Merry Christmas one and all.

 Here`s wishing you all a very happy Christmas and a wonderful new year.

Sorry if you`ve been looking for new posts lately, and there haven`t been any. I`ve been a little lax in doing my up-dating, but appart from that, the last few posts that I wrote haven`t been posted for some reason.......I`ve only just realised this, sorry.
Hopefully this message will get published.lol.

I`m looking forward to the new year, and getting lot`s of painting done. I`m looking forward to seeing the snow on the ground, and getting some new and exciting reference materials with the snow and different lighting conditions that the winter months bring.

Anyway, have a wonderful Christmas and a happy healthy, and prospherous new year.

Thankyou to all the people who have supported me this year, and to those who regularly read this blog, and take the time to look at my work.........thankyou also to the people who have purchased work from me this year, I hope it continues to bring you much joy and happiness for many, many years to come.

Take care,

Sharon.

Exhibitions, and sales a plenty!!

I`m sorry I haven`t posted in a while.....I`ve been busy preparing for exhibitions. I go to several art groups and over the last few weeks and the coming few weeks, it has been back to back exhibitions, but I`m not complaining........I`m loving it.

At the exhibition I was involved with last week, I told 12 paintings and got 7 commissions, so as you can imagine, I`m snowed under catching up with commissions and paintiing more pictures to include in the next few exhibitons.

Tonight I`ll be delivering 3 commissions, getting artwork photographed for a calendar for our art group, and hopefully I`ll get to do a bit of painting.......as well..lol

Sorry I haven`t got any paintings to post, but my artwork is on the other computer, I`ll get round to sorting it in a couple of days, hopefully.

Stay warm.

Art group outing

Yesterday we had a lovely visit to Kirkharle in Northumberland. It was a bright sunny day, and the place was beautiful.
I went with my friends from St Andrews art club, and my carer husband of course.

We had a lovely time wandering around the little galleries, shops and studios, before having a delicious lunch. After lunch we went for a walk around the lake..........it was beautiful. I took lots of photographs, and I was itching to paint the lovely views of the autumn trees, grasses and the sunshine on the backs of the sheep. It was a perfect day for painting pliene aire, the only problem was, we just didn`t have the time.
Next time we go, I will definately be taking my paints with me.

I have done a painting today in acrylics, based on my photo`s and memories of Kirkharle, I will post soon, because I haven`t put the photo`s on the computer yet.

In the meantime, this is a picture that I painted using a reference photograph, with kind permission from Maureen Brown.

Sunset at the Priory.

7x11"

Watercolours.

 

My husband framed up the mono paintings that I did of St Marys lighthouse. We thought it would be a little unusal to put them all in one frame......

 

St Mary`s colours

80x 60cms

 

 

Also this week, I have done a night time painting of the fish quay at North Shields.

 

Night fishing at the high lights.

15x11"

Watercolours, with a touch of iridescent medium on the light reflections in the water area.

 

I love painting night scenes, this one was a lot of fun to do. Appart from working from blurry photo`s. I haven`t mastered the new camera, on night scenery. .....so I worked from my memories of painting this scene in daylight.

 

 

"Hex"-tremely different view.

Acrylics.

Hexagonal canvas 10"

 

I haven`t been updating my blog lately, completely slipped my mind.

 

 

Snow day

Acrylics

15x11"

 

As you can see, I`ve been playing with acrylics this month. I have to admit that they are my least favorite medium to work with, so I need lots more practice.

 

I`ve done a lot of mono tone paintings this month, just to show that they don`t all have to be in sepia or grey.

 

St Mary`s lighthouse.

Monotones.

All 7 x 11"

 

There have been other paintings, but I`ve been lax in keeping up to date.

 

Let`s hope I do better next month.

Thanks for looking.

Demo day

I had a lovely time today, doing a watercolour demonstration for the Preston Grange art group...........and I loved every minute of it. It made me long for the days when I used to do alot of teaching. I would love to do it full time, but with my health being what it is, I have to make do with the odd demonstration here and there.

At the end of the demo I was presented with a huge bouquet of flowers from the members. It was such a lovely unexpected surprise, someone must have snuck out to buy them, during break time....lol.

I have posted a photo below, as you can see, 2 of my 10 week old, kittens were facinated by them.

 

 

I haven`t got a photo of the demonstration painting, but below you will see something else that I have been working on this week.

 

 

 

Both paintings are done in watercolour on arches rough, 140LB paper.

15x11"

 

I`ve been playing and experimenting with different light conditions this week, I haven`t decided whether these are sunsets, or sun rises...lol. I suppose it depends on which direction the light is coming from.??????

 

Seaton Sluice

Seaton Sluice.

 

The House on the hill,

 

15x 22"

 

Arches waterolour paper, M.Grahams watercolours.

 

 

I painted this scene in watercolours. I have been experimenting alot lately with different mediums, but no matter how much I enjoy working in other mediums, or how much I like the resulting paintings, I always go back to watercolours.

 

I enjoyed painting this because I love this place, the views are fabulous from all angles, but also because this place has some very happy memories ....of times spent with my family, going for meals to celebrate birthdays etc. Times filled with lots of fun and laughter, well appart from the time we went when the girls were younger, were they moaned and cried and argued etc from the minute we walked in............but I choose to forget that particular occassion from now on.

 



 

Frilly lillies.

15 x11"

Artistico paper,

M.Grahams watercolours.

 

I enjoyed every minute of painting this picture, and I have to say, it`s one of my favourite flower paintings that I`ve ever done. This photo doesn`t do it justice, the colours are much brighter and more vibrant IRL............but you get the idea.

 

 

Old Mill at Jesmond Dene.

 

15x11"

Acrylic paints.

guessoed watercolour paper.

 

I have to say, acrylics are my least favourite medium to work in, but I`ve challenged myself to keep experimenting.

I kind of enjoyed painting this...........although there were times when I wanted to rip it up and bin it. I`m glad I stuck with it though.....if only to remind myself why I love watercolours so much......lol.

 

I will continue to practice and experiment, and I will continue to post the results.

I have got a few more paintings to post from the last couple of weeks, so I will photograph them and post the during the week. There are some pastel on velour paper, which is completely different for me.Watch this space for more info on that.

 

What if

My first painting for this week I titled "Wishful thinking", simply because I find the look in the gorilla`s eye so sad.

I can`t help wondering what he is thinking about........... The more I look at the painting, the more I am left wondering the answers to the question

Wishful Thinking.

15x11"

Fabriano artistico.

Grahams watercolours.

As you can see, I tried to paint in a looser style. I am enjoying all this experimenting that I`ve been doing lately, and I have noticed a change in my work...........

but............

I`ll always love painting detailed still lifes.....

Cherry picked,

15x11"

Arches rough

Grahams watercolours.

Having said that, if you look closely, you will see that this painting isn`t as detailed as I used to paint. Maybe one of these days, I will achieve loose painterly watercolours. Until then I will continue enjoying what I`m doing, and love every single minute of it.!!

washy playtime.

This is loose and washy for me, and I really enjoyed painting it.

The gossips.

15x11"

M.Grahams watercolours.

Fabriano artistico watercolour paper.

This was well out of my comfort zone, but I enjoyed every minute of it.

I was trying out new paper, so I thought I`d try out a new style as well. It`s not the best painting I`ve ever done, but I am pleased with it. Normally when I try to loosen up, it still ends up full of detail, but in this instance, I`ve left the details to a minimum. (for me anyway)

I enjoyed painting this so much that I`ve started painting a gorilla in the same style.........I wonder how that will turn out.?????

Gizzie`s kitty.

15x11"

M. tientes pastel paper.

A selection of pastels, and pastel pencils.

This is one of our cat`s kittens, she is so cute that I couldn`t resist painting her.

We have got three, three and a half week old kittens running around the living room now........and they are so adorable. I`m loving watching them olay and wrestle with each other.

Learning from my mistakes!!

Plessey woods.

Arches watercolour paper, 15x11"

M.Grahams watercolours. 

This painting is based very loosely on a photo that my husband took at plessey woods last week.
I tidied the area up a little, and moved a few trees around. This was just a quick practice painting. I will paint it again someday, but next time I will make sure that the shadow of the tree nearest the river, doesn`t join up to the trunk of the tree in the foreground. It just looks like a huge branch sticking out from the foreground tree.

Newcastle quayside in warm Sepia.

15x11"

Watercolour on arches rough paper.

This painting was a nightmare from beginning to end.............The sheet of paper I used was years old, and I think the size was ruined on it. I had areas where the paint wasn`t blending properly, the paper was lifting in other areas, all in all I struggled. I got to the point where I almost gave up on it, and I was about to bin it, but decided to carry on.........it was prctice if nothing else, and my theory is you learn more from your mistakes than when everything goes to plan.

I Had a very dark cloud on the left hand corner, where the paint hadn`t blended, so I took a magic eraser sponge and softened and lifted some colour, to give the impression of softer looking clouds. This made a huge difference already. Next, I wet the whole page, and painted a very thin glaze over the whole painting to tie it together.

I did have a shard of light on the buildings, but it didn`t look  right, now that I`d changed the clouds, so I blended in some paint to hide it. I also strengthed the reflections in the water, and generally tidied to whole painting up..................and although it`s no masterpiece, it looks a whole lot better than it did before, and I`m quite pleased with it now, considering how it started off.

Cullercoats Bay, looking across to Tynemouth Priory.

15x11"

Arches rough, 140lb.

M.Grahams watercolours.

This was painted on part of the same piece of damaged paper, that I used for the above painting, but this time I was able to control it, because of what I`d learnt from the previous painting disasters.

The bell tower in the foreground is part of the RNLI building at Cullercoats Bay. When we were there a couple of weeks ago, we watched the lifeboat team rescue a car that had got stuck in the sea as the tide came in.

Playing with my daughters pens.

I enjoyed playing with my daughters pens. Unfortunately the photograph doesn`t pick up the variety of colours and tones.

My husband has just odered me a new camera for my birthday, so hoefully when I get the hang of using that, I will be able to get some decent images of my artwork............that`s the theory, anyway.

Poppy party,

7x11"

Fariano paper.

Water soluble felt tip pens.

Out and about.......

Pleine airing again.

North Shields fish market and RNLI

A4 size,

watercolours, with zigg sketching pen.

We had a lovely day out last week, hubby and the girls were fishing, while I sat painting. It was lovely and sunny, and very peaceful. (mainly because the two youngest girls were in school, haha)

I am really enjoying working outdoors lately, and although I`ve still got a LOT to learn about painting outdoors, I am starting to feel a little but more confident, and I am beginning to see a bit of an improvement in my paintings...........but I still need alot more practice yet, so I`ll keep plugging away when the weather is dry.

North shields fish market.

A4.

8B Pencil.

This is from earlier in the month. It is drawn from the same view as above, but looking further down the Quayside.

Tynemouth Priory.

15x11"

Arches rough.

Jackson`s warm sepia, watercolour.

I might have posted this before, but I don`t think so, so appologies if I did post it earlier.

This is another painting in my warm sepia range of local scenes. I have really enjoyed working on this series, and I`m sure it will continue to grow, because a) I`m enjoying working on it so much and b) there are so many lovely scenes around here that it`s hard to know when to stop.

I will continue to "play" and "experiment" with my work.....so that I can continue to grow as an artist, and learn, learn, learn.

Still in sepia mode...............and loving it!!!!

I`ve been playing with the sepia paint again the last few weeks. They are going down a storm with people who view them.

I`m loving working in mono-tone. It`s not something I usually do, but because I`m enjoying it so much, and because the response is so favourable, I`ll keep on playing with it.

I`ve been booked to do a demonstration for an art group on the 6th of September....................I think I`ll have to order more paint supplies by then.

Anyway, here are the latest works done in Warm Sepia They are all painted on Arches rough watercolour paper, 140lb.he sizes are all 15x11"

Bamburgh Castle

Dunstanburgh Castle

Tynemouth Priory

Souter Lighthouse

All of the above scenes can be found along the North East coast. That is why I love living here.........there is so much inspiration on my doorstep.

Featuring the sea.

I was just thinking what to call this post, when I realised that out of the 7 paintings, I painted this week, 6 of them include the sea. It makes me realise how lucky I am to live in such a beautiful area so near to the most glorious coastline in Britain.

Colours of the sea, near St Mary`s.

11x7.5"

Watercolours

This was done as an experiment. I had read somewhere that if you paint Manganese blue onto wet paper, it wouldn`t spread out everywhere uncontrollably. As you can see I wet the sky, with LOTS of water, then painted on manganese blue, and I was surprised to see that it didn`t explode everywhere. It diffused out slightly so that I got the soft edged cloud effects, but not uncontrollably, as it would have done if I`d have used the same amount of water with most of my other colours, so you see, it does pay to play, and experiment, to find out what your paints can do.

Seaton Sluice at low tide.

15x 11"

Watercolours.

Last week we went to Seaton Sluice, and I got some wonderful reference photographs whilst we were there. I used one of the photo`s for this painting, but I changed the composition quite alot.....I omitted a few boats, added some mud banks and lightened the water up. All this was done to give a much more pleasing composition, and to create more light in what was an otherwise dark, dull and  muddy picture.

Julie

15x22"

Drawn in pastels from life.

More fun at life class. Even if I`d drawn this picture with a mans face you would still recognise it as Julie, with that wonderful bright red hair..........well, you would if you knew Julie, that is.

Craster Harbour.

15x11"

Watercolours.

If you like smoked kippers, then Craster is the place to go. Apperently you can buy the best smoked kippers here. I`ve never tried them, so I can`t vouch for that. I`m not too keen on fish. Which is a shame really because my husband is an excellent fisherman, but he has to give most of them away, because I can`t stand the smell.

Marsden Grotto Rocks.

South Shields.

16x12"

Watermixable oils.

Hubby and I had a  lovely day out to South Shields last Wednesday, and one of the places we visited was Marsden`s Grotto. It was stunning.......The views were gorgeous, and there were 100`s if not 1000`s of birds nesting on the rocks and the surrounding cliffs.

We took the lift down to the restaurant, which was carved out of the base of the cliff. When you walked out of the doors of the restaurant there was a tiny enclosed beach, surrounded on three sides by the cliffs, then there were miles and miles of deep blue sea, as far as the eye could see, were these rocks stood proud.

It was completely empty, and all you could hear was the swooshing of the waves and the sounds of the birds.

The restaurant is said to be haunted....

Craster Harbour in warm sepia.

15x11"

Watercolour.

This is the same harbour as above, but from a different view. Painted as part of my warm sepia series.

St Mary`s lighthouse in warm sepia.

15x11"

Watercolour.

Another from my warm sepia series. It was such a lovely day today, that I sat outside in the garden painting, while my lovely husband tended the garden.

More work from the last couple of weeks.

Tide`s out  at the mill.

6x5"

This was just a quickie sketch done on scrap paper to test out the scene for a following oil painting. I must admit, I like this one better, than the oil painting. You can judge for yourself which one you prefer.

Here is the oil version...

9x11"

As you can see, I still need more practice with the watermixable oils.

Hawk

A2

this was drawn in Derwent drawing pencils.

Julie.

A2.

6b pencil sketch.

Drawn from life, in roughly 1 1/2 hours.

Close-up of Julie.

Rockpooling 1

Rockpooling 2

 Approx 7x5"

These were just small quickie sketches, which I did in watercolours.

 Now all I need to do is decide on what to paint next........decisions decisions.



A bunch of new paintings

It`s been a couple of weeks since I last posted. (I`ve been ill)

Anyway, here we go.

 Bluebell wood.

Gouache.

On Bockingford fat pad.

I`ve been trying out gouache again, I`m having fun, but I need a heck of alot more practice. (This is my second painting done in it. As you can see I need loads more practice.

The power of the sea.

15x11"

Some rubbishy paper I found in my stash. Now I remember why I like Arches paper the best.

An artist friend, Dave Armstrong very kindly gave me permission to use his reference photo.

Theatre Royal, Newcastle.

15x 11" on Arches rough.

My daughter went to a play here a couple of weeks ago, so when we went to pick her up I took the opportunity to get some reference photo`s.

In the reference the floor wasn`t wet, but I thought it would add some interest in the foreground if I made it look wet............the only trouble is......I forgot to paint in a couple of umberella`s......lol. I will have to rectify that.

Cullercoats Bay.

16x12"

Watermixable oils.

I enjoyed painting this scene. I have recently started using watermixable oils. (Even though I`ve had a set for years)...........and I have to say, I`m loving working with  them. They dry quicker, there`s no smells ( I must admit, I do like the smell of turps though)  and you get all the blending properties of oil paints.

Low lights in warm sepia.

15x11"

I might have already posted this, but I`m not sure. This was painted using Jackson`s own brand watercolour. It was a free sample that I was testing out. I enjoyed using it, and I will most probably continue working with this colour to do a series of works. (The colour is more of a warm browney colour IRL)