Over the last couple of weeks, during these school holidays, I’ve had some holidays from my day job. I’ve cuddled and done drawing with my daughters and baked cakes and woken without an alarm… oh, and not blowdried my hair (that’s a big holiday indicator for me). I’ve deliberately not scheduled things. It’s been quite a nice break, and definitely one that I needed.
When it came to art, I knew I had to figure out some new compositions for upcoming Paint Alongs, and also get my groove on and actually put brush to canvas so that I had artworks to sell at the upcoming Downlands Art Exhibition.
I did manage to figure out two Paint Along paintings that I’m really happy with and looking forward to teaching.
Lilies were such a hit in the 15 Flowers eCourse recently. With a bit of planning I’ve figured out a way to teach them in the tight, Paint Along timeframe.
And I know we’ve painted peacocks in the past, but this fellow is full of pattern and layers and there’ll be room for personalisation. He’s going to be so much fun and there’ll be plenty of opportunity for everyone to make him their own. Remember, it’s all about ‘similar but different’! I should trademark that.
Of course, the true inspiration for my new original paintings struck about 2pm on the last Friday of my holiday. And lo and behold I think I’ve finally found my flower painting ‘style’ – mixing clear, happy colours with linework and illustration.
So I’ve done a lot of painting in the COLD studio into the early hours of the morning, just to get them out of my head and let me get on with the other things I have to do this week.
I’ve got a fourth canvas on the go now and it’s looking promising too (thank goodness).
Now I am away for a conference from Wednesday to Friday this week, before returning and painting on stage during the Think Pink Ball here on Saturday night (I’ll be having a couple of champagnes while I paint BIG – gotta take my own advice sometimes!).
I’m also working on loading this term’s Paint Along dates and times to my new website, but need to find out a few answers to my shopping cart issues before I can release them. Please rest assured they’re coming soon, but when I do announce dates, there’s a huge rush on the site, so I really don’t want to stuff it up! Thanks for your enthusiasm – and your patience.
But as I mentioned, the studio is actually SERIOUSLY cold at the moment though – not a great time to run a Paint Along just yet. Hopefully the temperatures will be on their way up again before we know it.
Looking forward to sharing more soon!
