Hoarding Bits and Bobs

I'm always amazed when something that seems to have gone wrong in the first pass can eventually be turned into a much better something with a little time and perspective. 

This was a random doodle basically done as a stream of consciousness painting last Fall. No pre-planning just sketch out a pumpkin and some indian corn using only my brush. 

Wasn't happy with it - the husks from the corn were going every which way, defying gravity; it just wasn't speaking to me. And yet, I couldn't put it in my scrap/testing paper pile. Fast forward to this year where I had forgotten what my original intent was behind the exercise and sat down to see what I could salvage. This is what I came up with.

The husks are still as willy nilly as ever but i feel like this was more what I was hoping for. Knowing me, I'll continue to play with it - the husks continue to cry out for more attention in terms of texture and shadow - but at least I don't feel like I should be using it to test colours on either. 

A Hawk and a Wolf, in Acrylics, Oh My!

It's done! 

Things have been quiet here because I've been working on a commission that I received this summer to paint a metal crosscut saw. Not my usual substrate but a challenge I was up for. The brief was it needed to contain the owner's last name, a hawk and a wolf. And the teeth needed to be up because they look like lots of "H"s  - they do - which echoes back to the name. 

First off, my hat goes off to the sign painters of old who did this kind of work day in, day out by hand. It takes an incredibly steady touch and a ton of patience LOL. I had to constantly tell myself to slooooow down. That patience came in handy as well as I had to adjust to painting with acrylics. 

They work completely differently from my familiar watercolours.  It's been about three years since I've had them out of the cupboard to play and while w/c will always be my first love, I don't want to let another three years go by before I work in them again. To that end, I've signed up for a self scheduling class on Craftsy, that I will get into this fall.

 Here's a closer look at the hawk and wolf. It's hard to see here but I tried to make the moon show some of its craters so that it wasn't just a big ol' blob of light. Quite pleased with my hawk. Fingers crossed the client likes it too!

Touille - completed

Touille (c) Susan Langdon 2015   watercolour pencil on  8 x 10 inch 140 lb CP Strathmore paper

She is done and soon to be on her way to her new home. 

Touille - updated

There's still a lot to do on this but it's really starting to feel like Tweet looking back at  me! So far this is just dry watercolour pencil. 

What I'm currently working on

Now that I've sorted out my Windows 10 issues with Blogger - seems Google and Microsoft just can't play nicely together - I wanted to post this start to my portrait of Touille for my sister's birthday. So far so good - the face looks like her. Now I just have to get her to sit still long enough so I can get her calico markings right! 

Once the drawing is complete, I'm thinking I'll play it safer and start out with watercolour pencils so that I can feel a bit more in control before I start hitting it with water. 

ETA: Seeing it here I can see I need to make her pupils the same size otherwise it looks like she's had some sort of neuro injury.

Something a Little Different

This card is done using a glue resist I had seen used on Pinterest. The pumpkins were 'drawn' with ordinary white glue which was then allowed to dry overnight. 


This allowed it to flatten out somewhat but in the areas where I got a little heavy handed it's quite dimensional! The glue is then outlined in ink and the rest painted in as desired. 

Doesn't really show it here but it's kinda neat in person, very tactile. I'll definitely be using it again with other subjects. 

Line drawings

 

 

Just needed to 'see' for myself these line drawings before I go any further. The one on the left is both front and back of a 5 x 7 in card. The image on the front of the card will be watercoloured; the remainder of the image, once it's completed, will either be coloured or left as just the ink lines. I've seen cards where the design is carried over to the backside and wanted to give that a go myself. Not sure I'm making my idea clear here but it will make more sense when I've posted the completed page.

 

I'm also fairly pleased with the whippet line drawing - trying to get the proportions right was a bit of a struggle but I think I got there in the end. 

More Card Ideas

Previously I've printed some of my work as A2 size notecards for use as either general notecards or xmas cards but lately I've been more focused on hand painted A7 (5" x 7") cards that will be one offs. Here's a sample of what's been swirling around in my brain of late.

  

I think the one on the left surprised me the most as it started out as dobs of pink and blue paint randomly placed on a cream coloured wash, with no idea as to what the final outcome would be. I stepped away from it for a few hours and Alliums came to mind when I revisited it. A few simple ink stems and I'm calling it done.

The Emergence of Orange

Didn't realize until I went to post this one that orange has suddenly made a more prominent appearance in my work lately. Definitely not one of my usual hues but perhaps I'm gearing up for autumn.

A Couple of Card Ideas

 

Playing around with some 5 x 7 watercolour cardstock that I had on hand. (It's always good to shop at home!) The one on the left incorporates some stamps I had along with some line and wash work. The puffin was painted from a photograph by a UK photographer named Gary Jones, with permission granted via the Paint My Photo website. You can see more of his work at www.portraitsofnature.co.uk