EDM 121, 122, 123 Coins, Shade, Bell

EDM 108 & 109 - Dog Clock and Light Bulbs

EDM #109 - DRAW A CLOCK YOU HAVE AROUND YOUR HOUSE

Who needs a clock when you have a dog. You can set your watch by Dermott.

EDM #108 DRAW A LIGHT BULB

This is part of the Everyday in May challenge - drawing something every day in May.

Visit our flickr group to see all the sketches or even join in.

Watercolour Landscape Castiglion Fiorentino

26cm x 36cm watercolour on CP paper

The only watercolour I've painted since I started my Printmaking course.

As a number of other Bloggers have noted it's jolly hard to photograph paintings in the winter light. When I go for the highlights I lose the sky detail, so it looks a little duller here than it actually is.

Tuscan Village

Detail - Pen & Watercolour for FP Sketchbook Exchange

Finally, I have finished my pages in Glen's Flying Picture Sketchbook. Glen's theme is Flowers but you'll have to wait until Casey receives the book to see where I've put them. Meantime this is a tiny peek at my contribution.

No chance for a breather once I've sent Glen's book flying off to Casey, Nina's Polychromatic Behaviour is now waiting on my desk - it's another stunner! Photos will be posted shortly.

Japonisme Lizard

Watercolour & Sumi Ink 19cm x 14cm sketchbook

Just in case you think all I've been doing lately is copying art, here is something that is all my own work.

I've finally applied the Japanese influence I've been absorbing to my own work. Now that spring is here the little lizards are appearing in our garden again. They are very quick but this year I have a better camera, so I'm able to sit very still and wait for one to appear. I still haven't got a good reference shot of the totally iridescent green ones but when I do, I'm hoping to do a whole series of paintings of them.

I was pleased with how this little fellow turned out but I'm not sure if he can be called Japonisme. There are so many elements to consider, but I'm going to keep chipping away at the subject because it really inspires me. Katherine Tyrrell - Making a Mark - keeps adding more wonderful links to her posts about Japanese Art and has generously tied them all together in her Squidoo lens here.

Ayu (Trout) After Ando Hiroshige - Grand Series of Fishes

Watercolour, watercolour pencil & Pigma pen

Actually, I couldn't resist one final copy from these wonderful old Ando Hiroshige woodblock prints!

I couldn't work out what the marks were in the background at first but on studying the fantastic website of Japan based woodblock printer, David Bull, I've learned they are brush marks made by the printmaker as he applies the pigment to the block. I used coloured pencil to try to achieve the same effect.

Next stop, I think, will be to start looking at some traditional Japanese landscapes.

Craving Colour

San Nicolo - Cortona 24x32cm CP watercolour

San Nicolo is a lovely little church rather a steep walk up through the streets of Cortona. I took a photograph about a year ago and used that as a reference for this watercolour. I'm getting increasingly frustrated with photo references and realise no matter how quick and rough a sketch you make, there is a chance of a better result simply because the sketch will alert an inexperienced artist (like myseslf) to problems not immediately apparent in a photograph. The photograph is then really a great secondary resource.

In watercolour class I've been working a lot with subdued colour and different approaches to texture. Today I realised I had a craving for colour. Below is the result - same subject with watercolour, oil pastel, charcoal and pen. A bit like polishing off a whole bar of chocolate ;)

Mixed media on Cotman CP

Pen and Ink

Mont Blanc fountain pen & Pelikan Brilliant Brown ink
large Moleskine sketchbook

I wanted to paint a huge beautiful vase of lilies given to me by L & J. I managed to sketch three of them and then, because I've just bought Jos A Smith's The Pen and Ink Book, I decided to practice making clean bold lines with my pen. I used white gouache for highlights. White ink (as suggested by Mr Smith) would have given me a better contrast.

I've been tagged - again - twice! I'm really touched that the tags came from two artists whose work I greatly admire - Anita Murphy and Jeanette Jobson. Thank you :)

Last time I was tagged I gave far too much away so I'm not going to link back to that! I have to reveal seven things you don't know about me.

1. One of my ears sticks out more than the other.

2. I have two cigarette burns in my favourite Helmut Lang coat.

3. I gave up smoking February 21, 2001

4. I wear my favourite clothes forever

5. I like to eat sweetened condensed milk from the tube. (I gave that up too but I'd still like it).

6. I have a weakness for cashmere

7. I darn the moth holes in my cashmere now I don't work.

I am tagging the following:

Sognatrice from Bleeding Espresso - and other little known side effects of moving to Italy because I really enjoy her writing and because she is so entertaining about her new life in Italy.

Liz Patterson who has an enviable collection of pitchers (I call them jugs) and features them in beautiful sill life paintings.

Joan Y for her stunning drawings of nature.

Joan of Watercolors by Joan for her lovely watercolour landscapes and the inspiration she provides by constantly painting. I think she's currently sketching in Spain.

Finally Dermott of I am dog, hear me snore in order to distract him from rubbing up against the lounge and to get stuck into some writing.

Finally a little watercolour exercise from my class last week.

Moleskine Watercolour sketchbook

Still life with fish

watercolour 24 x 32 cm

I seem to have a thing for fish lately. It could have something to do with the amount of laps I'm swimming. Actually it has more to do with paying almost 10 euros for this sea bass for my dinner. At that price it needed to be painted!

If the colours are a bit wild it's because I have been dipping into Shirley Trevena's book, Vibrant Watercolours.

I also actually did a thumbnail sketch before I started this still life to work out the composition. It's pretty busy, I know, and I do have one regret. I don't think I'll point it out.

Love in a Mist

Watercolour 21x27cm

I've spent the last few days sketching the various stages of the life of Love in a Mist (Nigella damascena) - the pods from life and the flower from a photograph I took when I first discovered this amazing creature in Jean's garden. I'd never seen one before. So I think this is the first in a series that will hopefully culminate in a large painting.

Since I now have dozens of pods rattling with seed I'm dreaming of a wonderful show in our own garden next summer.

Heaven

After sixteen days wait, my copy of Shirley Trevena's Vibrant Watercolours has finally arrived! It was worth the wait. Thanks to both Vivien Blackburn and Katherine Tyrrell who recommended the book. Now I'm in a state of bliss, doing the exercises and discovering just how Shirley Trevena achieves such wonderful colour.

While I'm in the mood to give free plugs, our friends, Grant and Julia, are selling their newly renovated Tuscan villa just outside Cortona. After a long stay in Italy they are heading back to Australia. 'I can't imagine why!' mutters HWEM.