CREATING ART THE AMATEUR WAY

This is a painting of autumn leaves using Sennelier paint on white Arches cold press paper, 140lb. The funniest thing, I can't quite remember how I did it. I think I drew a lot of leaf shapes, painted them vibrantly using two colours on each, then between them in black. Then, to give depth, I used transparent paint for leaf shapes over some of the black areas so that the black would show through. The detail and outlining of the leaves would be done by pen. Finally, a splash of various coloured paint over the entire painting. 

This was another painting that was way out of my comfort zone. For one thing, it was created in the Strathmore watercolour journal and it's a bit like trying to paint on hot press. Paint lifts so easily off that surface when rewetted and the paint skates around but I admit, I am a poor workwoman blaming her tools. I first saw this 'Native American' figure on YouTube; his name is Alexandro Querevalú and he originally comes from Peru but now lives in Poland! I'll put a link to his website and YouTube channel on my Pages in case you want to check him out.  It took me longer than usual to paint this and I admit I was losing both heart and patience by the time I decided to stop faffing around with it and move on.  To get a decent video using Grok Imagine took a bit of time.  It's early days for this xAI but I think I got there.  What often happens is that you type instructions but things, objects, suddenly appear and disappear, which is not quite what I wanted.  I am...

I love this photo that I took while visiting Temple Newsam, West Yorkshire, back in 2014 and decided to have a go at painting it. Didn't do it justice, I know, but this is my first attempt at painting such a scene and I learned a few things.  Temple Newsam watercolour What did I learn? 1) Masking tape is a so and so to get off my Strathmore watercolour journal, so best avoid it when possible. 2) A trick which I saw all too late on the YouTube channel 'Watercolor by Shibasaki' for an easy way to paint leaves on a tree in an abstract fashion is by using crumpled up paper pressed onto paint and then dabbing it onto paper; I will definitely remember that. I'll put a link to the video on my External Links page. 3) Remember when paint dries it is lighter. I had painted the whole page in a pale blue so, clearly, it was too pale. 4) I learned that I should learn to walk before I try to run; this photograph was way too challenging for my level of skill. Actually, I learn that le...

This painting was done with Sennelier watercolours paints. I quite like the result, the vibrancy of it all, but I had difficulty with the light shining on the other objects. It's still not right, I'm sure anyone would agree. I lit the lamp as an afterthought and created the light on surrounding objects by damping the paper and lifting paint off the painting with a brush.  I created the stripes on the table by using masking tape and leaving the white of the paper untouched. Every painting of mine has something about it that I would change if I started all over again (in this painting it is the light thrown onto the table and vases that is not right) but each mistake is a lesson learned — right? — and it's more important to have fun unless, of course, you are professional artist and your livelihood depends on the quality of your work.    Objects on a striped table with lamplight I used Grok imagine to create a cute animation from my painting. I couldn't decide which I lik...

I wanted to do a vibrant painting using watercolours the heavy-handed modern way and I think I cracked it with this one! The colours shout off the paper. There were no objects in front of me when I did it, no set up, just a medley of shapes out of imagination.  I like it in spite of the obvious errors of judgement. The purple vase on the right has that ridiculous curve at the top, supposedly resembling the top of a vase (or candle or something?) and I really should have just left it square like the others... ...and just look at the shape of the vase in the forefront - the bulge. At least it's not leaning towards the right (or left) as so many of my subjects do if I am not careful. Could I alter it? Would I alter it? No. I think it is things like this that add extra character to a painting. A topic for conversation (and critical abuse).  😆 I remember when I did this painting, a year ago now, how I totally messed up the bottom half. See the texture on the red and the black? Thi...