacks life.  With a small brush I add 2 seagulls to add interest. There is a nice airiness in the sky around them – I am pleased with that.

Here is the finished result…probably a bit heavier than it should be in the darks, but that’s my nature – I like drama!

When it was completely dry, I ironed it on the wrong side with a warm iron which reduced the buckling to practically nil. It’s probably not “proper” procedure of course, but this blog is about sharing experiences and helping each other.

Next I tried a wet in wet approach to try to establish the atmosphere of the Australian bush early morning…

When the above was dry, I then removed some of the wash with a wet sponge & blotter where I wanted tree trunks to be.  After painting in the gum trees in the foreground and loosely suggesting some grasses, I decided to create the focal point of a magpie perched on a stump and another flying away.  I was pleased with the overall atmosphere achieved in this painting.   The pale branches in the soft background were achieved by wetting the paint with a thin stiff brush and then blotting straight away.

Tony also painted a loose watercolour impression of the Australian bush near where we live. He began by sketching in the main tree trunks and applying masking fluid to them.  When the rubber mask was dry, he was then free to paint the background in washes and spatters with a toothbrush.  After that background had dried, he rubbed away the mask and painted the trunks, choosing to contrast most of the cool background colouring with warm colours.  This is an excellent approach for handling a difficult somewhat chaotic and complex subject.

Below is Tony’s next study – a Central Australian scene using strong colours…

Next, here is an arrangment of POPPIES for you to use as reference if you would like to…

Tony and I each had a go at painting this study in watercolours the same day.  We didn’t peek at each other’s work until we finished and were surprised to find we had both ignored the vase and focussed on the flowers only (not because it was gold – we could have painted it any colour we wished, but because we felt the flowers were such free shapes we wanted to keep that free feeling and not put anything with a solid structure in).

We both sketched in the shapes of the flowers with pencil first, then painted the background in washes, avoiding the sketched areas. Here is Tony’s painting.  He didn’t use any masking fluid to retain the white areas and carefully avoided them.

Next, here is my effort.  I approached it the same way as Tony except that I used masking fluid on the white bits, removing it later with a rubber.  I also put masking fluid on the stems so that I could continue my background right across them without cutting in.  The rubber mask is rubbed away with an eraser when the painting is dry. I wanted to keep the lightness in the flowers and so made the white blooms into yellow ones rather than put darker shadows. I like the effect Tony got but it didn’toccur to me to put green/grey shadows. I feel happy that I am getting better at handling watercolours.  It takes practise and a different way of thinking to using opaque paint. You have to be able to draw well or it shows (unless you do abstract I guess) and I love the freshness of the transparent colour don’t you?  

All for now then and once again “Happy Painting”!

Julie

Hello everyone!

Once again, by popular request, here is a Post about composition and in particular, flower studies.  I don’t profess to be an expert, but there should be something here to think about.

Because of copyright, I am mainly using my own paintings & photos here to illustrate. although Tony has lent one of his. Before we get stuck into this subject, here is a little flower power fun…

It’s a strange thing, but most artists when they begin painting flowers, never consider leaving out the vase.  Also, they almost always paint the vase first and then put the flowers in later.   Of course, this is our logical brain at work because in real life, this is what we do isn’t it?  We get a vase out of the cupboard, put water in it and then arrange the flowers.

OK so that’s fine in real life, but if you are going to PAINT flowers, they aren’t going to need water OR a vase are they?  So that’s the first thing to realise – we don’t need to put the vase in.  After all, if you were painting flowers in the wild or in a garden, you wouldn’t be painting them in a vase, would you?

Now with that out of the way, lets have a look at composition…and we must bear in mind that we all have different preferences in what pleases our eye.  Giving thought to various options will help you discover what it is that YOU like!  After all, art is a journey of self discovery and appreciation of everything around us at a deeper level.

                       (Note: Text generally relates to the picture below it)

Now first of all, unless you really want to go for symmetry for some reason…

Having a focal point arranged evenly and in the centre doesn’t leave anywhere for the eye to explore or imagine because everything is fully explained. Our eyes seek VARIETY in shape – not only the shapes of the objects, but of the spaces as well.

Now lets look at some Gerbras in a vase below. The vase colour relates well with the flowers, which is something else to consider in planning overall compositional effects.

We can add some foliage to link up the flowers, add variety to the shapes and group the flowers in a more interesting way by linking some together and overlapping some flowerheads.   Also we can get rid of that hard line suggested as a table edge and soften it into what could be a drape - that will make it unimportant and take away an obstruction as the eye flows up the sides of the vase. The soft shadow of the vase and flowers indicates that the vase is close to a backdrop of wall or similar.  So that has been some improvement, don’t you think?

Still the vase is very much in the centre. Would it be better set to one side a bit? 

Let’s try adding a bit more space on one side and playing the shadow out to the side instead of onto the back wall.  Have a look at the picture below. Do you think it is more interesting this way? 

Hmmm.  I think there is too much space in relation to objects now and as a result, I feel I want to be more intimate with the flower shapes and enjoy them more closely.

I find I can now enjoy the shapes of the flowers and the negative space shapes too – but maybe you like the earlier compositions better(?)

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                  POSITIVE & NEGATIVE SHAPES

OK now I hear some of you say “What does she mean by POSITIVE & NEGATIVE SHAPES”?

Well here is a simple example below…

Now to relate this to a flower study, the areas BETWEEN the flower and vase shapes shown in white in the example below are what we call NEGATIVE SHAPES.  The shapes formed by the flowers, vase and shadow are the POSITIVE SHAPES.

SO – ONE OF THE SECRETS OF A GOOD COMPOSITION IS TO HAVE THE NEGATIVE (AS WELL AS THE POSITIVE) SHAPES VARIED AND INTERESTING EH?   Well why haven’t we taken more notice of these negative shapes before?

Because the logical part of our brain cannot name the negative shapes, it gives them little or no importance in our thinking. When you start observing them through an artist’s eyes, you will see them everywhere and enhance your enjoyment of everything around you!

Why should you bother? Because these negative spaces often take up MORE SPACE on the flat surface of your painting than the so called OBJECTS! Therefore they must be of the UTMOST IMPORTANCE when we compose a picture! 

TIP: Don’t be afraid to let your “objects” touch the sides of the area you are painting in, because that creates really interesting negative shapes, and include the borders of your paper or board (which of course can be any shape you choose: rectangle, square, oval, circle)

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                                 SHADOWS!

Another thing our logical brain doesn’t recognise very much is SHADOWS, which play a very big part in the overall arrangement of light and dark areas. These need to be included VERY MUCH in your analysis of shapes.  In fact, in the picture below the shadows of the green and white flowers & leaves are stronger and darker than the objects that are casting them!  Often however they are softer when the objects are not in a strong light – but they are still VERY important! 

Here are some pictures I just took in my studio of SHADOWS ONLY, caste onto a white board. They make very beautiful flat pattern designs, don’t they? Can you see that the shapes of the shadows (dark) are forming positive shapes, leaving the areas between them (white) as negative shapes?  When you look at those negative shapes, they are all different to one another – giving our eyes much to play with!

  Actually, its good to view your composition reference through a little window cut out of cardboard – or use your camera rectangle to help zero in on the best angle and composition.  Make sure your rectangle is the same ratio you plan to paint on, or be prepared to crop it.

Below is a photo of some lovely Western Australian wildflowers my daughter gave me recently. If I were to paint them, how would I improve on this composition?  I’ll just share my thought process with you in case it is helpful.

Well I would start by moving that vase a bit to one side and eliminating anything detracting – like the place mats and bits and pieces.  Lets do that below…

Hmm. but there is not enough contrast to show the flowers up is thre?

Because these are STRONG bold flower shapes and not delicate, I would consider painting them with a darker background and elinating the vase altogether, like this…

Below are some paintings I did of Proteas previously, choosing to zero in on just the flowers…this next one was done with soft pastels on black paper. (The black areas are the negative shapes.  Are they varied and intersting?)

Here is the same subject again, with a white background, painted in acrylics.  (This time the white areas are the negative shapes.)

We have so many options don’t we?  Its all about choices!

                THINK BEFORE YOU START!  PLAN A LITTLE!

Let the flowers speak to you by imagining them drawn or painted in different ways before you begin -  maybe do some little thumbnail sized studies first.

In this next study, I created a circular ’sunburst’ design.  I don’t think I needed to have suggested the vase really – after all I could have been looking straight down on the bunch!  There’s that logical interference at work – “What is holdig them up?” my silly brain said…and so I put in the vase!  Still, it is soft enough not to destroy the sunburst effect.  A circle or an oval are terrific ways to contain and hold the eye.  If your paintings aren’t working in their rectangular shape, just try an oval/round mount on them … you’ll be surprised!

I’ll stretch this picture above into an oval, just to see how it looks…

Here is another option – painting the proteas loosely and freely…

or how about a stylised version – going for more a flat patterning of design…

and yet another version, using light outlines for a ‘neon’ look…

However, if your flowers are delicate with petals that show the light through them, you may choose to paint them in something like watercolour, allowing the white of the paper to glow through the washes… below are some old fashioned dog roses from my neighbour’s fence. I got carried away with softly suggested leaf shadows to add variety and a little mystery…

Speaking of roses, here is a tip I was once given for an approach to multi petalled open blooms…

Next I tried painting some white poppies! White flowers are a real challenge!  When you study and paint them, you realise that there are hardly any true whites anywhere!  Instead, there are many subtle shadows on the petals.   I remember an early study in my college years was to paint an all white study – a white jug, cup and saucer on a white cloth!  I learned so much from that exercise about tone and form.

With these white poppies (painted in acrylics) I decided to allow the background colour to come into the shadows on the petals as a means of unifying the painting.  Not wanting to bring in an new alien colour for the vase, I just utilised the greens already present in the leaves.  The secret here in keeping the composition interesting was to choose 3 or 4 blooms for the main focal point and play down all the rest.  If they were all of equal importance, then the painting would be boring and there would be nothing left suggested.

Below is a bunch of colourful poppies dancing across the page –  this time treated with transparent watercolour (Note: no vase!)  Don’t worry about finishing the stems – just let them fade away or disappear into the cluster.

Here is another of Poppies in watercolour – Tony and I both had a go at painting them one afternoon recently… here is Tony’s finished work:

Now here is my effort.  I used masking fluid on the stems and white parts, rubbing it off after the painting was day.  Tony avoide his white areas carefully while painting and didn’t use any mask.  You can see more about these 2 paintings on Post No. 36 (watercolours).

 There can be 2 light sources with something translucent like flower petals – one shining on the form and another from behind it. A sunny walk in a garden will soon point up the difference.  If the light is shining THROUGH the petals, you will need to paint it thinly whereas light falling ON the petals can be painted more opaquely.

 Sometimes it is nice to experiment with strong design and play with shapes, as I did with these pointsettias below.  This is an area the fabric designers explore fully, playing freely with the shapes and not worrying about photographic realism.  I am actually fairly new to this and Tony has awakened me to a new level of awareness in this area. Thanks Tony!  Lots more to explore in this way of seeing!

In the painting below (acrylics) I decided to barely suggest the vase. It is a study of Singapore Orchids, brought to me fresh from Singapore by Adrian one Christmas!  I tried to create a feeling of life and movement with a suggested “cartwheel” within the shapes. Did it work?

At other times, its nice to experiment with different materials. Here I have used gold paint patterning on the vase and table and strong design in the treatment of these mermaid roses below…

Because the flowers were all clustered at the top, I balanced the light shapes by adding a few fallen petals on the table – so there’s another trick you can use!  Either petals, or a bloom laying on the table would work and relax a study that may be too ‘tight’.

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                             BE THE BOSS!  EXPERIMENT!

The biggest thing to remember is “YOU ARE THE ARTIST – THEREFORE YOU ARE THE BOSS!  YOU CAN MAKE CHOICES AND NOT JUST BE A SLAVE TO THE REFERENCE YOU ARE WORKING FROM, BE IT PHOTOGRAPHIC OR REAL.”   SO – “TAKE CHARGE, FORGET THE EGO, EXPERIMENT AND ENJOY!”

OH YES – & ONE LAST THING – ALWAYS PAINT WITH LOVE & FEELING FOR YOUR SUBJECT MATTER AND LOVE EVERY BIT OF YOUR PAINTING -  IT WILL SHOW!              (Unfortunaely, it will also show if you do not!)

Cheers!   

Julie