Back to the Drawing Board

A lot has been happening since then - health wise, 2011 was not a good year and I didn't manage to get much of anything done.

Amongst other things, I had planned to start up watercolour classes, get this blog off the ground, film and post painting techniques videos... ah, best laid plans and all that.  We never know what is around the corner - for me it was in and out of hospital.  Thankfully, operation over and now I'm back!

I did have a few things to celebrate however.  Firstly, I was elected into the Watercolour Society of Ireland [WCSI] and hung two paintings at the annual exhbition down in Dublin, Ireland.  The second [and also quite exciting development] was that I am featured in the new book "The Best of Worldwide Watermedia Artists Vol II" by Kennedy Publishing, due out any day now!

The weather has been pretty awful [although we have luckily missed most of the ice and snow so far] and, as a result, my Fibromyalgia [FMS] and Osteoarthritis [OA] has flared up - if I am lucky, I'll maybe get a couple of hours painting every few days or so.

So here goes... watch this space..........

Peony Rose & Crystal

I set this still life up inside with strong sunlight streaming through a North facing window. The idea was to capture the light reflections of both the flower stem and the crystal bowl. Shadows are notoriously transient so, as well as making a couple of tonal sketches, I took several digital images for reference.

When working still life or other more detailed scenes in watercolour, I prefer Saunders Waterford, extra white heavy paper [640gsm], fine grain [Not] which is wonderful for very wet in wet techniques and takes quite a lot of 'punishment' without damaging the paper [especially if you are working full imperial size].