Tag: Art

Abstraction Distraction

~ Ruth ~ Leave a comment

I went to pick up my cotton shoulder bag sitting scrunched up on a tote shopping bag (both unceremoniously dumped on a dining room chair earlier), and I thought the colours might look quite nice blended together artistically, so I wondered how it might work to try a few zoom burst shots of both bags sitting just as they were?

And just incase you’re wondering what the originals look like, I also took a straightforward boring shot without any motion blur long exposures, so you can see exactly what’s behind these beautifully abstract images 🙂

Inverness in Watercolour

~ Ruth ~ 4 Comments

While the artistic muse is still with me, today I decided to try to paint something a bit more complicated than a single thistle or a couple of plums, like a landscape, so chose to go with a favourite view of Inverness looking along the river.

Again I used a photograph as inspiration, although to say I may have simplified the scene slightly is an understatement! And again, I started out with a minimal outline in pencil, filled in the base colours with an overall wash, then once that had dried sufficiently I added more depth and definition bit by bit, then in the final layer I tweaked it with a few more detailed strokes here and there.

It’s not finished exactly, but I think I’ve taken it as far as the fun will let me for today so will leave it at that. Overall I’m happy enough with it as a learning experience, and for me the most important thing is that I actually had a go – after all it’s not the winning but the taking part that counts! 🙂

Watercolour Thistle

~ Ruth ~ 12 Comments

This morning I had a now-or-never moment and decided to paint something – anything – just to get started again. So I chose a thistle – I found an image I liked as a base and drew a basic pencil outline before starting to fill in the base wash colour. Once that dried, I added a second layer of colour, giving a bit more definition. Then after that dried, I added the detail.

It’s not ever going to be an accurate photographic reproduction, it’s always definitely going to be an ‘artist’s impression’ of anything with me. Even from this first attempt after along time I can see I’m still more of a suggestion and hint kind of painter, but that’s ok with me. The main thing is I’ve had fun, and woo-hoo, look, I’ve actually painted something! 🙂

Flower of the Day

Brushing It Off

~ Ruth ~ 12 Comments

I used to enjoy drawing and painting just for fun, but I haven’t done it for years. I did try a few years ago to look out my art stuff and have another go, but somehow my enthusiasm didn’t last. I feel I’d like to try again, here and now, but it’s a nagging feeling I keep brushing off.

I tell myself I’m so out of practice I’ll be no good at it, then I also tell myself of course I’ll never be good at it if I don’t even try – practice makes perfect. I watch my grandchildren draw pictures of anything and everything, and they don’t hesitate – they pick up a crayon or pencil or paintbrush and make that first mark on the paper with courage and confidence. They don’t fear failure, but if it happens and the drawing goes wrong they face it and deal with it, either changing their plans or starting again.

I mean, I have plenty of beautiful plants in my garden as subjects to paint, plenty of beautiful scenery close by, plenty of paper and paints and even plenty of room in the house to be creative – so why don’t I just do it? What am I so afraid of? Watch this space…

Stream of Consciousness Saturday: Brush

Coloured Pencils At Work

~ Ruth ~ 8 Comments

I like using different colouring in techniques depending on the subject – usually I use coloured pencils for simpler designs made up of larger blocks of colour, and keep my finer-pointed gel pens for smaller, more fiddly designs. And sometimes I even mix and match both on the same page.

Today I’ve got a really bad headache so am sitting on the sofa resting, and I chose to stick to my coloured pencils and simple designs on an A4-size page to keep me company – and overall I’m happy enough with the finished results! 🙂

Escapist Colouring Club

Flowers: Fun with Filters

~ Ruth ~ 5 Comments

I’ve been playing about again with applying free online filters to some of my images – this beautiful bright colourful effect is from lunapic and is called ‘flowers’, so it seemed appropriate to give it a try!

So as well as being my take on Flower of the Day, together they also create my perfect fantasy garden for this week’s Hunt for Joy 🙂