Mangrove Cooks river

I've been working on this painting for a little while, on and off. It's a mangrove clump on the tidal Cooks River.


What I like is the reflections of the tree on the water, which is moving. Cooks River is a great spot for cycling and walks at high tide but not so great at low tide.

Large format at last!

This week's focus was on large format and ink (hallelujah!) something I've wanted to learn a long time. Susie brought a2 paper and distributed it around. We were given an ink pot and a bamboo stick to draw with. After drawing, a brush was applied to give it some shading.






I just love the effect! And then I tried putting a wash of colour in first, letting it dry before inking them.





It looks a treat and so quick!



An English scene done the same way. Perhaps best in a smaller format. Or more subtle colouring? Need to work on mixing large batches of colour. This is our last week this term. I'll be back for more next term!

Inspired

The technique of painting first then drawing was put to use with a venetian scene. Reader would know how bitterly I complain about painting realistic buildings. The trick it seems is to paint naively. It's an impression not an architectural drawing!


There was a lot of wet paint dribbling on this sheet. It was fun in a watercolour fun way. I then painted the lines in with acrylic paint. Never mind that everything's crooked.


And here is a painting of the path to our accommodation in Harden. We stayed at a beautiful place some miles out of the homestead. I must be inspired... these were all created on a weekend. Normally out swimming or socialising.

Flowers

This week we painted Susie's favourite subject - flowers. The idea is to let the watercolour be beautiful- spraying it and letting the colours run into each other. Then outlining the shapes before the paints could dry.



The gold pen looks remarkable in these paintings. The mantra is to 'not care'. As it happens I'm very good at not caring!

Class 3

The subject today was birds. I've often baulked at the thought of painting animals but somehow birds are okay. Especially roosters and hens.



Following this we were encouraged to paint a bird perched on a cup. Obviously large birds can't be perched on a cup. To my surprise Jennifer used my bird for her website.


After that I found some sketches done by John Haycraft and decided to paint the subject in watercolour.






It's actually easier because John had already simplified the subject for me. All the tones are there - he draws magnificently.

Class 2 watercolour

On an unexpectedly wet day Susie was held up in traffic so everyone had a go at their own painting. Here is my Wylies special.



When she did turn up, we painted portraits. This one should have been a woman but looks mannish. Oh well....

More watercolour with Susie

When Jennifer from ArtEst rang to offer me a place in Susie Murphie's class, I was surprised as the term had already started. However not one to look at a gift horse in the mouth, I immediately accepted.


It was a colour mixing class - this was to be painted using only magenta, burnt sienna and ultramarine blue.


So many lessons I've forgotten- and of course Susie is a pleasure to spend time with.