Slow Technique

Suki commented a couple of posts back, that these water colours that I love to do, most likely take longer to make than looks suggest.

It is true that each section needs to be painted, then dried properly before the next section can be painted. Otherwise the colour will then bleed into the damp section next to it. It then needs to be completely dry before adding more concentrated colour or ink for further decoration. It's possible though, to use a hairdryer to speed things up.

I usually go about housework, cooking, phone calls , sometimes another painting, in between, leaving the artwork out on the kitchen table so I can go back to it easily. It is slow, but I do love this technique, because it seems to suit the art that I make.

Time To Smile

After lots of digging around lately, looking for unfinished pieces of mine, I found this watercolour & ink made some months ago. It was actually finished yet somehow left lurking in the drawer. I called it 'Happy Street', which sounds like something just around the corner from Sesame Street! We all want to live there of course!

Just in case you need to smile today......

Happier Endings

This watercolour fruit design I abandoned midway, thinking I had spoiled it. Today I pulled it out again and re-worked it and I'm happy with the result.

This red tree I also re-worked, deepening the red and green, and by making the flowers more decorative, then finally pasted it in my journal over red crepe paper.

I love happy endings!

Lucky Dip

This decorated envelope in my journal is a 'lucky dip' where I keep some ATC's (see below) that I made recently. They are short & sweet to make and provide a great distraction in the evenings when I'm maybe too tired for anything major.

I have had thoughts about a 'paper' patchwork quilt of some sort lately and these cards are giving me lots of ideas on just how I might create it.

If anyone's interested in trading, please feel free to leave a comment. Be quick though, before they're made into a quilt!

Journal Play

Journal play..... Squeezing in as much of it as I can, since I am predicting a busy time at our place very soon. The scanner hasn't picked up colours as they are really, but oh well, you get the general idea!

This was supposed to be a self-portrait, but her eyes are too round, her nose too long, lips too full and there are no wrinkles, so it can't be me LOL! The hair is me though!

Painting Outside

'succulent' - watercolour pencils

This succulent I transplanted from a larger plant recently and it sits in a terracotta pot in the backyard. It is doing really well and on Saturday the sun was shining onto our deck and the sky was clear & blue. What else would you do, but take your water colour pencils & brushes outside to do some painting?

After I paint or draw something that's in front of me like this, I always have a very strong sense afterwards that I 'know' the subject intimately, whether it be something mundane like a teaspoon, or a living thing like this plant.

It's as though that information has been scanned into my 'computer' and the information is forever there, to be re-called at any time in the future. It would be interesting to try this exercise and see if I can re-paint the plant from my 'photographic' memory.

Blue Fish, Pink Water & A Zebra

Are you tired of fish yet? I'm not! :)

Messing around in my journal is always fun when there's fish involved! I've been enjoying doing a little collage lately too. Cutting up magazines, getting sticky with paper glue and painting over everything with gesso. Mostly I've been inspired by a book my sister sent me - Artist's Journals & Sketchbooks by Lynne Perrella A wonderful book!


Collage takes many twists and turns and I often end up far from where where I started. That's the beauty of it to me. This is just one of my efforts. Next time I think I will make a paper quilt...

Water colour & water-colour pencils

Vegetables under the ground, pushing through the layers of soil as they grow, happily (my vegetables are organic!) absorbing all those lovely nutrients.

We often think of ourselves as only growing upwards into the sunlight, though simultaneously we are growing deeply, down inside, where no one else can see. A richer kind of growth.

I'm itching to do more water colour, but first we have a Sunday soccer match to watch and there is an acrylic painting in my studio, only just started, that needs some attention. Lots to look forward to today!

Big Fish

A Big Fish (water-colour & water-colour pencil). I'm not happy about the green in this, it looks a little out of place. I will probably change it to blue or blue/green or maybe even purple - what do you think?

As soon as I began making the scales on the fish, more inspiration came rolling in. One thing tends to lead to another. You just have to keep putting something, anything, on the paper or canvas in front of you, then ideas slip into your mind. For me fish led to vegetables (don't ask how!)

I'm now making another painting/drawing of vegetables growing in a vegie patch. Colourful and decorative, even when they're beneath the ground! Stay tuned...

Happy Fish

A while ago I found Lori Rase Hall's video painting demo, where she shared her technique for making gorgeous water-colours. It really inspired me back then and I made a few that I felt made the grade, and a few that were flops :) If you like speed painting, have a look here and here. It's magic to watch.

Once the main colour goes on (after patiently waiting for each section to dry) the design is embellished with patterns & lines and with a deeper colour & consistency of paint, or using pens. Last easter weekend I re-visited the technique and spent the whole day practicing. This was the best result and I'm looking forward to doing some more. Practice, practice, practice!

If I Were.....

Everyone's doing this one, it's very thought provoking!

If I were a month I’d be a southern hemisphere, autumn April

If I were a day I’d be any day.
If I were a time of day I’d be sunrise.
If I were a font I’d be monotype corsiva.
If I were a sea animal I’d be a seahorse.
If I were a direction I’d be east.
If I were a piece of furniture I’d be a white wicker rocking chair on a sunny veranda.
If I were a liquid I’d be scented rosewater.
If I were a gemstone I’d be a moonstone.
If I were a tree I’d be a tropical frangipani.
If I were a tool I’d be a paint brush.
If I were a flower I’d be a hibiscus.
If I were an element of weather I’d be a cool autumn afternoon.
If I were a musical instrument I’d be a classical guitar.
If I were a color I’d be lapis lazuli.
If I were an emotion I’d be enthusiasm.
If I were a fruit I’d be a juicy mango.
If I were a sound I’d be a chortling magpie in the early morning.
If I were an element I’d be water.
If I were a car I’d be a Mini.
If I were a food I’d be a fennel & white cannelini bean stew with mint.
If I were a place I’d be Spain.
If I were material I’d be cotton.
If I were a taste I’d be mascarpone laced with icing sugar and mixed berries.
If I were a scent I’d be morning coffee.
If I were a body part I’d be my hands.
If I were a song I’d be 'Don't You Think it's Time' by Bob Evans.
If I were a bird I’d be a colourful lorikeet.
If I were a gift I’d be compassion.
If I were a city I’d be steeped in history.
If I were a door I’d be always open.
If I were a pair of shoes I’d be off my feet and resting at the front door.
If I were a poem I’d be An Imaginary Life written by me.

Someone to Watch Over Me

Who is watching you watching me? :) Oil pastels have such gorgeous pigment and smooshiness, they constantly make me happy!

With Easter on my mind, this popped up in a corner of my journal. A serene, smiling angel to watch over me.

The colours have turned out a pale blue & a snazzy lime green here via the scanner. It's more of an iconic gold & deep blue in my journal. How does that happen?