Owner: Watercolour artist Tracy Hall URL:http://watercolour-artist.blogspot.com Join Date: Fri, 23 Mar 2007 13:42:33 -0500 Rating:0 Site Description: Realistic flower paintings, life like pet portraits and wildlife art from watercolour artist Tracy Hall. Work in progress from the studio and latest news. Site statistics:Click here
Farm Shop painting 2007-03-21 13:20:00 I don't know where the last week or so has gone, but here is the progress on one of my current paintings. It is 28" x 20" and for a jigsaw company - hence lots of detail. There is still a great deal to do, but to keep my sanity you can see I have been taking some areas to near completion rather than working on the whole thing all the time. Lots of little paintings instead of getting overwhelmed by one big one.
Stoneware Ceramics 2007-03-17 09:30:00 Nothing to do with my work, admittedly, but my dad's latest exhibition has just opened at the Scottish Gallery in Edinburgh - well worth a visit if you are in the city. It is a group show in mixed media entitled 'Scottish Islands' and runs until the end of march. There are some more pictures here: Meanwhile, I have been very busy the past week or so, but will try to get some updates of the current paintings posted shortly!
Birds in watercolour 2007-03-07 12:16:00 I recently completed the latest illustration for the bird book, this one shows the yellow, grey, pied and white wagtails: I wasn't aware there were white wagtails - I think I just thought they were pied? There is certainly no shortage of things to learn as I work on this project. They are lovely birds anyway, great fun to watch as their tails bob up and down incessantly. Not sure how you would paint that though! The light is being very kind so I may get some decent photos today of the four paintings I have in progress at the moment, but time being at a bit of a premium just now whether I get them uploaded here is another matter entirely. Read more:Birds
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Flower painting in watercolour 2007-03-05 13:14:00 These are wonderful plants which I think come originally from South Africa (?) but seem to be fairly at home even in the far north. It is a Pineapple Lily (Eucomis Bicolor) and this painting is in watercolor on Saunders Waterford paper. Due to the multitude of little flowers crammed onto the stem, it took almost as long to draw this out as it did to paint! I knew there was no chance of my drawing it without needing to erase (and frequently) so I drew it on another sheet and only transferred it to the actual paper when I was happy with it. The reason for this is to protect the delicate surface of the hot pressed paper - it is very unforgiving and any rubbing out, however gentle, invariably damages the paper slightly which really shows up when you lay washes of transparent watercolour
over it. HP papers do vary and some seem worse for this than others but on the whole it is a good practice and doesn't take long. The little masque pen came into its own again for this one for the tiny dot
Labrador pet portrait / handmade paper 2007-02-25 19:52:00 This portrait of a labrador is done in transparent watercolour (with the exception of the the final whiskers, for which I added a little white into the mix to make it opaque). Light coloured animals always seem to present me with a problem in the final scan, but I hope enough detail has come across in this one. The paper
is a little different - I was recently contacted by the Two Rivers Paper Company to see if I would like to try out their range of handmade
rag papers, and this painting seemed an ideal opportunity to have a go! I tend to usually use a cold pressed paper for animal portraits but this is a hot pressed 200lb paper. I have to be honest I was a bit biased before I began - I really wanted this paper to work well as it would be terrific to be able to use one that is handmade, but I wasn't being kind to it either. I drew straight on to the paper and it proved to be very robust, taking any amout of rubbing out in its stride without damaging the surface at all. I don't claim t Read more:Labrador
Grey seal pup in coloured pencil 2007-02-22 12:16:00 Another painting-in-waiting! I have added a couple of work in progress pictures on my website (click on the picture) as I forgot to post them on here. My thanks to Robert who took the terrific photos of the pups on a neighbouring island that I worked from for this study. This drawing is available as a signed archival print and greeting card. I have a great deal of catching up to do on the website with new work and there are several new prints out...just need some extra hours in the day! Hopefully I will get time to update it all soon. Please get in touch if you have any questions meantime. Read more:coloured pencil
Seal Drawing 2007-02-14 17:38:00 This is a common seal, basking on the rocks. It is in pencil on Saunders Waterford HP (It will be available as a print soon).They are great fun to watch. I lie low in the grass on the bank above, trying not to disturb them too much - they always seem to know you are there but as long as you don't stand up suddenly or make too much noise they will usually put up with you. If you get it wrong they will all scoot off the rocks in a frenzy of splashes and give you dirty looks from the water. There are often grey seals as well and they all come in such a variety of colours and markings, from almost pure white to black and everything in between.
Swallows, Swifts and Martins 2007-02-13 15:54:00 I am still beavering away at the illustrations for the bird book I am doing with Tim Dean and this is the latest one showing the swift, house martin, sand martin and swallow. As with all the paintings, they are depicted in local settings where they can usually be seen at the right time of year. The colours don't quite look right on my monitor, but since the painting isn't quite finished yet anyway I shaln't worry to much. I will be coming back to all of them later on to complete - this is one luxury of a long term project (the book will be published Christmas 2008) and it is very helpful to be able to go back to the work with fresh eyes. Read more:Martins
Pony study in pencil 2007-02-10 21:42:00 This is a young pony, I think she is about three and shown here in her thick winter coat. I shall be drawing her again in her summer finery when she is older, which I thought was a rather good idea for a pair.In case you are wondering where all the paintings are, they are here but I haven't been taking any photos of progress lately! I shall remedy that soon.
Short earred Owl in pencil 2007-02-08 12:08:00 I was lucky enough to get some great photos of this owl in our garden last summer. I have been planning to paint him when I had the time, but that could be years away so meantime I decided to have a bit of fun doing a pencil study of him. If I can get the time in the evenings it is one of my favourite ways to relax, drawing by the fire, even though I have been painting all day it is completely different.I liked his pose in one of the photos, checking me out with his head off to the side before deciding I wasn't worth bothering with. The wind was playing games with his feathers so the final drawing was made up from several pictures combined. I'm fairly sure this was a male as he was quite pale. Sadly there was a dead short earred owl on the beach a few weeks later, and it looked very like this chap. Read more:Short
Church Drawing 2007-01-31 14:08:00 This was a lovely change of pace and subject for me; a pencil study of an old english church commissioned as a wedding gift. I really enjoyed it, having not done many landscape drawings before it was good fun! It is worked on Arches HP which is a lovely surface to draw on. Read more:Church
Auks in watercolour 2007-01-28 19:01:00 Here is the latest painting for the Bird Book - this one is of Black Guillimot, Atlantic Puffin, Little Auk and the Great Auk.The Great Auk posed a few problems. It is the first extinct creature I have painted, and I am very grateful to the Natural History Museum for their help with reference photos of their specimen, which I was able to use together with contemporary descriptions to try and breathe some life back into such a beautiful bird that last waddled around Orkney almost 100 years ago. I just hope he doesn't look stuffed.... Read more:watercolour
Spring Squill in watercolour 2007-01-24 13:54:00 This is another painting for the Viking Heaths Project of Spring
Squill. The plant is shown at actual size in the corner of the painting (it is just under 3" high, although can grow taller elsewhere) with a seed head included at the top as well. The curly leaves appear before the flowers and can be mistaken for grass, although they are quite fleshy. The flower colour created a few problems - the overall impression is not quite blue and not quite lilac, although it always seems to be described as 'blue'...Sorry, I've been told the image is too small to see anything....! Here is a detail bit of the flowers, hope its a bit clearer. Read more:watercolour
Kittens drawing 2007-01-23 13:44:00 Kittens in pencil and coloured pencil. Didn't try to correct the 'yellow' tint in the scan - I used Saunders Waterford HP (another of my favourite papers) which is off white and a gorgeous surface for pencils or paint, so I left it as it is. Read more:drawing
Meconopsis Study 2007-01-20 18:21:00 I love these poppies. We have white and blue in the garden but the blue are definitely my favourite. There are so many colours going on in that blue! I have painted them before, but this is coloured pencil. I think on reflection watercolour was easier...and more enjoyable probably. Maybe I am biased!I am almost done with the first of the Auk paintings for the bird book as well, should have an update to post here shortly. Read more:Study
Cat portrait in watercolour 2007-01-10 19:00:00 This painting of a cat was done in watercolour
and is 8" x 8". Some of the whiskers were done with the 'masque pen' (masking fluid applicator - see October 2006 post) to see how it would cope just out of interest, and others with chinese white. I did have to touch up very slightly but on the whole it did well.
Terns in watercolour 2007-01-07 16:50:00 Terns in watercolour
, almost finished. I am waiting for some new brushes to arrive for the fine details - left it a bit late as the ones I am currently using have been worn down to a few hairs...too frustrating! Serves me right for being disorganised. This painting shows the Sandwich Tern, Little Tern, Arctic Tern and Common Tern. Next up will be the Auks, including the ever popular little Puffins.
Cockerel in coloured pencil 2006-12-22 16:27:00 Another little sketch in prep for the large farmyard painting, this is a study of our now departed Barnevelde (which may be spelt wrong!) cockerel in coloured pencil
.Should really have just been in pencil but I am rather enjoying adding a bit of colour when I have time (and I am supposed to be on holiday now!). Hopefully I will have the basic composition for the actual painting finalised and agreed soon, then all the sketches will come together and make sense (in theory at least).Merry Christmas to everyone and a very Happy New Year!
Terns painting w.i.p 2006-12-19 18:06:00 This is the progress so far on the latest bird painting - the Terns. I am really pleased to be able to include some beach debris in this one - rusty metal, weathered wood and old rope are all favourite models of mine! You can't see the birds yet as I am still working on the backgrounds at the moment, but they will be the Sandwich, Little, Arctic and Common tern. The painting is in watercolour.
Duck sketch in coloured pencil 2006-12-16 15:40:00 This little study of a duck is in prep for the same large commission as the previous goat. It started off as a drawing but the colours were too tempting, so I got out the coloured pencil
s and had some fun finishing it off on my knee infront of the fire last night. I am planning to include quite a variety of poultry and farm/countryside creatures in the painting and am almost decided what is going where now. The actual painting will be in watercolours of course, but I have some other work to complete before I can begin on it in earnest. I have no idea what kind of duck this is - probably a bit of a mixture (?) judging by the others wandering around with him. Read more:sketch
Curious goat (pencil sketch) 2006-12-15 14:56:00 Goat in pencil: This is one of the little studies I have been working on for a larger painting I will be doing shortly. When there will be alot going on in a painting I find it helpful to break it down into lots of smaller areas, rather than trying to tackle the whole thing at once and getting overwhelmed by all the detail. Sometimes I think the preparation studies make quite nice sketch
es in their own right (especially if I get carried away). Needless to say, it has a farming theme! Read more:Curious
Sundew in watercolour 2006-12-12 13:08:00 This is a Sundew (Drosera rotundifolia). It likes wet, boggy areas and has round leaves covered on the upper side by fine red hairs / tentacles with a little gland at the end that oozes a sticky substance and attracts unfortunate insects. The hairs then wrap themselves around the meal until it is digested. All quite revolting, but a pretty little plant all the same! This is painted in watercolour
and due to its tiny size the plant is shown considerably larger in the painting, with a life-size version in the corner (not shown here). Here is a close up of the top side of a leaf: Also just completed is another Primula scotica:
Green winged macaws (w.i.p) 2006-12-10 11:47:00 This is a work in progress (detail) of two green winged macaws. As you can see there is quite a bit left to do, but it is coming along and the colours have been a real pleasure to work with given the grey winter weather here just now! This painting is worked in chromacolours and is 12" x 18". I don't know alot about exotic birds, but apparently these are regarded as the gentle giants of the parrot world. Read more:Green
Skua Painting 2006-12-03 16:13:00 Here is the Skua painting, near enough finished: Great Skua (Bonxie);Pomerine Skua, Artic Skua and Long Tailed Skua. Read more:Painting
Pet Portrait - border collie drawing 2006-11-28 19:03:00 This is a drawing
of a border collie called Murphy. Having grown up with collies I have something of a soft spot for them: When we took the photos of Murphy for me to work from, everyone was trying to get him to look alert and jolly - but he resolutely refused. I think he may have had a point; he looks rather distinguished (as befits a gentleman of advancing years!). Read more:Portrait
cottage watercolour wip 2007-03-26 11:26:00 Here is another of the paintings I am working on just now, a lovely little cottage
by the sea:The owners have been renovating it, and when I took the reference photos they hadn't finished pointing the roof (its an old style caithness slate one) so am waiting to hear if they want it shown before or after pointing before I go any further. Very tempted to put a seagull or two in! Read more:watercolour
Farm Shop painting 2007-03-31 17:42:00 Here is the finished painting for the Farm Shop jigsaw. The brief was for a bright colourful interior with lots of detail (to keep the puzzlers on their toes!). Hopefully they will enjoy this one:And a couple of closer pictures: I did enjoy doing the dog and hen... This is the sixth painting I have done for the jigsaw company. Painting these involves a slightly different approach but it is quite absorbing and they are great to work with. This puzzle will be available later in the year nationwide from all good puzzle shops and mail order companies (just thought I'd mention that!)Scanning it is another matter entirely - my scanner is only A3 and the painting is 28" x 20" which means doing it in sections and then stitching it together in photoshop. Very time consuming and tiresome (especially if you stupidly forget to save it and lose everything when the computer has a hissy fit....). I have heard about programmes that will stitch mulitple images together for you, but have yet to get aro
This is the progress on the latest painting for th... 2007-04-03 12:40:00 This is the progress
on the latest painting for the bird book: kittiwakes, guillimots and razorbills - not that you can see them yet as I have been working on the background. The birds are masked at the edges until I'm ready to work on them.There is a reason for the blank corners at the bottom which will become apparent later!
Farmyard painting 2007-04-14 19:14:00 Here is the progress on another of my current paintings, the latest for the House of Puzzles and destined to be a jigsaw later this year. The first photo show it being blocked in and the far trees completed: The painting is 20" x 28" in watercolour and features lots of hens chicks and a cockerel by the garden gate - together with the omnipresent collie! I had originally planned to include lots of other poultry and livestock, but it was decided in the end to focus instead on the hens, which works better. Although I did sneak in a rabbit, hedgehog and some garden birds too.The garden area and farmhouse are just about finished now, and I'll be starting on the yard and foreground next. All those flowers were great fun to paint and made me feel very summery! Sadly matched by the weather here in our own garden which is very hard to resist after a long winter....!
Cat study in pencil 2007-04-17 10:51:00 I recently completed this study of a cat in pencil. It was a challenge to get the depth of black and the whiskers (which were bordering on a nightmare), but fun to work so close up:It would be interesting to hear other people's methods of dealing with the whiskers. I've tried drawing round them, indenting the paper, using an electric eraser and resorting to painting them in afterwards, but am never totally happy with any of the results. Painting is so much easier!
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