Girl Illustration With Stitching

 Gouache, Watercolour, Synthetic Embroidery Thread on Khadi Handmade Paper

A5 size

Hi there!  I felt compelled to make another girl painting on this Khadi paper.  I really love the texture and the challenge of painting on this paper.  It's 320gsm so it is almost like a cardboard feel.  I added stitching to this one again because I really like the tactile feeling of the paper with the stitching.  I used Paynes Grey for the shirt again because I just love that colour and could use it endlessly, along with Indigo, which I am having a break from:)

I am happy with how she turned out.  I think this is one of the few times I have painted long hair.  I am not really overjoyed with how I painted the hair, it feels a bit overworked to me but it's okay.

Well, that's all today, I hope you are all having a good day and thanks for looking!

Birthday And Art

 

It was my birthday yesterday which was March 9 and I turned 49 but I still feel younger than that, I thought I would be much more grown up now but unfortunately not.  Just my body is older.  I do have more confidence and don't care so much what people think and I just wish I had had those qualities when I was much younger but what can you do?

We went for a drive to a place called Normanville on the south coast of the Fleurieu Peninsula.  There is a small outdoor Cafe there and we had fish burgers and fish and chips which was really nice.  Then we drove to Rapid Bay which is further south and this is where I took this photo.  This photo is looking north back up the coast.  It was quite cool and windy but at least the sun was warm.  It was a great day by the sea.

I made this girl painting on Khadi 320gsm handmade paper which is quite thick and I was really happy with how she turned out.  I used Paynes Grey watercolour for her top and I really like the colour.  I was looking at artists on Instagram who do collage and stitching, combining fabric and paper and I was really inspired by what they do.  So I decided to add stitching to the top of this girl.  I was learning a lot of embroidery last year and really enjoying it.  I thought I would do the French Knot stitch and please forgive my stitching because the French Knot is my weakest stitch and I'm not very good at it.  The girls on YouTube make such immaculate, neat looking French Knots and hopefully one day I will be good but not today!

You can see the stitches better on this photo.  The paper is A5 size.

Thank you for looking, I hope you enjoy this post!

Animal and Floral Painting

Hi there again!  So here are two more floral paintings, one with a bunny and another with a puppy and I was happy with how they turned out.  They are both painted with Gouache and Watercolour on Arches Hot Press paper and they are about 7 x 5 inches.  I am really having fun with the florals because I have really been able to loosen up and not worry about getting details correct. Although there are artists I admire who are much more loose with their painting and I would like to get to a point where I am not worrying about the painting being correct at all and just letting it come out of me and onto the page but I guess that will come with time.

I have another painting to share but I haven’t scanned it yet so I will show you next time😊

More Floral Illustration

Gouache/Watercolour on Arches Hotpress

7 x 5 inches

Floral Cat Illustration

7 x 5 inch Gouache/Watercolour on Arches Hotpress

So Cold

Christies Beach, South Australia

A sketch made with Schmincke Watercolour and Gouache in a handmade paper sketchbook.

More Portrait Illustration

Watercolour/Gouache on A5 Arches Hotpress

Gouache/Watercolour in a handmade sketchbook with handmade paper.

Winter Now and Indigo Portraits

Just some girls painted with Watercolour and Gouache.  It’s winter now and it has been raining a lot lately but I am glad of the water because it was so dry for so long.  I do like all the smells in the air in winter.  I find so much to love about all the seasons.  Winter is a good time to watch all the surfers at the beach in the late afternoon.  I will be back soon with some more paintings😊

Portrait Illustration

Some art made with Watercolour and Gouache made mostly on A5 Arches Hot Press paper.  I hope you enjoy it.😊

Girl With Dahlias

Watercolour/Gouache on Arches 300gsm Hot Press Paper

I really enjoyed using this indigo colour for the girls clothing.  I’m not sure why, I think it has a luminous night sky quality about it.

 

Girl With Salvias

Watercolour/Gouache on Arches 300gsm Hot Press Paper

I am no closer to solving my naming problem.  My girls are like all actual people to me, with their own personalities.  But still I am unsure whether to give them names.  I like the mystery of them not having a name and I like not interfering with how the viewer might see them.  Naming my paintings has always been hard for me though for some reason.  I’ll sleep on it again :)

 

Naming My Paintings

Watercolour and Gouache on Arches Hot Press 300gsm Paper

I am happy with this one.  I am having trouble naming these paintings of girls, I’m not sure how to go about it.  I thought of giving the girls names as I have seen other artists do but that doesn’t feel right.  I used to really labour over names for paintings when I was a less experienced artist.  I thought the title of a painting was all important.  But now I feel that the title or name I give a painting is not as important as the actual painting.  I feel like the viewers perception or experience of the painting should be not distracted by any perception I might have of the painting in creating an elaborate title.  If I had gone to art school I might have learned this stuff much earlier😊.  

Thanks for reading and looking. 

Flowers

This artwork was made with Watercolour and gouache in an A5 Moleskine Watercolour Journal. 

Sketch

For this one I used a thick paper by Khadi who make handmade paper.  It has quite an uneven surface but was smooth at the same time(if that makes sense?).  I like how this paper feels and the deckled edges, also it doesn’t buckle so much when I use a lot of water.  I’ve had this paper for a long time and was a bit scared to use it but I think I will continue with it.  It really encourages me to be looser with my painting.

Hair

 This one was painted in my handmade journal with smooth, deckle edged, handmade paper.  I was thinking of 1980’s hair and celebrities for some reason.

 

Spring Inspiration

 

Both of these artworks are about 8” x 10” and were painted on Arches Watercolour paper 300gsm, using  Schmincke, Winsor & Newton Watercolour and Art Spectrum Gouache.

Emotions

Gouache and Watercolour in Moleskine Journal.

I wasn’t going to post these paintings but I thought I would just to show when things don’t go to plan. I wasn’t feeling great when I made these and it kind of shows.  Not everything can be pretty and happy all the time and I should value these more instead of seeing them as a reminder of how crap I was feeling at the time.  These paintings just tell a different story.

Hand Made Paper

Both paintings are Schmincke Watercolour and Art Spectrum White Gouache on Khadi Paper(I think).

I have these beautiful handmade journals which are filled with deckle edged Khadi Paper which is made from recycled cotton in India.  I really like working on it and even though it is only about 150gsm the paint doesn’t bleed through to the other side.  I have to work lightly though as the paper is very delicate.

 

Indigo

I generally use Schmincke Watercolour pans with some Winsor and Newton and Schmincke make this indigo that I really love.  I want to use it more I think.

Time Out

I have been away from the blog awhile.  I have been a little under the weather physically and mentally and needed some time out.  I thought I would post these two small paintings(A5 size) that I really enjoyed making.  Whenever I make these portraits I never know what or who is going to come out and I kind of like that.