Walker...again...

After several months of ennui regarding painting, I feel that I have got my enthusiasm back at last.  The Explore.org bear cams went down a week or so ago, so to counteract my withdrawal symptoms, I started a watercolour of the bear known as Walker using one of the snaps I took from the website.

I am really happy with how this one turned out - the background was painted with a load of splashy greens and browns over a little masking fluid, and with a sprinkle of salt to add texture.  It's always a gamble to do this, but this time it worked perfectly.  The bear took a while - he has an awful lot of fur!

This one will be in my Etsy shop soon once I have got a decent photograph in daylight (daylight?  What's that!!) as this photo has made the painting somewhat lighter than it actually is.

Up next - I don't know yet, but I am raring to go!

In the meantime, I have finally finished designing and writing the crochet patterns for Nudinits that have taken up half of this year.  Keep an eye out for them!
 

The Holiday Let...

As soon as we found this rusty shack while exploring the countryside on the Isle of Wight, I knew I had to paint it.  So that is how I have spent the past couple of weeks, taking a break from bears and thoroughly enjoying the challenge of getting this right.  It is painted in watercolour, which can be a bit unforgiving if you make a mistake.  There was one area where I had been a little heavy handed with the masking fluid (I'm not telling you where!) and when it was removed I thought I had maybe ruined the whole picture.  But with a little work and a few touches of acrylic paint, you wouldn't know.

Apart from the building, I also enjoyed painting the little 'doorway' through the undergrowth into the next field, with the sun shining to illuminate it.  It makes you wonder what you would find if you followed the path...

This will be in my Etsy shop shortly once I have taken some decent photos of it in daylight.

Next up - back to bears...

Psychopomp...

I completed this little watercolour of a sparrow yesterday - the working title is 'Psychopomp', for reasons best known to myself.  I just love sparrows - they exude personality despite their dowdy plumage.  Actually, when you study them while painting, they are not dowdy at all!

Painting this little bird has led to a commission to paint another type of little bird, a pied wagtail, which I am looking forward to immensely.  It's been far too quiet since Christmas as far as painting commissions go, time to get back to work!

*This painting is now sold.

A Leopard & A Bit About Clovis...

I don't know why, but 2016 has been quite difficult so far - things around the house have broken down, my dog is very sick, and there have been all kinds of paperwork and meetings to deal with.  Consequently, there has not been either the time or the inclination to paint or make much.  Last week I really wanted to paint something, anything, because painting gives me a few hours respite from the trials & tribulations of reality!  I didn't plan to paint a detailed leopard, I wanted to do something much splashier & loose, but this is what came out instead.  It's a small watercolour, detailed in parts, looser in others.  It kept me sane this week.

This week's turbulence was caused by this chap - I've had difficulty getting him to eat over the past couple of weeks, but he has done so each day eventually and other than that has been OK, enjoying his walks albeit at a slower pace.  A couple of mornings ago he was gently cantering up a field and suddenly came up short and couldn't put any weight on his front leg.  Not sure if he slipped, twisted it, or what, but he was in a bad way.  We slowly got him home, but for the rest of the day he was barely able to walk and obviously in a lot of pain.  He also barely ate - which carried on until yesterday, with him refusing to eat anything so I couldn't get his heart pills down his throat either. Seeing him incapacitated like that was scary and upsetting and made me think that perhaps this was finally the end and I made an appointment with the vet.  To cut a long story short, after trying almost the whole contents of the fridge & food cupboards, I discovered he would at least eat a few Swedish meatballs - so I whizzed to the shops to get some more, and he ate half a pack.  The vet prescribed Metacam (painkiller) and was not as pessimistic as I was - I'm not good when those I love are very ill.  By the afternoon Clovis was able to walk round the block and ate a plate of tuna & pasta.  This morning he positively ran in from the garden, has eaten his pills and another plate of meatballs, veg & pasta.  So a reprieve for now, thank goodness.

In the meantime, I knitted him a coat - his doggy raincoat flaps about and slips off half the time, so this seemed a good idea.  After the past couple of days, putting a skull & crossbones on it seemed a bit macabre, but I always wanted him to have a coat like this as he is a bit of a pirate!

It fits well, doesn't slip off, and got a compliment on it's first outing at the vet's.

We'll give it a proper trial this morning on our walk - and no, he's not coming off the lead today!!

Pope's Oak

I don't know where Pope's Oak is, but I think I'd like to go there!  I finished this yesterday afternoon, just squeaking within the deadline - it's been tough finding time for painting with the dire New Year we have had so far.

This is painted in acrylic and the composition was very tricky.  I was told what was wanted, but given a selection of about twenty photos to work from as I had to paint the woodland walk, put in three children walking/running, none of which were in a photo together.  I also had to age them by a few years as the photos I had were from a while back. Then I had to add three black labradors...no photos there, and the French Bulldog.  Oh yes, and I had to make up their clothing as well. Thank heavens for Google Images - hours spent looking for photos of teenages walking away fromcamera and suitably posed labradors!

I am relieved to say the lady who commissioned this was over the moon with it and picked it up within an hur of it's completion.  I now have absolutley no work on, but that's OK - I haven't had a break since about last September so am going to take a few daysto re-group and paint a fewthings of my own.

Plus today is the day my darling Clovis goes in for an echocardiogram - I'm praying the news won't be too dire, but I'm not very hopeful - so I think I will need a bit of space for a while.

On the needles: a dog coat for Daisy.  This has given me a couple of ideas.....

Milo

Yesterday I put the finishing touches to this, with a slight tinge of regret.  I could tinker with it for another couple of days but in all honesty it is complete.  This was painted with acrylics on Dalerboard treated with several layers of gesso for a smooth surface.  It makes life a lot easier not having to battle against the rough surface of the board, especially when making tiny precise brushstrokes.

I thoroughly enjoyed painting a different kind of dog - I seem to paint a lot of lurcher types and labradors. Nothing wrong with those, it's just nice to ring the changes occasionally.  However, next up are a pair of greyhounds - the photo session for them was a nightmare, they just wouldn't keep still!  Out of 40 photos taken, I managed to get 2 that are workable.

On the needles: nothing in particular - no commissions at present, so it is time to work my way through the pile of WIP's that seems to have accumulated.

Hawthorn & Other Random Items...

 Yesterday I packed more into 5 hours than I thought possible - took the train to London, visited IKnit yarn shop (and spent far too much!), picked up my painting from the Mall Galleries, met my son, went to an art materials shop, visited Chinatown, ate dim sum, then walked back to Waterloo & took the train home.  So not surprisingly, I was rather tired but still had a lesson to teach in the afternoon.  I just grabbed some hawthorn berries while walking the dog, and that is what we painted.  It turned out that they were rather lovely and great fun to paint.  I ran out of time when our hour was over and was too tired to continue once my student had left but would very much like to paint these berries again without a time limit.

By the way, never a good idea to sleep on a train near me...

Amongst other projects, I'm using up three huge balls of aran wool I was given a few years ago and crocheting a chunky blanket with granny squares.  The contrasting colour is navy - I wanted to keep it very simple.

It's been a good year in our house for the tropical plants - this week the mimosa pudica, or sensitive plant, has put out a flower.  This plant is such fun, it shrinks & closes right up when touched - it's actually a weed when in the wild.

Parcels, Parrots & Picking...

Last month I joined something called Art & Parcel, where you get a box of mystery art materials each month.  I love a parcel, especially one with surprises inside!  This month I received an A5 pad of painting paper, a bottle of Indian ink, a bottle of luminous green acrylic ink, a diffuser, a bamboo pen and a paintbrush.  They also have a little competition running for art made using the contents of this box, the prize being having your work on the front of a sketchbook.  I thought I'd have a go...

The green was the sticking point - it's very bright and not a natural colour. However, I thought a parrot, or rather a conure, would be an ideal subject to use it on.  I sketched one out, drew around it using the bamboo pen & the Indian ink, then set to colouring it in.  I did have to use a few more items - an orange paint pen from last month's box and a couple of watercolours for the blue & red.  It's not my usual way of working, but it was good to experriment.

The diffuser is a mad thing though - it consists of two metal tubes joined with a hinge, one of them having a mouthpiece.  You insert one tube into a bottle/jar of colour, then blow hard through the mouthpiece.  I had to do this over the kitchen sink as the colour spatters far and wide.  I can see me using this for things such as sea spray though, but precautions need to be taken if I don't want to Jackson Pollock the surrounding area!

Our apple tree survived collapsing face-down into the pond a few weeks ago and has produced a good crop this year.  I picked a trug full yesterday, and we also picked a bag of blackberries, so crumble is the order of the day.  Blackberries seem to be hard to pick this year - there was the promise of a huge crop, then we had weeks of torrential rain and the most of them seem to have rotted before reaching ripeness.  Consequently, there are not many decent ones around.  I've scraped together a few bags for the freezer but not as many as anticipated.

On the needles: a gorilla, designing it from scratch and having difficulty!
On the easel: still the black labrador

Tiger! All Done...

Sometimes a painting just whizzes by with no serious problems and this was one of them. Perhaps because it is a familiar subject or perhaps because I have missed painting so much the past few weeks, who knows!

Watercolour with a bit of acrylic ink for the whiskers - up for sale in my Etsy shop shortly.

In the winter I re-potted a baby spider plant using some compost from our heap in the garden and put the little pot in my work room.  After a while, what looked like a tomato plant sprung up next to the spider plant, and grew and grew. So I put it in a pot of it's own and left it on the sill, whereupon it grew to reach the top of the window and produced fruit - I picked this ripe tomato yesterday and will be putting it in a salad today!

Back On Form...

After the cow parsley debacle, I was wondering what to paint and had a search through a file on my computer labelled 'photos for future paintings' and found this one that I had forgotten about.  It's the view from my partner's apartment window when he was working in Belgium one snowy morning.

I have painted this in watercolour with a very limited palette of four, perhaps five, colours.  Right from the start, this one just flowed - the washes went right, the colours worked together and everything I tried worked first time.  Possibly helped by the fact I was feeling better, who knows, I just know I am very happy with this one!

Off Colour...

Not every painting works out well -something I try to impress on the children I teach when they get frustrated with their work when it doesn't go to plan.  This painting of mine definitely did not go to plan - I have been admiring the swathes of cow parsley when on dog walks and wanted to paint these pretty and delicate flowers.  I had the idea after seeing them with the backdrop of the canal -

to make a dark background over a masking fluid drawing, then paint in the leaves and flowers.  I think the combination of the clumsiness of the masking fluid (that stuff coagulates!) and being unable to get the depth of background colour I wanted proved too difficult to overcome.  Plus ( and it is no excuse really) I was feeling a bit off colour myself over the weekend which always shows in a painting.  Never mind, at least now I know not to do that again!

Someone else has been feeling a bit off colour as well this week - I thought he was lovelorn, with one of his girlfriends being in heat, but when his lack of appetite stretched on for too long, it was time to take Clovis to the vet.  It would seem he has a gum infection and is currently on anti-biotics - when I can get them down his throat!  Today I was reduced to wrapping the bits of tablet in hoisin duck as he has got wise to the balls of dog food containing an unpleasant centre. Why don't they make dog medicine tasty? It would save a lot of grief!

Being hungry hasn't stopped him from charging around the woods and trees as normal though - someone should inform him that he is approaching 91 in dog years!

On the needles this week:  DIY accessories!

Shhh....

I completed this yesterday - or should I say this morning for a final touch-up.  This has been painted using Derwent Inktense pencils on watercolour paper.  The photo reference is from our trip to Birdworld last summer - a spontaneous outing that yielded some good photographs.

I'm kind of wishing I hadn't bothered with a background, but I felt it lacked something.  I may sit and look at this for a couple of days to see if there is anything else that needs doing but it will probably stay as it is - self-doubt needs to be squashed sometimes!

I've seen some cow parsley on my walks that I really want to paint - might have to pick myself a bunch today!

Taking Over The Newsagents!

This week sees the name Bletsis in a couple of publications.  First up is a lovely article in the new Simply Knitting magazine all about Nudinits, the all knitted animation I worked on for two years.  We've had mentions in other magazines since the film came out, but this is the first full page proper article.  If you haven't seen the film and are not easily shocked, here's the link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huytU80fv0o

Second is another Adventure Time cover done by my very talented son.  He was asked to submit thumbnails with the idea they would choose the one they liked for publication - in the end, they chose two!  I'm running out of room in the file I have for copies of his work.

Not in a magazine, but for sale over in my Etsy shop, another blast from the past discovered in my portfolio. This is a watercolour painting of Castries Market in St. Lucia. I remember enjoying painting this one so much with the various colours, textures and light.

Currently on the needles: a gold crocheted bra.  Hmm. It's giving me blisters, the yarn is so rough so I pity the model who has to wear it!

On the easel: nothing.  Oh dear, time to pull myself together and start something.

Trawling Through The Archives...

 This week I have finally done something I had in mind for months, since giving up the day job.  I've gone through my two portfolios and sorted our various paintings that have been hidden away for far too long and I am slowly loading them up into my Etsy shop.  Perhaps there they can find homes where they will be loved and looked at!  The above is an acrylic of a coastal walk in Alderney - my friends and I hiked miles and miles along these paths as teenagers.

 A little watercolour of the apple blossom on our tree - it's nearly that time of year again, so no doubt another blossom painting will ensue.

 I love painting horses and it shows in this one - surely someone would like this on their wall?

 A lot of my paintings are a travelog - this is a watercolour of Rome after we spent a day there during a trip to Italy.

 This is a watercolour of Victorian ruins on Pigeon Island, St. Lucia - another favourite thing to paint, old stonework!

 My one and only foray into oil painting - love the effect, hate the drying time.

 A watercolour of the rainforest in St. Lucia - I used a very limited palette for this if I remember, possible only two colours, no more than three.

 A coloured pencil sketch of a saluki - you will know my soft spot for these dogs, just so beautiful.

A watercolour painting of a pair of sparrows I saw on Boston Common a few years ago.  I love to paint sparrows too - they initially look drab but once you study them, they are such pretty birds.  I love their cheeky personalities too.

So if you look in my shop, these and a few more will be making an appearance and hopefully going off leaving some room in my portfolios for more work.

Zebras!

It was with a tinge of regret that I completed this yesterday - when a painting is going well and I'm totally involved in it, it is always sad to add that final brushstroke.  However, I am pleased with the result.  It's been a very long time since I attempted something this challenging and it was thoroughly enjoyable.

This was painted on smooth watercolour paper, using White Knights watercolour paints - these are very intensely pigmented watercolours.  I found them a bit intimidating initially, but once I had got used to not picking up lots of paint on my brush to begin with, I really like them.  I have used a very limited palette - Payne's grey, cerulean, and a terracotta.  I used a touch of black here and there, to darken the eyes or add a bit of depth to a forelock.

The top photograph is taken indoors with a flash, the bottom photo taken outside in the sun.  If you can mentally combine the two you will get an idea of the true colours - my camera just fails me sometimes!

This painting is now for sale in my Etsy shop.

Stripes & Tights...

 A long time ago, I told someone I only paint when I am happy.  I guess that is quite true judging by the scarcity of artwork produced over the past year and the fact that this week I want to spend all my time on the above! I am enjoying this one so much, combining the strict structure of the zebras' stripes with the splashes and drips of paint.  I'm using watercolours and a very limited palette - Payne's Grey, Cerulean blue, and a kind of terracotta hue.  Funnily enough, no black other than for the eyes! I think I'm back in the game....

Other (paid) work on the go - I have to crochet a sixties mini dress from old tights....not the most practical of 'yarns', it hurts my hands to crochet with and the resulting fabric is stiff and will surely be uncomfortable to wear.  It is for a university student, so I am assuming it will just be making an appearance as part of her coursework.

I've also been sewing a plush tree for a future animation which has been quite an undertaking and I hate to have to say the most boring words ever used in a blog - I can't show it yet.  Argh!  I'm really proud of it and find keeping things under wraps very frustrating!

Drips & Dribbles...

Over the past few months I seem to have lost my impetus for painting.  I'm not sure why, maybe due to the relentless noise and disruption caused by the builders throughout the winter, maybe because I have had so much other work with yarn and fabric to be getting on with.  Whatever the reason, I've missed it, but it is far too easy to let each day slide by without picking up a brush. 

So with that in mind, I picked a tricky one to get back into the groove with!  I'm trying to re-train my brain with the discipline it takes to draw zebras completely by eye, plus getting each and every stripe in and in the right place.  Initially it was quite worrying - the zebras looked like circus ponies and I had a lot of self-doubt over my abilities (as usual!)  However, as the drawing and painting progress, I feel my confidence slowly returning.  It may not turn out to be the best thing I have ever done, but it is certainly getting me back on track.

Back In Time...

 I am working on several things at the moment, but unfortunately - and frustratingly - nothing I can show.  So here's a trip down memory lane to a few of my early paintings which still hide in my portfolio.  This is a pair of scarlet ibis - I just love painting birds in any shape or form, but particularly brightly coloured ones.

 A scarlet macaw - again with the red!  I don't wear it, rarely have anything in the house that is red, but I do like a red bird or two!  Another watercolour.

 A sleeping rhino getting a bit of grooming.  This hangs in our living room - I like the nuances of colour and texture in the rhino's skin.  It was great fun to paint and I think that shows.  Watercolour also.

A very long time ago, we went to St. Lucia for an unforgettable holiday.  W took a trip in the rain forest there and this painting is one of a few that I did when I got home.  Watercolour again, but with a very limited palette.

Having looked at these, I think it is time I went through my portfolio and put some of the oldies but goodies up for sale rather than have them languish hidden away.

On the needles - still that big cardigan
Sewing a tree (as you do...)
On the easel, a dog portrait

Blue Jellyfish No.10

 I find it hard to believe I have painted ten of these blue jellyfish over the years, all because of some photos we took at the New England Aquarium in Boston.  It's not just the watercolour paintings, I've painted jellyfish on ties as well - perhaps I should get around to t-shirts too!

This has been painted in watercolours using a limited palette of Cerulean blue, indigo and purple.  I used clingfilm to get the rippled effect on the background, and salt on the fronds of the jellyfish to add a lacy texture.  No matter how many different versions of this I paint, it never gets boring.  This is now for sale in my Etsy shop.

A couple of weeks ago I forgot to buy filo pastry and had to make my own Greek pastry for a spinach pie.  It was so nice, I decided to do it again today.

Look, not a soggy bottom in sight! This and home made lentil soup are on the menu this evening.

A year ago, our garden looked like this.

Then for a very long time, it looked like this.

Now it looks like this - we finally have trellis fixed to the fence and are ready to grow whatever will shield us from this:

Short of putting up a twenty foot fence, nothing is going to prevent us from being overlooked, but at least we have insisted the builders do what they can.  Now we wait to see who moves in...gulp!  The plus side is that the noise must surely be nearly over?