Looking for Winter Inspiration: A Review

I often hear people saying 'there's nothing to paint at this time of year!' So thought I'd write about  some ideas for subject material from my previous work! Perhaps it will help to inspire those of you who may feel stuck in a rut at this time of year.
It's not all brown and dead stuff either! Here's my top 10 selection of painting and drawing subjects that can be found in the depths of winter? All of these works were completed during the winter months or from material collected out of season.

Much material can be collected in late October and you can keep the colour for a while if you keep them in plastic bags in the fridge or just dry them.....but there's much more to be found! 

First of all, its a good idea to collect leaves, seeds and all manner of material when you can during the rest of the year, store them in a dry place and they'll keep you going for years! I love brown and decaying material, so make no apologies for their inclusion. But there's lots of colour to be found too.
Of course it depends on where you live to some extent, but there's no need to resort photographs when there's real stuff to be found, I always try to work from live subjects, using photos just for additional reference, it's so much easier when you can handle the subject to get a feel for it's texture and turn it around to understand the form, and, play with the lighting.

1.Dried Leaves and Leaf Skeletons
Maybe an obvious subject but these are some of my favourites
 

I love old oak leaves, I had these in a box for around 3 years, they're perfect if you're learning to paint leaves and although not green there are lots of colours to play with and you can examine the leaf structure without fear of the leaf curling up or withering.

Here's a work in progress on on vellum, I managed to keep the colour by keeping it in a bag for several weeks. Mixing the rich reds, browns and golden colours is achieved with primary colours from a limited palette.

Holly Leaf skeleton on vellum

Leaf skeletons can always be found in leaf litter

2. Evergreens and winter garden material
Plenty evergreen leaves on plants and trees, holly and ivy are always nice and usually there are some that are still hanging on in a state of semi senescence. Also cyclamen, primulas and sweet williams are easily found as are winter pansies. it's nearly the end of January, and my pulmonaria and primulas are already popping up and things are starting to come to life again already.

Why not work on practicing year round green leaves in your sketchbook....there are plenty of evergreens here in the UK, holly, ivy and laurel is everywhere, plus many more.

Winter pansies are easy to grow

3. Seed pods and pine cones
Another absolute favourite! who could ever get tired of these. Ive got a gorgeous Cardoon with the fluffy seeds popping out just waiting to be painted! Throw some together for a table top composition....there's no end of possibilities!

Found material, seed pods from Spain and Iris foetidissima, sketchbook studies

There's beauty everywhere, even as this this Scots Thistle seed head falls apart

Why not try a different medium. I'm rather fond of graphite work in winter. Scaled up Scots Thistle Seedhead....before it fell apart

You chance to get to grips with a real Fibonacci sequence

4.Twigs, bark and lichens
If you feel colour deprived, there are some beautiful subtle colours in these  subjects!

Some found twigs, bark and lichens demonstrate the variety of colours and textures to be found

More sketchbook studies, the little withered hawthorn berry adds a jewel of colour to this collection of found materials from Scotland

5. Bulbs, corms and tubers
You can always find some bulbs, and if like me you forgot to plant them, there can be colourful shoots too. There are the ones you can grow in glass too if you want, waiting for my amaryllis to flower at the moment.

Bulbs can be just as interesting as their flowers

Sprekelia bulb, an exercise in using many glazes of colour

Bulb painting process

Sprouting bulbs are great subjects for learning how to draw and paint form

Love the tangled roots most of all!

6.Glass house
Lots to be found in botanic garden glass houses and some are happy to accommodate artists ....if you ask nicely! I don't seem to have any winter studies of my own but lots of orchids can usually be found and many other exotic flowers and cacti

 7. Supermarket vegetables, flowers and fruit
For those feeling colour deprived the supermarket can be a treasure trove of subjects! In the past far less material would have been available - now it's global! from turnips to tulips and pomegranates to pineapples. I've painted so many things from supermarkets and painting often dominates my shopping choices.

A supermarket turnip, I kept it for a few weeks to allow it to sprout leaves and it even flowered for me! You can do the same with beets and other vegetables.

It's easy to grow new leaves on root vegetables, just sit them in water and leaves will sprout

Tulips in an array of colours are always available at supermarkets. Here's a work in progress in the sketchbook. Write to the grower if you cant find the name of the variety.

No shortage of colour here in this pack of mixed chili peppers

Every botanical artists should paint at least one pineapple! winter could be the time as they're always available in the shops

Pineapple details

8. Pot plants and florists
Again, many tropical plants, orchids, calla, bromeliads and jasmine etc.

This large painting was composed from rearranging a couple of pots of Calla lilies into a more aesthetically pleasing arrangement

And Calla's come in a wide variety of colours

I managed to buy freesias from the florist and some bulbs from a garden centre, so put them together as a study page

9. Insects, feathers and shells
Not botanical but fun to paint and great practice, and another example of why collecting is always worthwhile

Collections come in useful. Being trained in biology, I collected skulls, feathers and insects for years but you don't have collect your own and most natural history museums have insect collections, contact your local museum and ask if you can come in to study them.

Three British Butterflies on manuscript vellum

The stages of painting butterflies, lots of dry brush and detail, using size 1 brushes

Peacock feathers on Kelmscott vellum

10. Fungi
Also not in the plant kingdom but lots of interesting textures and colours. 

Lots of lovely fungi, not a subject that I often paint but always another option and they pop up everywhere around my home!

Oh and one more! number 11. Travel! yes you can find material elsewhere and take your sketchbook!  That's what I've been doing this last year or two, which is partly why I've neglected my blog for nearly 6 months! I had a great 2016 travelling, painting and meeting lots of wonderful people.  I'm back home for a while now and will catch up with all the unfinished posts

Feet up! From my train travels across the USA in October

 

My sketchbook from Australia travels 2015

See there really are lots of subjects! what there is a lack of, is enough time to paint them all.
Thank you for reading, it's also been a bit of a review for me too. Looking forward to many new works and blog posts in 2017!

New 30 Day Challenge, Found Natural Objects.

 30 day Challenge, Number 1. Maple seed..... yes I'm starting very small!

I've been neglecting my painting of late and become a bit stuck in a bit of a rut, which I guess is a regular occurrence for many artists. I figure it's time for a new challenge for September -  to make 30 small pieces of artwork in 30 days Unlike previous 30 day challenges, such as the leaf challenge set by Mindy Lighthipe, which I didn't quite finish,  I don't want to make it too restrictive, so I'm painting found natural objects this time....you know those things you pick up on your travels that catch your eye, such as seeds, leaves, twigs etc.... and at this time of year there is no shortage of them and I've been collecting bits and pieces over the last few months, so hoping it's achievable.

What is the 30 Day Challenge all About?  The 30 day challenge has grown in popularity of the last few years because apparently 30 really is the magic number!. It's thought to be just the right amount of time to make a positive change or to lose a bad habit. It's loosely based on patterns of natural biorhythms. I'm not sure how scientifically accurate this theory is but for many it seems to work and there are endless challenges that you can get involved with. So if I want to be more productive with my work this may be just what the Dr ordered.....provided I stick to it!

According to psychologist Dr Meredith Fuller, the odds of succeeding are better when it's a group activity. Here's my Challenge  http://30daychallenges.net/challenges/info/1396 if anybody fancies it?
Will add as I progress. 

A Fresh Start! first painting underway.

Relocating takes time and definitely distracts from getting on with painting! A couple of months ago I  moved after 23 years living in Aberdeenshire..... a painting is long overdue! Always in need of a bit of a goal to motivate,  I tracked down the Society of Staffordshire Artists and will be submitting 5 paintings to be considered for membership in October this year. This has given me the incentive I need to get painting again and is a great opportunity being originally from the area. The Society has been established for around 80 years and holds several exhibitions each year.....they have no botanical artists as members!   

Looking for inspiration I decided to raid mum's garden because I no longer have one, and, have reverted to working on the kitchen table.... no studio anymore either! It's easy to use the absence of these things as an excuse not to paint but having worked for years without such luxuries it's really not a valid reason to abstain. I don't have the lamps or the magnifiers and to be honest although these things help they are not particularly good for the eyes or essential. It will be interesting to see how the new work turns out under different conditions... but it's got to be good to be able to adapt to a different working environment because running demonstrations can prove difficult if you get too picky about your working conditions.

I found some lovely honeysuckle with beautiful bronze coloured leaves weaving it's way through the garden,  it seems like a good candidate to start with, so many colours in the flowers, leaves and fruit it's a bit of a gift to the botanical painter. I actually can't remember the last time I produced a 'proper' painting and seem to have been been producing small studies for around a year now. ....so here we go with the first study page towards the new painting.

 

I have included as many different parts of the plant as possible, flower, bud, dissection, woody stem, fruit at different stages of development, I may add a few more bits and will probably complete a second study page but think it's time to start thinking about the composition. I don't make a lot of colour notes because I seem to find colour to be pretty instinctive and there are often several different ways of getting to the same place with colour mixing....although I could be way off the mark!  The light and shade is more tricky with warm and cool colours but I'll write more about this later because it deserves a separate post.  More difficult for me is the composition. I usually start with some rough sketches on tracing paper using just the basic shapes. I want to get the movement and 'feel' for the plants growth habit, these are the elements that have become increasingly important to me....too often botanical studies can look quite rigid and for plant like honeysuckle it's anything but rigid!