Painting no. 30

Painting no. 30 

Little Pink Slip

and here they all are together - phew!!!  Some I like, others not so much but I did it!!

Painting no. 29

Painting no. 29

Little Black Slip

I had very limited time to paint last night, and was really tired after a day's work so looked around for something simple I could paint so as not to get left behind at the last hurdle in this painting a day challenge.. I wondered if this little black slip on it's hanger would work as a painting so gave that a go - and I quite like the result - nice and simple but hopefully effective.  I may do another for painting no. 30 as I've got limited time again to paint this evening as we're out for a meal.  Oh to be able to not have to work and paint during the day more!!!

Day off tomorrow and hoping to get a good Winter hike in but the weather's looking a bit dodgy to say the least - this reminds me that we haven't been keeping Two Pairs of Boots up to date.  The last post was in September and we've been on lots of walks since then so must start posting there again!

Have a wonderful evening whatever you're doing!

Painting no. 28

Painting no. 28

Crested Tit

When I first started seriously painting birds I told myself I would only paint birds that I have seen and experienced, starting with the birds in my garden - remember my garden bird series?   I still try and do this as I do prefer to paint birds/animals/landscapes I've actually studied from life and would preferably like to paint them from life!  However I've not got the skill yet for that - and probably never will - they just won't keep still long enough and I'm in awe of artists who sketch wildlife in the field.  I will give it a go at some point  but the next best thing for me is to use the photos taken (or rather Gary has taken) when we're out and about in the mountains, at Nature Reserves, in the garden, at the zoo etc etc.   I don't think it really makes a difference to the finished painting in my case - can you tell from this painting whether I've seen a Crested Tit? Probably not!  And unfortunately I haven't seen one ...... yet.. but hopefully when we go to Scotland later in the year I will get to see one .... but I've studied many other birds and hope it comes across how much I adore them!   Anyway the reason I've painted this little cutie is because it is the current theme on Paint Colorful Birds for Fun on facebook and I couldn't resist it.  After painting him I can't wait to see one for real (fingers crossed) when we visit Scotland in June

Paintings 26 and 27

Painting no. 26

Koala - painted for Australia Day

Painting no. 27

Red Fox

from a photo by Nicke Reeves

Did anyone watch Winter Watch last week?  Love it and can't understand why it's only on for a few days - it should be on for a few weeks just like Spring Watch - in fact it should be on all the time!  Anyway I enjoyed following the antics of the urban foxes so thought I'd paint one.  The cute Koala was painted especially for our Aussie friends as it was Australia Day at the weekend!  I've not seen a Koala in real life - thought I was going to when we visited Edinburgh Zoo but the enclosure was closed for some reason when we went :-(

Only a few days left before the end of the painting a day month - so many things in my head I want to paint though so no idea what I'm going to choose from the list over the next few days - feel free to throw some ideas at me!

Painting no. 25 Sasha

Painting no. 25

Sasha

Painting No. 25 was painted as a birthday gift for a special friend of her gorgeous black labrador Sasha.

Paintings 22, 23 and 24

Painting no. 22

Grey Crowned Crane

The lovely Polly Birchall suggested a paint a crane for the challenge and I presume she meant the feathered kind so here it is just for Polly - they are spectacular birds - I had run out of watercolour paper so this one is quite small, done on a scrap piece as is the Panad for Painting no. 23 (Panad is Cuppa in Welsh in case you were wondering)

Painting no. 23

Panad

Painting no. 24 is one that has been on the back burner to paint for a while - Arctic Terns are such graceful birds but they don't half give you a pecking when you dare walk through their territory - as I discovered when we visited the Farne Islands - the reference photo was taken by Gary at the Farne Islands.  It's great to be painting birds again and must do some more!

Painting no. 25 will be a special one as I'm painting my friend's black labrador as a birthday gift.  The photo she's given me is gorgeous and I really hope I can do her justice! 

Thanks for popping in - hope you are all well out there in blogland!!!!

Paintings 19, 20 and 21

Painting no. 19

Red Sandals

from a photo by Sue (PMP)

Painting no. 20

Boy and his Dog

from a photo by Freda Austin Nichols

Painting no. 21

Rusty Old Campervan

from a photo by Katrina Mac

Paintings 16, 17 and 18

Elephant Walk

from a photo by Edmund Williams

After a slightly frustrating weekend of my brushes not doing what I wanted them to do (apparently it happens to even the best artists!) I finally had a successful painting last night,  reaching painting no. 18 of the 30 paintings in 30 days.  

I suppose I'd better show you painting no. 16 and 17 as well !!  Painting no. 16 was this ragged ruffian of a crow which I wanted to give a ragged feel to but overdid it and it mostly looks a mess but I attempted a rescue with some ink and quite like the ink on the tail feathers so not a complete disaster hopefully.  Painting no. 17 was a play with colour and tone using the same photo as I used for the painting above.   I love Edmund's photo so much I'll be painting these elephants a third time,  in a larger version and will take more time and care over it - I like the colour palette I used for painting 18 as I think it gives a hot and dusty feel to the scene and hope that comes across to the viewer.  I'm trying to keep up with the rest of you 30 day painters - hope you're all keeping up and enjoying the excuse to paint every day!

Painting no. 16 - Ragged Ruffian

Painting no. 17 - Elephants

Painting no.15 - Crow

Painting no. 15 

Crow

from a photo by Steve Lyddon (Paint my Photo)

Painting no. 14 - Selfie!

Self portrait

I used to be terrified of painting portraits in watercolour but thanks to a portrait challenge on Paint my Photo I got over this fear and now quite enjoy them - I was completely hooked to the recent Sky Arts series Portrait Artist of the Year and when I came across a competition in an art group on facebook that was to be judged by one of the contestants I couldn't resist having a go - the only problem was - the competition was to paint a self portrait - not something I relished doing!  But as always I dived in with both feet and had a go and here it is - I chose to work from the photograph which is here on my blog of me painting en plein air as it was one of the few photos I've got where I'm not grinning from ear to ear and I'm not good at at painting teeth!!   I have to say it was the weirdest thing painting myself - tomorrow it will be back to birds!!

Paintings 12 and 13

Painting no. 12 - mobile phone

Polly Birchall (take a look at her blog here) suggested a couple of subjects for me to paint during this 30 paintings challenge - one was the palette from yesterday and another was to paint my mobile phone which I did - no posh phone for me just an old hand me down from Gary - as long as I can phone and text I'm not bothered!

Painting no. 13 

These boots were made for planting!

from a photo by David Morgans (Paint my Photo)

I'm quite enjoying painting boots at the moment so I looked on Paint my Photo for more boots references and came across this one so did a quickie.  A good idea to use old boots as plant pots don't you think!  Tomorrow's painting is a self portrait  - eeeek - done for a self portrait competition - but I ended up rushing to finish it as I wasn't particularly enjoying staring at myself !!  I'll post the result tomorrow

Painting nos. 10 and 11

These two paintings are both being entered into a logo competition for the Loose Watercolour Group on Paint my Photo, hence the loose style of both of them and the square format. 

Painting no. 10

Cat's Eyes

from a photo by J. Aihara (Paint my Photo)

Painting no. 11

Paintbox

inspired by a photo by Judith Jerams (Paint my Photo)

Painting No. 9 - Rhino

Painting no. 9 

Rhino

from a photo by Gary Jones

Painting no. 8

Painting no. 8

VW Campervans

from a photo by Joanne Phanco on Paint my Photo

Red Suede Boots

Painting no.7
Red Suede Boots

from a photo by Franklin (Paint my Photo)

In the reference photo I used for this painting the boots are a light beige colour but I decided to paint them red - because I can.  Wouldn't it be great if we could do that for real with our own footwear and change the colour with the flick of a paintbrush to match our mood or the clothes we wear!!!

Luckily because of a mad few days of painting I'm ahead of schedule with this challenge and have now finished my tenth painting so a few days ahead of myself - giving me a bit of leeway as I'm bound to come across a few days in the month when I can't paint!    Thank you so much for those of you leaving comments to let me know you've popped by, I really appreciate it   :-)

Check out a couple more bloggers who are taking part in the challenge Kellie Lynn Fine Art and Penny Stewart

Days 5 and 6

Painting no. 5

Bullfinch

Well it wasn't going to be long before I had to paint a bird and this is actually the first time I've painted a bullfinch - from a photo by Gary Jones.

Painting no. 6

Riding Boots

from a photo provided by Leona Fraser on Paint my Photo

Painting no. 4 Ty Hyll

Painting no. 4

Ty Hyll

Still trying to play catch up with Leslie Saeta's challenge.  This is a watercolour of one of my favourite little buildings in Snowdonia - Ty Hyll or 'The Ugly House' as it is known in English.  I don't think it's ugly at all and love the way it has been constructed from huge boulders.  It's a lovely little tea room and we like to stop there for a coffee and a cake after a good walk in the mountains.  

I'm feeling quite inspired about doing this 30 paintings challenge again and am enjoying following some other artists who I've found are also participating, two of which I mentioned in yesterday's post, and here are two more you may be interested in Vandy Massey and Celia Blanco.  

Thank you for dropping by, hope you've all had a wonderful start to the New Year!

New Year New Challenge

I can't believe I haven't posted in over a month!!!!   Hope you're all still out there.  I'll make time to catch up with you in the next couple of days hopefully - although time will be an issue again in the next month as I've decided to take on Leslie Saeta's 30 paintings in 30 days challenge again!  I'm already 4 days behind but managed to knock out 3 this evening - I'm quite pleased with the cherries but the other two are a bit rushed - but at least they're paintings which I can add to the challenge!

Painting 1. 

Penguins from a photo by Victor McCabe (Paint my Photo)

Painting 2. 

Cherries from a photo by Alina (Paint my Photo)

Painting 3

Magnolia from a photo by Katrina Mac (Paint my Photo)

Hopefully I can keep up from now on and not have to do 3 in one evening!  There are lots of others joining in the challenge including Judith Farnworth and Claudia Hafner.  I'll share more participating artists as the month goes on.  I hope you'll enjoy following mine and other's efforts throughout the month and wish me luck - I'll need it!!!!