I promised to start one since we're not all just bird-loving artists. Birds are great, but we all have other passions. :)
Since many of us love and are inspired by nature, this thread is for any artwork related to all things wild and untamed, be that fungi in dappled woodland light, the patterns of rock fissures, moths, bluebells in spring, etc. There are no rules (art, rules?) but there should be some recommendations, as follows:
This is a fun thread.
This is a fun thread, not just for finished paintings, ready to mount and frame.
Any medium, any size, any format, anything goes.
(I'd prefer no pets please, but this is a personal preference. Feel free to ignore me.)
To start, inspired by the little squirrels that came this morning to enjoy some seeds in my garden, here's a charcoal sketch in my sketchbook.
'Catch me if you can!'
I've been squirreling away with squirrels. Here's a little study, not sure it thrills me. I have a few issues with it, but won't bore you with the details!
WC on paper
your flowers are lovely :) squirrel not one of your best but lovely tones :)
see my photos on Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/maggyn/
Ah a piece of healthy criticism at last! Thanks, I really do welcome it. I certainly know it's under par.
We're probably going to clutter this thread with flowers...
I attended a great mini sketching workshop at the RSPB Big Scotland's Festival 2016 run by Leo du Feu http://www.leodufeu.co.uk/ - which really kickstarted me doing some little thumbnail sketches this year - here are a couple rom the holidays
Nice sketches, are you going to develop them? I have not heard of him, and looked at some of his work, he does some nice gulls.
I'm really enjoying a break from doing birds today. Fallen back into florals for their simple design, colours and shapes. I hope to post some later.
Working on frangipani all morning, revisiting an old fave, trying to do it differently since I last painted them. I have definitely changed style and improved my handling of paint/colour since then, happily. Some did not work but here's one attempt that's fair enough though I am not entirely happy with the focal frangipani since it is far more detailed than I'd prefer. These days i try to express flowers with minimal strokes, so I failed in that respect spending more time on detail. Compositionally, I'm happy.
frangipani very pretty and delicate :) re field sketches (drew the basic outline outside - added acrylic indoors) - may work them up sometime - I've been given some lovely oil paints but need to clear some space!
as I said on the other thread, may be doing a bit less painting/posting for a wee while - as I really must do other things! here is a quick sketch from yesterday of River Add (from same photo as the ones I've already posted) - did rough watercolour washes then when dry added ink as the WC on itself didn't work
Too delicate for me, but it's nice to know I can do rough and delicate!
Nice sketches and yes, I hope you post the work up of these. It'd be great to see some landscapes, for that is certainly not my strength.
I will keep posting whilst you're gone, hopefully you will return reinvigorated and rescue me from posting and replying to myself.
Hopefully you'll post some little flowers too.
:)
thanks, elle :) if I ever work them up, I will post them! look forward to seeing your pictures - didn't think I would do anything today but got this done tonight
thanks to your encouragement, had a go at doing a watercolour without using pencil or pen - as ever from one of my photos
I'm glad you titled that photo because I had trouble guessing which wild berries those were, suffice to say my knowledge of wild plants are worse than birds. I'm glad you had another go working 'freehand' just for more experience even if you never fall into working this way. It just has a freedom like no other, in terms of brushwork, composition, and creating a reality where edges sometimes do not exist, everything that is not a photographic representation - not that I am saying anyone is directly composing a photo in paint. But saying that, since photos are rarely perfectly composed unless you are a top professional photographer, you do have to have an awareness of good design.
I like the colours and highlights on the berries - they look particularly inviting, and the diagonal composition works nicely. Those ferns also lunge nicely at you and I would probably have made them darker, but that's not important. I would have added soft blobs of red/pinks merging into greens in the background just to suggest more distant berries and ferns, wet into wet. I think it's as good as your swan study, my favourite work of yours so far, what do you think?
Hope we see more great stuff. Hopefully it did not take you too long. I've only made half-starts on works today but will get something posted tomorrow. Actually I may check out your photos for inspiration. Everything I want to do, I want to do really well. That sort of pressure is not great for just relaxing and painting.