String of Pearls

Aother painting Challenge from

"String of Pearls" 8x10 oil on board

Paint and Draw Together



At first glance this picture caught my eye, I have always loved pearls, it amazes me that an oyster could produce such a beautiful jewel with all the colours of the rainbow.

Never having owned a real string of pearls I thought at least I can try and paint some. Easier said than done, they capture light from colour so well .

As these were resting on a shell and on a highly coloured rock it made the pearls extremely difficult to capture the softness and reflections.

This is an attempt that pails from what I saw in my mind but, decided to finish the project and ask for some suggestions from fellow artists on their ideas on how to get the glow to look real??

Babs

The Morning After a Good Night Out

"Morning After a Good Night Out" 8x10 oil on board

A Challenge from Paint and Draw Together

I have found this website to be a little different, challenges come out once a month. I achieved the old master type painting after a fashion, enjoyed doing that a lot and certainly realize there were mistakes but, that is OK that's how we learn. It's the opportunity to look at the same work other artists produce encouraging us to make comments from other artists.

Meantime I have worked on an old challenge dark background of a yellow rose and delicate vase. This has been a challenge working out the fallen petals and all the shadows and reflections in the glass.
It really kept me occupied that's for sure, sometimes it just takes a tiny spot of colour to make things shine. Training myself now to look more at all the little things you can play with and experiment making the painting come to life.

We will see if I get some comments and some good ideas to make it look more professional.

I have named the painting "The morning after a good night out"!
thanks for looking in on our blog.

Babs

Dew Drops on Roses

Dew Drops on a Rose oil on board 8x10

Barn Owl, oil on board 8x8

I have deviated somewhat from painting dogs,but, the experience was a change to paint some still life. I am enjoying the change in colours and working on this lovely rose with dew drops has been a challenge, concentrating on petals with soft curves and varying light and shade, dew drops were difficult but interesting lots of practice coming up with that one!

The owl was fun, I liked the way he looked from behind the hay..

One thing about painting small boards you have the ability to try many subjects which for me is good to stretch imagination and improve technique, it's all an interesting way to practice something that means a lot to me personally I guess that is all part of creativity it keeps you on your toes and good for the brain too.

I won't forget the puppies though, they are part of my passion and to help in a small way.

Babs

In the Style of the Old Masters

8x10 Oil on board

In spite of all the chaos in the house with the leaking roof, I managed to get some painting done,
We found a blog for Artist'Paint and Draw together' which encourages beginners and artists to get together and help each other. Each month a picture is displayed which you can use any medium the time frame is
just right even if you have a busy life you can manage to work at it without rushing.

This month is a part of an old master painting containing apple, cherries a bowl and silver vase. At first it looked a bit daunting but, once you start the process you understand more about soft edges, tones and colours. It's a good teaching tool as well. We are looking forward to getting to know others through this blog and learn to critique and enjoy others work too

Paint & Draw Together

Babs

Sunset on the Crouch

Sunset on the Crouch, 36x30 Acrylic on canvas

This a from a photo taken many years ago when we were invited to sail on a relatives yacht along the River Crouch and into the North Sea.

A wonderful experience, and this shows the peace of the evening, especially after a dinner of Fish & Chips from a local shop right on the dockside.

This is the largest painting I have ever done, I used Acrylic paint, thinking that the fast drying would be an advantage, it was in some ways, but a problem with acrylic is the colours darken when dry and with a dark subject like this I found that very frustrating, so much so I shoved the painting in a spare room and never looked at it for a long time.

But now I get praise for it and when I look through fresh eyes I like it!

You can get acrylic paint now that keeps the colour when dry, I highly recommend Winsor & Newton's "Artists Acrylics".

But for me I now paint in oils and love it!
John

A Couple of Drips in an Old House

The big Reveal!

Well it has been a couple of weeks of  little problems turning into a bit bigger than we expected, and with Sandy the big storm on the way we realized things should get fixed quickly.

We live in a lovely old house built in the 1860's but with old age comes problems the most recent being a drip of water coming into our Parlour which we couldn't understand. The rain over the last few days had increased the problem so it was serious enough to get it fixed quickly  before the drop became a flow.

It was traced eventually to the water flowing  between the wall and plaster board in our bedroom, so  John had to work at removing a lot of drywall and insulating material so that the cause of the drip could be found.
This meant us sleeping  in the spare bedroom, which is probably more comfortable than our own room!

Eventually an expert came and after climbing up ladders and prowling over the roof, the solution was found: get the roof re-tiled!

Now we are waiting for the roofer to work out a quote and assess if it is feasible to do the job at this time of the year, if not we will have to keep the bucket in the bedroom and carry on sleeping in the spare room.

Barn Owl Oil on board 8x10

Luckily the huge Storm has past and we were very lucky to escape with a lot of rain and high winds but no damage.

It's amazing how something out of nowhere can really stop you from functioning normally and totally freezing your creative mind!

A little creativity did get done though Babs just finished painting this delightful little barn Owl.

Babs & John