Meet Winston!

I had a busy day yesterday, finishing the painting of Winston for the Friday Foto challenge on www.paintingfriends.com , then creating my first Zazzle store in an effort to make some money from my obsession!

Here's Winston the French Bulldog, he owns Desiree Habicht's daughter and her family. Apparently he's a terror, but how could a face like that be hiding a monster?

Winston -
14x10, watercolours on Fabriano Artistico Xtrawhite HP

My new Zazzle store is very much a work in progress, but if you would like to have a look you will find it at http://www.zazzle.co.uk/RSHarts*

Playing with Acrylic Inks and texture

Last year Deb Townsend demonstrated how she uses tissue paper and acrylic medium to create interesting textures and patterns on canvas. I was fascinated and recently bought some small canvases to try out the technique for myself.

Once the tissue paper is stuck down and dry, gesso is applied over the top to give a good painting surface and also add more texture. I used acrylic inks to add vibrant colour.

The design is inspired by Deb's original work, but the colours were my own. My son likes it so much he wants it, and two more in different colours for his room!

Spring Forest
8" x 8", acrylic inks and collage on canvas

A First

Solitary Daisy -
8" x 8" gallery wrapped canvas

This is my first acrylic on canvas, it's so completely different from anything I've done before but I enjoyed it!

Shout it from the rooftops

This was painted for the Mindbender challenge on Painting Friends forum, the idea is to take a reference image that is too busy and find an interesting composition within it. The reference was mine, taken in Conwy, North Wales, and this is only a tiny part of the original photo.

About 10 x 14 on Fabriano Artistico rough 140lb

Shout it From the Rooftops -

10x14, watercolours on paper

Trying new things

It' s sometimes fun to try different methods and media - here's a watercolour on masa paper that I did before Christmas. The crinkled masa paper creates interesting textures and the pigments look more vibrant.

Autumn Gold -
14x10, watercolour on masa paper

Another new year

It's hard to believe another year has passed, where does the time go?

At the moment we are suffering the worst weather I can remember, at least 4 inches of snow (in a country that rarely gets more than 1 inch). I needed to do something to cheer me up, tulips are always cheerful so I dug out a reference photo I took quite a while ago and set to work.

About 12x10, watercolours on Fabriano Artistico extra white CP 14olb paper.

Pink Ladies #2

Song of Summer - WIP

It's been a while, the garden has been demanding my attention, which means less time to paint, but the reward is plenty of exciting reference material for future watercolours!

I have found a bit of time though, and wonderful inspiration from a visit to an open garden 2 weeks ago.

I took photos of my progress, so this is a sort of WIP except it has already been finished!

Distilled Sunlight

Daffodils on a bright spring day - they really are like the purest sunlight!

I tried to keep colours more delicate than my usual style uses - I wanted a fresh, soft look, not too many dark areas. I think I succeeded!

Distilled Sunlight
Watercolour on Fabriano paper, 12.5 x 10 inches

Exciting news! I added this painting to my RedBubble account tonight and it has already been featured!!!!!

What is Watercolour?

Katherine Tyrell has an in-depth article about this often divisive question on her blog, Making a Mark today - it's well worth reading!

For me, watercolour is just that - watercolour paint (as labelled on the tube or pan), activated with water and painted on paper. Anything else should be labelled as watermedia. If, once dried, paint cannot be re-activated with water it isn't watercolour. I think it would be a terrible shame if the traditional media of watercolour, used by so many of our great artists in the past, was lost in a sea of watered down acrylics!

Wishing for Spring

When this challenge was posted on painting friends I had to have a go at painting it! The idea is to choose one of a selection of references and paint it in two hours or less - not easy but fun!

Narcissus
9 x 7 inches, Fabriano Artistico extra white paper

Pink and White

Another from last year, inspired again by the stunning Bodnant Gardens, near Conwy, North Wales.

I have a bit of a reputation for backgrounds, but for this I decided to leave the background as the white of the paper. I think it works really well, letting the echinacea take centre stage with no distractions!

Pink and White
14 x10, watercolours on Fabriano Artistico 140lb CP paper

Beach Pebbles

My second play with acrylic inks, this time with a wider range of colours at my disposal. There was a challenge on paintingfriends.com to draw with ink, and without lifting the pen from the paper (known as "contour drawing"). I decided to combine it with an experiment in glazing with acrylic inks.

The results aren't bad! I like the colours and the inks act almost in the same way as watercolours, with the main difference being the inability to lift colours once dry!

Beach Pebbles, Acrylic ink on watercolour paper, 9 x 7.5 inches

A New Medium

My birthday was yesterday, and my children decided, in their infinite wisdom, that it was about time I tried something new. My gift was a small set of acrylic inks in delicious colours! They hadn't found any blues, kind of important, so I was told to get myself some more and they'd pay. I found a great deal and ended up buying six more colours and also some Atelier Interactive acrylics - heck, if I have to learn a new media I might as well throw myself into it!

It's kind of scary starting out with a totally alien material - learning what it will and won't do, how it differs from watercolour, but it's scary in a good way! Watercolours will always be my passion but it'll do me good to play with the bright acrylic colours too.

A short session with my new paints/inks shows how exciting they are going to be! This was a very quick sketch with no real planning but I kinda like it!

Tulip Rainbow #2

I wasn't thrilled with my first tulip painting (Primary Tulips) so I immediately started again with a different reference image! I'm very happy with the way this one turned out, there was no masking involved, colours were allowed to move and blend, but overall the effect isn't busy.

Tulip Rainbow #2, watercolours on paper, 14x10

Summers End

Back to the catch-ups! I saw this hydrangea while visiting Bodnant Gardens in North Wales last September. I love the colours that the previously white flowers (although technically they're bracts) turned as they faded. It's quite muted for me, but I really like how it turned out!

Summers End, Watercolour, 14x10 inches

Primary Tulips

It's tulip time - the shops are full of colourful bunches, and I can never resist buying a bunch of mixed colours. I think the recent snowy weather got to me and affected my palette for this painting!

Primary Tulips, 10x14 inches on Fabriano Artistico watercolour paper.

Sunburst #2

Here's my finished sunflower! I'm very pleased with how it turned out, especially that I managed to retain the freshness of my colours and looseness of my brush strokes. It's very easy to overwork watercolours and make the colours muddy.

Finished, but no photo yet!

The sunflower is done, and I can honestly say I'm glad! Sometimes I start a new work and feel incredibly excited, but the process is interrupted and I lose the real excitement and end up plodding along. That's what happened with this sunflower.

Oh well, here's the final progress image!

Nearly There

This is taking so much longer than I anticipated! One more push and it should be done though.

Sunflower - more progress

The weekend is always busy in the Harris house, with people in and out constantly, so it's nice to find even a few minutes to paint amid the chaos!

I got a little further with the background (or setting) for the sunflower, and jumped in with my darkest darks in the centre.