26 September 2011

James's jungle

I've had fun over the last few weeks painting a big picture for the nursery of my new nephew. Finally delivered it at the weekend, so now I can share it here my blog.


And some details:









Acrylic on canvas, 20" by 30". This was so much fun to do, loads of initial sketches of the animals and plants, then putting it all together. Took longer than I thought it would though - it's all a learning curve!

20 September 2011

Year of Painting - cardinal

Here's what I did for this month's Year of Painting challenge, over on the Painting Friends forum, a study and a sketch (maybe I'll do a painting one day!). I'm not familiar with this bird other than from photographs (it's North American) but it looks fairly similar to the waxwings we sometimes see here in the UK in the coldest of our winters. Ref photo courtesey of mensatic at Art Morgue, thank you!





Both are around the same size, 8" by 6" (ish). I did the ink and wash sketch first; I went in with the paint first, putting down general areas of colour where I saw them, then refined with the pen, then back in with more paint. For the wc study I did a quick freehand pencil sketch first, followed by several fairly thin washes.


The ink and wc sketch was done very quickly, the wc study I took more time over. Having done the sketch definitely helped when I started the study (I did them side by side, on the same piece of paper).


Watercolour/watercolour and ink. 8" by 6".

05 September 2011

Red kite, ongoing

At the moment I'm painting a picture for the nursery of my impending nephew or niece, so in the meantime here's another piece I've been working on, off and on...


This is based on a photo by Tom Melton on Birdforum, with permission. This is the biggest watercolour painting I've attempted - a full sheet. I started it over a year ago when, full of enthusiasm, I got it drawn out. I then found that it was almost impossible to actually work on it without having to clear absolutely everything away first, so it lurked, propped against the wall... One house move later and I find myself with more room, so it's seen the light of day once more and I've been painting it, slowly....

Image is clickable for a closer look as always.

Watercolour, 22" by 30"


Related Posts with Thumbnails