Poppy...

This is what I have been working on for the past few weeks.  Poppy, painted in acrylics on Dalerboard.  This is to be a wedding present next month for the couple that own the dog - glad I got it completed in time!

It's always difficult to paint a black dog, but even harder to get a decent photograph of the finished painting if it has been done in acrylics.  Mr. B and I have taken several photographs of this one, and it always came out peculiar with the camera picking up the white elements of the painting far more than it should.  We tried our phone cameras and a digital camera, and this is the best we could come up with and even this one has been tinkered with on Photoshop in order to calm it down a bit.  Very frustrating!

No commissions for the time being - I am spending this week doing a bit of much needed Spring cleaning, trying to get the garden sorted out before it becomes a jungle, and hopefully painting a bear on the garden fence...

Poppy Day...

When I was a child, we always referred to Remembrance Day as 'Poppy Day'.  Quite by chance,  I had to make this yesterday - it seemed kind of fitting.  This wreath is just over 2 inches wide, crocheted with tiny buttons for the centres.

Meadow

This painting took a lot longer than anticipated - the loose painterly style I was aiming for turned as usual into a highly detailed and labour intensive piece of work.  I don't mind though, I am quite pleased with the result.

This was painted in Derwent Inktense colour blocks, with touches of Inktense pencil at the end to add depth within the plants.  It will be for sale in my Etsy shop shortly, or alternatively you can get in touch with me directly.

The field where I took the reference photos for this work is just full to the gills with wild flowers - there are more and more each day, different ones coming up all the time.  There are even some sunflowers amongst them all - walking the dog has become such a floral pleasure this summer!  Perhaps I will remember my camera in the morning and get some more photos to work from...

Not Enough Hours in the Day......

I thought this would be a quick and loose painting, taking no more than a couple of days.  As usual, the  painting had other ideas and turned into what it wanted to be, which this time was obviously a highly detailed and laborious view of summer wild flowers.  I am using the Inktense pigment blocks as paints because I thought they would give a bright and vibrant result which was what I had in mind for the poppies.  However, for some reason, they have ended up strangely muted with a kind of 'old' look to them....which luckily I quite like!  There is still a great deal of work to go into this, but for the next couple of days I have not time - it's the Tavistock Summer Fair tomorrow and I will have a stall there and of course, am totally unprepared.

I have taken a short break from commissioned work and tried to knit up a few farmyard friends for sale on my stall.  Despite knitting until midnight most nights, I have only managed to produce the above.

There may or may not be a fourth piglet when the set is completed - depends on how long I can stay awake this evening!

Beryl and Martha are ready to go though.  I have adapted the animation design to be more child-friendly, not a wire in sight.  The feet have been crocheted and stiffened with fabric stiffener - not the greatest of results, they need a bit of balancing to stay upright, but at least no-one can hurt themselves.  These two still have the egg-laying feature.

If these knitted creatures do not sell tomorrow, they will then be available on my Etsy shop over the weekend.  Should you ever wish to commission one of these items, do get in touch, I can always stay up a bit later.......

Hen Party......

Three chickens completed, all with egg-laying abilities.  I still don't like the way they are looking at me.....

My favourite is the reddish one on the left - which one would you choose?

For once I remembered to take my camera with me for the early morning dog walk today and caught the poppies before they fell apart in the heat of the day.  I think you'll agree they were worth it...

I feel a wild flower painting coming on...