What Next?....Collections Series, Week 1

Having finished the 30 Day Challenge last week, it feels like it shouldn't be over yet! So after a few days away in beautiful Amsterdam and a visit to the newly refurbished Rijksmuseum I was inspired to carry on!
The Rijksmuseum has a wonderful collection but there wasn't nearly enough time to see it all. However they've taken the unusual step of making the works in the collection available for download. There's also an App to use during your visit but I was a bit slow and missed this opportunity. When I arrived home I explored their website and discovered that you can make your own collections of favourite works! Here's my collection. I haven't included the obvious paintings  ( there are just too many!) but instead focused on botanical and nature themed works for the purpose of this blog.
 As you can see I particularly like the idea of multiple natural objects in paintings and illustrations. With all of this in mind I decided to head out again and collect more subject material and get back to the painting as soon as possible.

Collection no. 1 Three Rose Hips

My plan is to create paintings of small, and not so small, Collections of natural objects. Here's my first offering as part of the Collections Series, Three Rose Hips. It's a fairly simple same subject painting to start with and while I'm not really sure whether 'three' constitutes a collection or not,  I've added it anyway while I give the whole idea more thought. I won't be posting a painting everyday for the Collections, but will instead post one painting each week for the foreseeable future. 
This work isn't painted in quite so much detail as my usual approach but it felt as though it didn't  need any more work. Although I may add some hairs to the sepals at some point.
I like the 'traffic light' colouring - not seen a rose hip quite as orange as the one top left before, these hips  are usually either green or red and not seen so much at the 'in between' colour, so thought it was a good little collection.

The really good thing about the 30 Day Challenge was that it gave me the opportunity to try lots of different subjects in quick succession. Now that it's over I want to revisit some of those subjects and think about how to use them in my work. Normally at this time of year I'm regretting the fact that I didn't get to paint all the things that I wanted during the time when there is an abundance of subject material to choose from in summer and early autumn. ...I don't have that feeling this year, so it's a positive result for the 30/30 approach. Must also thank all of the other artists that joined in with the Challenge on the Botanical Artists Facebook Group, without their enthusiasm I may not have reached the finish line.       

More subject material for the Collections

Paint Colours: I decided to try out some Sennelier tubes that I've had for some time. I don't like tubes as a rule because of all the Gum Arabic and mixers in it. The pigment ratio is lower than in pans and I find that they have a bit of a greasy feel to them. Also they don't lend themselves to dry brush work as well as pans. So better suited for painters that use more washes but they should be used and not wasted.

 Orange rose hip: Cadmium Red Light mixed with Cadmium Yellow and a small amount of Cadmium Yellow Orange.  Built up in layers with a more yellow biased mix laid down first. I added a small amount of Ultramarine Deep for the shadows. In the final stages I used a little dry brush work with a more red biased mix for the darker areas.

Red rose hip: This one was almost like a jelly sweet, very vibrant red. I reverted to the W & N to add some Permanent Rose to the Sennelier Cadmium Red Deep. For the shadow I added Carmine Genuine and a small amount of Ultramarine Deep to the mix and applied using dry brush so as not to make the red dirty looking.

Green rose hip and other greens: This rose hip is just starting to change colour. I used the pre mixed  Sap Green, which isn't something that I normally do and added Cadmium Lemon. For the shade I added Ultramarine deep and a Carmine Genuine to take the brightness away. I used varying mixes of these colours for the warmer ( more yellow biased ) and cooler ( more blue biased) greens. I added a small amount of the orange mix used for the Orange rose hip.

 For the filaments and anthers I reverted to W & N Burnt Sienna and added to Neutral Tint for the darker areas and negative space.

30 Day Challenge. Day 2, More Maple Seeds

My second effort for the 30 day challenge. Yes it's another maple seed!....well more than one this time. Found in Longton, Staffs, on Mon 2nd Sept,  during one of those mundane trips to the Docs.... when you stare at the pavement instead of looking where you are going! Watercolour, size 10.5 x 8.5 cm.

I liked the colour in this, so moved it up the list of subjects to prioritise before the green colour turns to brown.
For anybody interested the colours used are:

First tea wash, leaving clear the highlights  = raw umber + trans yellow
Lightly pick out the veins using = burnt umber + burnt sienna
Build up the colour using a graded wash of green ( trans yellow and cobalt blue) plus raw umber and gold ochre
Add stem ( burnt umber  + neutral tint)
Continue to build up layers, picking out veins and detail with the stem colour)
Add tiny bit of permanent rose where their are some pink edges.
Wash of trans yellow over the top to pull it together.

I suppose I could have mixed these browns but I'm lazy and this is a 30 day challenge....will be happy just to get through it! trying to work to a 90 min max time for all pieces. Some will take more and some less.