Autumn in Aquarelle (and more of course)

It was International Animal's day, Halloween is around the corner and it gets colder outside, even in the South of France... Autumn is coming!

At least one animal was spoilt that Tuesday - Cathies big pup Beau came along and got so many cuddles and cookies and general attention that he became almost shy (almost...)

 Beau was the only real animal inside, but two aquarellistas were inspired by the subject! Above you see a pair of elephants bathing in a hazy atmosphere, painted by Sylvie

And here are two watercolours of owls who disappear in the background! A fantastic idea of Liz - there's so much in here! From research on which colours work best, to abstract patterns to optical illusion (and of course animal's day)

Autumn - chestnuts in an abstract background, clearly in Anna-Karin's brush strokes

More chestnuts & leaves, by Elia... So sorry for the crappy picture - the painting is very good and subtle and not at all blurred!

Tana introduced the chestnuts into her still life of the vase and they blended in perfectly! Well done!

Tricia proceeded with her still life and gave it more value and more to look at!! Super cool...

And then of course there was some work outside our many themes and still lives:

 This fan-tas-tic sunny portrait by Brenda of her grandson 

(picture doesn't do it justice - real thing even better)

 Grapes by Anna-Karin now finished - what an absolutely great picture, that light! I love it!

Sylvie's levitating Buddha - monk's work with all that bamboo, but near-finalized now and very impressive (and Zen)

And last but not least, Elia's antique wine cask - handle! Now perfected and finished. Bravo!

 

Aquarellistas at work

 

In the new setup of the Aquarellista sessions, we have a subject, a still life -and then of course whatever else we like to paint... It may sound complicated but it is a great way to keep everyone sharp! This week just some crockery, a glass vase and some lavender as still life... and it turned out to be inspiring! Have a look at the results!

Carol really achieved something and then worked on it at home - and needs to tweak the big vase. Watch this space to see the final result - it is going to be fabulous!

Tricia popped in late and then achieved a great and very 'Shirley' (Trevena) result... 

Not finished but looking good already!

And another subtle and attractive painting by Tana - see the transparency! 

Can't wait for the finished painting... 

Cathie was practicing and trying out apples and grapes for a commission - using the grapes in the still life. Even her tryouts are mouth-wateringly beautiful. Sorry for the bad pic, I must have been too moved...

The other subject was 'Optical Illusion'. I brought pictures of graphical illusions, and believe me it is not easy to make a painting, as your brain gets confused... But the group attacked the subject and it worked out well! I hope to show you more of it as not everything was finished and it is such a great subject (personal hobby of mine) - and here are some first goes:

Perfect illusion, great volume by Sylvie!

Patience - what an artist she is! if you squint this is all volume and a true illusion, if you don't squint, it is quite scary - and very strong!! Love it!

André joined us for the first time. He has never painted with watercolours, and is used to oil paint. That makes it all the more difficult - but he did a great job and is clearly getting the transparency! This is going to be a great watercolour if he finishes it in 2 weeks...

And then there were the 'free' subjects:

Brenda proceeded with the beautiful little man - shadows next week to make it a strong portrait - but already so lovely

And another wild artwork by Patience! In a way this is an optical illusion too - just a couple of lines and a bit of paint to create these shrubs! I'm impressed...

Agnès had visited the pottery market in Antibes and for her Hobby Sketcher blog created this great pic of a visitor checking out these fun stripey clay figures

Edith worked on several projects and finished the copper ornament on the antique wine cask...

And  last but not least, Sylvie worked at home on this, almost monochrome, painting, so subtle and beautiful in its simplicity. Great idea - and Big Compliment!

Aquarellistas "dress up" for first session after holidays

 

Liz' great stripey dress with white top +accessories...

We started the summer with an all-girl aquarellista-group and had great fun with this subject: "paint a dress". Style up to you, you can use an existing image, or a real dress as example. But also you can use a picture for the outlines, but come up with patterns and accessories, or just design a dress from your imagination... Someone in it, or just the dres... there are so many possibilities! Here are a couple of pictures of last week's session where everyone created their own interpretation!...

  

 Bev let herself be inspired by the lady who wears the dress - and then made it into an intriguing artwork with a story behind it by adding the skull!

  Patience went for lilywhite beauty in a tight satin dress

 

 A lovely, innocent and colourful dress with well defined patterns and folds. A typical Celina!

 Super romantic vintage by Brenda...

 

Edith worked on a nighty - a dress to go to sleep in, with a oon and a heart and stors and a little girl having a dream... Lovely as always!

And last but not least, can't get over it, what a fabulous dress, and so well painted by Tana!

she used a picture for inspiration but gave it a new look -and worked very precise to try that out. And it worked so well! Well done!

Then there were 2 participants going for other projects:

Tricia was trying out something new and combined her own use of salt-pigment-spattering-and-letting-the-paint-do-the-work-style with dark defining lines. I'm impressed!! Hopefully to be continued...

 And Agnès worked on a future post on her HobbySketcher blog!

Super picture, can't decide which one I love more, the 2CV or the bicycle!

Truly Zen Watercolour afternoon in the Hangar

 Sandra's fabulous Buddha head

On Tuesday 26 July the aquarellistas got together for the last time before the summer holidays. We had a fabulous time, despite the heat, painting watercolours inspired by the buddha. Main objecticve: express the peacefulness. It was an afternoon well-spent and here are the excellent results!

 This amazing picture is painted by Tana - she really understands how to use contrast & Payne's Grey!

 Elia B. created a very personal version of a classic Buddha. I love it. 

Excellent work by  Liz - not yet finished but already very decorative

Agnès's painting also halfway - It is completely convincing - go on like this!

And Brenda's Buddha. It looked great, the first wash was super and then she used salt and that didn't work out as planned. But now I see the picture and I think it is actually not bad at all! Sometimes all you need is a bit of distance...

There was also an exercise B, I had stuck cut-offs of an old abstract painting  on freshly stretched paper and asked the participants to finish the page... Here are some of the solutions:

Giraffes by Liz

Thistles by Tricia
 

Delicate flowers by Elia B.


The big friendly snake by Marina

And then there was 'miscellaneous' work outside the above...


Tana had 10 minutes left and experimented with green and salt, with this superb group of cypresses


Linda finished her amaryllis design. It's super!


A very promising start of a watery landscape by Carol. That sky is so good!


The last one is for Celina - her chair design! I absolutely love it - note the abstract on the wall by the way...

And that was it for now, it will be calm on the aquarellista blog for a while... In the mean time I wish you all happy holidays and a fantastic summer!!

Aquarelle session 5 June - Hangar, Marina Kulik

 Liz' coloured Party shadows...

Last week the subject du jour was 'Coloured Shadows'. I brought it just for the very small group of aquarellistas who didn't have something to finish. The not-so-hidden agenda was that I want to change the colour-mixing starters' exercise... Basically it explains about the primary colours cyan, yellow and magenta (in aquarelle we often replace them with ultramarine, lemon and alazarine crimson by the way, for better secondary colour effects). When mixed they give violet, orange and green - and all three together give black. It is an important basic exercise...

 

When you direct lamps in the 3 primary colours on a white screen, the light will appear white - but the shadows will be cyan, yellow or magenta - and where two overlap, they will be green, orange and violet, or three will give black... It looks great, and we tried to mimic this with watercolours & imagination

Andrée created this fun picture - but it didn't inspire her much so she quickly started with 'normal' lace shadows on a face... 

Visitor Barbara (back next year) started a girlpower painting with coloured shadows. Well done!

 Andrée moved on painting lace shadows on a girls' face

 Edith finished her lace shadows - a stunning picture!

Brenda expressed her lace shadows in yet another interesting way...

Celina finished her mosaic shell

A crazy fantasy to do with dancing and direction by Patience

The Essence of Marilyn by Sandra

'Summer Evening' now finished! by our Swedish correspondent Bibbi. What a great atmosphere...

Tana works on the volume... it works out for sure and at the same time this is becoming an interesting painting...

'Lavender 2' by Tricia

 

Foreign Fruit by Sylvie

Cathie's horse, truly amazing...