Drawing of an Iris

I have to admit that one of my favourite artistic past times is drawing!  I simply love the simplicity of a nice heavy weight good quality cartridge paper, a set of good graphite pencils, which have all the grades from soft to hard. A putty eraser, a decent pencil sharpener and a fine relaxing location to work in.  The day I started on my drawing was a fine sunny day, I was fortunate enough to be able to have a studio overlooking the sea. It was luxury to be at peace and to very happily spend my afternoon drawing. While every now and then I could gaze up and look out at the view which gave me a fine view of the sea that stretched out for miles.  So while I was not drawing the sea that day I was still able to enjoy and be near to the sea!

Hoping that you will find a peaceful afternoon to create some artwork!  Best wishes Caroline

A painting to ponder on

Hello once again painting friends!  I have been revisiting this quiet oil painting once again. I have brought it out into the light of the studio and can see that it needs more light and more contrasts. So I have much to keep me busy.

I was going to post the large seascape I have been working on, but decided to wait a little bit longer and see if I can put in a little bit more detail into the sea. More on that later!

Not so much time for painting! My cold is much better and we have been down to the sea to breathe in the sea air and to feel more energized!  

It is a nice quiet time of the year, to sit in a cosy warm room and read a book or catch up on some correspondence.  I do know that the time will fly by! So we are making the most of it!

Wishing you and your family a peaceful and happy Festive Season. Best wishes Caroline

'Stormy sky'

Oil painting depicting a summer storm.  Painted on canvas 12 x 16 inches.

As the days move at a fast rate towards Christmas I have managed to find a little time in my studio to paint.  I am painting a large seascape painting, however I am being challenged by my use of colour! The sky is coming along just fine, yet I found myself putting too much purple into the sea! I thought it would be fine, yet the following day it just looked very wrong.  I then used Hansa Yellow to try and tone it all down, but that has been far too strong a colour.  So for now I have to let that dry and then try and work some more on the painting hopefully on Monday. 

The oil painting posted here is of a storm coming in, I wasn't going to use the yellow for the land area yet finally I found it was what was needed so I went and used it.  The painting reminds me of summer storms they have such strength and strong contrasts in the lighting too.  

We have had so many days here of late that are very damp and cold.  No freezing weather at the moment for which I am pleased about.  However I do think that cold and dry weather is much better for my health!  I hope the beginnings of my cold doesn't get much worse!

Best wishes to you all and hope we will all have some nice sunny weather real soon!

Happy Painting, Caroline

Two traditional paintings

Two of my traditional oil paintings of my area. The first painting with the autumn colours is local and is 18 x 24 inches oil on canvas.  The second painting is small only 10 x 8 inches oil on board, that sky took me ages!! But I love painting the different kind of skies we have here and at different times of the year!

Wishing you a peaceful and happy early December! keep warm!  Best wishes Caroline

Winter

A wild and blustery snow painting in oils that depicts the weather up on the mountains of Glenshee, painted earlier. Low temperatures this weekend and thoughts are now of the festive season that approaches so very soon!

I have been in my studio in the afternoons quietly working on a couple of new paintings. I decided to paint quite small and try out some new colours and also to vary my brush and palette knife paintings to combine the techniques to create a softer painting.  I think they are almost finished! I have until the 14th December to have that quiet time in the afternoon to paint and then it will be the start of the holidays and there will be much to do and walks to go on as Richard will be soon on holiday. I do hope the weather will stay fine!

Wishing you a quiet time too before the festive holidays begin, Happy Painting! Caroline

Autumn news

I had a very happy and productive summer and early autumn!  Two opportunities to exhibit my paintings.  The first in a popular Art Venue set in the heart of Deeside and was delighted to sell three of my paintings there. I was a steward for two mornings and actually got to meet the buyers of my work, a lovely family from that area! They had reserved the paintings and heard I was in on the morning they came to purchase the works. It was really fine to meet them and have a nice chat about my paintings and to hear how much they enjoyed the works.

The second exhibition was set in my local library in Elgin that has a lovely very large exhibition space with nice lighting.  I shared the space with a fellow artist.  I was delighted to read the comment book and read the feedback on how peaceful and beautiful they felt my exhibition to be. I was focusing on mostly moorland and seascapes that were simple atmospheric subjects to create a feeling of silence and peace. I was very pleased to have sold two paintings there.

I am now busy tutoring my art classes and catching up on my paperwork. 

The season is turning once again. The golden days of autumn are now looking drab and cold in the mists and rains. Some cold frosty mornings too. A quiet and reflective time of the year and soon it will be time to write Christmas cards!

Wishing you my painting friends a peaceful autumn that finds you painting the days away!
Caroline

Back to the palette knife paintings.

Greetings to you all!  It is a very wet and quite cold summer here so far.  As I write the rain is still falling and will do so until the end of the week.  I haven't minded too much, have got on with things and am kept busy with my art classes and also returning to palette knife painting.

I am having a big studio and general clear out, lots of reorganizing and time to throw out things that are not used!  It will take a good long time to do as I also found I have too much stuff in general all over the house that simply are not used.  Also old paperwork that has to go too! Why do I hoard so much!!

I finally accepted that the way forward now is with the palette knife work and am managing to do one once a week at the moment. Lots to keep me busy with new canvases to work on and some exhibitions due this year too.

I got a frame for one of the paintings I did in May which is a coastal scene.  I am very pleased with it and it is reasonably priced too.

It is very quiet here in blogging land these days but I do hope to hear from some of my old friends if they are still around.

Wishing you lots of happy painting days.

Caroline

Easter Weekend

It has been a very busy month and finally things are a bit quieter.  I can now think about my paintings that I am getting ready for my joint art exhibition in October this year.  I did have a few ideas a while ago about the paintings I wanted to add to my original art exhibition that was held almost three years ago!  I had a bit of a break away from painting in my original style due to having a painful shoulder.  However I once again find myself able to return to my smoother painting style by working for small periods of time.  I had an Indian Head massage from my physio lady yesterday! it really is amazing as it is quite healing and it does help me to relax more.  So I am hoping my improved shoulder will remain well especially with this new treatment!

The oil painting you see here is titled' The dark hour' and it is a peaceful painting about evening starting to fall. I wanted to create a more meditative piece than my more usual stormy seascapes. I had discovered that by using a transparent blue on the shale dark foreground that it created a shimmer which is nice.  However even though I thought I had finished the painting, I discovered a couple of marks in the sky that now need to be addressed!!

It was a very warm day today and I had a lovely walk by the lake and saw two frogs sitting on the path! I was a bit surprised to see them out of the water as it was a warm afternoon!

I don't quite understand why blogger decided to ask me to update my details and my photo, so now you see me looking very blurry! however many photos I try to put in, they each look blurry, so I have to accept this situation! A bit frustrating really as I can't understand why blogger couldn't keep the original photo!

I hope you all have a peaceful Easter and that you find some time to get out your paints and enjoy time in the sunshine!

Best wishes to you all
Caroline in Scotland!

Spring is Here

Spring is finally here! Though last night there was quite a storm blowing outside! However the daffodils survived which is always good news!

I do try and paint a painting each week, though last week this did not happen! However it is always possible when busy to spend a little time in my art room and at least be among the paints and paintings!

I have been painting some abstract work, which is enjoyable, yet I am always happy to return to my usual more rustic storm paintings by the coast!  The painting you see here is very small just 8 x 8 inches yet at times I quite like to work so small. The other paintings are on a bigger canvas but not too big! More on that later as I try to finish my painting of the week!

I wish you all a very happy Spring time and may you all feel renewed!

Homes found

Dear painting friends,

Once again two months have flown by without me visiting my blog.  Interesting how we get distracted by other things.  However I have been carrying on with my palette knife painting. Not always easy to do, as I sometimes wish to paint in another way that I used to do in the past.  However the palette knife is my new friend! it is easy on my shoulder that is prone to muscle tension and pain, it is a new venture into new territories and it has a big element of surprise to it! I can start with a plan of action, yet once the painting starts something else very unexpected starts to happen, all that I have learnt over the years does indeed come to mind as I work.  I need to make sense of the scene I am painting from my memory. I have recently painted some very abstract works, yet after a few hours I would revisit the works and try to tidy them up and introduce elements to the work that would make more sense to the view and make them abstract landscapes.

I was so happy over the festive season to discover these two small palette knife paintings had sold from a couple of galleries I show with. So pleased to know they have found new homes and are loved!

I do have some events to attend with my paintings this year, so I must find time to carry on with the paintings.

I will end here, the sun is finally shining here, after such a snowy night. Love to see the blue sky and gentle Constable like clouds simply....floating by!

Happy painting my friends1

Caroline