HAPPY NEW YEAR

Here I am back on terra firma.  Two weeks on the high seas for Christmas and New Year.  I am not a good sailor so it was a big risk at this time of year.  The Bay of Biscay was NOT kind to us.  Average of Gale Force 9!  Spectacular to watch the waves though.  For once I wasn't seasick.  Had some new pills recommended, but took further precautions and wore wrist bands and ate crystalised ginger too.

Great fun really seeing people upright and the ships floor at an angle, everybody left and then everybody right.  Like doing a drunken sailor dance.  Tottering on heels when 'poshed up', when I don't usually wear heels.  Hanging on to the shower room door handle while sat on the loo.  Bracing yourself in bed by firmly planting your feet apart, so that you don't fall out of bed! A drawer opening and shutting with the motion of the ship. So nice to sleep back in my own still, calm, unmoving bed.  Yahey.

We had a wonderful time though.  So many little children on board, and the excitement when Santa appeared down the funnel!  Christmas at sea and he even came to me, he kindly brought me the gift of a cold!

Highlight of the Ports of Call was Amsterdam and a visit to the Van Gogh Museum, and I want to share some of the paintings we saw when I down load them.  One's that you don't normally see in the main books.

In the meantime I wish you a Wonderful Healthy and Happy New Year full of special things.  Everything you wish for yourself and loved ones.  If you paint I hope you find lots of inspiration and not a lot of frustration.  And I thank you for your visits to my blog. 

I send you a card (last year's I admit, not time this year to paint one).

And here is me having a great time on New Year's Eve.

Luv' from Polly xx 

ESPECIALLY FOR YOU

This is possibly my last blog until next year, so I wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, and whatever you do have a wonderful time.  If you are on your own I send you a special hug.


This is my Christmas Card especially for you (oh and family and friends too!). 

Actually it is Sharon Whitley's December Challenge (because of these challenges I have painted things I would never have tried, so a special thank you) and the photograph is by Wildlife Photographer Gary Jones (sorry Gary another beautiful photograph I have changed, but thank you for all the lovely photographs I have used this year).

Caption:  Who's that guy in the red suit?

May Santa bring you whatever you wish for.  


Luv from Polly xx

OIL - YUK and YUK

You see I don't particularly like using oils, but boss teacher wanted us to do a still life in oils. Yuk and yuk! Not struck on painting in oils nor ordinary still life.  But like a good little girl I did as I was told (this time) Outcome not as bad as I thought. These are water soluble oils.

This was done over two weeks classes.  Patience I didn't know I had, as I like to go whoosh and have a painting done in one session, if possible.  Oh and the round pot didn't have a square opening,  this huge error has only come to light looking at it on screen.  Won't be altering it though, as this will go in my 'not like' box.

Will I use oils at our last class this year,  or will I rebel?


Have a wondrous weekend!

LAST BRUSHO THIS YEAR

Yes, I am putting brusho away!  There's so much going on. I usually do my brusho at the art club because it is, or sorry, I am soooo messy, and it's our Christmas do today and then that's it til after New Year.  These two paintings I have concentrated on using bleach.  I sprinkled and sprayed the background colours on, covering the whole sheet of paper with colour and then picked out the white with bleach and added some darks.

Dark Stripes were just the background showing through.

This one is actually Sharon Whitley's December challenge, and is from a photograph by Gary Jones of the Ugly House in North Wales.  Just a note to Health and Safety, The snowman didn't suffer any harm from being covered in bleach!!!!!

WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM MY FRIENDS

I'd had this painting in mind for a long time.  I wanted to know what Southport (a Victorian seaside resort on the north west coat of England) looked like in Edwardian days. (early 1900's).  So I did some research, which I promptly didn't really follow!! Typical of me.  Here is the progress

Already I didn't think it was going well, wobbly window syndrome! But persisted in a 'gung ho' fashion! And the attitude, it's only a piece of paper

Hubby didn't like the woman in the foreground and I agreed.  I put the pic out on my facebook page for instant advice.  Wasn't as bad as I thought. But the woman certainly was not right, facing in the wrong direction, too prominent and the wheelie bin in front of her not a good idea (was in fact a pram in case you were wondering)

Well here is the revised version.  Lady now leading you into the picture. I  tried to wash her out but wouldn't work completely, so went over her with an opaque colour, cobalt. Used some white guache to try and straighten some of the windows, and added some more cobalt in the sky to balance the picture, also to the lady linking arms. Can't do anything about the wobbly red writing, but hey it's only a piece of paper.

Hope you get a flavour of what this lovely main street looked like years ago.  To finish here is a pic of what it looks like now.

It's a wide tree lined street, with these distinctive verandahs, it's about a mile long with outside cafes, very contintental and looks lovely on a warm sunny day.  On the right is the Town Hall and Art Centre, a bandstand, small green areas an outdoor cafe and fountains.  Very pleasant place to sit awhile or stroll along.

Have a wonderful weekend. Keep snug and warm

BRUSHO, WATERCOLOUR & BLEACH

Thought it would be interesting to see how the two react with bleach.  I had only ever used bleach on Brusho and it was suggested that you could use bleach on Watercolour too.  So Polly had to experiment and here are the results, which you might find interesting.

This is the Brusho chart. Using all the colours that I have.  With the exception of Prussian Blue on all the above I used just one sweep of a brush loaded with bleach (or you can use Milton (a sterilising agent)   And the whiteness of the paper just appeared through as if by magic.   Obviously some reacted better than others.  The paper didn't turn yellow and wasn't damaged.  In fact, I have tried and you can paint over the top when it is dry.  Could be very handy to know. 

Watercolours and exactly the same procedure BUT I had to scrub the bleach into the paint, no single strokes here, so was worried about the paper and the brush (an old brush that I washed constantly) And while I can see that some of the colours allowed the white paper to show through, many of them, even after the vigourous brushing, did not turn white.  The scrubbing affected the wash giving run backs sometimes.  I wouldn't use bleach on a watercolour painting from choice, as I feel it could damage the washes around the bleached area, not to mention quickly ruin any brush.

I would be interested to hear from anyone else who has tried a similar experiment.

Have a wonderful weekend my lovely blogging friends!!

BRUSHO EXPERIMENTS

Still in Brusho mode - but I am itching to get back to my beloved watercolours, (six weeks since my holiday with Hazel Soan was watercoloured out) and today am putting Brusho away and getting out my w/c palette. 

These two paintings though are a little experimental, and I also wanted to try my new brusho colours and the effect of bleach on each of them, as I feel this is an important part of using this exciting medium.

This was painted by drawing the figure, then using candle wax for the highlights around the figure and on the skirt, then woosh in with the Brusho.  I used bleach for part of the legs.

First I used Indian Ink and cocktail stick to draw in the outlines, then I used salt in the background top and bottom, love the effect!  I didn't have to do anything, it did it all by itself. I used cobalt thinking I could bleach out the snow.  Not that easy.  Used bleach then a damp magic sponge over the top.  So determined was I to get back to white that a ruined the surface of the paper. Never mind, 'It's only a piece of paper'.

HAVE A WONDERFUL WEEKEND, KEEP WARM AND CHILLAX, AS THEY SAY THESE DAYS

BRUSHO AND PHOTOSHOP

Thought I'd try a nightscene.  Not easy I know.  And experiment with a mixture of watercolour and brusho.  Firstly I painted a watercolour underwash of pinks, blues and yellows in staining colours.  Then I did the brusho painting using black and a little yellow only.  Using bleach I took out the shape of Blackpool Illuminations from the Brusho,  no drawing, I expected the non staining watercolours to still be there, giving the lights gentle colours showing through.  However, the bleach took out everything.  This was a surprise as I thought bleach didn't work on watercolours.

I was now frustrated!!!   So, I photographed the painting and then, inspired by Rita Vaselli's blog who played around with photoshop recently (Check out her our wonderful blog, beautiful paintings, and someone who experiments and loves art so very much). So I changed the hue and saturation on two of them (the vivid colours) and the other one is a filter and is supposed to be stained glass (you need to look at this one larger to see the effect. It was fun seeing the different colours and effects that you could achieve.  Boredom is my enemy and sometimes I need to find an exciting friend!!!!!!

Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

POPPIES AND REMEMBERENCE DAY

I have posted this poppy before so no comments.  I just wondered why we use poppies at this time of year and found this explanation on BBC page, for anyone interested.  I don't know if any other countries reflect in this way with a flower, although I think that France uses the cornflower, must check up on that one.

We must never forget them .................

Why the Poppy?

The poppy has a long association with Remembrance Day. But how did the distinctive red flower become such a potent symbol of our remembrance of the sacrifices made in past wars?

Scarlet corn poppies (popaver rhoeas) grow naturally in conditions of disturbed earth throughout Western Europe. The destruction brought by the Napoleonic wars of the early 19th Century transformed bare land into fields of blood red poppies, growing around the bodies of the fallen soldiers.

In late 1914, the fields of Northern France and Flanders were once again ripped open as World War One raged through Europe's heart. Once the conflict was over the poppy was one of the only plants to grow on the otherwise barren battlefields.

The significance of the poppy as a lasting memorial symbol to the fallen was realised by the Canadian surgeon John McCrae in his poem In Flanders Fields. The poppy came to represent the immeasurable sacrifice made by his comrades and quickly became a lasting memorial to those who died in World War One and later conflicts. It was adopted by The Royal British Legion as the symbol for their Poppy Appeal, in aid of those serving in the British Armed Forces, after its formation in 1921.

BRUSHO HALLOWEEN HOWLS!

Happy Halloween!

Don't have nightmares, just have fun

Brusho playtime yesterday at art club, it was playtime!!!!!!!!!!!!