UPDATE 2: Painting in Progress

Monday 31st December - 5 Hours

What with Christmas and all the hectic drama that comes along with that, today is the first time in nearly a month that I have had chance to work on the waterfall painting. After spending 5 hours painting in the foliage today, I sat back and looked at the painting and felt completely dejected - to me it looked exactly the same and I felt like I had wasted the entire afternoon.  However, after comparing the picture I had taken of the painting prior to starting and then the picture of where it stands now, it is incredible to see the difference between the two:

Before:

After:

The colours have been slightly distorted by the photograph, some of the greens are closer to that in the first picture than the second, but the difference between the 2 pictures has really shocked me. The picture overall looks a lot more realistic, and  whilst there's still a lot of work to be done, seeing the progress definitely helps to keep the motivation going!

I will hopefully have time to work on the painting tomorrow so there will be another update coming soon, but until then, I hope everyone has a great New Year!

Caroline

UPDATE: Painting in Progress

Day 3: Sunday 9th December - 3 - 4 hours

Since the last update to this post, this was the first time that I've felt ready to continue working on this painting.  I've spent a lot of time thinking about exactly how to add detail into the painting without it looking too odd, which is why I haven't achieved that much today considering how much time I actually spent working on the painting.  It is slowly coming along however, but there is still plenty more to do!

In the above photo you can see I've started to work on the background trees and also added a quick layer of dark tone to the foreground.

Working out where to add in the branches

Check back for more updates soon!

Caroline

NEW: Painting in Progress

It only seems like yesterday that I was in Canada exploring the sights and scenery the West Coast has to offer, and yet already several months have passed!  I've finally made a start on some new art work, which for one reason or another has been put off several times, and I've been really eager to start again.

I have a new painting in progress based not only on photographs that I have taken but also partly from imagination, which in terms of composition and image detail, doesn't normally play as large a role in producing my work as I find it much easier to produce a piece from an image I already have.

As well as this, the painting is somewhat of a challenge for me due to the subject matter, as from previous experience my patience for painting foliage and plant life is somewhat limited, so it will be interesting to see the final result. For this painting I have chosen to depict a natural waterfall after seeing so many in different forms in Canada (see previous blog post for one of the photographs that I am using for inspiration).

Here is the progress of the painting so far - I will update this post with further images as I continue:

Day 1 - Saturday 17th November - 5 hours

Day 2 - Monday 19th November - 1.5 hours

This is currently how the painting looks after 6.5 hours of work:

Below is a photo taken with the flash on - it isn't an accurate portrayal of the painting but I thought I would include it as, in terms of shadows and depth, this is where the painting is headed towards, particularly with that section at the base of the canvas:

More to come soon!

Caroline

A Canadian Holiday

'It is impossible to come back from one’s journey; there’s always someone else coming back'
Anon.

For the past few weeks I've been on holiday in Canada, travelling around the West coast and taking in the different sights on offer in and around the beautiful Canadian Rockies. It was great to have a break away, even if it was extremely hectic, and gain some much needed perspective and a change of scenery.

Before I went away I finally invested in a Digital SLR, the Nikon D3200, in order to get the best photographs I could whilst I was out there, a few of which are below. Unfortunately this meant that I didn't have much time to experiment with the camera before I left, so it is lucky that I have used a regular SLR in the past and could transfer some of that knowledge over.

Lake Louise, Banff

Bow Lake, Banff

Maligne Canyon, Jasper

Elk in Jasper

Hoary Marmot on Whistler Mountain

Brandywine Falls, Whistler



Gastown Steam Clock, Vancouver

In my typical fashion I took hundreds and hundreds of photos in total (over 1500) so choosing just a few has been exceptionally difficult! Hopefully these give you an idea of how beautiful Canada is and will inspire you to visit one day.  These are jus a select number of the photos that I like at first glance, but I plan to use the photos I have taken to re-work and  use as inspiration.

During my travels, I had a few ideas for some new paintings which may perhaps even become a feature in a future exhibition, so keep an eye out for updates here.

Feel free to leave any comments below, they're always welcome!

Caroline

Completed Seal Drawing

If you follow my twitter feed you'd have seen that I recently started a trial silver ink illustration of a seal swimming underwater on black paper. I did finally get around to finishing this,so I thought I'd quickly share the final result with you, along with some images showing the progression of the image.

For what this was, it was quite a successful trial and certainly tested me when it came to thinking about the use of silver ink on black - at first it took a while for me to get into the mindset that I was adding highlights and not shadows, like I normally would with this type of drawing.

I like the overall image however due to the lack of depth offered I'm not overly satisfied with it - at some point in the future I want to adapt this into a painting or perhaps oil pastel drawing, which should allow for greater contrast and therefore will be easier to depict the background behind the seal. For now though, I'm happy with the result, and it has definitely given me a basis for future pieces.

Caroline

The Underwater Cavern

I've had a short break after finishing the seascape painting (see blog post here for more detail), but yesterday I started another new painting.

For the first time since receiving it as a present on my 21st birthday, I finally used my Artist's Easel to paint a fairly large canvas. It's been around 3 years since I painted anything bigger than around A4, so the jump up to A2 was quite a daunting prospect, but it turned out I actually really enjoyed the freedom this afforded.

Whilst keeping with the marine theme, this painting intentionally does not focus on any form of marine life, and instead is all about the light. One of my favourite lessons from my fine art degree was learning about Chiaroscuro, which relates to the portrayal of light and dark; creating depth and mood. Alongside this, a good composition is also one of the aspects that I try to ensure my work has, and so I hope this has come across in the following painting.

This painting is not entirely finished (there are few tweaks still required), but here's a record of the progression from the start - I apologise for the poor quality of the images - unfortunately I didn't quite allow for my height in relation to that of the easel, and so the phots are slightly angled! When I post a final picture I will ensure that it is clear!

As always, comments are welcome! I'll hopefully be updating this blog post in the next few days with the final images!

Caroline

A Seascape in Progress **UPDATED**

As mentioned in my previous post, after a few busy months I'm making some time to get back to being creative and producing some new pieces. Sadly the day job still takes up most of my time, as it does with everyone.

When I normally start a painting I will sit down and try to finish it in a relatively short space of time (which probably explains a few things about my paintings!), perhaps over the course of a day or two, however on weekdays this just isn't a possibility. So, with the painting I started yesterday, I have decided to dedicate this particular blog post to showing the progression of the painting from start to finish. This is a slightly daunting prospect for me, as I like to be sure that anything I post is of a good enough quality and that I'm happy with it being showcased but with this there is no guarantee. In doing this I am leaving my comfort zone in an attempt to document the process and perhaps see where I can improve my methods in future, as well as give me the inclination to sit down and work when there are other distractions to hand.

So without further ado:

Day 1 - 15/07/12 - 1 hour 30 minutes:

Although this doesn't look like much for the amount of time it took, ths includes choosing base colours and making decisions about tools to use, in this case I ended up using a palette knife to add a thick layer of paint on to the canvas and mix the colours slightly. I also managed to avoid using any water, which is an age-old bad habit of mine that I really am trying to break. We'll see if I can stick to this later on when it becomes more detailed.

Day 2 - 16/07/12 - 45 minutes:

Tonight I've added in some more base colour to the middle of the canvas only, trying to create an impression of depth to the image, and to give myself more to work with later on when detail is added.

Day 3 - 18/07/12 - 1 hour 30 minutes

I'm not sure quite how it's happened but from starting with the intention to paint a nice Caribbean-like seascape I've instead depicted a rather more stormy coastal view that is altogether British-like. Perhaps this is due to being more familiar with these sort of scenes, but when I realised what I'd done I was quite surprised.

Other events of note:

- I added in some gloss to the acrylic paint - must say I'm a fan
and not sure how I've gone so long without using it. It will be
a permanent feature of any future work.

- who knew you could slice your finger open* with a blunt palette knife?
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Day 4 - 21/07/12 - 2 hours

It all started so well... and then became disasterous.

The problem with working on a painting in dribs and drabs is that everytime you re-start you have to get back into 'the zone' where you are comfortable with the paint and know exactly how to work it to create the effect you're after. It doesn't always happen but today is just one of those times - after about an hour of work the canvas looked like this:

It doesn't actually look that terrible in the photo, but the waves were just too defined, which made them stand out horribly against the rest of the image. After a quick rescue attempt, I've had some success, but there's still a fair way to go in order to get those waves looking right!

Day 5 - 22/07/12 - 1 hour 30 minutes (so far...)

I'm still working on the painting, but whilst the paint dries here is a quick update on where it's at:

Still working on those pesky waves at the front - I've come to the conclusion that they look much better the further away you are, but that isn't quite going to cut it...

an hour later...


This is potentially the last update for this post** as I can't quite decide what to do to improve this painting (which is not to say I am happy with it). I think I'll have a think about it and come back to it in a day or two, but for now this is a finished piece. Overall it has taken me nearly 8 and a half hours, which is super fast in comparison to the time it takes to create my prints and drawings. So for now, enjoy!

Event of note:

- It is a really nice evening tonight, it's been a while since the stars have been visible - wish I had more time to sit outside than the 10 minutes I have to spare, but still very relaxing.


**UPDATE**

Day 6 - 25/07/12 - 30 minutes

So after a few days of thought and a lot of looking, I started work on the painting again - and what a difference a few exra splodges of paint make.

An after a few more added splodges:

I'm much happier with this now and may actually have finally finished!

Total time taken = 9 hours


Caroline

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*perhaps this is a little bit of an exaggeration, but it's still no paper cut!

** I suspect that I'll be back editing this painting soon enough!

New updates 20/07/12

I've spent a good few hours this evening uploading some old artwork from uni -at the moment there are only updates to the Printmaking and Miscellaneous pages, but hoping to add more over the weekend.

Also keep checking back for more updates to the seascape painting!

Caroline

...And I'm back! *UPDATED*

I dread to think exactly how long it has been since my last post - there goes that resolution! After a verrrrry long few months concentrating on work and life in general, I've finally made the leap back into art - today I've started on some glass painting - 2 vases and 2 glass mugs. Here's a few images of them in their current state before I get to work on adding in some colour:

Once these are complete I want to start some canvas painting tomorrow, either on a new test piece prior to starting a large canvas, or finishing off a canvas that I started several years ago and have just come across (there are a few of those about). Either way, I promise to update the blog soon! As always comments are welcome - if anyone has any suggestions for marine animals or anything else they think I should design then leave a comment or send me a message using my contact page.


**Update**

Having just put the final touches on to these I thought I'd update the blog post so you can see the finished result:

Now on to some acrylic painting!

Caroline

Updates to website

Well somehow we find ourselves in April again - time is going unbelievably quickly at the moment!

Art has been a little on the slow side lately, hence the lack of updates, however I have updated a few of the pages here, with a section for handmade cards (more coming shortly) and updated images in the glass painting section.

More soon (hopefully) so please check back soon!

As ever, if you would like to contact me please leave a comment or send me a message me via the 'contact' page. You can also follow me by email so that you will get blog updates direct to your inbox.

Caroline

Balancing art with work

As I have just been reminded, I haven't posted here in a while, which isn't quite sticking to my new year's resolution I know! Last month I started working in a new job (after being unemployed for a few months), and it has been quite the transition from having an awful lot of free time to working full time hours, something that I haven't really had to do since my school years (which is a few more years ago than I care to remember).

On numerous occasions over the last month I have thought about that particular question, 'Do you work to live or live to work?' For a lot of people this is something to contemplate. Most of us now spend a good proportion of our waking lives in the workplace out of necessity, and it is hard to see a way around 'living to work'. I am now working in a traditional 'office' job, on the computer for most of the day, and by the time I get home, don't really want to do much of anything. I realise that I need to find a happy balance between the 2 aspects of work and play, but this is much easier said than done. More than likely, this would be aided by my going to bed earlier, something I discussed here in one of my very first blog posts, and something I still haven't managed to come to terms with, particularly when it comes to my art practise. I am at my most productive, awake and inspired between the hours of 10pm and 3am, and so having to go to bed at a reasonable hour to wake just before 7am is somewhat cutting down on my creative hours!

Some day in the future I hope that I can look back on my life and find myself within that first category, although, whilst I don't wish to 'live to work', I want to be able to enjoy the time that I spend working, meaning that that time isn't viewed as wasted time. In my opinion, if you think of work as wasted time then you are bound to have negative opinions towards it, making the whole experience even more unpleasant, and it will certainly be harder to drag yourself out of bed every morning!

So with all this in mind, and whilst I continue to find my happy medium, here are a few of the art-related things that I have managed to fit into my new working life.


I have continued to experiment with glass painting, and have started some new jellyfish paintings on tealight holders, which will be in sets of 2 or 4. These are not yet complete but you can see them in their current state below:

Last month it was my brother's birthday, and as a special birthday present I gave him a glass beer tankard that I had painted on, depicting 2 of his favourite things - a VW Campervan and the beach. This was, once again, completely different to what I've tried before with glass painting, but I have again learnt a few things that do and do not work.

I slightly tweaked the glass jar design from my last blog post:

Finally, I hand-crafted the below leaving card for a colleague at work who has now gone on maternity leave. After what was an incredibly fruitless task of trying to find a card that was neither blue, pink or stated 'sorry you're leaving', I gave in and decided to make the card from scratch, painting the bear and text, and then adding in a mix of felt, ribbed paper, ribbon and gems for decoration:

I still have lots to do over the coming months; cards, drawing, painting, glass painting - the ideas are still all on-going, if a little side-lined by new working hours. Fingers crossed there will be plenty more updates coming soon!!

Caroline

Glass Painting

As I've previously mentioned, I have recently been practising with painting on glass. Having never practised art on glass before (and stubbornly, at present, not using books etc to guide me) I am learning as I go, and using these early attempts purely as a way to learn.

As a predominately kinetic learner (those tests in school taught me something I suppose!) I always learn through trial and error, figuring out what works and what doesn't, and ultimately become more confident as I go along. When I look back through a project, it's great to see that progression right there on the pages of my sketchbook, and I can see how each piece aided the next in one way or another.

What I quite like about glass is the way that it distorts the light as it passes through it in a very similar way to water does, which is so difficult to capture in acrylic paint or ink. I only really noticed this in my first test piece; however this might not translate on camera:

As you can see I haven't really paid too much attention to detail - that will all come later on. Unlike acrylic, glass paint is quite thick, very similar to nail varnish actually - in the same way as when you knock drying nail varnish, the glass paint is not very forgiving to mistakes and certainly doesn't like to mix with other varieties of the paint, e.g pearlescent.

Unlike the piece above, my next trial pieces were quite 2D in appearance, using household objects as a canvas. Here is a small storage jar and a beer glass with a few dolphins painted on:

These trials are not meant to be works of art and so my drawings here are quite childlike, in fact they are very similar to the drawings I used to design when I worked at the Sea Life Centre, Birmingham in 2010 for face painting - quick, simple and easily recognisable!

Following on from this I decided jellyfish would come back into play. I wanted to see how they would translate to the glass, and I attempted to use the paint to create more shadow and depth.

It is worth mentioning here that I am not using normal brushes to apply the paint to the glass but clay shapers. These are a bit like rubber brushes, meaning less cleaning and better control over where the paint goes.

Available to buy here from Artifolk.co.uk

The final test is yet to come. For the paint to set and become dishwasher proof, they need to go into the oven for approximately 30-40 mins at Gas Mark 5/6. As I haven't tried this before, I have no idea what will happen and I'm quite worried that the glass may shatter in the heat. Fingers crossed! More coming soon, including the completed version of this:

If you have any comments, advice or just want to get in contact, please leave a message in the comments box below or use the contact page to send me an email!


Caroline