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Watercolour Heliconia

This beautiful exotic flower is in a part of my garden where it is rarely seen. I just couldn't bring myself to pick it so on the weekend I took my easel down to the garden....

COUNTRY MORNING steps.wmv

COUNTRY MORNING final step - adding the tail

Finally .....  I decided that, even though it wasn't visible in my original reference photo,  the cows tail should be added to close the composition. Every other photo I had from that morning had the tail hanging straight down so it was not difficult to place it in the picture.

COUNTRY MORNING polish the bucket and add a 3rd hen

I felt the composition could fit in 1 more hen to really set the scene and convey that friendly country atmosphere. The furthermost hen from the reference photo became my foreground lead in character. There was not much detail showing in the reference photo but that was actually ideal for the part I need her to play. Although her head is clearly turned back towards the viewer, I don't feel she is calling attention to herself but almost inviting company.
The bucket also was in need of a polish if it was to appear clean enough to receive milk. A handle and reflections were added.
The shirt extension was softened with a eraser to blur it into the background.
A simple lighting and shadow effect on the ground helps to maintain the central focus.

COUNTRY MORNING hen detail

Detail was added to the hens. Much of the shadow effect on the white hen was achieved by simply rubbing the white pastel off with my finger to allow the paper colour to show through.
Although the hens are very much in the foreground, and so quite large, their details have been kept fairly vague so as to not draw undue attention. They are not main characters but simply support props to set the scene.

With the addition of the hens I decided that the shirt needed to be extended to the other side of the picture to maintain balance.

COUNTRY MORNING hen reference photo

My reference photo for the hens.

COUNTRY MORNING blocking in the hens

After reviewing the composition I decided the bottom looked empty. It needed more chooks to set the scene and give that real country atmosphere. I had to be careful though, I didn't want these additions to have too much detail or they would compete with the portrait for attention.
Back in my photo library I found a photo of 3 hens  that was just right for the job.
It took a couple of attempts to get the positioning just right. My first position I decided was too close to the rooster so I erased them and moved them back a pace. ( you will notice the patch of chest missing on the rooster )
That is the beauty of working on quality paper - if you are not happy you can erase and rework at any time.

COUNTRY MORNING refining the likness

Work continued on the rooster, gradually adding details to the feathers. Attention was also given to refining the likeness of the portrait, bit by bit, making slight adjustments to the main features: the shading on the nose ..... the teeth and corner of the mouth..... corners of the eye....contours of the ear....as well as the positioning of the strongest highlights on the cheek, nose, chin and ear.

COUNTRY MORNING blending rooster adding hair and face details

The rooster colours were finger blended into the paper. More details were gradually added and blended in turn.
Then I returned my attention to the face and hair. Skin tones were built up to form the contours of the face. Highlights were added to the hair to indicated waves and curls.
Details were added to the udder. The back section was kept fairly plain, the closer to the face, the more detail and sharpness.

COUNTRY MORNING add the rooster

The rooster was added free hand by looking at the reference photo I had made earlier. I measured his overall height and noted a halfway point which was the widest part of his chest. The widest part of his tail was also roughly at this point. With these few measurements, I blocked in his general colours, employing some artistic licence to alter his position a little to suit my needs.

COUNTRY MORNING adding the bucket

When it came time to add the bucket I decided that I didn't like the look of the green plastic one in the original reference photo so I set about turning it silver. My first step was to edit the reference photo by reducing the colour to black and white adjusting the brightness & contrast. This gave me a pretty good idea of where to put the shading but I needed to see some reflections. I needed a real silver bucket. I borrowed and cleaned my husbands old concreting bucket and had a few more photos taken. Now I had some nice reflections of the handle against the bucket to work with.

COUNTRY MORNING adding the cow

The cow and  arms are blocked in and then finger blended into the paper, paying attention to the direction of hair growth. At this point I became unhappy with the progress of the portraits likeness. I knew the features were located accurately as they had been measured with the grid but I was not happy with the light and shading contours. These details are equally important to the location of yes, nose and mouth if a true likeness is to be achieved.

Rather than trying to continue to build up layers of pastel, I chose to remove most of the top layers on the face with a dry paintbrush. This left me with an underlying fleshtone on which I could start afresh. I decided to leave the face alone for a bit while I focus on adding in some of the other details of the picture.

COUNTRY MORNING starting the face

Using a variety of flesh tones the lights and darks  of the face are blocked in. The colours are then blended with fingers working around the contours and features. The eyes and mouth details are added and more flesh colours gradually built up. For the shadows and creases around the eyes,  mouth, ears and jawline an eraser is used gently to reveal undertones of the paper. Next some dark and midtones are blocked in and blended for the hair.

Country Morning - transfering image to paper

Country Morning Portrait reference photos

This week we will look at painting a portrait story. The main focus will be on the face with just enough background detail to convey some personality and suggest a bit of a story. Step one is to choose, crop and assemble some  reference photos. Milking time is always a bit of a community event at our place, with the foster calf waiting for her share of the milk and the free range chooks scouting about for dropped any grain. Even though I am working in a wide open space it can feel quite cramped when everyone wants to get in on the action.

LITTLE ANGEL step-by-step

LITTLE ANGEL DAY 2

DAY 2 The background is in place. Some slight adjustments to the face, more prominant lips and more hair definition.

.....Now an after thought.....should the wings be more detailed and brought to the foreground ?

LITTLE ANGEL PORTRAIT DAY 1

DAY 1 The Portrait stage is complete. Now to work on the background. My inspiration is the extract from one of Raphael's masterpieces.

LITTTLE ANGEL

As I have had so many requests for Portrait lessons I have decided to start the year with a few character studies. These will be portraits with personality.

To kick the series off I have chosen an old photo of my niece Skye. It is not a very good quality photo, just a snapshot taken with my husbands mobile phone, but the pose is too cute to resist. It reminds me so much of the little angels that Raphael painted that I have decided to use it to create my own little angel.

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ART DVD launch "Welcome to My Garden"

Had a wonderful morning yesterday at the launch of the ART DVD series "Welcome to My Garden"

DVD launch "Welcome to My Garden"

If you are reading this post then:

YOU ARE INVITED

to the OFFICIAL LAUNCH of the

4 Disc ART lesson DVD Series

"Welcome to My Garden"

Thursday 18th November 2010

10.30 am at the Gympie Library

Watch a preview of the DVDs

and enjoy a delicious morning tea

entry is FREE

Bookings are essential for catering purposes

RSVP by Friday 12th November 2010
at Gympie Library  ph/ 54 810859

NEW RELEASE ART DVD Series "Welcome to MY Garden" NOW AVAILABLE

It's finally here!

NEW RELEASE

ART Lesson 4 DVD Series

"Welcome to My Garden"

NOW AVAILABLE

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Welcome to My Garden 4DVD set case and discs artwork

Well it has sure been a fast and furious few weeks since the computer came home from some minor surgery.
 (replacement hard drive)

Everything is back on track now - the master copies are now in the hands of the replicators, so not long now and they will be released!

BUTTERFLY ON BOUGAINVILLEA oil pastel

This is one of the "Welcome to My Garden" images which didn't end up being featured in the DVD. I am currently working on some written instruction to go with the step-by-step photos while I await the return of my DVD producing computer.

THE JESTER

Last Sunday after church we took the kids to visit Bli Bli Castle. They had a great time dressing up and chasing clues for the treasure hunt. I got some good photos to use for painting reference.

If I  had to describe my daugter in 1 word it would be "party" and she  was delighted to find a Jesters hat for her to wear in the dress up box.

I feel this portrait has captured her personality very well.

INSTANT WATER DROP

EXCUSES EXCUSES or LOOKING FOR A SYMPATHY VOTE ?

Looks like a really smart bike doesn't it? Well let me tell you "It's not so smart!" Oh sure it's ok on the straight sealed roads, but you take your eyes of the road for 1 second and let it onto the gravel and dirt and it has no idea how to behave what so ever.

.....well.....here come my excuses for why the "Welcome to My Garden" DVD is still not available and why I haven't posted in so long.....firstly....after much deliberation and liason with the DVD reproduction company I have decided to produce this series as 4 separate discs (1 for each painting) in the 1 package. This has extended editing time somewhat but that is mostly finished now......secondly.....the computer I use for video editing has died! It was only a very young computer so it has gone back under waranty and I was told - "It can be resurected with some new parts and will be just like a new one. This should take between 2 days to 2 weeks to sort out .....that was 3 weeks ago so far, last week I was told "Should be only another week or so".....hhmmm......so what does the bike have to do with all this?.....well....not that much really.....except that on the way home from dropping the computer back to the supplier (yes of course a car would have been more practical ) the bike decided to buck me off onto the side of the road..... I got back on and rode it home just to show it I was still boss, but I spent the next week in bed on painkillers and the following week in bed without painkillers and now praise god I am back on a computer..... Unfortunately I still don't have THE computer but hopefully not too much longer.....in the mean time I will endeavour to at least keep you informed and entertained with some new postings.

"Welcome to My Garden" DVD case

"Welcome to My Garden" is back on the drawing board (well, the editing computer actually).
The series is now undergoing some minor alterations with some new improved software .
Although this means the production is going to take a little longer, the resulting workshop will be even more user friendly, making the learning process that much more enjoyable.

Here is a preview of what the DVD case will look like.

First the GOOD NEWS - My first DVD "Welcome to My Garden " is now complete. All the editing is finished. The workshop contains 4 complete step-by-step demonstrations. Each lesson is explained in great detail with obvious "page markers" at the end of each step so that when you are following along at home you will know when to pause the dvd and complete the step. I have simplified each step as much as possible to make the lessons easy enough for complete beginners and children to follow.

.....but.....

Once again I have run into some technical difficulties. The full 4 lesson workshop ended up being over 3 hours  and my computer seems to be having trouble coping with it. Nevertheless.....IT WILL BE PUBLISHED....I'm just not sure how long it will take.

The sponge roses will have to go onto a separate dvd.

"Welcome to My Garden" is in the finishing stages now. The paintings are all done and I'm on to the final editing and voice overs. Hopefully only another week if there are no more technical difficulties.
The dvd will feature 2 acrylic gardenscapes, 1 watercolour lesson and 1 soft pastel lesson, all complete step-by-step demonstrations  And depending on the final length, I may tag on the sponge rose painting demonstration.
All using just the primaries and white ( except for the pastel I also used a black pastel pencil).

SIMPLE DRAWING STEPS FOR EASTERN YELLOW ROBIN

Follow these simple steps to produce your outline image. I prefer to work out my image on cheap drawing paper then transfer to the water colour paper. This eliminates damaging the good paper with the constant erasures I seem to make. I don't bother with details at this stage, the aim is to establish the positions of the main features.

Transfer your outline drawing to the watercolour paper by tracing onto tracing paper then rubbing the back of the image with the water-soluble graphite pencil. Place the template, graphite side down, in position on the watercolour paper and draw over the image with a biro or stylus. Keep a light touch so as not to engrave the image into the paper.

Using a 4B and 2B water-soluble graphite pencil , shade the darkest areas. The colour spreads once it is wet and can be quite strong so I prefer to start cautiously. Although the graphite CAN still be erased after it has been wet it is still easier to darken than to lighten.

 








Using a wet no 8 sable round brush blend the graphite. Always consider the direction of the feathers and the shading with your brushstrokes.



Let the piece completely dry then reinforce the darkest areas with the water-soluble graphite pencil. If any areas are too dark they can be lightened with a normal graphite eraser. Alternatively they can be wetted and lifted out with a tissue.

Ensure that the paper is DRY before using an eraser or you will damage it .

Blend again with your damp paintbrush. Highlights can be lifted out with a normal pencil eraser as I have done around the eyes and along the leg. Graphite can be erased from anywhere that you feel your picture has become too dark.

Finally, add the yellow. Keep some variation in the tone. I have used cadmium yellow watercolour here, but watercolour pencil, soft pastel or coloured pencil would be just as effective. Watercolour cannot be removed with the eraser but can be lightened if necessary by rewetting and lifting out with a tissue.

EASTERN YELLOW ROBIN in watercolour

BIRD BATH watercolour 2nd image

Filmed the painting of this watercolour image today for the dvd "Welcome to My Garden" Not sure yet if this will be the final image or not. Watercolours dry lighter so you are not sure of the exact colour while it is still wet. Now that I study it I feel the statue needs more contrast in it's shading. Oh well there is always tomorrow.

PAIR OF YELLOW ROBINS soft pastel

Here is the final image of the Eastern Yellow Robins in Bouganvillia for the dvd "Welcome to My Garden".  If you compare it to the first 2 images you will see there is a noticable colour change. This is because I decided that I wanted to stick to the limited palette I had used in the acrylic paintings. No problem I thought, I have taught students to mix green and purple with their pastels before. Anyway I did a practice with the butterfly picture. That was all good until I got to the tree trunk....then...O.M.G...I haven't made brown before!! Now what do I do? Compromise and introduce a stick of brown pastel? No time to practice now...I was shooting film and the painting was almost finished! NO! JUST DO IT! Just goes to show.....You CAN mix brown with soft pastel and I think I like it better than the browns on the other versions of the painting!

BUTTERFLY in soft pastel

COCK-A-DOODLE-DOO pastel rooster portrait

ACRYLIC MAGPIES

Today I have been practicing Magpies to add the finishing touches to the "Welcome to My Garden" paintings. Next time you see me demonstrating a magpie and you think "wow I wish I was gifted to be able to paint them like that" just remember it's not really the gift - practice makes perfect.

2 YELLOW ROBINS IN BOUGANVILLIA soft pastel

I am working on the pastel robin lesson for the "Welcome to my Garden" dvd today.
This is my 2nd image  I have added a 2nd bird and if you compare it to the previous paining I did last month you'll notice I have altered the background a little. This is due to the fact that I found some footage that I had forgotten I had even taken of the sunlight glowing through the foliage and glistening on the waterdrops. In the previous painting I had been working from imagination and memory - boy was I happy when I actually found I had some reference material.