Hen Paintings in Progress

by Total WP Support Inc.. Posted on December 18, 2012

18 Dec

Here’s a couple of hen paintings I’ve been working on. They are at various stages of completion. The one above is the one I’m most happy with but it’s not quite finished yet. Here’s how it began below.

Here it is after a bit of work.

and after a little more work.

Just a small bit of detail needed, not too much or it will become fussy. Here’s two more paintings as they progressed.

I’ve overdone this one a bit and it is fussy – I still find it hard to get that balance right, between a lightness of touch – enough to express the movement and energy of these creatures with enough detail to justify calling it a painting ( not just a sketch ) but not so much that they become fussy and drained of energy and life. Still learning.

Maybe time for just one more post before Christmas, I have something seasonal in mind and then a couple of weeks of rest, glorious rest – school holidays and lies ins and rest. Lovely.

Spring flowers in Connemara

by Deborah Watkins. Posted on April 11, 2012

11 Apr

I took some photographs in the old graveyard in Clifden last week and among them several close ups of the wild flowers on the woodland floor. I included a photograph of the bluebells in a recent post but these were just the most visible plants. On closer inspection, I found a medley of colour and just at my feet!
This first picture is of the wild fuchsia, a plant that is truly synonymous with Connemara and far superior in my opinion, than its cultivated equivalent. I searched for an open flower and found only buds, but how beautifully they hang like ruby earrings. This amazing plant is the longest flowering of all and is found in hedgerows all over Connemara from early Spring right through Summer until the early Autumn.

The next photo is of the Celandine, the Lesser Celandine to be precise. This is a personal favourite, more delicate and humble to me than the buttercup or the primrose.

And one more picture of the bluebell, just to complete this trio of primary colour.

Lastly I have a picture of a dandelion clock, still perfectly intact and below that, a delicate white flower that I was unable to identify – help me out if you can!

Woodland in paint

by Deborah Watkins. Posted on April 9, 2012

09 Apr

I took some photographs in the old graveyard in Clifden on Friday which I had a look at over the week end. I wanted to use them for a painting, but not too literally. I decided to focus on the trees and woodland floor and omit the gravestones and the old church ruin. Perhaps I will include them in another image but this time I wanted to focus on the upward reach of the trees, from the richness of the earth and the woodland floor right up in to the light and the sky.

I chose this photograph, not because it is a good photo in its own right, but because of the arrangement of the trees and because it could be a woodland anywhere and not necessarily part of a graveyard in the middle of town. Here’s the first sketch below. I used acrylic paint, charcoal and a little oil pastel.

The bluebells are suggested with some blue paint in the lower part of the piece.

I turned the page around for this one, to emphasize the length of these spindly trees.

Good Friday Photographs

by Deborah Watkins. Posted on April 6, 2012

06 Apr

I didn’t have a blog to post this morning but then I decided to go for an early morning walk in the old graveyard in Clifden and take my camera with me. It is less accessible now and not entirely visible from the road. How delighted I was then to discover such a treasure of wild flowers and plants. The delicate blue and pink blossoms of the bluebells make a carpet of colour on the moss and ivy covered ground.

This old graveyard is no longer in use and many of the tombstones are almost lost. There is only one wall left remaining of the old church, a memory of what stood there before.

I took this shot because the new church building is visible in the background and I love the shape of this weathered old tombstone.

Here’s a close up of some of the flowers. These beautiful bell shaped blossoms grow in abundance here, especially in wooded areas and river banks.