Happy Snapping!

When it is so gorgeously hot and sunny outside it is very difficult to concentrate on painting. April and May have been dreadfully wet and cold so it was something of a shock to the system when all of a sudden the mercury shot up to 28 C. This, of course allows every single forecaster and newspaper headline to use that much over used phrase, "phew! What a scorcher!" Q'uelle surprise! (Oh, what a surprise!).   

Some of my favourite garden flowers are just coming into bud and promising a blaze of colour within the next few days. However, some of the wild flowers that seed themselves around the place, and always seem to add something of a supporting act to the showier roses and peonies, are already off!

What's this then? Perennial Cornflower
is so statuesque, and those flowers!

Ahhh, bless them. Aquilegias are so
reliable.

Hello there little guy! I can't blame this little
chap from taking advantage of a spot of shade 

That Aquilegia again.
I love the shape of these flowers. 

Always thinking ahead, I  thought it might be a good idea to get a few photos out of the way and into an album for use later on. Little P has been extremely busy and is becoming something of a trusted friend. Always reliable and handy enough to keep somewhere on my person at all times, (well you never know what you might see, such as a Dalek!) I have been impressed by the performance of this camera. 

Enjoy the British Summer while you can folks, by the end of the week it will all be over. Well, maybe. Anyway these pics might come in handy for the next assignment, Working from Photographs... Happy snapping! Onwards with my bramble leaves. 

2B Or Not 2B

Sorry about the outrageous use of Shakespeare but I couldn't resist the title for this post. Working on my latest piece, I have decided to finish some of the elements in pencil. The assignment suggests the look of sketchbook pages and therefore a mixed media approach would seem appropriate as this is how I tend to work on sketches anyway.

After completing the dissected rose hip in pencil, I decided to continue the graphite theme onto the underlying grasses that would accompany the Meadow Cranesbill. A certain amount of habitat is needed in this one and as the cranesbill is a tall, hedge bank specimen, I thought this would look nice with some grasses.

The Meadow Cranesbill sketch with
Couch Grass in colour.

As I wanted to keep to a lighter touch with the pencil, I decided not to over use any grades darker than 2B, (hence the title). Using too much of the darker grades would overpower the delicate lilac/blue of the cranesbill, and this, after all will be the focus.  

A bit faint, but work in progress.
Adding the background grasses to a Meadow Cranesbil.
Perhaps I should have finished the painting first.

Quick meadow update! The seeds have germinated, hurrah. Bring on the colour.

Bees and Other Bugs

Moving on with the fieldwork studies, the flowers of the Tutsan and dissections of the rose hip are finished. Now I am now tackling the stem of the Tutsan and then it's onto the leaves. The stem has a reddish tinge to it along with a pale mid-green. Of course for this my favourite Perylene Maroon will come into use.

Along with the five plant species, there is also the opportunity to add any insects that can be found within the chosen habitat. Oh goody I thought, I would really like to have a go at painting the odd insect, and so I have chosen a Buff-Tailed Bumble Bee and a little bright red Ladybird. For lots of inspiration on how to get my bee looking lifelike I have been paying lots of visits to Valerie Littlewood at Pencil and Leaf. Here you will see every kind of bee beautifully painted with the flowers they feed from.

Here are some sketchbook efforts:

What do they say about red and green? Should never be seen!
A really dodgy leaf but that's not the point!

A little fanciful perhaps, but a starting point nonetheless

The ultimate high-wire act

And just for the sheer indulgence of it...

Summer arrived today. After weeks of rain and this clematis
flower was bathed in sunshine and finally opened.

A Stitch in Time...

Vintage textiles are something of a passion of mine. There is something about the quality of the details and design of clothing from the past that really cannot be copied now. In particular any embroidery or beading would once have been completed by hand, wheras now any details can be replicated by machine, and anything done by hand puts a hefty premium on the price.

For me, the era from 1930 to the early 1950's captured everything in Britain, from pre-war growth to wartime thrift and then onto the continued post war rationing and the so-called 'New Look'. Designs were influenced by the economic state of  the country so the lack of everything from buttons to fabric started 'the make do and mend' ideal of remaking your own clothes which became a valued skill. Of course vintage is now seen as a fun trend of wearing something unique and 'retro' is celebrated in exuberant style at Wayne Hemingway's Vintage Festival in July.   

Looking through some of my collection reminded me of how beautiful textiles can be at one end of the design spectrum and at the other so functional. So whether it is a women's wartime naval overcoat or an early 1930's handpainted silk dressing gown, all of these things have their place in history. Oh, and I still wear all of mine, so here are a few favourites:

Short green silk, hand-embroidered dressing gown
from the 1940s.
It looks like the embelishment was added by the owner
as a way to make it more special. 

       

Early 1950's cotton lace blouse.
This one has tiny seed buttons and bobbles all around the edge 

This is a more modern embroidered design but still worthy.

  

This one is my absolute favourite and extemely fragile.
I didn't even dare iron it before taking this photo.
This is an early 1930's handpainted silk kimono style
dressing gown.
The design of chrysanthemums is all around the hem with
smaller flowers all over the rest of the garment. 

Happy!

After a couple of days of much feverish and nervous brushwork, the yellow flowers are nearly finished. Phew!! This is an enormous relief as, like with many of my counterparts on the SBA course, yellow flowers are something to be feared and avoided. However, Tutsan flowers are small and the yellow will balance the pinks and purples of the other wild flowers on the page.

This week has also seen me getting to grips with my Facebook profiles and joining the forums. After all of the lovely friend invites and comments, I can certainly see why people get addicted to networking. I am also extremely grateful for the patience of those folk who have been trying to get on my pages. Without me 'doing something' to it nothing will happen. Perhaps I should get a few pointers from the 10 year old next door? Of course this sort of thing must not allow me to neglect the job in hand, getting the DLDC finished and making sure I don't mess up the rest of my work.

Today should also see the arrival of my prints from my lovely new friends at the printers. I am very excited and will probably have my nose glued to the window all morning, keeping an eye out for postie! I just hope I can keep a steady hand to start on the leaves!

Just the bottom bud left and
perhaps a little more shading here and there, but quite happy!