Sunshine in the snow - yellow flowers and more !

The Daffodils have been soldiering on in the recent snow and frosts.  They had just started to bloom before the colder weather arrived, but despite this they still bring a bit of sunshine in the snow.

In my last blog post I know that I said I would write about the courses and workshops that I teach.  The students have been completing some wonderful and inspiring work which I hope to show you soon.

In the meantime I have been creating my latest tutorial video, which yes you guessed it, is on painting yellow flowers !  The students in my Monday botanical art class have been studying bulbous plants, so this coming week we are going to be painting daffodils.

As from this January I have been attempting to produce 2 video tutorials a term to support the students in their learning.  I hope to carry this on, especially as the botanical art classes will be increasing this coming September.

Enjoy !

The link above is to the latest tutorial and the one below is the previous tutorial - Creating highlights.

Painting, painting, painting !

Where has the time gone ?  Hard to believe that it is a month since my last blog posting !

You will be glad to know that I have been painting away on several pieces.  Firstly, I was working on a large painting of a Sacred Lotus since before Christmas.  It has been a number of years since I have painted such a large botanical piece, there were challenges along the way and the majority were overcome.

The intention has been to submit it as a non-member for the Society of Botanical Artists Exhibition, which will take place in April at the Westminster Central Hall in London.  So, with a well wrapped painting, my husband and I made our way up to London for the submission on the 18th February.  It was a very well organised process and everyone was so happy, friendly and helpful. 

One lovely surprise was to meet up with a Botanical Artist firend Shevaun Docherty, who I had 'met' on a Facebook botanical artist's forum/group.  We had never met in person before and it was great to get a brief glimpse of her artwork before it was submitted and I look forward to seeing her work in the exhibition.  If you would like to see an example of her work go to: http://makingamark.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/13th-may-2012-whos-made-mark-this-week.html

My self-confidence can struggle at times, especially with my artwork, so I wasn't holding out much hope of the painting being accepted.  Over 1,000 paintings were submitted by members and non-members and approximately 600- 700 are hung after the assessment.  The suspense of the following week was difficult, but I kept myself busy with more painting and teaching.

This last Wednesday the envelope dropped through the door and I recognised my writing on the address.  In what seemed like an age I opened the envelope and slowly unfolded the form, to discover that my painting had been accepted !  Needless, to say I was absolutely thrilled and the weeks of hard work had paid off.  Here it is:  (apologies for the grey background, the painting is actually on Fabriano Artistico HP Natural White).

 

 

Alongside painting this I have also returned back to using acrylics.  I am really enjoying using this medium, particularly on the natural linen canvas and boards.

 

I am getting together a few pieces of 'marine themed' artwork to display at Emsworth Museum in conjunction with the Hants & IOW Wildlife Trust, and will also be creating a couple of new pieces.

 

One of which is completed and is a small 10cm x 10cm study of a crab's leg:

 

 

 

 

The other larger piece that I am working on is going to be called 'Shoreline Window' and is of a

close-up view of seaweed, shells and stones.  As the painting develops you will see the variety of colours that will be added.  At the moment I am painting the areas of seaweed:

 

 

For information about the exhibition see below:

 

 

 

My next blog posting will be about the courses and workshops that I teach.  All of the students have been producing some wonderful work, which I look forward to showing you.

 

Happy painting !



To plan or not to plan - that is the question !

With all pieces of artwork that I complete, I am always planning what goes where and how I am going to portray the subject matter, but in some cases the planning is more formal than others.

I love the spontaneity of finding some inspiring subjects and just getting on and painting them.  This often happens when they are bits and pieces that I have found in a hedgerow, along the shore or from the garden.  I lay out the objects on the paper to help me with the composition but other times I draw and paint each object one by one and the painting just evolves - sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

When I was a student on the RBGE Certificate in Botanical Illustration course last year, there was a great deal of planning going on when it came to our final assessment piece.  Pieces of tracing paper flying here and there, using a lightbox to decide on the final composition and then the big tracing exercise !  I do find that when you use this method of creating your composition, you have to be careful that the clarity of your drawing does not suffer in the tracing process.
Never the less, many of the exercises I completed on the course, I still use when planning a picture, especially if it is a very large painting.

The most recent painting I have been working on is of a Sacred Lotus.  (I have given myself the deadline of the end of this week to finish the picture, so I had better get a move on !)  I decided with this one that I would trace the main flower onto the paper, but the rest I drew straight onto the watercolour paper.  I did do some initial colour tests to see that the mixes I had in mind were suitable for the subject.

The painting is coming along and the next stage is to put in the stems and finish the other elements of the painting.

Back to the spontaneity !  Whilst trudging through the snow the week before last, we stopped off at the greengrocers and they were selling three stems of Amaryllis with some Willow.  They just seemed to glow in the grey and white atmosphere outside.

Knowing full well that I had no time to start a painting of them, an inspirational urge made me buy them !!
So upon returning home I decided to draw one of the flower heads and do some colour tests on cartridge paper.  I also took plenty of photographs and measurements, so that if I do decide to do a painting of them, I have all of the information I need.  I expect that I won't create a composition until this time next year, when I can buy the flowers at their prime again !

 

 

Thank you for following my blog and thanks also to David Crompton, a fellow Society of Floral Painters member, who on Saturday gave me some lovely feedback at our AGM.  If you would like to see some of his delightful artwork go to:

 

http://www.thesfp.org/gallery_watercolour.html

Happy painting !

Thank you and something for you !

I just wanted to say thank you to everyone that follows my blog, as today the pageviews have exceeded 5,000 !

The Botanical Art Course that I teach at Peter Symonds ACE in Winchester starts next Monday and already I see that the course is full.  I am really looking forward to seeing returning students and meeting new ones.

Through out my teaching I am always looking for new ways to share my knowledge.  The weekly sessions are just two hours long, so it doesn't always give enough time for students to absorb and familiarise themselves with what they are seeing, doing and learning.  Therefore I have come up with an additional way for students to re-cap on what they have learnt.

Twice a term I will post a video on You Tube of demonstrations that have been covered in class.  Students will also be able to buy a DVD with the demonstrations on too.

So as a way of saying thank you to all of my 'followers', here is the first demonstration - Creating highlights using watercolours - Aubergine / Eggplant exercise.

Happy painting !  Sarah

Where have the lino-prints gone ?

It is normally at this time of year that I am keenly cutting away at lino endeavouring to produce some designs.  Those of you that follow my blog know that my lino-cuts are often on the theme of birds.

This year, my time has been spent painting and planning further botanical paintings as I want to explore more exhibiting opportunities.  At the moment I am working on a very large painting of a Sacred Lotus.  Below is the sheet I compiled whilst  I was testing colours etc. 

Back to birds and lino-prints.  In 2011 I saw a link to an advert on the Arts Jobs website.  It was asking for artists to contribute images of birds of freshwater habitats for a forthcoming poetry anthology.  I hastily applied and thought it was an exciting opportunity to show case some of my
lino-prints.  There was an extensive list of birds to choose from and I chose to illustrate the Heron, Great-crested Grebe and Kingfisher.

Just before Christmas I heard that the book had been published, but unfortunately due to email address problems I had missed the launch party in London.  My disappointment was short-lived, as on Christmas Eve my best present arrived on the doorstep - 5 copies of the anthology !  Having not been involved in anything like this before I wasn't sure what the final result would be like, but I must say that I am absolutely thrilled.

Kirsten Irvine and Jon Stone at Sidekick books have done a wonderful job in compiling and publishing the book and Kirsten is also one of the contributing poets.  The artwork is all in monochrome and includes a variety of styles.  The book is very reasonable priced and futher information can be found at:   http://www.drfulminare.com/birdbookii.php

 

 

 

 

As another year comes to a close I wish everyone a happy, healthy and creative 2013. 

 

Thank you to everyone that follows my blog and it certainly inspires me when people show an interest in my artwork.  There are many artists out there that work away in their own homes, sometimes feeling quite isolated, they in turn get a lot of support from other artists that they may meet in art forums on Facebook or from other blogs, thank you to them too - you know who you are ! 

A long awaited return to Staunton Country Park

The picture above was drawn a number of years ago now and it was fun to have a look at it again,  the sketch itself was completed in water-resistant pen with watercolour washes added afterwards.  But what does it have to do with visiting Staunton Country Park ?

As a younger artist and when I was very involved in a previous career, one of my favourite pastimes and forms of relaxation was to visit Staunton Country Park, which is located in Havant, Hampshire.  There are many areas to visit at Staunton - a walled garden, the country park, a farm and one of my favourite places a Victorian glasshouse.  There were many Sundays when I came and escaped there at all times of year and sat in the glasshouse sketching away and I am sure this is where my love of Orchids originated from.

 

 

My reason for visiting Staunton today was not to soley visit the glasshouse, but to view the rooms set aside for educational activities.  I met up with the lovely Kerry who is the Education and Community Manager for the park.  My friend Clare and I recieved a very warm welcome and a hot cup of tea on a cold but sunny winter's day.

 

Next year the Hampshire and IOW Wildlife Trust will be holding several of my art workshops at Staunton Country Park and the rooms we decided upon are light and airy with great character, in one of the buildings around the edge of the farmyard.

 

I am really looking forward to teaching at Staunton.  As like the HWT Nature Reserves where we normally hold workshops, there is so much to inspire artists interested in illustrating the natural world.  The first workshop held there will be on Saturday 23rd March 2013 and is entitled

 'A Brush with Nature'.  This workshop is always a popular one as it can cover a wide range of subject matter.  The places are filling up fast and it is only December !  If you are interested in coming along please book a place with the Hants & IOW Wildlife Trust by following this link:

 http://www.hwt.org.uk/courses.php/117/brush-with-nature-23-mar

 

Hopefully a further workshop will be taking place at Staunton in May 2013 on the theme of butterflies and moths - watch this space !

 

In the meantime, if you would like more information on Staunton Country Park why not visit their web page:  http://www3.hants.gov.uk/countryside/staunton.htm or visit them on Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/?ref=tn_tnmn#!/pages/Staunton-Farm-Gardens-Country-Park/133187733362465?fref=pb

 

Back to our visit, after we finished the meeting we took the opportunity to re-explore the farm, walled garden and glasshouses. My mind is buzzing with ideas for artwork, but at the moment the following images will have to suffice and will give you a good idea of how wonderful this place is.

 

 

Piglets under a day old !

Part of the farmyard

The Fern room in the glasshouse

The Water-lilly pool



The liking of all things odd - galls !

I'm afraid not much painting has been taking place lately.  My botanical art course at Peter Symonds ACE in Winchester is going well and until the end of term I am also covering for another tutor on two other days - Watercolour and drawing for beginners and intermediates.  So I have had to thnk outside of my 'botanical box', never the less themes from the natural world are creeping in!  Today will be Autumnal subjects and mixed media, using torn natural paper and leaf skeletons, as well as some artificial gold leaf !

As some of you know, I am inclined to paint brown, dried and battered natural objects.  I seem to get drawn to these (excuse the pun !). 

Whilst tidying up my laptop the other day I came across a folder of images that had supposedly been lost for two years.  It was very exciting to find them again and there were numerous photos that my husband and I had both taken.  Amongst the images were some of galls that I found on an Oak tree when I was completing a hedgerow survey in my days as an Ecologist.  The painting urge began to stir and now I cannot wait to get pencil and brush to paper.

Central middle - Hedgehog gall Andricus lucidus

Central top - Andricus aries

Right - Marble gall Andricus kollari

But what is a gall ?

The best definition I could find comes from the book British Plant Galls - Identification of galls on plants and fungi, published by the Field Studies Council.

'A gall involves an intimate association between two organisms which is largely parasitic, the gall causer being the paprasite and the organism whose tissues form the gall being the host.  Normally most advantage passes to the gall causer.  The following definition is generally accepted, though it is narrower than some:

A gall is an abnormal growth produced by a plant or other host under the influence of another organism.  It involves enlargement and/or proliferation of host cells and provides both shelter and food or nutrients for the invading organism'.

So when time allows hopefully a painting will start to evolve using these images for reference.  In the meantime, here is a painting I did of a Knopper gall Andricus quercuscalicis  growing on an acorn.