What Colour do you Call That?

The last couple of days really have been busy. First up is getting the frames right for my work, beginning with the mount, (mat). Trying different shades of cream, ivory, old white, new white, nearly white, off white, sail sheet white... whatever you want to call it, I ended up with just plain white. After all that, all I can say is, the creative brains in the colour marketing department at Farrow and Ball really have got a lot to answer for. Double mounting with that madam? Heavens, it gets worse.

That perfect combination? Nature does it so well

With names like Pointing, Great White, Lime White,
Wimborne White and All White, the Farrow and Ball colour
chart is a little daunting.
Luckily for me, the selection of whites, creams and neutrals for
mounts and frames is not so extensive.
Just the white one then please.

Anyway, now happy with the mount colour and style, it's onto frames, (here we go again). Now, do you want bleached, whitewashed, waxed, antiqued, aged, painted, satin, gloss...stop, that's quite enough, just get those bits off the wall and we'll try the bloomin' lot. Needless to say, after a long but actually quite enjoyable afternoon, we are all now happy with the choices, and my happy framer is busy in his workshop toiling away on my selection. Can't wait to see how these ones turn out, as I will use the same style for the SBA pieces next year. At least that's one job that can be ticked off the list. Now then, what's next? Ah yes, now what colour did we agree agree on for the bedroom?









 

 

A Bit of Quiet Time

What a lovely, peaceful weekend I have just enjoyed. Saturday morning was taken up with a private lesson and as it was a lovely, sunny day, we went out into the garden to collect some subjects to paint. Just as were getting going, postie arrived with my copy of the Rory McEwan book, Colours of Reality. Oh goody, but alas I had to wait for a whole hour before I could delve into it. When we next get into London, I will be beating a path to the Shirley Sherwood Gallery at Kew for the, Rory McEwan's Legacy Exhibition. 

As much as I dare show you.
Inside is a wealth of deliciousness,
but respect of copyright prevents further divulgences.
You'll just have to get your own copy.
 

Ooh, that tantalising glimpse.

A quiet lunch followed, just me, as 'Husband' was at work for most of the day. What could have been better, a cup of tea in the sun with Radio 4 for company and a good read through my eagerly waited for book. Lovely. Then came my delivery from Jackson's. Paper and paints arrived in a huge box and it felt a bit like my birthday with all the packages building up, especially when my custom mounts arrived too, (I should really cut my own, just lazy this time). All present and correct, so on with the rest.

Lots of exciting new developments are in the wind for the next couple of months and I have been quite overwhelmed with all the gorgeously generous comments I have received about my work. The next few weeks will be taken up lots of organising, emails and phone calls here, there and everywhere. Oh and the hunt for a website designer is over, so World Wide Web here we come. Full steam ahead, although at some point it would be nice to have a holiday.

Trying new mounts for prints.
Pale cream goes quite well with the colours of the ivy.
Or maybe white?
Once the decision is made, they will be bagged and labelled.
 

 

   

 

 

 

  

Artfull Artichokes

Well, the artichoke seeds arrived, and as they are 'my department' I set about getting some seeds sown and tucked up nice and warm in a little propagator in the conservatory. Hopefully, even with the very little warmth we have had recently they will germinate, and make a stately appearance in the garden later. Having seen some of the truly beautiful botanical paintings of these fabulous vegetables by other artists, I can't wait to give them a go. Just take a look at the artichoke pieces by Susannah Blaxill and Yvonne Glenister Hammond to see what I mean. Meanwhile, feast your eyes on this beauty.

Two types of artichoke, green and purple will grace the garden.
Mind you, just reading the sowing instructions tells me
these should be in by now.
Pumpkin 'Munchkin', how could I not with a name like that. 

That particular project is some way off, so while I wait for the artichokes it's onto Clematis montana. yes, I have gone with the clematis as I just can't wait any longer to get something on the board and houseplants really aren't my thing. In fact, I tend to kill houseplants and only really have outdoor 'green fingers'. The only indoor thing that seems to do OK is orchids of all things. Strange but true.

The buds on these are always so pretty.

An obsession with thumbnails.
Or vignettes as I like to think of them, are my
little watercolour sketches that I make whilst
trying out compositions.

So, clematis. The fabulous and inspirational gardener Christopher Lloyd who created the stunning gardens at Great Dixter adored clematis, and used them to great effect throughout his planting schemes. As we have no natural height or change of level in our garden, we have planted a number of spring and summer flowering clematis to scramble over trellis, walls and through trees to create a 'layered' feel to our own plot. The clematis montana that covers the roof of the, 'bomb shelter' was the very first plant we added to the garden when we moved here, so has a rather sentimental meaning for me.  Rather apt that it should now form my first composition since graduating from the SBA course. 

 

 

Four Square Meals

After my recent bought of yukky horribleness I am still trying to get the routine back into a smooth running machine. Usually by now, the blog updates will be ready and waiting for a few tweaks here and there and the inclusion of some snaps before pre-scheduling the publication dates. All very organised and sorted. Not so for the past week, and there has been much rushing about here and there trying to get everything done. It will be a relief when all is back on an even keel.

Work-wise is still a bit slow as I await the flowering of the yellow wort for the Irish alphabet. Working on something else in the meantime will get more done and I have got my eye on some pretty clematis montana and Bramley apple blossom currently looking their best in the garden. Please, just stay dry for a couple of days to allow the flowers to open.

Clematis montana
This one has perfectly pink buds
opening to pale pink-white flowers.
The acidy-green centres give a welcome zest.  

The Bramley apple has got one of my favourite blossom flowers.
Clear pink buds open to flowers with the most delicious scent.
 

The laptop has been red-hot this weekend as ordering of bits and bobs needed to be done. Mount boards, cello wraps for work, paints, paper and even some globe artichoke seeds all got ordered. I have always wanted to have a go at growing artichokes, and even though I don't really eat them much, they will look fabulous in the flower border. Postie will be a busy bunny this week delivering all my goodies!    

 

In the garden this weekend, 'Husband' worked extremely hard, between rain showers, to finish the last touches to the new veg patch. As the area is a huge square and far to big to tend all in one go, we decided to divide it up a bit. A pathway of old bricks did the job nicely and now we have four very manageable plots, which will give us plenty of produce throughout the rest of the year. Tomatoes, green beans and butternut squash also got planted up, to add to the abundance already in large pots waiting for patch space, so now all we need is a summer.

Our higgledy-piggledy veg patch.
The beds will be raised using planks,
then refilled with soil and compost, ready for planting.

 

 

Bramley, again.
Worth having in the garden for the display of blossom alone.
 

 

 

 

Graduation, no Not Me!

Now, here's a thing. On a letter as big as a piece of A4, how am I going to tackle the graduated wash that is requested? Hmmm, it's OK getting this sort of wash on a small area such as a leaf or petal, but getting it right on something that is somewhat larger is going to take some practice.

My letter 'D' for the Irish alphabet project looks a bit like an upside down capital 'Q' in the English alphabet and will need to be darker in colour at the top, with a lovely graded wash to almost nothing at the bottom. In amongst the letter, in true illuminated style, will be the plant with its buds, leaves and flowers to break it up a bit, but I am not sure that this will make things easier or harder. The dreaded masking fluid may need to be utilised here to keep the wash smooth around the flowers and stems.

Small practice thumbnail.
The graded wash for the letter will disappear into the foliage.
Some habitat amongst the flowers, will 'ground'
the composition quite nicely, I think. 

 

So, although the final piece will be rendered in Sennelier Light Grey, I thought I would have a few practice runs using colours I already have. It's an interesting development, that over the course of the diploma I have stopped using ready mixed greys altogether and always mix my own neutrals from the colours I am using at the time. To start with, I relied on colours such as Payne's Grey and Neutral Tint to help me get my neutrals and shadow tones, but I can't actually remember the last time I used either of them as I found they gave a finish that was too flat, severe, or just plain wrong. Certainly on my final Portfolio pieces, all the neutrals were specific mixes using colours from the palette, with some additions here and there. Shadows on yellow flowers are still tricky to get right though, but this was a tip I picked up from artist and SBA tutor Jenny Jowett at a seminar some years ago, and have never looked back. Give it a try. 

In the palette? Not anymore!
Lamp Black, Neutral Grey and Payne's Grey are off.

This project also gives me the chance to have a go at one of the papers on my list of new try outs. Fabriano Artistico is a lovely paper and lots of artists do seem to favour it, but time will tell if it becomes a new favourite at Squirrel HQ.