Thirty Day Vellum Challenge Concludes....feathers, bugs and a few old favourites

Having made a late start to the challenge on Sept 5th, I was a bit worried that it wasn't going to be possible to paint 30 small vellum works in the 25 remaining days in September but forged ahead regardless but as predicted fell short of the full 30. I posted the first 10 previously so here are the remaining 15 - in no particular order. These are quick snaps taken on the phone but I'll photograph them properly before uploading to my Etsy shop where they will be for sale. All are painted life size with the exception of the feathers (x1.5)

No 17. Peacock Feather, collected from the David Austin Garden back in July. I try to find one of the feathers every time I go there. The contrast from the glossy vibrant top compared to the downy base make this a great subject. It also has the tiny distinctive barbs which are tricky to paint at this size...W& N series 7 miniature, size 1 required! Colours winsor blue green shade and winsor green blue shade with some violet dioxazine. the feathery base is a mix of paynes grey and van dyke brown. I scratched away a few small highlights. This image is approx 4 x 3.5 inches.

It was a good opportunity for me to paint a few things that I might not normally have time for, such as feathers and insects.Feathers are great subjects because they are very ordered and smooth at the top but also have the light floaty base which is great to paint. Definitely a good exercise in painting texture!

Number 16 The first small  Peacock feather painted. It has a very iridescent tip and great colour. I added a little of the Daniel Smith iridescent paint but I don't think it really added that much. I also used some titanium white on the downy parts but wished I hadn't, again not needed.

No. 20 Another peacock feather, such a beautiful colour I don't think I do it justice, might try it again sometime I particularly like how the light catches one side of the feather and makes it so vibrant, whereas the other side appears quite dull until it's turned to the light and become this electric blue/ I used winsor blue green shade and prussian blue wit some winsor green ( blue shade). Both colours that I would almost never use in a botanical painting....with the exception of the Jade vine.

No. 19,  I love this very small peacock feather, it's not one that I would recognise from this beautiful bird. Its very delicate and floaty

No. 22. Small Pigeon feather from down the lane. I'd found  a dead bird at the roadside so collected a few of it's feathers. This is on natural vellum using titanium white over a mix of paynes grey and van dyke brown washes. Not sure if it works or not.

Insects are always fun to paint on vellum, so I added a couple from my daughters collection. I had intended to do more but had to spend a few days away unexpectedly.

No. 11 Gorgeous red beetle. The colours change in the light shimmering from red to green and making this very tricky. Vellum has to be the perfect surface to achieve these rich colours, shine and fine detail. Image is approx 2.5 x 2.5 inches

Another Flower beetle for day 12. The white spot are easily removed from vellum with a scalpel so much easier than using masking fluid on paper. I also added a touch of titanium white on the spots catching the light to make it brighter than the background vellum colour.

Of course I also painted some of the more usual subject material for a 30 day challenge and there's no better time for this than late summer/autumn here in the UK. I did want to avoid repeating too many of subjects previously painted so although the rose hips were tempting I gave them a miss this year but couldn't resist the acorns again.

I did this in one day but I'm claiming it as days 15-17 because there are 3. Again collected from the graveyard next to my flat. These are pretty tiny acorns which I thought really cute.

No. 23, A lichen encrusted branch on Natural vellum. I did this very quickly, maybe 90 minutes in total so it's less detailed but I quite like a less detailed finish on natural vellum.

No. 24, This old leaf was found in the lane and really was falling apart, there was no shine on it but I liked the holes and decay

No. 14 I discovered a patch of Arum fruits at the bottom of the lane which had been trampled on, so managed to rescue this one and paint it  before all the fruits fell off

Day 18 - this one was featured in last weeks post - along with a video of the painting process

Out of time! I made a start  on this honeysuckle fruit but have too many other things to do.... so that's all folks!

New Work.... Old Theme and SBA Exhibition Planning Time!

Much as I'm enjoying these mini painting challenges I'm now way overdue in planning towards next years exhibitions. It's time to start a new work for the the Society of Botanical Artists (SBA) annual exhibition, titled, The Botanical Garden. which takes place in May next year at Westminster Halls. The handing in date is later than usual being the 17th March..... This later date is definitely a good thing for a disorganised painter!

 I've been exhibiting with the SBA for a number of years on and off since around 2000. I missed last years show due to the general upheavals of life......these upheavals shouldn't be allowed to interfere with painting but sometimes they do. The big question as always is ..... what should I paint or draw?

So here's the beginnings of a plan:

Beginnings..... Planning the layout and colours starts with a rough layout' painting.

I'm trying to link things together here, so instead of moving onto a completely blank sheet I'm sticking with the recent autumnal theme of the Challenge and will work on one large final piece, which will be on vellum. For this work I'm going to draw inspiration from the 30 day challenge and collection pieces by attempting a more complex work with much overlapping of the subjects.
While my local park/garden may be nothing special in the botanical world .... with no national collections or rarities; parks and gardens such as this late 19th century one, were established in a highly industrialised areas for the benefit of the people. They were at one time the only contact with parks and gardens for many people and shouldn't be overlooked as a source of worthwhile material. Also the autumn /winter garden is just as interesting as the summer herbaceous border in any botanic garden! So this might just work for one of the SBA submissions if it turns out OK.....but lets see how it goes...if it's looking a reasonable effort, who know I might even try another one! but with only 4 months to prepare that might be overly optimistic! 

Work started on Monday.  Reviewing the 30 day challenge subjects as contenders for inclusion in a  new work 

After reviewing the 30 day paintings and rummaging through yet another bag of old leaves and fruits on Monday. I started by drawing rough layouts on a roll of scrap paper on Tuesday. I want the final piece to be large and so working at A1 size . This work will probably take many weeks, possibly months because vellum painting is quite slow.
The rough layouts were completed in pencil, I traced some of the components to move them around which is my usual approach but I soon realised that with so many components there were issues with the balance of the colours, so decided that the way forward in this case is to complete a rough watercolour first to establish whether or not the composition works. I'm doing it this way because of the sheer quantity of material, colours and overlaps. It's more work initially but the only way to tell if a work is balanced, and, in the long term the better the planning the easier the painting!
I estimate that this preparatory work will take about a week, maybe more.  Once the rough is completed I will be able to see what needs to be moved, and whether or not it's worth pursuing as an idea! if  all is good the necessary readjustments will be applied accordingly, if not, I'll start over.
 Once I'm happy with the final layout will be transferred on to natural vellum for painting. I know wont be easy! the natural vellum is very thin and will have to be stretched on a frame or secured to board....still thinking about the options for that one!

Today, I'll continue with the panting, and order the vellum with optimism.

A little bit more progress

.....Will keep you posted on the progress, more photos later today. 

No. 25, 30 Day Challenge, Portugal Laurel Berries

Not long to go now!! not sure how I'm going to finish this challenge because I'm travelling to Amsterdam on Tuesday....but I'm sure I'll find something on route and when I get there!

Today I chose the very pretty Portugal Laurel, Prunus lusitanica, such a lovely variation in colour in these berries so I couldn't resist! Started it this morning but had other things to do so finished tonight. These days I find natural light so much better to work in than artificial light....but no choice and the nights are drawing in fast now too, so it's back to the lamp!

Portugal Laurel, from Longton Park, Sept 2013 

Detail

Colours:  For the red berries: Quinacridone Red and Permanent Carmine.
For the green/ yellow berries/ Red. First a wash of Green Gold, followed by a blended wash of Aureolin and Manganese Blue Hue mixed to make green and blended into a mix of Quinacridone Red.
Once the basic washes were down I started to add dry brush on the reds a mix of Permanent carmine and Indanthene Blue. In the areas where the red was warmer I used Perylene Maroon. To brighten areas I added a light wash of the Quin red and Aureolin.
Stem. The same green mix was used as for the berries. Permanet Carmine was added to the red stem areas and the small details. For the remaining old filaments and anthers I used Burnt Sienna and Sepia.    

No. 23, 30 day Challenge, Conkers

A painting challenge at this time of year just wouldn't be complete without a conker! Love collecting conkers but I'm sure that they're smaller than they used to be when I was a child....or maybe it's because I'm bigger! Anyway here is my conker offering for the 30 day Challenge.....just one more week to go!

Conkers, Sept 2013

The Horse Chestnut leaf is one of my favourites to paint, they're amazing colours as they age! A slight aside but here are a couple of leaves painted over the last few of years.

Horse Chestnut leaf on vellum 2011

Horse Chestnut leaf 2012

Colours: Conker. Outer casing. A wash of Cinereous Blue ( Sennelier)  and Transparent Yellow with a very small amount of Permanent Alizarin Crimson to take the edge of the bright green. Highlights were left clear. A small amount of Cerulean Blue on the highlights. Build up in layers adding a wash of Green Gold. For the dark markings I used various combinations of Burnt Sienna, Raw Umber and adding Indanthrene Blue for the darkest marks.
Conker, Burnt Sienna and Perylene Maroon applied in washes, leaving the highlights clear. Dry brush was used to build up the depth of colour and texture and a small amount of  Neutral Tint was added for the darkest shades. I also used Cerulean Blue around the highlight and Cobalt Violet for reflected light. I used Ultraviolet for the shadows.  

No. 9, 30 Day Challenge, Two Leaves from the Park

More decaying leaves from my local park today. I found them peeking through the leaf litter, so bright in colour I thought they were plastic or paper packaging from a distance! They are very small in size being less than 5cm in length. So thought I'd stretch myself a bit by painting two!

Colours: First wash is a graded wash of naples yellow and permanent rose for the 'pink' areas, leaving the highlights clear. I just realised that permanent rose must be my most used colour!
Raw Umber and Trans Yellow on the lighter brown areas mixed with a small amount of cobalt to cool it down.
A little Manganese Blue Hue on the hightlights.
Build up in layers of Permanent Rose picking out the edge of the prominent veins.
Add some Indanthrene Blue to the Perm Rose for thee more puple hues then add neutral tint mix to this for the darkest areas. Finish off using some dry brush to accentuate the veins, leaf edges and blemishes and model the surface using the same colours to create more form. Finally added a bit of Burnt Sienna to lift some of the browns.....and that's it! ...until tomorrow.