All Change

Hi all, you may have noticed that I haven't been keeping up with my artistic challenge. Well to be honest, I've been doing some drawing and painting but have lacked the time to do any blog posts about it.

My problem is that I have too many blogs. Besides this one, I have two others and they are consuming to much of my precious time. However, the solution is simple I'm going to knock this one on the head and move it to my author's blog at www.georgefmason.blogspot.com 

I'm not doing much writing at the moment so I can talk about painting in stead. So if you want to keep up with my artistic challenge please click on the link.

By the way, you may recall that I entered a one of my painting into a competition just for a bit of fun. It was called Damsels and to my amazement it won a prize.

In fact, the prize consisted of a choice of videos about painting. I picked one by a nice artist, Siriol Sherlock called "Botanical Illustration". I have no intention of going down the botanical painting route, but I though it would be a good step to learn how to paint flowers properly before trying to paint them loosely if that make sense.

I have also sent off for some Arches paper, which is supposed to be very good, I will let you know how I get on soon.

Hope to see you soon at the new address.

Painting Number 9

Hi all,
I managed to finish another painting, this time the subject was a daffodil. I think it turned out okay but it wasn't very exciting either in the execution or the finished image.

Perhaps I'm being a bit hard myself because it isn't that bad. In fact, I'm having a job to find something bad to say about it.
Score 15 out of 100
My review
Bad bits
The flower head looks slightly out of focus.
The composition of the leaves is wrong, the bent one on the left should be in the middle so that the bent shape could be fully seen.
Good Bits
It is a pleasant enough image and would probable make a good book marker. However, seeing as I use a kindle to read my books it will have to go in the folder with the rest of the unframables.

The one thing that I did learn from the exercise was how valuable it is to do a drawing of the subject first. I used to think that doing a drawing first was a waste of time but it really isn't. Not only does it give me a chance to work out the tones, it also gives me the opportunity to familiarize myself with the subject.

The other thing I realised was that I like drawing with water soluble pencils. In fact, I liked it so much I sent off for some Derwent Inktense Pencils to see if they worked the same, but would provide me with a bit of colour. I know that you can get water soluble watercolour pencils but they look a bit washed out to me. I don't want my paintings to look like a kids colouring book.

Anyway, I'm going to do a daffodil with my new pencils and I'll show you it in my next post

Painting Number 8

Hi all,
I can't believe it is 8 weeks already since I started this challenge. I was hoping that by this time I would be seeing a real improvement in my efforts, but I'm afraid a breakthrough hasn't happened yet.

Here is painting number 8

The only thing good I can say about this painting is that it sort of shows you what I'm aiming for even though the execution is weak.
Score 14 out of 100

Bad bits
Some of the branches are non convincing.
The ferns at the front are way to small.
There aren't enough berries.
It lacks a focal point.

Good bits
The darker leaves in the background are quite convincing and the berries pop out nicely.

I think the time has come now to step it up a gear and try do do something decent. To that end I have chosen a decent subject that we can all relate to and I've even done a preliminary sketch to help me with the shading.

Here is the drawing.

I really enjoyed doing this drawing not least because of the medium I chose. I did it with water soluble pencils, which are a joy to use. If you haven't tried them, please have a go and I'm sure you won't be disappointed. You do the shading as you would with a normal pencil, then wet it with a damp brush and you can see the magic happen before your very eyes.

Now all I've got to do is paint one like it and I will show you the results in my next post.

Painting Number 7

Hi all,
I will have to admit that the challenge this week has been, well, a bit of a challenge. I have not had a good week time wise. The problem is that when we moved to our current house about 18 months ago, we found that it had a cold water supply and tap in the garage/workshop. That's great you might think, but the trouble is the tap is just on a wall, there is no sink and no drain. If anybody uses the tap and doesn't turn it off properly the garage floods. Who thought this was a good idea I don't know, but they obviously didn't have all their chairs in the same room.

Anyway, I booked a plumber to come next week and move the tap to an outside wall so that my wife can use it to water her-always thirsty-plants. To cut a long story short, I have had to paint the walls in the workshop in preparation for the plumber. The walls want painting anyway and I want to do it before he redirects the pipework across them.

On the art front, I thought I'd have a go at some wet on wet pansies. Pansies are easy to draw so I did a few.

Then I copied and pasted them in photoshop and rearranged them into the design above. So far so good. I then transferred the image onto watercolour paper and set about painting them with the wet on wet technique mentioned earlier.

All I can say is that it was a absolute disaster. You've most likely seen my last 6 paintings, so you will know that I'm not shy about showing you my failures, but even I couldn't pluck up the courage to post my pansies on here. Take it from me they were crap.

So, like a naughty rose, I reverted to type and had a go at some more undergrowth. I want to get the hang of painting backgrounds with realistic leaves in the foreground. Once I've mastered that I want to add wildlife like butterflies and dragonflies, I guess I've always been a dreamer.

Painting Number 7

My Review score 15/100
Bad bits
1   The white blobs in the top right hand quarter spoil a reasonable image. They were caused by me dropping granulation medium onto the wet painting. It seemed like a good idea at the time but it turned out to be stupid. I won't do that again. Here are few other things I won't do again.

2   I don't like the background colour, it looks like an explosion in a marmalade factory.

3   The composition is wrong, especially the top right hand corner which is as empty as a gambler's wallet.

Good bits
1   Some of the background stems and leaves work quite nicely.
2   The hips and leaves in the foreground have a nice bright look to them. This was achieved by glazing them with several thin layers of paint, rather than applying one thick coat.

It has taken a while for the penny to drop but applying watercolour in layers is the best way to give an image a bit of a glow. I have also discovered that not all watercolour paint is transparent. This came as a bit of a shock to me and I will discuss it more in my next post.

Painting Number 6

Hi all,
Sorry I'm a bit late with this post, time seems to be flying at the moment. Tomorrow is the longest day and that means the night are about to start drawing in again.

Anyway, regarding my next watercolour painting, last week I showed you the snow drop that I did for the competition I was entering. Well it wasn't good enough, so I did another on the theme of damselflies taken from a pyrography design I once did on top of a box.
Here is my first attempt at the subject.

Yes, I know its a right dog's dinner. Last week I said that hoping for happy accidents wasn't the way to go, yet my next painting was just the same, in fact, it was worse. I won't even give it a review because it doesn't deserve one.

The only thing to do was try again, but in a more controlled manner. I know that loose water colours that look  like they've been produced by a blind artist who did the job with the brush shoved up his nose are the in thing, but I want better.

Here's painting 2 of the same subject.

Okay, it might not be everybody's cup of tea, but  in my world it is grand improvement on the first effort. If you disagree I'd love to hear your views; please share them with us.

Review bad bits
It isn't terribly interesting.

Good bits
It is tidy and a step in the right direction.

Score 14/100

I'm not sure what I am going to paint next, but I'm going to increase the size. Everything I've done so far is about as big as a post card so I'm going large, well at least twice as big. I'm also thinking of doing a bit more drawing to try and hone those skills a bit

Painting number 5

Hi
A few posts ago I was moaning about the cost of paint, especially artists' quality paint. Well, I have come up with a cost saving plan that should keep my wallet happy. I have joined the SAA to take advantage of their great prices and every thing else they have to offer. Here is an example of what I mean.

A 5 ml tube of watercolour paint in my local art store cost me £5.60.
A 14ml tube of SAA watercolour paint costs £4.70

I'm sure you can do the sums yourself and this isn't just a offer price, it is on the full range and all the other artists materials in their catalogue are excellent value as well. More good news, postage is free no matter how many times or what you order. My experience is that delivery is also very quick.

The only catch with being a member is that you have to pay an upfront fee of £29, but when you see the prices of their stuff the membership fee will soon be recuperated and you will forget the pain. Being a member also has lots of other advantages, a gallery to display your paintings, a forum and every two months you get a free magazine etc. I'll put a link at the end of this post if you are interested in taking a look at their website.

Anyway, when I joined the SAA, they sent me a free book and some watercolour post cards. The purpose of the post cards are to allow new members to enter the new member competition. You don't win a big prize but if it is selected it is printed in the free magazine that members get every two months. I nice boost to the ego I thought, so I decided to have a go at a postcard painting to see how I got on.

Here is my first attempt, which was inspired by a painting by Jane Betteridge who is the author of Watercolours Unleashed.

I masked off the snowdrop flowers stalks and some parts of the leaves. When that was dry, I wet the paper and brushed paint across the paper in a vertical strokes try and give the painting a bit of movement. When the paper was almost dry, I brushed in some of the leave and then sprinkled salt over it to give it a bit of an interesting texture.

When the whole painting was dry, I brushed off the salt and removed the masking fluid. Then I painted the stalks and put some more definition into the leaves.

I would say that it is my best effort so far and a step in the right direction, so I'm giving it a score of 12 out of 100

My review of the bad bits
The salt didn't work. In fact, I'm not sure at all about always being on the look out for happy accidents because my accidents always look like total carnage. I don't want to be a botanical artist using a brush as big as a butterfly's todger, but I think a bit more control wouldn't go amiss.
 The ink splatter at the bottom right was a big mistake.
Good bits
If you take away the scabby salt marks and silly ink splatter it isn't too bad.

I don't think it is good enough to enter the post card competition so I will have another go this week.

Here is the  Link to the SAA and here is a link to Jane Betteridge  website. She is a fine painter and she also uses SAA paints in her work. So if they are good enough for her they will do for me.

Painting number 4

Hi all,
I can't believe another week's gone since I began this challenge. I had a day trip to Barmouth on Wednesday and, because it was a three hour drive around twisty roads in each direction,  it took me another day to get over it. In fact, my wife got me a bottle of Sanatogen tonic wine to see if it will bring some life back to my poor old soul. I have had on glass full and the taste is great, but regarding its pick-me-up qualities I'm not quite sure. If I start dancing about like a new born lamb I'll let you know.

Anyway back to the painting, this week I thought I'd have a go at something different and chose a red admiral butterfly. It was done as usual with watercolour paints on 140lb cold pressed paper. I won't beat about the bush any longer, here it is in all its glory.

Again I am disappointed with the way it turned out.
My view of whats wrong with it.
1 The butterfly is smack bang in the middle of the painting, so that was my first mistake.
2 The butterfly doesn't look very dainty, in fact it has all the fragility of a pair of welders mitts.
3 The background is an horrible colour. I come from a large family and it reminds me of the over diluted orange cordial I had when I was a youngster.
4 The blackberries are purple when they should be black.
5 The leaves look like they've got some disease that all the people on Gardener's World couldn't cure.

Good points
1 I think the stems have a pleasing curl about them.
2 The painting is small, so not much time or paint was wasted.

Now there may be some people who think I'm being a bit harsh on myself, well perhaps I am. I guess it is all about meeting ones own expectation. At my age, how good can I expect to get and what sort of paintings do I want to do?

Well, photo realistic and even realistic are probably objectives that are beyond me. I've never been a fan of abstract painting or impressionism so what am I left with. The answer is that I want to paint images that are pleasing to the eye and look as if at least a thimble full of skill was used in their creation.

To me art is all about making pleasing images. I am sick of hearing expressions like, "good art should say something" or "great art should be though provoking." Bullshit, great art just needs to be a pleasing image however it is produced.

If you have any views on my painting or on what constitutes a great picture, please let me know. By the way if you want to check out my website and see what free books are on offer this week please click here.

Painting Number 3

Hi all,
A week goes very quickly when you get to my age, but I managed to crack off another painting. Following on from the watercolour birch trees that I produced in painting number 2,  I thought I'd have another go and see if I could make an improvement. "It wouldn't be too difficult," I said quietly to myself.

My inspiration for better things this time, came from seeing a painting by Jane Betteridge in her book "Watercolours unleashed." Jane is one of those artists who paints with a lot of confidence and it shows in her work. My wife and I attended an exhibition of hers earlier in the year at Ticknall village hall and she had some great art on display. Her book is well worth a read and will inspire any artist who is stuck in a rut. Here is a link to Jane's website . Please don't forget to come back and have a giggle at my efforts.

Part of me would like to paint in her style, but yet another part of me doesn't want my paintings to be quite so loose. I like the idea of using Jane's style and technique for my backgrounds and something more detailed in the foreground. I guess I can only dream at the moment but one of these days, who knows.

Anyway, here's my painting of some birch trees in a bluebell wood. It is painted with Winsor and Newton artists' watercolours on 140lb Langton paper.

I suppose it is slightly better than my last painting but only because it isn't as green. The method I used isn't worth relating so I'll just get on with the review.

My review
Bad bits
1 Again I've gone for a sunburst yellow background and again, that looks totally daft.
2 The bluebells in the middle ground look okay, but I could have done with adding some in the foreground with more detail.
3 The foreground foliage in general is rather pathetic. I sprinkled some salt on it to give it some interest but I'm not impressed.
4 The birch trees have their markings all coming from the same side, which when you thing about it is really absurd.

Good bits
None

I can summarise this painting in one word, crap. I know it is only my third attempt but I was hoping for better. I'll score it just to be consistent but it isn't getting anything higher than a 7 out of 100.

What do you think, am I being to hard on myself? Your comments are very welcome.

Painting Number 2

Hi All,
Time seems to be zooming by at a hell of pace, perhaps one of these days it will settle down to a gallop. It's a shame time is going so fast because the best month of the year, for me at any rate, is almost over. The dandelions have gone and the bluebells are on the wane. Still the may flower is looking great and filling the lanes with its heady perfume.

Right, lets get on with it, I'm sure you are dying to see my second painting. I would like to think it is better than the first one, but I'm afraid it isn't.

The subject is one of my favourite trees, the birch. This tree, with its silver white bark is, along with tigers and kingfishers one of the most paint subjects known to man. If you check out some of the galleries on the Internet, you can bet your last lollipop that a birch tree will feature somewhere.

Here is my version, it is painted with Winsor and Newton  watercolours (artists' quality) on 140lb, not watercolour paper.
Method
I masked off the birch trees and when the masking fluid was dry I wet the paper and then painted it wet on wet. I made a few marks in the wet paint with a craft knife in an attempt to be arty crafty and splattered some paint from a tooth brush. Then I added some more details when the initial painting was dry.

So, what do you think. Any comments are welcome, but here's what I think just to get you started.
Bad bits
1 The birch trees taper to quickly and the banding is too stripy.
2 The overall colour is too green. My wife said it looks like I've been on acid and is threatening to hide my sap green so that I will use some other colours.
3 Seems silly now, but why did I do the sky orange? And while I'm mentioning the sky what is all the yellow about? It looks like there's been and explosion in a custard factory.
4 Some of the arty crafty marks that I made with the craft knife are okay but I think I have over done them.

I could go on for a while longer, but I think if I addressed the issues already mentioned I'd have a much better painting.
Good bits
Help me, I'm struggling here.
1 Perhaps the distant trees on the left hand side just below the sky are acceptable if you stand in a candle it room and squint a bit.

I'm disappointed and my score for this one is a measly 8 out of 100, so I've got a long way to go yet. However, I'm not going to get down-arted about it and I'm going to give the birch trees a second go. If you want to see how I get on please catch up with me next time. Until then enjoy your painting.

Paint Test

Hi all,
In my last post, one of the issues with my first painting was the lack of vibrancy when it came to the paint. When I look at proper artists' work the colours seems to jump off the paper. My paint looked like it would have a job to dribble off the edge of the paper even with a good wind behind it. I said my painting looked wishy-washy and, even taking into account that the subject matter was a misty scene, it still looked out of salts.

If you are interested in art, you have probably been to the exhibitions at village halls where amateur artist have their annual display. There is no doubt that there are some good paintings hanging about at these events, but there are even more that, like my first effort, look like they could do with an injection of steroids. Could it possibly be the paint? Is professional quality paint worth the extra money or is it a bit of a snobby thing?

 My view on the subject was that if you bought students quality watercolours and didn't put too much water into it when mixing, the result should equal that of professional watercolour paints. I would therefore save my self a fortune because professional watercolours are about twice the price.

Anyway, I must have found myself in a pool of delirium because I decided to get my wallet out and purchase three tubes of professional quality watercolours from a nationally known hobby and art shop. Those three tiny tubes cost me almost £18 quid, if they contained tooth paste it would be gone in a couple of days and I'd be making an appointment at the dentist to have all my teeth removed before I allowed myself to be fleeced again.

The next thing I did was to set about doing a test to see if the paints were worth the extra money. Now I'll be the first to admit that my experiment might not be the most scientific in the world and you can make what you will of the results, but here's what I did. I drew a couple of irises and painted one with student quality watercolour and most of the other with the paint I'd paid an arm and a leg for. Here is the result.

I think you have probably worked out which was done with the most expensive paint, so what can be gathered from the evidence?

 If I want to do a painting that looks proper, I need to fork out and buy the best quality paints. It's no good telling myself that I'll use the cheap stuff until I get good because using cheap paint will only hold me back and I'll never paint anything worth risking an eye on.

 It also seemed to me that because the professional watercolour paint is a lot stronger, when I need a weaker wash the paint will, due to its increased level of pigment, go much further.

So, what I need to concentrate on now is finding professional quality paints at something like student paint prices. I'll let you know if I'm successful in a future post. Painting number 2 is well on the way and will be posted in a couple of days. Happy painting.

Painting 1

Hi all,
If you have been waiting earnestly for the first painting in my challenge I am very sorry for the delay. However, the ball has started rolling and here is my first watercolour effort.

Now if you can stop laughing long enough to read the rest of this post and look at it again through squinted eyes, I suppose it isn't that bad for a starter.

The painting is called misty village and puts me in mind of more than one holiday spent in the glorious countryside of Wales. The painting actually came from and exercise in an art magazine and it provide the inspiration to get me on my way.

The paper is cheap 140lb watercolour paper and the paints used were cotman watercolour. I followed the method in the magazine article and started by masking off some of the houses with masking fluid then wetting the paper all over before diving in with the paints.

Here is my review
Bad
1 The sky is a right mess; grey blobs on the right and splodges of mustard on the left.
2 The foreground is empty, surely something should be going on.
3 Some of the houses look as if they could fall over at any minute.
4 I know it is supposed to be a misty scene, but it all looks a bit wishy washy to me even though it is a watercolour painting.

Good
I like the smoke coming out of the chimneys. That was achieved by lifting some paint out with a piece of kitchen towel. The mountains in the background are also easy on the eye so it isn't a complete disaster.

Overall I would give it a score of 10 out of 100 so there is a long way to go yet before I can call myself a painter.

Lessons learned
1 When working wet into wet it is best to plan ahead. Paints need to be ready and mixed before wetting the paper because while I was ferreting about looking for the right colours and mixing them the water I'd put on the paper was starting to dry out.

2 Check out artists' watercolours to see if they are worth paying the extra money for.

Call in again next week for painting number two. I'm hoping it will be better but it could be worse.
Any comments on painting 1 will be welcome even if you thing it is a load of rubbish.

The Challenge Starts Here

Hi,
Perhaps I'm being a bit selfish, but I'm writing this blog to help me with my own ambitions. However, I do hope that readers who stumble upon it will find it entertaining and, who knows, it is possible that they may learn something about painting in the process.

So what is the challenge?
I have given myself 1 year to go from a novice artist to a successful painter.

Why are you doing this?
Those who remember the Beatles will also remember one of their songs, called "When I'm 64." Well just recently I passed that milestone and it got me to thinking about all the things I never got around to doing because I was always to damned busy trying to earn a decent living. I thought about circumnavigating the world on a unicycle but my heart attacked and general lack of fitness knocked that one on the head. However, from the days when I was spot popping teenager I always wanted to paint, so  that is why I have taken up this challenge.

Why set yourself a challenge? why not just get on with it?
I'm sure many of you who have wanted to take up art or any other craft have found themselves floundering. The problem is that there are so many other things all after our attention. There are always other jobs to be done, so one feels guilty if one tries to sit down and paint. I am forever try to clear my "to do list" so that  I can get on with some painting. Well now I've done added the painting to the list so there is no excuse.

Being an ex-production manager I also understand how targets and goals do really help with motivation.



How does the challenge work?
I am giving myself an objective of doing at least one painting per week. Each painting will be posted on here regardless of how good or bad it looks. Please be aware that on odd occasions in the past I've had a go at painting and my wife still laughs at some of them. In fact, when she gets a bit down, which we all do from time to time, she gets out one of the paintings I did of a lion a few years ago and after looking at it she always busts into a giggling fit.

I show it you in a later post and you can see if it tickles your sense of humour.

How will you or any of you readers learn from your paintings?
Well, we all learn from our mistakes, so when I post a painting each week I will give it a score out of 100 and then review it honestly. If any part of the painting is crap I will say so and why.

Can readers make comments about your paintings and will you be offended?
I welcome and encourage any comments that are honest and constructive. After all, finding faults in ones own work can be very difficult.

Will you concentrate on one painting medium?
Yes, it will centre around water colour paints, but ink and pencil work will probably be included at some stage.

After one year, how will you judge your success?
The measure of my success will be simple. If I can sell a painting at a fair price it must mean that somebody likes my work, they must be if they are prepare to exchange hard earned cash for one of my creations.

So I have 52 weeks until the 1st of May 2016 to paint something good enough to sell. If you are interested in watercolour painting and like a laugh, why not come along for the journey. The first of what I expect to be a pathetic attempt will be posted on here within the next 7 days.

I will also tidy up this blog so that it looks half decent.