Teatime

Foggy mornings, cool air, swirling leaves; it's mid-November.  Autumn's soft lighting brings a new kind of calmness. The shortening days mean longer nights.  Like me, if you are a night owl, you will find these cozy fall evenings to be the perfect time to work on your projects.  I would like to put some serious time into accomplishing some of my goals.  I hope to share more of my art with you sometime this coming summer.  Always enjoy reading your comments and emails.  Till then, take care and best wishes! :)

Earl Grey Tea Dyed Paper

Chamomile

Previously Shared Drawing

Watercolor over Pencil

Autumn Sketches

"My destination is no longer a place, rather a new way of seeing."

-Marcel Proust

To Autumn

And so autumn arrives gently with soft hints of rose and yellow at first, soothing like a mother's lullaby. Decaying leaves in their beautiful gold and scarlet hues perform their final dance in the autumn wind enriching our hearts.  The air is cooler making evenings cozier. 

Inspired by nature's rich palette of earth tones, I decorate my space with everything that reminds me of autumn's graceful beauty.  

"Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower."

-Albert Camus

Contentment

"Yes there is Nirvana; it is leading your sheep to a green pasture, and in putting your child to sleep, and in writing the last line of your poem."

-Kahlil Gibran

A Summer's Day

I remember it was only a short while ago that I noticed the first dandelions appear here and there, and I was in no hurry to pluck them then.  But now, everything is as green and lush as it can be.
To enjoy the fresh air and to avoid the unbearable heat of an afternoon hike, I go for my daily walk earlier in the day now.  I was very happy to be out and to enjoy the brilliant sunshine this morning, and so were the little weeds and grasses that grew in the cracked pavements.
It was one of those lazy hazy summer days with not much movement or sound of any kind.  I sat under the old oak tree for some time before I made my way back home.  Along the pathways grew various kinds of wild flowers.  Some of the Queen Anne's Lace ended up in my glass vase to be admired during tea in the afternoon.

"It seems to me that we all look at Nature too much, and live with her too little.  I discern great sanity in the Greek attitude.  They never chattered about sunsets, or discussed whether the shadows on the grass were really mauve or not.  But they saw that the sea was for the swimmer, and the sand for the feet of the runner.  They loved the trees for the shadow that they cast, and the forest for its silence at noon."

- Oscar Wilde

Fabriano Studio Watercolor Paper

My most recent art supply purchase included a Fabriano Studio Watercolour paper pad.  It is hot press, 140 lbs, acid free and made from 25% cotton fiber.  The colours remain vibrant, however they do not move nor blend as easily as on the Fabriano Artistico.  Therefore, it is not really suitable for wet into wet washes.  I decided to use it for "tight" paintings where I could work smaller sections at a time and add wet on dry layers.  Below are some photos I took while painting a portrait from the 1930s.

The first step was the pencil outline drawing and an overall light wash of new gamboge.

I then started painting the facial features working light to dark.  Light skin tone is pretty much some variation of beige.  I used rose madder, new gamboge and vermilion to mix warm and cool tones of orange and added raw umber and ultramarine blue to my mixes for the cooler darker shadows.

Next I worked on the hair.  Again using the same colours as before I created darker mixtures.  To maintain harmony, using a limited palette works great.

Because the shirt already had a yellow wash, I added a light glaze of rose madder to give it an orangish tone and added similar mixtures as before for the shadows.

The little shapes and patterns on the shirt were added once the previous layer was dry.

The last step was to add the background wash; a green using new gamboge and ultramarine blue.

The completed painting,

Like most papers, it does buckle a bit, but it did return to flat once the larger areas were dry.  I will continue using this paper pad for more detailed paintings.  It is budget friendly and the results are satisfactory.

Lastly, for those of us who like pencil drawings. :)

"All the diversity, all the charm, and all the beauty of life are made up of light and shade."
-Leo Tolstoy

Silver Black Velvet Watercolour Brush

At last I was able to come up with my first painting using my new watercolour brush! It had to be something with enough detail and fine lines to evaluate its performance.

Viridian + Rose Madder

The Silver Black Velvet (affiliate link) brushes are made from a blend of squirrel hair and a new type of synthetic filament, making them the perfect water-based paint brushes; durability and spring of a synthetic brush, as well as liquid holding capacity of a squirrel mop.
I have the size 6 round brush because I work mostly small size paintings.

For Comparison

Thank you for recommending this brush to me!  I will definitely purchase a couple more of these "gems".
Also, thank you very much to those who use my affiliate links.

Pencil Sketch

Spring At Home

My dear friends, I hope you are well wherever in the world you are.  Here, spring advances with warmth one day and retreats the next.  Today rain is falling gently; each drop like a warm kiss reviving a healthy glow every leaf has longed to see return.  It transforms desolate woodlands to glossy deep hues of greens, browns, peachy pinks and transparent blues.

Quiet activities fill my days … reading, painting, baking, …

"Spring drew on … and a greenness grew over those brown beds, which, freshening daily, suggested the thought that hope traversed them at night, and left each morning brighter traces of her steps."

- Charlotte Brontё