Watercolour ~ Mount Rundle, Alberta, Canada

Yeah yeah, I know that my challenge to myself this year was paint one watercolour each month of a North East scene but when we got back from our trip to the Canadian Rockies I was just itching to paint the mountains!

This is one of my favourite views in the world. I have been fortunate enough to have visited it twice now. I have also painted it twice. The first watercolour I did was many years ago for my dad as a present. Here is my latest one.

Mount Rundle is actually a range of peaks numbered from 1 - 7 that stretch from Banff to Canmore. This distinctive peak is number 1 at Banff, seen from Vermillion Lakes.

I used Cerulean Blue Hue, Prussian Blue, Cadmium Yellow Hue, Burnt Umber and Payne's Grey.

I am really happy with the way this has turned out. I may even frame this original and hang it on our wall...although perhaps I should wait until I have done my other mountain paintings!

You can find cards and giclee prints of Mount Rundle, Alberta, Canada to purchase on my Fine Art website.

Thank you for looking!

Gillian.

Watercolour ~ Wallington Griffin Head

The Griffin's heads at Wallington are well known around the area and I wanted to focus on just one for this painting. I have left the hall very soft and hazy in the background as the griffin was the focus. I sprayed paint on last using my finger on the brush to achieve the mottled stone effect.

I did draw out the main features on the head first, measuring out with my pencil as I wanted to get the proportions correct. What do you think of him?

Here are the progress steps :-)

  If you like this painting, you could own a card or print by buying one from my website.

Wallington Hall Griffin Head

Thanks for looking, Gillian.

Watercolour ~ Dunstanburgh Castle

Dunstanburgh Castle

In my one watercolour a month challenge, I didn't get a chance to complete one in April because I was so busy with wedding photography. So I'm hoping to get two done in May. This is the first one. Dunstanburgh Castle seen from the walk from Craster.

I just wanted to do a simple landscape with a few washes and not get too fussy. It worked mostly but I ended up messing about too much with the grass in the foreground, although I am pleased with how it's worked out.

Available as cards and prints on my fine art website. Just click on the picture to get the link.

Here are a few progress photos.

Thanks for looking - I'd love to know if you like it :-)
Gillian.

Watercolour ~ Tynemouth Priory

This is March's painting - although I've realised that I never blogged about February's painting! I did paint one in Feb but I love this one so much that I'll show it first.

A view of Tynemouth Priory from along the coast. I painted this from a photo I had previously taken but wasn't happy with the quality of the photo. I love the composition so decided to paint it instead of doing a re-shoot.

Tynemouth Priory

As usual, here are the progress paintings. I used different shades of paint in this painting, choosing Cerulean Blue Hue for the bright blue sky. I always have trouble with my greens, so I used Sap Green and Olive Green instead of mixing yellow and blue. Yellow Ochre and Burnt Umber were used for the stonework and some of the grasses and Payne's Grey was used to get some depth in the shadows.

Slightly paler as they were taken on a different camera.

I'd love to know what you think. As usual, giclee prints are available to purchase.
My Fine Art website will be coming soon!

Gillian.

Watercolour ~ Hadrian's Wall, Northumberland

At the beginning of the year, I set myself a challenge to paint a watercolour every month. I decided to pick a theme of North East scenes.

Here's January's painting - a scene taken from Hadrian's Wall in Northumberland looking out from one of the Milecastles.

Here are the progress paintings (slightly paler as they were taken on a different camera). I washed the blue over the whole paper then washed some yellow ochre over the ground. I was going to put more detail into the wall as that was the focus of the scene, but after leaving it for a while and coming back to it, I decided to leave it where it was.

 

I hope you like it!

Gillian.

Watercolour ~ Snowman

This is my first attempt at painting anything snowy! A cute little snowman to make into Christmas cards.

 

I only used Ultramarine, Alizarin Crimson and Black, with masking fluid to keep the snowy bits snowy white!

I am going to put him on a Christmas card for sale.

I'd love to hear your comments about him :-)

Gillian x

Watercolour ~ Robin

With thoughts turning towards Christmas, I thought I would tackle a painting of a robin.

I wanted the background to be an evergreen Christmassy green but halfway through, I was wishing I'd left it a snowy, plain white. Now that it's finished and cropped I don't mind the background.

I am rather pleased with the robin though. I think I subconsciously made his tummy a little bit bigger than the robin on the photo but he looks okay.

Here are the progress photos. Slightly different colours as the weather was sunny/rainy/sunny so different light for each photo!

 

I am going to make this available as greetings cards and prints.

Hope you like him!

Gillian

Watercolour Prints

I have at long last, got round to photographing my watercolour paintings with a view to getting prints made from them. It's a bit of an unknown quantity as you don't know whether people will like them or not. But once they're printed, they're printed!

I've been thinking about doing it for ages and now I think I should just go for it! I've never been one to think that my painting is great but I have sold a few originals and that always gives you confidence!

So look out soon for an Etsy store from me, selling prints!

Here are some of the paintings that I'm considering. I'd love to hear about which ones you like.

Thanks for looking!
Gillian x

Watercolour ~ Iris

Usually I paint from photographs and if I paint from still life, it's always indoors. My new iris had just flowered in the garden so I decided to set up my easel outside and attempt to paint it. It was a little windy and the sun kept going in and out but I perservered. Here is the result!

I love this so much that I might keep the original for myself! It has really captured a fleeting moment, as this first flower has now faded. When I have got round to sourcing a good art printer, I'll get some prints made.

I'd love to know what you think about it.
Gillian x

Watercolour - Jug of Flowers

Another watercolour painting this week. My mother-in-law brought me these when she was invited for lunch so I thought it was a good opportunity to paint from life. Usually I paint from photographs.

Jug of Flowers

The blooms have been painted quite loosely but I think you can still tell what they are. Or the yellow ones at least!

Thank you for looking and I hope you liked the painting!

7x5 in a 10x8 mount.

Gillian.

Watercolour - Pink Tulips

I've been really busy painting this week! Trying to practise a looser style of painting but realising that I still love my details. This one started off very loose, but I like the fact that I didn't resort to using black to define the details in the flower heads.

Pink Tulips

This painting is 9x6 in a 10x8 cream mount.

Thank you for looking, Gillian.

Watercolour - Orange Gerberra

It's been a while since I did a painting so I thought it was high time I picked up my brush again. I had photographed a rather lovely orange gerberra - you may have seen another photo of it on the blog. As usual, I took a few shots that I really loved so I decided to paint one of them.

Orange Gerberra

I love loose watercolour painting and would love to produce paintings in a loose style. This one started out quite loose but I do love doing details as I think it gives clarity to the painting. So this is how it turned out after going through the stages below.

I used Cadmium Red Pale Hue and Cadmium Yellow with a bit of brown and blue left over on my palette. At the very end I also used a bit of Ivory Black as well.

The finished painting is 7x5 in a 10x8 mount.

Thanks for looking, Gillian x