Latest paintings

Being on adoption leave has many advantages, one of which is that I finally get to attend one of Brian Campbell's painting summer schools; something I have wanted to do for some time. I had one painting which needed to be finished but my main painting came from a photo taken only a few days earlier during our trip to Allonby beach. I expected that this painting would take me most of the three days I had booked, so I was very surprised when I managed to start and finish this in two days, leaving me a day to start another.

Flying a kite (finished):

You can see how it developed here.

Four on the beach:

Source photo

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Detail

Detail

Detail

Detail

Finished

So, having unexpectedly finished an entire painting, I needed to start another. This time I decided to really challenge myself, choosing an image which has lots of fine detail. The final picture is where I got to by the end of my final day. It still needs a good couple of hours work on it.

Mayesbrook pond:

Source photo

Development

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Development

Summer Painting

I managed to get quite a lot of painting done this summer. It was one of the things on my list that I was worried would get bumped off by more mundane things, but I was fairly determined not to let that happen. I finally got painting 2 finished and I quite pleased with it considering it was inspired by a fleeting glance at a scene along a  motorway. I am particularly happy with how my sheep turned out.

I have also started painting 4, from a picture of me flying a kite on Allonby beach this summer (Janine, thanks for the photo). See pictures below of my progress so far.

Painting Day 2

It has been along time since I last did any painting, not since our last painting day in fact. We decided another day was well overdue and so here I am at Jo's. We are both working on new paintings. Below are our stimulus pictures and the photos of our progress. Apologies for the poor quality of the photos - only an iPad camera to hand!

KATE:

 

JO:

And a few shots of our 'studio' for the day. :o)

New painting

I've finally started my next painting. It's been a while since I did my first one but I recently bought myself a starter kit and with the summer holidays nearing, I made a start. Below are a couple of photos of my progress. Tonight I finished my under-paint.

This time I'm not working from a photo but from a glimpsed scene in my memory. I'm going to try to make it very stylised.

My First Ever Painting!

I'm surrounded by talented artists at the moment. Mum and dad both paint and attend art classes; they are getting really good. My sister is picking up her brushes again; she did A Level art at school. She has a great eye and a natural flare. I've never painted (beyond dabbling with the poster paint you get in school). I can't draw either. My doodles tend to be either eyes or leaves all basic and from my head. So when they all sat down to paint and asked if I wanted to join them, my response was the usual "I can't paint, it would be a waste of canvas".

I can take photos though, and with a bit of persuasion I chose one of my photos and gave it a go. I needed a lot of guidance, I didn't really know where to start. But around 5 hours later I finished my first ever painting - acrylic on canvas. And I'm really rather proud of myself. I won't say I can't paint again, I'll now consider myself a beginner painter!