10 minutes a day #535

Daily painting #535. Pen and watercolour from sketchbook NFS

We have been packing sweets into decorated jars for my daughter's market day at school....I just can't resist Liquorice Allsorts!

I have been trying to encourage those in my classes to draw for just 10 minutes a day! So I decided to put myself to the test as I have been told 10 minutes is not long enough. We are all pressed for time in our busy days and so my feeling is that if 10 minutes is all you have then make it work for you! So I put my oil brushes and paints aside today and worked in my sketchbook. I realized how much I enjoy working in my sketch book and how, since I started Paintings in the post, I don't spend enough time 'playing' or journaling in my sketchbooks as I did before. I also realized that I found it quite difficult to get something I was happy with and that maybe I need to 'play' a bit more! Drawing is fundamental  in developing your ability to 'see' and the better you draw, the better you paint .....my personal opinion. I have been doing LOTS of painting and not enough drawing. I am off to Cape Town at the end of the month with my daughter and my Mum ....10 days of  'girly fun' and I think I will take my sketchbook and watercolours for my daily paintings. Traveling by air with oil paints and wet paintings is always such an issue so I think it will be a good excuse to 'play' for a few days in my sketchbook! It will be a break in routine in more ways than one!

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Pearl Earrings #534

Daily painting #534 4"x6" oil on primed canvas panel

These were lost....and now they are found! I am one very happy lady!

Painting small is always a challenge....painting small little earrings and getting them to look like what they are is an even greater challenge. Today my patience and resolve was tested! This canvas is only 4" x 6" so these little earrings are tiny.

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Kingfisher #533

Daily painting #533 6"x8" oil on primed canvas panel 

Today I worked from a photo that I took during the week of a beautiful Kingfisher that regularly visits our garden. During the night a swarm of flying ants had moved through our garden and many of them had landed in our swimming pool and were floating on the surface of the water, having lost their wings. What a feast for the birds! This shy Kingfisher sat on our wooden fence and on nearby branches, swooping down to skim the swimming pool surface and catch his breakfast. What a breakfast he had...a feast for him and a feast for our eyes! Hope he visits again soon!

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Protea #532

Daily painting #532 5"x7" oil on primed canvas panel

On reflection .....it's been quite a floral week!

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What a start #531

Daily painting #531 6"x6" oil on primed canvas panel

A bright, crisp, clear start to a hot day.

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Thursday roses #530

Daily painting #530 8"x10" oil on primed canvas panel

I knew that when I posted the daily painting yesterday of the rose demonstration I would be setting myself up for trouble with my other classes! My Thursday painting class weren't missing out and wanted a rose demonstration too! So ....another daily painting...another demonstration of my roses for the Thursday class!

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Wednesday roses #529

Daily painting #529 8"x8" oil on primed canvas panel 

A couple of weeks ago I demonstrated on a board in my painting class a couple of inky techniques which one could use as an interesting undercoat for a painting or as the base for a more abstract piece of work. It had been left lying on a shelf and so yesterday when a few of the ladies in my painting class asked me to demonstrate painting roses in a more 'loose' technique using a palette knife or other materials to apply the paint, I reached for the same board and proceeded to paint. I quite like the way the hint of yellow ink shows through and how the ink in the lower left hand corner gives a lace like feel to the surface area. I decided to let it show through. It was a fun, quick demonstration....my daily painting...painted in front of a live audience....my ever faithful and complimentary art students!

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