Brushoing Up!!

I actually did 3 paintings yesterday and wasn't happy with any, yet today another 3 and I like them all. Now whether that is simply due to more practice or subject matter I have yet to discover... I have a feeling it is actually the subject matter and also having an idea as to how to approach something.

The first painting was an elephant (by ESP from Paint my Photo) which I have painted in watercolour many moons ago. As I am preparing for an animal workshop in May I am working on different types of animal and most people like elephants and it was a good image to choose as not too much drawing and not too difficult to draw either.

Working very loosely, I splattered the Brusho then sprayed, splattered a bit more then used the bleach to bring back some highlights. It actually bleached too much and I thought I had ruined it at this stage however once dry I went back in, splattered and sprayed a bit more and this is the result, 22x15 Bockingford extra rough 140lb.

Next I decided to try a hedgehog, photo by Max Hemingway from PMP. This has been on my to do list in watercolour for a while and it suddenly struck me it would make a great Brusho painting. I used colours which were fairly realistic, I also used masking fluid though not sure if it worked very well as I did use bleach afterwards.....

15x11 Bockingford extra rough 140lb

The final piece is one I have been wanting to do for over 2 years. A photo I took myself while we were on a family holiday to Anglesey. We were out walking when we came across these two standing on the hillside below the gorse.... I am not too convinced about my watercolour landscapes so again as I am working on an animal theme though it would be good to try this one in Brusho instead... the texture is so much easier to achieve than in watercolour... it just happens right before your eyes!! 22x15 Bockingford extra rough 140lb.

I will work on a few more before the workshop, as I have a one or two more images to tackle, Obviously there is a lot of preparation for workshops especially if it is one you haven't run before, many hours in fact, but I do hesitate to call it work as it is just a pleasure to do it!! Nevertheless it is time spent behind the scenes enabling me to run a good workshop which people will enjoy, learn from and hopefully gain some tools and skills to take home and practice with.....

Back in the Brusho "Zone"

Well to start with this is my second go at this....lost my way with the first having not played with Brusho for a while. I am always torn by whether to use Brusho or watercolour and watercolour always seems to win unless of course I am conducting a workshop and I need to get some practice in.

I have done 3 paintings this afternoon, and 2 not so good until this one which I am quite happy with. The first two were like warm ups to get me back in the zone. I really do need to work more with Brusho, as it is just so satisfying when you get a good result, the challenge being that it is so unpredictable.

I started with a quick sketch and didn't realise I had his nose too long (more of that later) so I plodded on and sprinkled and sprayed to my hearts content!! I keep meaning to photograph these as to sho step by steps but also keep forgetting... one day!! Anyway I painted a few bits negatively and a few positively and it was when I came to the details on his nose, it wasn't working and then of course I realised his nose wasn't right so out came the bleach which I also used with gay abandon and wiped out the right side of his face!!

As the other painting is on the back I had nothing to lose and by working further on pieces the likelihood is you will learn more even if they still don't turn out. In this case I was glad I did as I really quite like the final result....just three colours, orange, brown and a teeny bit of black.

Next will be to try with a different palette and maybe do one or two more animals as the next workshop I am thinking will have an animal theme...can't wait!!

Recent Trip to Switzerland

My son and his partner have been living in Switzerland for a year now and though we miss them terribly we are lucky that we have the opportunity to visit them often and spend lovely time with them. The weather is usually really good and so much better than the UK which when I realised how far South in comparison Switzerland is makes a lot of sense!! Not to be on this trip however as we had rain for virtually the whole time we were there. Which leads me on nicely to my painting efforts there.....that age old dilemma, plein air or not!!

So I painted from their house looking out into the courtyard with one of the doors slightly open.... now that's close...isn't it?

They have a magnificent magnolia tree which we were hoping would still be in bloom when we arrived and they had actually taken some close up photos of the individual flowers at it's peak so I didn't miss out and it was still looking good though the ground was full of petals with the rain and wind. This is the outlook showing the tree and their shed

Another view where you can just see Riehen Church in the background

A close up from one of the photos

and finally an intepretation of some gerbera from a floral arrangement ( have to admit this was inside!!)

I don't normally get chance to paint much in Basel as we go out sightseeing to the lovely areas nearby and in the past have visited France, Germany, Lake Lucerne and of course Basel and their lovely little village Riehen, but as the weather was so awful we were somewhat confined to barracks which for us was absolutely fine.....the reason for our visits is to see our son and partner so it really doesn't matter to us where we are!! Having said that, next time we visit we are hoping to go to Zurich, only an hour away by train and a lovely city... looking forward to it already!!

Wishy Washy Watercolour... I Don't Think So!!

As a painter there are almost too many subjects to paint and then I find I can't make a decision as to what to paint next as I have too many "pending!" I also have two things to consider when choosing images, first is it something I would like to paint and second is it a subject which will make a good workshop. I have been chatting with a fellow teacher at my art group tonight and he has been practicing a painting he is going to deliver in his next workshop. We got to talking about how we are always choosing subjects which we think will be good to teach and which students will get good results from and how painting for ourselves gets put on the back burner.

I tend to use my art group to paint for myself so tonight I went along with an image I have been wanting to paint for a week or two. I visited Arnside Art group earlier this month and as I was travelling home along the windy lane towards the A6, I came to a junction where a pheasant was standing right in front of me. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera to hand and there was a car directly behind me so I didn't get to capture the moment but it did make me feel like painting a pheasant and seeing what I could make of the fantastic colours. I searched PMP for images and printed off a few and ended up painting this one taken by Dave Webb. I liked the angle and the vivid colours,

 And here is the finished painting....I actually did two during the session but liked this one better and may try the other image again another time. I think this shows that the finished result in watercolour doesn't need to be wishy washy and can have rich vibrant colour,...just why I love it so much!!

I broke a few of my rules of not using too many colours in a painting (those who follow my blog will know I rarely use more than 5 and at most 6 colours in a painting) and I have absolutely no idea why either, so a longer list than usual for this one

SAA Quin Gold (gorgeous colour not like W&N Quin gold, a different colour but absolutely beautiful!!)
Lemon Yellow
Cerulean Blue
Winsor Purple
Cad Red
Touch of Indigo
Touch of Pthalo Turq
Burnt Sienna
Touch or Permanent Rose... phew think that was it!!

Brusho Playtime

Continuing with the daffodils I decided to try Brusho... I love that stuff but tend to always gravitate to watercolour? Not sure why, anyway, I have a couple of workshops coming up so  thought I had better Brusho up my skills!!

I still have my bunch on the window so just used a single bloom and did two slightly different positions to get two fairly similar compositions and use slightly different colour schemes and techniques.

For the first I used Lime Green, UB, yellow, orange and scarlet and instead of creating a textured wash ended up with a smooth but colourful light wash using lots of water to wash away the crystals. At this stage I wasn't too keen as it seemed a little flat and uninteresting. I then worked in a more traditional watercolour way dropping colour in, washing away creating little channels of colour down the paper then also worked around the flower making negative, postive, soft, lost and found edges and I think it has produced a lovely soft fresh piece.

For this next one I swapped the scarlet for purple..... my thinking was it would give me more contrast with the yellow though I like the blue and blue/green I 've  used in the previous one.

I left the initial wash with more much texture stopping the mixing before it went too far and then worked more purple into the background against the yellow. I much preferred this one at this stage and it looked more like the normal Brusho work I do. I did go back in before the orange in the centre was dry and I think that is why I partly don't like it as much as it has got a little bit muddy around the flower and to me the flower head looks a bit overworked. I also haven't lost the edges on this........ no particular reason why.... but I think also adds to the feeling it is overworked. Hubby prefers this one by the way, says it has more going on... we are sooooo compatible!!

Daffodil Time!!

Like  many painters, I like to paint what is in season and Spring Flowers are my favourites to paint mainly because for me they signify sunshine and a hint that some warmer weather may be on the way!!

As many of you will know we have a puppy (well he's actually one today, but still very young) and he seems to love digging up bulbs so at the start of the year we had no idea what spring bulbs we were going to have in the garden this year if any. We had a bit of a scare a couple of weeks ago...as we have seen the daffodil bulbs growing we have realised that the bulbs which are to his taste are the tulips. Well,  the other night having let him out, he wasn't too happy to come back and we became concerned he had eaten a few...licking his lips and soil around his muzzle sort of gave the game away!! We know he has eaten the odd one in the past and not come to any harm but we suspected this time he had had a few more.

I checked the internet to find they are poisonous and some dogs have died consuming them so ended up ringing the emergency vet service but no answer. Anyway I decided to watch him carefully and ring again if he started to display any signs.....apparently they start panting and drinking lots as they can cause an irritation in the mouth and oesophagus and all he was doing was going to sleep... so after an hour or so I decided he either hadn't eaten that many or he isn't too susceptible to them!

Anayway I digress... back to the daffodils!! I just cut one for my reference and took it with me to my art group last night. Last year I only used one as well, I simply turn them around placing them in different positions to create my composition. I did a daffodil painting last year and was really quite pleased with it but was unsure as to whether it was finished. I am a member of a watercolour critique group and to be fair, the consensus there was, that is was finished but I still didn't feel it was... anyway I worked it more and unfortunately lost the spontaneity of it.....lesson learned!!

So this time I wanted to do a similar composition, and see if I could nail it without overworking. I used the same colours but different brand. I have become an ambassador for the MaimerBlu range of paints and have to say I am liking them!! I tried to get the same pigment numbers I have in my W&N and Schmincke paints so they are working nicely for me.

The palette was purple, lemon yellow, turquoise, and orange. These colours are compliments so as well as light dark contrast I can achieve colour contrast too and hopefully a combination of both. As my work shows, I do seem to be drawn to a cooler palette, blues, greens, purples, yellows are some of my favourites.

I didn't finish this at the group but worked on it again today while starting another. I decided to do an different composition and settle on a horizontal one for the piece and also used a different palette.

Lemon yellow, cobalt blue, ub, a cool red, orange so still able to get some coolish greens the red allows me to get a purple... here are the two so far....

 I am also working on a couple of others at the moment... I used them as a study piece for the last workshop I did in Oswestry so I have a lovely vase of flowers to work from now

Chester here!!

Well am back esconced at the humans after a lovely stay with my puppy trainer while those two went off on holiday without me.....grrrr

I think I had a bit of a premonition about this as I had to go for a little "trial" weekend not long ago. Well I showed them......I bent 2 metal cages, chewed up a whole bed and worried the life out of my puppy trainers two dogs and spent the whole of the second night howling and whining... how was that then?

Anyway I was fair worn out when I got home that Sunday morning so I slept and slept and slept, after all I am still only a puppy and I do need my rest. I did try hard to behave myself for the next few weeks...... we went for a lovely walk with my trainer and I was such a good boy coming back at every blow of the whistle...Mum and Dad were so proud and he said he could tell they had been working with me!!

Me being a good boy and coming back when whistled!!

So about a month ago I was collected and taken to my new home where at times there were 4 other dogs....heaven that's what I call it!! I was on my best behaviour as the parents didn't really want to pay for 2 more cages and another bed and I could sense they were a little concerned to say the least about leaving me, so I decided to do as I was told, speak when spoken to and be seen and not heard....result!!!

I was brought home when they came back from their time away and was sooo excited to see them. I know they were told to ignore me when I came in and my female human did as she was told... for about 10 seconds and my male human for even less and then they were both on the floor with me fussing and stroking me and I was back in the driving seat!! Well for that evening anyway. Then they resorted back to this odd behavior I have observed... they ignore me when I jump up and greet them, still don't let me on their bed or on their chairs but I keep hearing them say to everyone how I am getting better and after all I am only 11 months old and still a baby really. The thing is I don't think my behaviour has changed, it is them who have been acting weirdly, I mean what is all this not looking at me when I stare longingly into their eyes, it's enough to turn a puppy to drink!!

Those were the days!!

 Still keep trying in case they forget and can't resist me!! Also saw my female was taking a photo and tried to look my best!!

Anyway I have had some lovely walks this past week, we have been on the moors, to the seaside, through the woods and I am loving chasing after my ball in fact it is fast becoming my favourite thing!! Am not too good at bringing it straight back yet (too many new smells which stop me in my puppy tracks ) but am sure they have a plan for that too!!

 I do howl a lot in the car but I just can't wait to get out for my walk.....I don't know if it has anything to do with that but they have started just taking me in the car and then coming back home without a walk, so sometimes I go in the car and get a walk and sometimes I don't? What's that all about? Not quite sure what they're playing at but will let you all know when I've sussed it... they keep saying what a clever boy I am so am sure it will come to me eventually.

So that's all for now... they keep throwing the ball up and down hills and telling me to hurry up... I mean I only have little legs but they don't half motor when I'm after that ball so I am worn out during the evening and can't spend all my time on the computer!!

Snowdrop Step by Step

We will be trying this at my group next time, I took the painting not quite finished to show them at the last session so although some of the chaps aren't too keen on flowers there is a lot to learn from this one and it may well take us 2 sessions to complete. I used a composition similar to my previous Brusho snowdrop but to be painted in watercolour.

As this was painted as a workshop piece I did a simple drawing first....not all the group would be confident in painting without drawing and I have to cater for all abilities.  I have used a reference photo but only to give me some flower head shapes, not to provide the composition. I used the new Maimeriblu colours and as usual a limited palette,  Turqouise, purple and cad yellow to start with but thought that was a bit too much so changed to lemon yellow.

The first image show the washes. I have tried to keep things light around the flower heads as I know I want them to be fairly white. By guiding the water around the petals (paint will only flow where there is water) the paint will also flow around and leave areas of white. I start at the top with whichever colour takes my fancy then add paint straight from my palette, (sprayed with water before I start to make them moist and workable) alternating the colours in an irregular way diluting and spraying as I go along so instead of creating a wash in my palette I create the wash on the paper. As yellow and purple are complimentary colours (and could make a grey duller colour) I try not to add them next to one another.

This needs to dry completely and as I was in my studio  and my hair dryer was ready to go, once the shine had gone off (if you dry before, the water moves the paint around too much and if you have any particular effects you see happening they will be lost) I dried off ready for the next layers.

2nd image.....Here I have started to add a bit of detail working around the painting so that I am not working where it is wet, adding the stems and calyx's (think that's the right word?) and a few leaves at the bottom. Everything is still fairly light at this stage and I haven't added any more to the background.

3rd image below......I decided the light was coming from the right so started to darken the bg to that side to emphasize the counter change with the white petals. i worked around the main flower and as I add the intense colour I wash away behind it so that it can blend into the washes I already have.   

4th image below......Here I have started to work around the other flowers and added a touch more detail to the foliage at the bottom. I thought the bg was a bit too harsh behind the top flower so washed the intensity away. 

At this stage the whole piece wasn't "popping" as I would like so I left for a couple of days and then worked on it a bit more.

5th Image below......just a few subtle changes here adding a few more darks around the petals and in the foliage at the bottom. As you add the paint, as mentioned earlier, you need to wash the colour away with clean water into the bg... that way you don't add more wash into the colours you already have and you don't get hard edges where you have added the extra colour. I have also added a teeny touch of white guoache to the stems... not too much as it starts to look too contrived and I wouldn't have added any had I managed to keep more of the white paper.

Please feel free to ask any questions and I will do my best to answer.....

Experience of a Lifetime in Malaysia

I am really lucky to have a cousin who has lived in the far East for most of his adult life and in Kuala Lumpur a good few years and especially lucky that they invited us to stay with them on a trip to Malaysia.

We have been treated to a cultural and culinary experience second to none.... obviously they know where to go and which places to eat (very important consideration in the Farnworth household) and we have been blown away by the lovely country and food. Apparently as we Brits are obsessed by the weather, the Malays are equally obsessed with food and there is a huge variety of food of Malaysian origin and also influenced by China, India, Burma, Indonesia, Japan to name but a few and we have been fortunate to sample a fantastic selection of all these cuisines.

The weather has been quite good as KL can be very overcast and humid but fortunately we had some very good days. We started our trip in KL and after a day to get over the jet lag, flew to Penang an island about a 4 hour drive (and 30 minute flight) away. We stayed at the Shangri La Rasa Sayang, a lovey hotel with beautiful gardens and had a fabulous sea view and lovely tropical beach

We were in Penang for the Chinese New Year and enjoyed a "Nonya" meal on New Years eve. Nonya is the name for the cuisine derived blending Chinese ingredients with Malay spices and cooking methods and many areas have their own very specific regional variations of dishes using aromatic herbs and spices native to the regions.

Everywhere is decorated in red and gold for the Chinese New Year, restaurants, hotel entrances, shopping malls, streets all very colourful and symbolic.

We also had Yee Sang a dish which symbolises abundance and prosperity and which is only eaten at New Year. The dish consists of shredded vegetables and fish (often salmon) and then an array of spices all different colours and along with the vegetables all symbolising different things. The idea is for the whole party to toss the Yee Sang while offering wishes of good fortune and prosperity. This is the year of the monkey... there are 12 animals and I am the year of the monkey too. This doesn't necessarily mean good luck in the Chinese Year but we tossed the Yee Sang (the higher they toss, the messier it is and the more wishes of good fortune the better) for all it was worth and then ate it!! Really good and I have brought some packs of the spices home with me to do a version of it.

We returned to KL for a couple of days then off again on our travels to Singapore.... what a fabulous city!! A police state with cameras everywhere but so clean and smart with the most stunning architecture. Rather more expensive than KL but we had to do afternoon tea at Raffles didn't we?

This is such a beautiful place and the afternoon tea was delicious... only problem was we had eaten Fish Head Curry with all the trimmings for lunch and were out again for dinner so didn't quite do it justice!!

After dinner we visited a bar 83 floors high and open to the elements, what an experience!! Views of the whole of Singapore at night, spectacular!!

We loved Singapore, a very green city. lots of flowers... planted strategically so that the trade winds waft the scents into the centre of the city, so Eastern!!


We returned to KL and visited the Petronus Twin Towers. Interestingly from ground level, they don't appear so high but once you are 86 floors up believe me they are high!!

As we approached the end of our stay we took a trip to a place called Ipoh where the water is much sweeter than other areas of Malaysia and the food produced there takes on a different flavour. Another foodie heaven!! Ipoh is North of KL and in contrast to the scenery on route to Singapore which was flanked by palm trees but fairly flat, the terrain further North is quite mountainous and more interesting.

We had a couple of delicious meals on the last two days one at a place called Modern Chinois (as the name suggests it is a modern take on Chinese food) and another at a Sushi bar which is known to have the best Sushi outside Japan. Our final meal was a very modern quirky restaurant where they served Eastern style burgers amongst other things.

During our time there we have eaten deep fried squid, jelly fish, fish head (though not the eye!!) razor clams,  crab (Australian Mud crab), intestines, truffles, Wagyu beef and vegetables and fruits I've never heard of, We've had curry and rice and noodle soup for breakfast, eaten most things with chop sticks and I think overall have thoroughly embraced everything on offer to us, It has been such a help having my cousins to choose the food as we wouldn't have had a clue about what to pick and would most certainly have played safe and probably chosen what we know.

KL is a very modern city and the roads throughout Malaysia are fantastic though most of them are toll roads and quite expensive (petrol on the other hand is around 30p per litre!!)  Food in the main is much cheaper than the Uk and as a result a lot of the inhabitants eat out and the restaurant scene is huge with whole shopping mall floors dedicated to food. We had delicious Dim Sum and barbecued pork in one of the Malls and the food was really excellent which is not so typical in the Uk. Other goods were just as expensive as in the UK and of course the designer stores are there in abundance with price tags to match.

Though we have been to the far East before I think this trip showed me really how different the culture is and how in the East so many things including food have meanings. As we were there for Chinese New Year this was even more apparent, the whole event is steeped in strong tradition and the people return to family homes for their celebrations which can last about 3 weeks.

I would like to say a huge thank you to Barbara and Jeremy for their wonderful hospitality... nothing was too much trouble and they took precious time from work to help give us a taste of their fabulous country and lives, it was a treat to spend time with them... we owe them one!! They plan to come to us in September so need to get the pork pies, black puddings and cream scones ready!!  

On a final note my cousins have both a Thai maid and a driver... this isn't unusual in Malaysia as wages are low and staff are very affordable. The Thai maid looked after us wonderfully and her cooking was absolutely fantastic!! She prepared the best curry I have ever eaten as well as some other beautiful dishes, she took care of our washing and ironing and we came home with only a couple of days washing (sheer bliss!!). She has worked for them for over 12 years is extremely happy with my cousins and has declared she would work for nothing as they are her family. Similarly their driver has worked for them for 12 years and is very happy in their employ and ferried us here there and everywhere, so a big thank you to them for helping to make our stay even more comfortable.

Now back to reality and the weather.... didn't take long to get into that preoccupation again!! But a visit to the beach today was a real delight... cold but lovely and sunny and lunch in a cafe overlooking the sea with a final snap of little puppy having the best of times!!

Snowdrops in Brusho

I am preparing for my new Brusho workshop on the 20th January so working on some new subjects for the next few days and then who knows what we will do!!

We don't have any snowdrops out yet as naughty puppy keeps digging up bulbs......can't leave him for a minute in the garden before he is rooting and digging so we have no idea just which bulbs they are but our garden which is most definitely a Spring garden is going to be decimated before we even get there!!Grrrrrr!!!

Anyway like many painters I tend to paint in the seasons and always do a few snowdrop studies at this time of year. I enjoy creating the composition from nothing and seeing what I come up with and have a few studies over the years which I have created in the same way.

For this piece I drew 3 flower heads, used some wax to capture some highlights on the petals and leaves, then using Yellow, Turq, Leaf green and purple, sprinkled all over the paper leaving the flower areas blank. I then sprayed all over and some paint then bled into the flower heads but the wax kept some of the highlights and the white of the paper was also preserved in parts. I like the texture Brusho creates and decided to keep that in the bg knowing that my flower and leaves would be smoother so would create contrast in the piece.

I could barely see the pencil lines at this stage so the drawing only worked as a vague clue and allowed me to decide on the composition in the first place, so I then started to work negatively around the flowers, picking out petals and stems, keeping hard and soft edges, letting some edges bleed into the petals,  and as I was working,I saw another flower head appear towards the bottom right. I know 4 is not a good number compositionally but I really felt in this position the composition was actually improved so decided to work with it. Would be interested to hear what you think.....

I am always drawn to contrast of light and dark and I think it works really well with snowdrops and next time I will try in different colours. For workshops I work in the colours the students have which is usually the basic set of 12 but I now have most of the colours so a far bigger selection to choose from.

I continued adding the darks and also worked with some Miltons Fluid (and water) to restore some lights... but the blues will only restore to a pale turquoise whereas the reds and purples bleach out very well.

What is so fantastic about Brusho is that it challenges the artists eye. Because you never know just what will happen when working this way, it is always tricky trying to work out where to go with something and how to finish it, but I am very happy with the light on this one and the palette I used which is one of my favourites in Brusho.