Explaining my recent paintings.

As shown in my paintings,I have been doing lots of watercolours and have been using some old photos as a resource.As shown in the boat scenes I experimented with repositioning the boats,I changed the format and also altered the scene to remove the car and include a couple of people.I enjoyed the challenge of using the same scene but creating different paintings.

I also experimented with a new style in acrylics too and tried a more abstract approach in the landscape scenes.This was fun.

Next I tried to be very creative and used inks to paint some very abstract paintings.Totally different!

I attended a workshop on abstraction a few weeks ago but have not really worked out going from realism to abstraction,so I intend to spend a lot of time in the next few weeks working on this challenge.

Latest paintings

This acrylic painting was from a scene in France where we painted en plein air. 

A water colour. I took a photo of this scene through the window of a car.

A watercolour depicting a wintry day

A watercolour of a scene in Croatia.

A watercolour of a scene on Torcello near Venice

Wet in wet

What fun I have had since I last wrote.

I have been forced to work more slowly,which is probably a good thing,as I have been trialling "wet in wet" with my board and paper thoroughly wet.Some paintings have worked ,some have not.I find it hard to know when I should add more paint or whether I should let it dry completely  then re wet the paper.I suppose I will just have to keep on experimenting until I become more familiar with the process.It is a challenge though.

More photos of recent work

A winter's day!

Two months since I updated my Blog.I have as much enthusiasm as ever and continue to strive to improve my painting.I have been trying to paint watercolours on hot press paper,wet in wet sometimes,using less pigment and attempting occasionally to paint without drawing up as I saw a recent visiting artist do.Looks easy when he does it!I must try to be more patient and wait before going back into the wet paint .

As well as watercolour I have done a few acrylic paintings.Some are successful,others not so good.I like to keep a record of my work so that I can refer back to it and sometimes wonder how I achieved a particular result.

Using hot press paper

Watercolour

Trees

G

Using tertiary colours

Experimentation with varying types of paper

Since my workshop with Victorian artist Ev Hales in Pt Fairy last year I have been trying out hot press,cold press and rough papers with varying degrees of success.Ev.makes it all seem so easy.I think at the moment that I am handling rough paper,Arches 300gm better than smooth paper.However I will persevere trying to  figure out  what subjects are best suited for a particular paper.

I love the work of some Chinese and Japanese artists who paint so softly in very muted tones using tertiary colours.I am intrigued with their work and have tried doing some Japanese scenes using soft colours.Just a beginning!

The Murray River

Acrylic

Acrylics

Recent paintings

A New Year has Arrived!

Christmas and New Year are over again.

It was wonderful having the whole family here on Christmas Eve after the Vigil Mass.

To witness the young children opening their presents is always so lovely to watch and hear as they comment on what they have just received from grandparents ,aunts ,uncles and cousins.Lots of photos are always taken of course and will be kept for future reference.My present was an art voucher for one hundred dollars from Kris Kringle.So thoughtful and knowing. !

How to spend that money wisely is my immediate thought.I think it will be used for more watercolour paper.

I know I was determined to conquer how to use hot press paper but I am still finding this difficult and I have been using the backs of old cold press rough which I am loving as the granulation is wonderful.What should I paint ?

I keep returning to flowers despite telling myself to try something different.I have tried to work loosely but haven't been happy with the results.I will go on trying !Yesterday I tried a couple of landscapes using colour schemes I don't usually use.While over at Pt.Fairy I saw a lonely two storied house with some windswept trees so I put this house in my landscapes.It was fun experimenting.

I want to have a few more attempts at the reflections I saw where the boats are moored.I did enjoy sketching with a black pen over the top of the splodged paint too so I really have lots of choices.Back to the drawing board !!