#450 CHANGING BLOG LOCATION & 'Snowdrops x 2'

I have decided to move my blog to my website to encourage visitors onto it, help search engines find me and to look more professional. I think the new blog looks better than this google blogspot version - I hope you agree! All 450+ posts and comments are on there and you can still sign up to have my posts delivered to your email. 
My website is: www.clarebowen.co.uk the blog is on there. Let me know what you think.
If you go onto the www.clarebowen.blogspot address in the future it will be redirected to my website blog. 

I painted these flowers a couple of weeks ago and have been waiting for my new blog to be live....

'Snowdrops', I have been itching to paint these little beauties for a couple of weeks watching them grow and panicking that they will start to wilt before I get to them! Thankfully they are tucked under a tree so last longer than the norm. 
I scoured the internet for milk jugs - the perfect size for snowdrops and loved this little one not 'Cornishware' but looks like it.

'Just picked Snowdrops' 8x8"

I painted this one first when the heads were still quite closed. Beautiful and delicate.

#349 'Peonies in a Ceramic Jug' 12x12"

Peonies by Mary Oliver 

“This morning the green fists of the peonies
are getting ready
to break my heart
as the sun rises,
as the sun strokes them with his old,
buttery fingers

and they open -
pools of lace,
white and pink - 
and all day the black ants climb over them......”

Painted outside in the garden with strong light and shade, an enjoyable paint!

#339 'White Peonies' 11x14"

I saw these lovely white peonies in the supermarket, a sweet scent and blousie look. 
I managed to paint them while our Open Studio was on last weekend. Quite a challenge to get the tones and colours right. The tonal scale in the flower is so small e.g. Light to very light! They are good practise to really observe. Also the jug is tonal shapes put together! 

There are lots of lovely daisies growing wild near us, I hope to be able to paint them before they disappear... 

#334 'Pink Peonies' 10x12"

I have wanted to paint peonies for a while, last year they felt too scary to tackle! So I decided to go for it! I painted outside in natural light, there was no sunshine but it didn't matter. I placed a purple piece of paper under the flowers and decided the green grass was too contrasted in colour so made up the background - which was quite liberating! 

This is the painting blocked in, next to the steps of my studio

I worked on loose, lively brush strokes and keeping the colours fresh, clean and bold! How did I do this? Different brushes for each colour, organised palette - premix colours before painting. Background flat area - brush strokes in different directions and lengths, not smoothing or hiding the marks. I used 'Permanent Rose' for the pinks, mainly with Ultramarine and a little Michael Harding 'Kings Blue deep'.

#313 'Snowdrops in Ceramic Jug' 8x8" & Viewfinders

Last of the spring flowers for now especially with the snow falling outside! 
These little snowdrops were still good after the previous day painting. I didn't want to repeat the painting so changed from glass to a jug. 
I use a viewfinder for just about all my paintings still life and plein air.
Heres a pic of it:

It helps me to see what's important in my subject, to decide on format - I have a landscape viewfinder too. I also coloured the front and back with different ground colours, see the grey one below:

The colour helps me compare with the subject to my board colour e.g How does the shadow petals of the snowdrop compare to the grey board colour?  

I also check the tones by looking through the little hole and match them to the white and black. Still looking through the hole - compare the colours to different areas of the subject.

Viewfinders are easy to make I used foam board as it's light for carrying around, they are so helpful!

I asked on social media what people thought of the two snowdrops paintings - and the glass vase first one I did came out top which one do you prefer?

#54 'Two Pink Jugs' 6x6"

I finished my colour studies this morning and wanted to use some of the lovely pinks and violets I had mixed. So this is the result of it! I didn't have many pink pots or jugs in my supply so adapted what I had, see photo below to what they really looked like!

They had unusual shaped spouts which made it interesting to paint. I also accenturated the size and shapes of the jugs to make a more pleasing composition. The main colours I used are: Magenta and Ultramarine with a little Cadmium Yellow Pale.

#52 'Yellow & Blue Jug' 4x4"

A small painting today as I am looking after my dog who had an op on Monday. 
Loose brush and emphasising the shape of the bellied pot.
I used Blue-Violet and Cadmium Yellow Pale, plus some Cad Red, limiting the colours helps to add harmony.

Matte in my studio with his red electric blanket!

#41 'Vinaigrette Bottle' 4x6"

With each painting I do I try and challenge myself, whether it is with composition, colour, being outside...today I decided to do my first pattern on my subject. There was a pattern on the bottle but I took it sa a starting point. I painted the pattern first (so there was no going back with putting it in!) See pic below. I did the basic leaf shapes and then at the end painted lines over the leaves to bring them to life. 

It reminds me of Raol Dufy, an artist I studied at art school, he put illustrative lines over colour.

I also was brave with the background colour, using a strong, dark blue-violet, which makes the bottle pop out! I'm happy with how this turned out.

#39 'Three Little Jugs' 6x6"

I found these jugs in a charity shop yesterday. A great find as they were all small and complemented each other in their blues and creams, I like the varied shapes as well. 
I kept the colour palette limited to give it harmony. I also painted a ground colour using mainly Burnt Sienna, you can see it showing through the brush strokes, the ground colour gives a unity to the whole. I'm sure I'll paint these little jugs again!

If you have signed up for my posts to be delivered to your inbox, it seams its rather hit and miss as to whether you receive it or not I don't have control as to whether it happens. If it's stopped working try signing up again. Sorry and I hope you are enjoying my work :-)

#36 'Little Jug' 4x4"

I have had the 'lurgy' the past few days, bad cold and cough with no painting. So it's good to get back to it today.
I like the shape of this little jug, reminds of something in the Dutch masters time - Vermeer, 'Girl with the Pearl Earring'.
I tried a different board today, no white primer, instead a clear primer to show the original colour of the canvas wrapped around the board. It was a joy to paint especially with the light colours it really showed up. This was one of those paintings that evolved it's self, with a little help from me!

You can see the raw canvas board showing part way through the painting.

Daily Painting #22 'Blue Milk Jug' 6x6"

A simple still life so I could focus on one object. I liked the reflections, shapes and colours in the jug. The board I used was rougher than usual which gives a looser finish. I tried not to 'clean it up too much' and leave the fresh brush marks visible. 
I found this jug on eBay - its from the 1960's called Woods Ware pottery and its the Iris Blue colour. I have already brought teacups and a little yellow jug in the same range... :-)

Daily Painting #13 'Blue Jug' 10x8" Oil on Board

I want to keep experimenting with each daily painting and not have a set formula I stick to.  So today I tried out 3 background colours (painting them in), a radical red, yellow and the one you see. The muted colour seamed to work better and not compete with the blue jug.

Every painting seams to go through the stage of pain! With thoughts of  abandoning or wiping the board clean and starting again. I had that a lot with this painting, until near the end when it came together and I'm relatively happy with it. It does remind me of Greece, the colours, the shape...

Daily Painting #4 'Little Jug' 5x7" oil on board

I enjoyed painting this little jug in a tonal colour theme with Burnt Sienna (Terracotta colour) and warm yellow Ochre.

I tried to keep it loose and not fuss over the detail to much, as I wanted a fresh, lively finish.