Prussian blue is a deep and mysterious blue paint that creates the most magnificent foliage greenery. I love its tonal ranges from a very dilute pale cool greeny blue to the full mass tone of near midnight blue black. Prussian Blue This blue paint was created by accident around 1706 by a […]
Autumn is here in Perth, what a splendid relief! Lovely pleasant days of cloudy skies to get outside and enjoy nature. And Paint! The watercolour painting, “Colours of Autumn” reflects the gentle beauty of the season we are now in. Step one is of course the inspiration, next is the colour selection and the […]
Sometimes we wonder where to find inspiration, where to find beauty, where to find our muse in life. The daily tasks, unexpected emergencies, the routine daily grind seem to take their toll and leave us just a bit tired and jaded. I found my breath of inspiration early this morning, drinking my hot coffee watching […]
How do I fix my paintings? How can I tell what needs to be fixed? How do I critique my work? A phrase I prefer over self critique is self assessment, a much more positive and hopeful turn of phrase. I also prefer the term ‘not yet resolved’ over the dismal, its a ‘failure’. […]
One of my favourite vases caught my eye today. Its deep indigo, ultramarine, cobalt teal, yellow green seemed to call out to me to look, to pay attention. The vase had been tucked away behind many of my art supplies for a number of months, but today I saw it with new eyes. As I […]
The Masters knew. Make every brush stroke count. Each should sing! It should be easy, painting a single brushstroke onto a canvas creating a mark that is luminous and clean, fresh and lively – not boring! Full of texture, color and of course, with a good tonal range. That doesn’t sound too difficult, but it is […]
I want powerful, dynamic brushstrokes! I want them lively, not boring. And, I want 1 brushstroke to do the job of 20……. Its not that I’m slacking off, I tell myself I’m ‘efficient.’ I’d like my time, effort and energy to be optimised to the maximum possible. You too? I thought so! Let me tell you […]
Colour – Its all about colour! Here’s 5 easy things that usually help me to get a better painting. It really doesn’t matter if I’m painting in acrylics, oils, watercolours either! 1. Colour creates the mood I choose the kind of mood and atmosphere I want, then select the colours that will enhance and ‘set […]
As I paint, my goal is to create the sense of seamless progression of back to front, i.e. background into the middle ground and then foreground. The prior post Depth, shared information on how Colour is a great tool to create the illusion of this kind of depth in a painting. Edges and Tonal values […]
Photographs of simple common subjects with intriguing textures and patterns often create stunning images that capture the artist’s and the viewers’ eyes. Fallen Leaf photograph taken in Canning Vale, WA has great Soft edges in the background which creates recession in the photo, whereas the sharp detailed textures and patterns in the foreground bring it […]