The poppies in the garden this year were glorious. These oriental poppies were painted out in the garden with the bees buzzing around. I thought that the painting would also look good cropped into a panorama format and so used it for my festival banner.
The Pittenweem Arts Festival starts on the 2nd August and running until the 10th August. My web site has a page showing some of the paintings I will be exhibiting. See my Pittenweem Arts Festival 2014 page.
Last thing before retiring to bed I went into the studio and was presented with a spectacular sunset. Only one thing to do was to try to capture its essence in a matter of minutes. I just grabbed a scrap piece of pastel card and a box of pastels and worked on this study. I could barely see the colours in my box however my hand seemed to guide me towards the colours required. Using vibrant pastels I have managed to recreate the sunset as I remember it. The next morning it was nice to see this study in daylight.
After a busy time with the open studio I treated myself to lunch at Pillars of Hercules. I had intended to do outdoor painting when I was out and about. As soon as I sat down I knew I wanted to sketch the view in front of me. Fortunately I had my pastels in the car and a board to work on. This was the sketch I worked on. Lunch was excellent as always, great place to relax.
This year I have decided to take part in the North Fife open studios event. This is on the holiday weekend at the beginning of May and runs from Saturday 3rd to Monday 5th May.
http://www.openstudiosfife.co.uk/index.php/newport-on-tay-a-wormit/gina-wright-62.html
This painting is a demonstration which I did last week at Cupar Art Club. I arrived with a prepared underpainting in watercolour. I talked through why I had prepared a watercolour underpainting in complementary colours. I then proceeded to apply the local colour of the scene leaving some of the underpainting to show through. This had the effect of making the colours sing and can lead to a more realistic looking painting. Multiple colours working together can give a greater sense of reality. Degas was aware of these techniques and experimented with a variety of undertones and underpainting techniques to get the effect he was after. It was useful to have my home made colour wheel at hand as shown above.
I set up this still life to work on inside the studio. It gives me a good exercise to work on when the weather is not so favourable outside. This was started using acrylic then finished with Sennelier oil pastels on Pastelmat card.
The first image shows how I started this painting. I blocked in a selection of complementary colours onto Pastelmat card which can take watermedia. Next I sprayed some pastel liquefier to soften and fix the colours to the card. Such a fun way to approach a new painting. I then did some light drawing with charcoal.The top layer of pastel was then applied in colours true to the scene.
I think it is so important to work direct from life whenever possible. It is a great way to improve your drawing and painting skills. I thought beginning of a new year what a good time to do a self portrait. I don’t have to arrange for a sitter to do my work I have a subject at hand. You can tell I was concentrating as I was sketching.
Recent cycling trips through the woods at Morton Lochs have inspired this painting. Pastels are a good medium for capturing the luminous light through the trees.
This year at the Pittenweem Arts Festival I introduced this collection of puffin coasters and a placemat. The images are from puffin paintings which I have been doing over the years. The collection sold out during the first couple of days at Pittenweem. I now have more in stock.