Thackers Farm

27-02-11a
Originally uploaded by Anita Davies

On Sunday, while my roast finished crisping in the oven, I set my mobile alarm for twenty minutes and headed off down the drove to the adjacent farm for a quick sketch on a spread I had prepared with watercolour earlier that morning.
I slipped a blob of white gouache in my watercolour palette and added it to my mixes for some opaque coverage in areas.
Just as my alarm sounded, the heavens opened and I was so pleased I had taken the car!

Noodlers Lexington Gray ink, watercolour and gouache in daily journal

Class Demo Revisited

22-11-10-ClassDemo-smll
Originally uploaded by Anita Davies

This is the class demo I did yesterday, using the 15 min watercolour base from last weeks class.
The task was to create atmosphere and depth.
I found it difficult to photograph (there is a hot, vibrant pink in there that the camera just will not pick up)

I spent approx. 1 hour on this piece, working on many techniques and applications. My student loved the session and we both ended up smothered in pastel, along with most of the door handles in my home!

The house was added at the end to show the versitality of using mixed media (light over dark) a valuable lesson, although I think preferred the scene without it.

30x30cm - Mixed Media

GilaMosaics for JKPP

GilaMosaics-JKPP
Originally uploaded by Anita Davies

This was great fun!
Created with watercolour, Neocolor II and gouache in Moleskine Folio watercolour sketchbook.
Ref:
www.flickr.com/photos/gilamosaics/3554162185/

Exhibition At St Matthews - Update

SOLD

The exhibition closed today and I went to collect my works to find that this one had found a new home.
This was painted in a new approach for me, a plein air using mixed media, which made the sale all the more encouraging.

Exhibition At St Matthew's

You may remember I started the year experimenting with landscapes; using mixed media, working plein air and also working up paintings from sketches I made on location.

Each year I am invited to exhibit works at St Matthew's church at Sutton bridge and this year I have decided to be brave and enter a few of the pieces from my 'mixed views' project.

I decided to frame 'Nene Bank at Benwick' (the middle one) in portrait format, which I believe overcomes some of the problems I felt it had when I painted it. (You can read my notes here) I also like the suprise element it offers to have a landscape framed in portrait format.

All three are mounted on ivory in light wood box frames for a contemporary feel, which looks clean and allows the artwork to 'speak' without interruption.

The show runs from 29th August - 4 September. I have been invited to attend on the 29th with my sketchbook in tow, so if you are planning on taking a look you may find me huddled up in a corner scribbling ....Come over and say 'Hi'.

1. Benwick Barns
2. Nene Bank
3. Fenland View

Naked

Benwick Barns

'Benwick Barns' - 8x11" Mixed Media ©AnitaDavies

This is the painting I produced from the two sketches in the previous post.

I used watercolour and a little gouache, applied with a 1" hake brush, working bold and fast. I also used a wax resist for the first time in the form of an oil pastel.

I've had a nightmare trying to photograph it on what has been an overcast day here in the Fens, I tried scanning but lost the sky completely. This is pretty close.

I've been tempted to 'refine' and fiddle with it since I painted it but also appreciate it's boldness and the excitement I felt in the moment I made it...It has grown on me and I have learned a little about 'when to stop and take a step back'.

Speedy Sunset

The view from my studio is pretty fantastic throughout the entire day but the sunsets are simply spectacular.
Every evening a different show appears outside my window as the sun drops it's head beneath the Fen...I never tire of it.

I decided to catch one in my sketchbook, you don't get long and it changes constantly by the second but I wanted to capture the 'banding' on this particular showcase the other evening. I managed to make two sketches; one in mixed media (running inside like a mad woman to grab things from my studio table) and the second using Neocolor11 and a waterbrush.

Mixed Media Sketch

Benwick River, plein air sketch in large Canson sketchbook - Mixed media

Parked up at Benwick river again the other morning after the school run and sketched the bridge using watercolour and a little soft pastel.

Painting From A Sketch

'Benwick River' -Mixed Media 9x11" -©Anita Davies

Six years into my art journey and I am still having 'firsts'. This is the first time I have ever completed a painting from one of my own sketches...no photos, no references of any kind, just the ink sketch below.
What fun!


"Benwick River" - Ink Study in sketchbook ©Anita Davies

Now I know that I strayed a little, some parts of that worked well, others did not. The composition works better in my sketch, I made too much of the road in my painting and split the composition into equal thirds, which I think makes each third compete a little for attention. The river sweeps more in my sketch, which I prefer, as do the trees along the back right. The bank looks more like a hedge in my painting and the jetty looks more like a table with the back leg I added.

However, none of this matters because I painted it all from my very own sketch and THAT alone makes this painting a personal success.
I enjoyed selecting colours and creating texture with my new 1" hake and I loved being all loose and artsy. I was in my glory slopping watercolour about, then dipping my fingers into my pastel box, grabbing my ink filled waterbrush, then gouache and generally being unrestricted in my choices of media.

I am going to have such fun with this project!


"Benwick River" WIP - ©Anita Davies

Mixed Views

'Studio View' - 8"x6" mixed Media - ©Anita Davies

I'm dabbling with landscapes a little again this year.

For some reason recently I am feeling drawn to landscapes, a subject that has never really inspired me much before...Oh I love them, looking at them, living in a beautiful location myself of course I appreciate them...But, whenever I used to think of painting them, they all seemed so green, brown and blue in my interpretation, they lacked atmosphere and depth...So, I did what any decent artist would...I avoided them!

Then I started keeping a journal/sketchbook and began sketching and painting everywhere I went.

Since then I have expanded my mind somewhat and find myself enjoying the landscapes I sketch. I even took to painting plein air a little last year with acrylics...Which I loved!

Clarice House
Ely Palace
My Garden

...and a mixed media piece:
Barnsdale Gardens

I've decided this project will be my 'toy' for 2009.

As usual, with anything new, I seem to start a little 'tight' but I have alot of experimenting to do and plan to have fun. This is a project for me to truly play with, enjoy, mess up and learn from. Mostly I am hoping it will allow my creativity to unfold.

I'll be working fast, mostly on location 'plein air' (fingers crossed) the speed will hopefully prevent me from fiddling and becoming too precious...I believe my creativity flows easier working this way before the voice of 'Miss bossyboots' has a chance to get in the way and complain. Big brushes and experimental techniques will hopefully scare her enough to remain silent.

I also hope to make studies in my sketchbook that I later 'work up' or 'play with' in the studio...I have never created a painting from a sketch I have made before....I think it may be time.

Views of all sorts will become subjects, landscapes, seascapes, buildings, rivers.....a real mix!

This is one of the reasons I'll be calling the project 'Mixed Views', the other reason being that I will be dabbling with a variety of media and even mixing them up a little like I have here.

Mixer Trixer

MIXER TRIXER - Is the name my Sons give to a drink when they pour more than one flavour juice into a glass before diluting with water.







Friday day time involved many trips here and there, weekly grocery shop, lunch, three loads of washing, washing the floors, polishing and dinner preparation...amongst other things!
These are the kind of days where we can make excuses and say we never had time to do anything creative... but could we?
How about those coffee breaks?
Well I decided to make good use of my time Friday, regardless of what other chores the world threw my way.

These two portraits occurred while taking such coffee breaks. I set my mobile phone alarm for 25 mins, so I didn't get too distracted as I often do...Hours seem to pass by in the studio like some kind of time tunnel. Working quickly I set about the watercolour blocking in warms and cools, highlights and darks and then grabbed a charcoal pencil and defined a little after it was dry.
With the acrylic I went straight in with a mix of Payne's Grey and Titanium White, blocking values until some kind of likeness appeared.

Both unique, neither masterpieces but oh, so much better than nothing at all!

Oh, and at Robyn's request...

'Wonderful life in your eyes, Anita. Now you've planted the idea, I want to see one of your actually having a little chomp on your bottom lip.'

...I am biting my lip in the acrylic!



Self portrait - Acrylic on oil paper - 25 mins
Self portrait - Watercolour & charcoal on Arches HP - 25 mins

Creative Rose

I got a little creative with a rose, watercolours and coloured pencils in my large watercolour moleskin and then I found the link to this test on Barbara's blog 'One Happy Fool' and thought it might be fun to do while I sipped on my coffee....Well ok...Glugged manically on my coffee!

You Are 100% Creative

You are an incredibly creative person. For you, there are no bounds or limits to your creativity. Your next creation could be something very great... Or at least very cool!

How Creative Are You?