SHARON'S CHALLENGE NO. 2

This is the second challenge that Sharon Whitley set this month (the photo is by Gary Jones and is stunning). It's one of my favourite places in the Lake District. Slater's Bridge is in the picturesque Langdale Valley.  There is nothing else there except occasionally walkers and the odd sheep.  You walk from a pub called The Shires Inn and after a l0 min walk you see the tiny bridge in the bottom of a valley.  This packhorse bridge was used many years ago by the slate mine nearby, hence the name.  It is made of random pieces of slate. It is very worn and narrow.

Notice the two mouldy barm cakes in the bottom right hand corner!  They were left by me after the picnic I had when painting there last year!

SHARON'S CHALLENGE ROOSTER

Thank you Sharon for another first for me. This month's challenge a Rooster's head is not something I would pick at all, but what a good excuse to use reds.  These challenges of yours are really taking me out of my comfort zone and anyone reading this who is stuck in a rut, should give it a whirl, like I have.  Bit of a battle but stretching the brain as well as the watercolour control.  I never do anything twice, so this will have to do....

YUPO REVIEW

YUPO PAPER - Synthetic/plastic paper/ you can't tear it  - My Notes only

If you are wondering about trying this new paper, you may be prepared to wade through these notes that I made for myself.

Yupo is great fun to use and experiment with.  I love it.  You get textures you would never be able to do any other way.  So each painting is unique.  Here are some things I have learnt over the past few days, either from my own experimentation or looking on the internet. 

I hope you like my latest proper painting on Yupo.  I feel it's a big improvement on my first, (previous post) and it took no time at all.  I found you need to paint thicker than normal (well I did for watercolour).

Finished painting Silver Birch trees and water movement  taken out with damp tissue

Watercolour before taking out trees

You can't build up glazes or paint over your work as anything damp will affect paint already on the paper. You may find good effects by doing this though?

Good for practicing composition etc as you don't waste your usual paper. Wipe off when finished. If you do get grease on paper eg fingerprints or over use the paper, clean with soapy water.

Staining colours still stain eg. Alizarin, Winsor Violet also pen and ink drawing will leave an indentation on the paper.

Apparently you can spray with fixitive at least 15" away or you will disturb the paint or you can use a hair dryer but it will move the paint around. Haven't tried either of these.

Would be great fun or economical for children as you can paint and wipe over and over again.

For detail use less water but take care as any contact may still affect paint already on paper.

Store in clear sleeves to save painting from damage when you have done a masterpiece!!!

My experiment to remove when paint dry/damp to bring back white of paper, or alter composition etc.,  I used water on a tissue, a damp or wet brush.  A rubber didn't work:-

Watercolour wiped off easily

Acrylic ink impossible

Acrylic tubes easily

Water soluble oils easily

Drying time:-

Acrylic ink pooled and was very slow.  Tacky for ages and dried very hard. May be an advantage.

Watercolour took well over an hour

Water Soluble oils took forever (but oil does) well over 24 hrs

Acrylic tubes dried the fastest.

Mixing the colour on the yupo:-

Watercolour flowed and mixed well but left a trail of brush marks, this gave the texture.

Acrylic inks didn't flow freely with each other

Oil  the most difficult as brush strokes were very pronounced, hardly covering the paper even when thick.

I wouldn't use oils or acrylic inks. That is just my personal opinion.

Apart from the Red Ink I managed to wash off easily the other colours.

You can buy the paper from SAA(in the UK) or Amazon

Go to Google Images 'yupo paintings' some artists have created some wonderful paintings. Worth a look.

It really is like being a child with a new toy.  It will take a while to sort of control the paint on this paper, if ever, but if you like it then it would be another string to your bow.

Happy Yupo Painting!

THANK YOU!!

Just a quick thank you to those of you who gave me a challenge and also to all of you who have commented both here on my blog and also on facebook.  You have helped me have a wonderful Arty Easter.

Here they all are together 7 of them!

I have been experimenting more with Yupo paper, so my next post will let you know how I am getting on.

CHALLENGES 5, 6 & 7 THE END!

Well, I have done every one of the challenges and what fun I have had.  Spending time deciding how to do each challenge took nearly as long as the painting of them.  They were all so very different. I did stick to watercolours though. On recollection perhaps I should have dug out my hardly used oils or pastels.  

Challenge 5 -  was suggested by Martine Weare on facebook.  Spring colours.  Thought I'd try flowers, as this really is a challenge for me. It reminded me why I don't like doing flowers.  They have been reworked, gone muddy, been washed out, salt added just because I could, rubbed out with my new magic eraser etc. etc. I was so frustrated I can't tell you, but I sort of got there in the end.  

Challenge 6 -  Was silly half hour.  Lyndi Lou Lou on facebook suggested Yupo paper and a self portrait.  As you can see my original photograph had been airbrushed, so I look really attractive.  Got the odd spot or two but that's the only blemish.  I found you can't go back into Yupo with more paint without disturbing what is already on this plastic surface.

Challenge 7 - Mike suggested that I sit and paint what I see out of the window. So that is what I did. Didn't spend ages on this as the sun was in and out so wanted to get some shadows.

And there endeth my Easter Marathon.  I enjoyed it that much that if the same situation arises next Easter I will do it all again. With a little help from my friends.

Thanks to those who took part. You have made my Easter Bank Holiday very, very enjoyable and I have painted things I would never have thought of myself.

CHALLENGES 3 & 4

Challenge 3 - Thank you Cathy Holtom (check out her lovely blog - a very versatile artist). You mentioned thinking of food you might have on an imagined holiday.  No brainer. Italian Ice Cream.  The best in the world.  I have titled it 'Gelato' Looking forward to eating some of it later in the year. My mouth is watering just thinking of it.

Challenge 4 - Thank you to Susan Caton (a facebook friend) who challenged me to paint a coastal scene with a little boat going into harbour, choppy waves.  So I came up with this one.  Sue loves Cornwall so it is Falmouth and I have named the boat 'Caton Star' and the pub 'Cum Inn'.  I went a bit overboard with the masking fluid on the right, you can see waves hovering in mid air.  Alas, with masking fluid, it is impossible to remove the light area it leaves behind.

Three more to go!

CHALLENGES 1 & 2

You may remember that I asked you to challenge me. Give me subjects to paint over the Easter Weekend.  So far I have completed two. In between long phone calls from friends, trip into town shopping and eating!  I was given six and have just received another today. It's keeping me out of mischief.

Sue Clinker - blog http://pencilpix.blogspot.co.uk suggested Easter bunnies, chicks etc. an Easter Theme.  Do have a look at her wonderful work.  Her work second to none. Takes your breath away.  Portraits and animals in particular.

This is what I came up with.  I have called it 'Spot the odd one out'. Thank you Sue.

The second one was suggested by Lesley Nugent of  http://nuggletonbythesea.blogspot.co.uk (quirky naive paintings) she has just heard that she has become a member of the Assoc of  Naive Artists! Lesley suggested perspective shapes.

This is not a colour wheel, or anything like that, merely a celebration of colour in a perspective way.  Just me having fun with colour.

YUPO FIRST ATTEMPTS

I couldn't resist trying this yupo paper after seeing it on blogs and  facebook.  The watercolour sort of swims over this plastic paper.  I am going to really experiment with it after the Easter Holidays.  First I have to meet the challenges set my my arty friends here in blogland and on facebook, as I have the weekend in the house, all to myself. These paintings or attempts at paintings  will be posted, with my thanks or not, depending on the results!!!! Ha, ha.

My first attempt on this weird plastic paper.  I used the watercolour with lots of water. and thicker for the lady and her pooch and took some trees out with kitchen roll.

I painted 3 red flowers then just wiped one out to leave a white flower.  Got in rather a mess trying this out hence  my  untidy painting area.

I found it like playtime at school! It would be great for children as one piece of paper could last forever, just wipe it off and start again.

(For a review of Yupo, and my thoughts on this fun paper,  please see my blog of 6th April 2013)

CHALLENGE ME !!!

Not posting boring theory this time.  Asking a favour of you.  My hubby will be following a tournament at his golf club all over Easter, so I will have time to myself to paint, draw and listen to music. Sheer bliss. No tv!  Anyhow, I can't think what to paint so would love you to give me some suggestions. I have most media but not inks (the dropper rotted) and am open to anything at all.  What has fired me up is Sharon Whitley's monthly challenge and although it has been hard I have enjoyed being taken out of my comfort zone. You can just give me a subject, media or post a pic on my facebook page. (there is a link on the right of this page)

Hope someone out there will help and thank you just in case ................

WARM & COOL COLOURS

For those of you who struggle understanding warm and cool colours, and which ones to use, here is my method.  It is based on a palette by Colin Radcliffe, who used to be a tutor at Higham Hall in the Lake District (uk).  He separated his colours into warm and cool. So, if you didn't want really bright greens you did not mix two cools together but a warm and a cool. e.g.Two warm colours or two cool colours make a bright mix, if you mix one of each you will get a more muted colour. Colin would call these bright colours deck chair colours.   Or if you want to place a warm colour in a painting next to a cool one, if you look at your palette you just pick one of each. Easy peasy, set out for me so I don't have to think about it!

If you want to know which of your colours are warm or cool then the company that makes the paint you use probably will list them on it's site.  Winsor and Newton have oodles of information about their paints,  Go to  their Resource Centre. Artists Watercolour Spectrum Lists.  It shows warm,cool,transparent,opaque and granulating colours. There is also one headed Composition and Permanance, which is far more technical, but if you are interested in pigments you may like to read this list too.

I have really simplified this as I put it on my facebook page and I really think I went on too much. So I will show you Colin's palette followed by my version. And before anyone points out that Light Red is warm, I have followed Colin's method here and I am not going to change it now. But I have slightly as I use an equivalent transparent red brown by Daler Rowney (which is most like Light Red). Oh dear, the pics downloaded in the opposite order, so mine is first, followed by Colin's.

Polly's Colours
I have omitted the Sepia as I am fed up with it breaking up and dirtying other colours , so at the moment I have  an empty space. I do have other colours but they are either in another random palette or in tubes, but these are by far the colours I use most and if I paint en plein air this is the only palette I need. 

Colin Radcliffe's Palette (Liz Deakin Palette)

This is only the method I use, but it may help people new to colour mixing who struggle with warm and cool colours, which I did until I went on Colin's course. Ofcourse, I am always fascinated how other people set out their palettes too.

Now everyone, cross your fingers that this awful winter is going to end soon!!!!!!!!!!!!

PS Just noticed I've had 5000 people looking at my blog!  Oh thank you so much all of you for taking the time to see what I am up to. I am so very thrilled.