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.

No. 22, Acorns with Wasp ' Knopper' Galls

I visited Longton park in the pouring rain this morning. Things have changed a good bit since I was last there several weeks ago and the leaves are now starting to turn golden and falling. Got a lovely haul of things to paint, most of which had fallen to the ground....probably enough subject material for another week of painting. First up are these Acorns with their curious wasp galls.

The Acorn Gall wasp, Andricus quercuscalicis, causes these strange Knopper Galls on Oak acorns. The wasp oviposits its eggs in the acorn in early Summer as the acorn starts to develop. The egg hatches into a grub which then secretes chemicals causing a gall to form. The grub pupates inside the gall and emerges in the following year.
The wasp has a two generations per year and requires both native Pedunculate( English Oak) Quercus robur or sometimes in Sessile oak, Q.petraea, and, Turkey Oak Q. cerris . The first generation of adult wasps to emerge in spring are all female, they lay their eggs in the young oak buds. The second generation of the life cycle sees sexually reproducing male and female wasps emerge from the galls, the female returns to lay eggs on the English Oak and the cycle begins again. The Acorn Gall wasp has only been known to be in Britain since the 1950's, having made its way north from Europe. The introduction of the Turkey Oak to Britain in the 1700's eventually facilitated the arrival of the wasp from Europe.

Plenty of things to paint at this time of year!

Colours: Lower acorn, Gold Ochre and Burnt Sienna, built up in washes with a wash of Transparent Yellow applied on top. Highlights were left clear and a small amount of Cerulean Blue used to bring the highlight forward. A little dry brush work was used the build up the rich colour on the acorn. Acorn 'cap', Green gold, Indanthrene Blue and some Burnt Sienna on top for the indents.
Gall, Burnt Sienna and Raw Umber with Ultraviolet and Indanth Blue for the shadows. 

No. 14, 30 Day Challenge. The Apple

This was a more time consuming painting but two weeks in and I'm definitely getting faster and more comfortable with painting every day! 

I chose this very small apple for today's challenge, it's not the most glamorous of apples, slightly furry in appearance with very little shine but it was the only apple on the tree that could be reached. The leaves were in pretty poor condition and drying up fast but I prefer that look and it makes for more interesting leaf painting. Ideally it needs more finishing touches, particularly on the leaves but I'm out of time for today, having spent more than 3 hours on this piece. Funny beacause sometimes I spend two weeks thinking about what I 'should be painting' rather than actually getting on with something. During this challenge I've used that same amount of time to produce all of these mini artworks.......so the 30 day challenge can't be a bad thing and I believe that painting everyday really is the only way to improvement! despite the fact that I'm not putting much planning into each work, it's giving me new ideas for paintings and has become slightly addictive. Having said that the weekend has been a bit of a struggle because there tends to be more distractions but I just about managed to keep on top of it. Tomorrow... the half way point!

Apple detail to show colour layering and dry brush work

Colours: Apple Green Gold for the initial wash leaving the highlights clear, Add some Cerulean around the highlights. Second wash add Cobalt Blue to the Green Gold for the green areas.
Add more blue to the green mix for the shade areas on the right and lower right hand side of the apple.
Raw Umber plus a little permanent rose for the detail markings
Add another wash of green gold leaving  the highlights clear.
Dry brush on Permanent Rose mixed with Quinacridone red for the red markings.
Dry brush Raw Umber mixed with Burnt Umber for the brown markings. A small amount of French Ultramarine was added to the mix on the shade side.
Leaves Indanthrene Blue plus Green Gold add some neutral tint for shade areas. Burnt umber, in shade areas and gold ochre for markings. Cerulean on the highlights.

No. 8 ,Week two of the 30 Day Challenge, Decaying Virburnum Leaf

Collected this leaf a few months ago in Longton Park, Staffordshire.  Not sure of the species, maybe Virburnum rhytidophyllum.  My favourite sort of colours and a nice surface texture.....perfect for painting in every way!  completely dried out so hasn't changed since I found it. Would make a good vellum study but this one is on paper for speed.

Really pleased that so many of the botanical artists from the Botanical Artists Facebook Group are joining in with this challenge too!

Decaying Virburnum leaf

Close up, showing leaf surface painting technique

 
 Colours: Aureolin wash, lay it on fairly loosely leaving highlights clear.
Add a mix of Permanent Rose and  Gold Ochre to the golden brown areas.
Add a mix of French Ultra and Winsor Lemon for the green areas
for the dark red/ brown edges Perylene Maroon and a little Permanent Rose mixed with Sepia. 
Model the surface 'bumps' using dry brush using the same colours, plus a little neutral tint in the shade areas
Pick out the lines for the veins and deeper recesses using the same colours.
oh and a tiny bit of Cerulean on the highlights.