A rescued stag and Challenge no.1

I painted this over a year ago and didn't like it so I thought I'd do a little experiment and try and do a rescue attempt on it - I lifted out the original background and added more washes to the stag and the water reflections underneath and now I quite like it - well it's better than it was anyway!!!!  The original painting was very flat with no tonal value  - It was fun getting out an old painting and seeing if it could be improved upon, it made me realise that my painting has improved a bit over the past year or so!!

After Polly Birchall posted some old school paintings on her blog, I said I would do the same so here are a couple of sketches from my VERY old sketchpad - from 1985!!!  I still kick myself for not continuing with art after I left school and leaving it til now but making up for lost time now!

Even back then my favourite subject to draw was wildlife and portraits.   

And for those of you who are interested in joining in with the monthly painting challenge I've just started on my facebook page here is the first photo - it's one of Gary's and is of 2 greylag geese strutting their stuff in the snow - I think he's captured great character in these geese, why not have a go, any medium, any style, I'd love to see what you artists out there come up with, I'll be having a go as well of course - if you post the result on your blog I'll copy and paste it on to here for everyone to see with a link to your blog and with your permission I'll post it to my facebook page as well - just a bit of fun, happy painting xxx

Practicing portraits

As promised I put down the paintbrush for the night and picked up the pencils to get some pencil practice in ready for the possible portrait commission that is in the pipeline - wow that is a lot of p's to get your tongue around - good job I'm typing this and not saying it!!  Anyway I'd promised (another p!) my dad I would have a go at his idol Bob Dylan some time so that's who I decided to have a go at - I grew up with the music of Bob Dylan - my dad used to sing Sara to me with his guitar - one of my favourite Dylan songs as well as many others - Tangled up in Blue, Shelter from the Storm, Lay Lady Lay - I could go on........Dylan is an artist as well and his artwork sells for thousands - though my dad much prefers his music and lyrics to his artwork - and says his artwork is a load of rubbish - a bit harsh I said - my dad prefers photo realistic art - so he's not overly impressed with my paintings either- although he likes my drawings - so hopefully he will like this - he hasn't seen it yet but I know he will tell me straight whether he likes it or not and whether he thinks it's a good likeness - yikes - besides ourselves I think family are our worst (or best) critics don't you think - as in they will tell you straight what they think!  This is not a perfect likeness by far but  hopefully you can tell it's a young Bob Dylan - looking at it now I've posted it I can see things wrong and will probably have to go back and tweak it some more

This second pencil portrait is from a photo by Li Newton on Paint my Photo - she has photographed many of the locals on San Salvador island and this is one of them  - Lloyd - Li says some people call him the strongest man on the island.  I really liked his face and gentle eyes.

Lloyd from a photo by Li Newton
by Sharon Whitley the rambling artist

As always I look forward to hearing your comments....

Portrait Commission

Yesterday out of the blue I was given a commission to do a portrait - a lovely lady who brings her grandson to the language and play sessions that I run (that's my day job!) asked me if I do pencil work and when I said yes she asked me if I could do a portrait of a couple she knows for their anniversary - 'yikes!!!!' I thought but a little voice inside me said 'go for it'  - so I said I would have a go but if she didn't like the finished result there would be no obligation to buy  - so it takes the pressure off a little bit!   I haven't done graphite portraits for months and months so it is a bit daunting   -  ' Better get some practice in this week' I thought -  before I get the photo for the commission! - so the watercolours may be on the back burner for a few days and you'll be bombarded with my graphite attempts!   I've been so obsessed with watercolours for the last year that I've completely neglected all other mediums!  I do enjoy working with graphite and have done a few portraits but am definitely a bit out of practice.  One of the last portraits I did was the above one - Li Newton lives in San Salvador and takes the most beautiful photographs of the people who live there - and has very generously posted many of them to PaintmyPhoto.  I've drawn and painted a few of her photographs and this is probably my favourite.

Rachael from San Salvador from a photo by Li Newton

So I'll be sharpening my pencils after tea tonight and getting back into the graphite work - wish me luck!!!

Practice, practice and more practice!!

After I'd been painting for about a month I came across the ning sites of I Draw and Paint and Paint my Photo and The Painting Loft - all these sites had monthly exercises to do and I used these for inspiration.  I went through a phase of drawing portraits after my youngest daughter asked me to draw her and found that there were monthly challenges to draw portraits on ID&P so I used this for inspiration.

Graphite portrait of daughter Sian

I went through a phase of doing quite a few graphite portraits and really enjoyed them although I haven't done one for some time. The last one I did was again, at Sian's request, her favourite actor and singer - and think she has a bit of a crush on him! - Jaydn Smith

Uploading these has reminded how much I enjoyed drawing these - must get those pencils out again soon!!!

There is also a watercolour challenge on ID&P each month hosted by Bix who has become a wonderfully supportive online friend.  I took inspiration from the photos she posted and enjoyed trying them out.  It's really interesting to see how different artists interpret the same photograph, no paintings were the same.  I was painting things I'd probably never have chosen to paint myself and I think it really helped me to improve.  I was painting something most nights and getting feedback from other artists which was really helpful. Practice, practice, practice ........... and more practice, that's the key!

Pebbles - painted for Bix's watercolour challenge in Feb 2011 

Marbles - painted for Bix's watercolour challenge - Feb 2011

Beach Scene painted for Bix's watercolour challenge May 2011

Link to I Draw and Paint