Showing posts with label paintings. Show all posts
Showing posts with label paintings. Show all posts

Watercolour and masking tape - a mini review

I was recently sent a couple of different scotch masking tapes to try out so thought I'd put them through their paces with my watercolours.

The two tapes were 


  • Scotch 25 mm x 50 m Masking Tape for Delicate Surfaces - Beige
and
  • Scotch 24 mm x 50 m Greener Masking Tape - Beige

For my first comparison I used 2.5 x 3.5 inch 300gsm Daler Rowney NOT surfaced watercolour paper and my travel Artist watercolours from Cass Art. The colours I chose to use were cobalt blue, cadmium red and cadmium yellow.

2016's sketch diary is completely different to 2015's

By sheer determination and stubbornness, I made it to the end of my 2015 sketch diary. One quick 5 minute pen sketch every day...well OK, I didn't manage to do them all on exactly the right days but I was never more than 3 days behind at any one time. And I didn't use a timer so some of them may have overrun their allocated 5 minutes, although not by much. 

But I did get bored. By October I was very definitely fed up with just doing pen sketches, but felt that I had gotten so far so must continue to the end in that style. 

This year, to save myself from the boredom aspect, I have decided to vary my sketches. Sometimes colour, sometimes pencil, sometimes pen. Sometimes watercolour, sometimes coloured pencil, sometimes acrylic ink pen. Who knows, maybe even some glitter will make it's way into this one! 

The idea is for it to be fun, however that may be achieved.

Oh and this one will include a words to record feelings and other such stuff.

Here is my start:






If you wish to see last year's diary in all its glory, follow this link

Do you draw a diary? I'd love to see it - do please leave your link in the comments below.

Merry Christmas everyone!

The festive season is most definitely upon us and it's time for me to write my Christmas cards. I'm already late with the Australian ones but that's OK, after so many years of sending them late it's now traditional to receive those ones sometime in January.

In this blog post I just want to say...

MERRY CHRISTMAS to one and all!

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Keeping a sketch diary

A Happy New Year to all my readers, I hope you all enjoyed the festivities! I had a lovely time with my family and friends, it was kind of sad to take down the decorations today.

What was your best Christmas present? I have two favourites - one was a blackboard mug which is surprisingly good fun, but the one I want to show you today is this:



and inside it looks like this...




I'm super excited about this - there's just enough space for me to record my year in sketches! This is an idea that we saw in the museum of life in Leamington Spa, where a lady from bygone times kept a sketch diary of all her social outings. It was really very interesting and much easier to browse than a written diary.

My diary's very first outing was to Costa Coffee in Ormskirk, one of my daughter's favourite destinations for completing homework and revising for exams.



By the end of the first week it looks like this:



Tuesday: my budgies Chiquitita and Lollipop

Wednesday (New Year's Eve): Jules Holland's Hootenanny - I love that program!

Thursday (New Year's Day): a cup of tea in my Edwardian teacup; our handmade chinese lantern fairy lights that we bought in Germany just before Christmas; and a fox screen cleaner that our Xmas house guest forgot to take back to the USA with her :( 

Friday: a gorgeous fox red labrador that daughter was puppy sitting

Saturday: a small part of our family New Year's meal and my birthday scooter (enjoyed by most of the oldies and only a couple of the younger more self concious adults of the family) 

Sunday: surprise surprise, we're back in Costa - the Maghull one this time for a change :D


I do hope you like seeing my sketches. I'll show you some more over the course of the year here on my blog and will be showing more regular updates over on my Stephanie Guy Fine Art facebook page

Did you get any good arty Christmas gifts this year? Share your favourite ones with me in the comments!

Slowing down the pace of life with artstagram sketches

I have a confession. I used to take hundreds of photos.

I'd see a beautiful scene and want to capture it immediately - I'd pull out my camera and snap away, but more often than not the photos would be nothing like the scene I had wanted to capture. Yes, proportions were (mostly) spot on, and yes the actions were accurate...but the mood? the atmosphere? the colours? No, these were nearly always disappointing

That old man cycling along the street? the teenager out with the dog? people punting on the river? Everyday scenes would be flat and uninspiring.


Nowadays I much prefer to take a little time over a sketch rather than snap a quick photo, it helps me to appreciate and really look at my world. 


Ink sketch, my local garden centre
Ink sketch, Cambridge UK





  •  Can't draw straight lines? Who cares - a wobble here and there adds charm.



Ink Sketch, Ormskirk, England

  • Struggle with perspective? Don't worry about theory - grab a pencil, hold it at arms length between you and your subject, close one eye and measure angles and distances between key points. And then draw what you see. It's only a piece of paper after all!

Ink Sketch, Ormskirk Motorfest 2013, England



  • Find it difficult to see lights and darks? Squint at your subject to take out some of the confusing colours.

Ink Sketch, Coronation Park
Ormskirk, England
Ink Sketch, Ormskirk, England























Most of all - get out there and practice!


Ink Sketch, Liverpool Philharmonic Rehearsals
Liverpool, England



I still take far too many photos, and do use many of them when I'm back in the studio, but my favourite method of painting these days is on the spot with my mini sketching kit.


  • I always carry a watersoluble pen, a water brush, a small tin full of 2.5 x 3.5 inch pre-cut watercolour paper, and a cardboard coaster to use as a mini drawing board.

Ink Sketch, Ormskirk Motorfest 2013, England



No longer do I sit bored in the doctors waiting room or whilst waiting to perform taxi duties for my teenagers


Ink Sketch, Cross Hall Brow, Ormskirk
Ink Sketch, Doctor's waiting room














I have to say, my studio art has also improved no end because of this.


And why the title "artstagram"? In my last post my daughter laughing said that instead of "instagramming" my life I "art" it!



So do you take lots of photos and never look at them again? Try slowing down the pace of life and sketch instead. Let me know how you get on...


I owe the wonderfully talented Polly Birchall many many thanks for introducing me to this pen (Speedball Elegant Writer). Polly's blog is one of my favourites, I always look forward to reading her posts - do have a nosey round her blog, it's well worth a follow.