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)
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| 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!
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| 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 |
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| 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.
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| 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 |
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| 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.
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| 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 |
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| 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 |
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| Day 18 - this one was featured in last weeks post - along with a video of the painting process |
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| Out of time! I made a start on this honeysuckle fruit but have too many other things to do.... so that's all folks! |
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