A fishy tale...

For a friends birthday I created this fun picture for the children's room of her holiday home in Cornwall.

The background was created with watercolour and plastic wrap


Detail of the fish - created with Aluminium sheet and alcohol inks

Pembrokeshire Travel Journal

Had a wonderful week in Pembrokeshire - the first time I have taken a vacation in Wales and it hasn't rained all the time. We only had one really wet day, so were able to take advantage of the wonderful beaches in this part of the world. A couple of good surfing beaches too, so we had lots of fun body boarding.

Still working on my travel journal, but here are a few pages...

These were mainly done with Pitt Artist Pen, Watercolour pencils and a waterbrush, but some were watercolour paint.

Birthday Gift

Well, I have been busy these last few weeks making gifts for friends, some I can't yet show as they haven't been handed to the recipient yet, but this one is now in the hands of it's new owner... My friend celebrated her 50th birthday this week and I made this little book for her, inspired by Martha Lever. I have always loved collecting quotes, so I picked some of my favourites to share.

The images were painted in watercolour on watercolour paper, some have the addition of PanPastel in the background, and a little stencilling added, others also have some rubber stamping. I then made a little booklet out of dark green paper, and stitched it together, then pasted the watercolour paper on each page. Finally I made two covers using fine brass mesh, which were attached with thread sewn through the eyelets and attached to the sewn binding of the book, and then added some fibres as a finishing touch.

Hand study watercolour

hand study watercolour
Originally uploaded by JournalEYES

Moving on from the hand studies we did in charcoal last week. Learning to create flesh tones in watercolour.

Cactus

A prickly subject.... again painted at the garden centre.

There is something very interesting about this particular garden centre, it is a family owned business, and one of the original founders is a lady of 101 and she still comes in to work every day! Well they say doing what we love keeps us young - she must be the proof...

Pots

More paintings from the garden centre

Tulips

Painted in-situ at a garden centre with my drawing and painting class
Watercolour in a Moleskine Watercolour Notebook

Shells

Still life from my drawing and painting class

Watercolour on watercolour pad

Seascape

Seascape
Originally uploaded by JournalEYES

Week 2 of my drawing and watercolour class - this week, seascapes, using masking fluid and spatter techniques, working from a photo.
I'm really pleased with how this one has turned out, but must try harder to get my horizon line straight! I think what really made the painting was adding the little sailboats on the horizon - they weren't in the photo.

Sky 2

sky2
Originally uploaded by JournalEYES

Another sky study this time I applied a Watercolour wash then removed some paint with a tissue to get the cloud effect, then back in with a darker colour when the paint was slightly wet to create the dark clouds. Landscape put in when sky had dried.

Sky 1

sky1
Originally uploaded by JournalEYES

First class of my drawing and watercolour course - missed the first two weeks, so am playing catch-up. Learning basic watercolour washes and skies - then adding a simple landscape

Red Pepper

Red Pepper
Originally uploaded by JournalEYES

This was meant to be part of my drawing practice, but when it was finished I couldn't resist adding the luscious red watercolour.

Moleskine sketchbook and watercolours

Irises

Irises
Originally uploaded by JournalEYES

I used two techniques here. I drew the Flag Iris on the right first. It was drawn with watercolour pencils then painted over with a waterbrush, but I think I overworked it. It's always so hard when to know to stop!

The one on the left I painted with a light watercolour wash then shaved on some pigment from the watercolour pencils. This technique would have worked better on proper watercolour paper as the moleskine sketchbook does not seem to like getting too wet - it will take a certain amount of water but then tends to seep through to the back of the page. I like the looser look of this one though - what do you think?

Watercolour and watercolour pencils in Moleskine Sketchbook

Garden surprises

Garden surprises
Originally uploaded by JournalEYES

We moved into a new house in January, the garden had been very neglected due to the previous owners ill health. So it has been a nice surprise to see a few flowers poke through the soil. So far we have had a patch of bluebells and these Lily of the Valley which have always been a favourite with their delicious scent and tiny white bells.

Not too pleased with the leaf on the left - it looks far too 'flat', still early days in my watercolour journey, much still to learn...

Moleskine sketchbook and watercolours

Scents of France

A wonderful idea taken directly from Dory Kanter's book "Art Escapes" to document the scents and aromas of your trip

Watercolour on watercolour paper