The Rosin Box

Dancer watercolour

Another figure study to ring the changes from landscapes. With an "empty" background, this was easier to paint than landscapes, as I just had to adjust the background values to bring forward the subject.

Dancers dip their soles into a box of rosin to make the shoes less slippery. The only other time I have come across rosin is the one used for violin bows.

Norfolk Landscape

Watercolour, 30cm x 40cm

I started this painting at the art evening of the Lea Valley art club. Although the official theme was monochrome painting, we don't have to follow the brief and can do our own thing.

Whenever I think I have the whole painting process sussed out, I tend to come a cropper.  I duly made an unsuccessful first attempt and found that the colour choices did not work together and the composition was lacking, too. This is the second version, where I made sure that I used the same colours throughout, just with a warmer cast in the foreground and a bluer mix in the background.

By the middle stage of the painting, I was again ready to bin it, but decided to keep working on it and treat it as an exercise, trying to bring in more texture and tone. On hot pressed paper, the paint stays more on the surface than on rough paper, I have found. I think I have just about made it work.

Norfolk Mill

Norfolk Mill, watercolour

We walked from Morston Quay to Cley next the Sea on a sunny February day, stopping frequently to take lots of photos of the marshy landscape. The dark fields and bright reeds created beautiful contrasts and rhythms in the landscape. I must admit that I had expected to see the sea on our walk, but we were a lot more inland.

Incidentally, this wonderful windmill in Cley next the Sea can be rented for holidays.

For this painting I used some gouache to restore the highlights that were lost in the background. I am quite relaxed about using other media with watercolour and am not a purist about using just transparent watercolour. This is again painted on Saunders Waterford Rough paper, which takes the paint really well and keeps the colours bright.

Lilies

With this painting, I went for a more minimalist approach, keeping the background mainly white and painting the flowers with just a few brush strokes. I hope that this conveys the freshness and delicacy of the lilies.

Lilies, watercolour

Watercolours from Saffron Walden

These watercolours are all based on a visit to Saffron Walden and especially the Bridge End gardens, which are beautiful. I found the lemon plants in one of the greenhouses in the gardens. They were the starting point for the still life painting.

Saffron Walden has a beautiful old town and is well worth a visit.

My paper of choice these days is Saunders Waterford Rough High White. It is very sympathetic to my brush strokes and a high quality paper. I am also using my Jackson squirrel brush a lot more and love the marks it can make. Another recent addition is the Pro Arte Connoisseur size 12 brush, which replaces an older one I had for many years and was very happy with. It lost a few bristles at first, which concerned me, but it seems to have settled down now.

Urban Fox

Have you noticed how many more urban foxes there are now than there were a few years ago? They have become regular visitors to my back garden, where on one summer night, I watched three fox cubs chasing each other around the lawn.

My husband spotted this one earlier last year, basking in the sunshine in the middle of the day. It made a great painting subject.

Getting to know a Place better

Altstadt im Herbst

This is the Stiftsturm in the town of Zofingen. I have been visiting this place fairly frequently this year, as my mother has moved nearby and I have family there. Zofingen has a charming old town with a ring of houses that act as a town wall. This small tower is the Stiftsturm; I liked its blue roof and the trees in their autumn colours in front of it.


Dies ist ein Aquarell des Stiftsturms in Zofingen. Obwohl ich Zofingen schon lange kenne, habe ich erst seit diesem Jahr die Stadt mehr erkundet. Der Stadtkern hat viele schöne Gebäude, die es lohnt, mit dem Pinsel festzuhalten. Am Stiftsturm hat mir besonders das blaugrüne Dach gefallen, was den Anlass zu diesem Bild war.