Started the new year with a new website!
It's not totally complete but the essentials are there- the rest I will add over the next few months.
http://www.societyink.co.uk/
I also started the new year with a new newsletter if anyone is interested mail me on kathrinemacleod@gmail.co.uk and I'll send you a copy.
I hope to be able to get one sent quarterly for the moment but will see how it goes.
If your not already a member of the Society for all Artists then you wont get the January edition of the Paint magazine which has a special feature on yours truly check out page 35 if you do have a copy.
The feature is on Paint parties which I do, so for those special occasions think of spending a day with me painting!!
Showing posts with label society ink. Show all posts
Showing posts with label society ink. Show all posts
Tuesday, 3 January 2012
Wednesday, 28 December 2011
botanicals anyone?
Happy new year to you all!!
Have you written out your list for the new year??? No nor have I..
check out my new website http://www.societyink.co.uk/ let me know what you think
1. draw meticulous drawing - adjust drawing a little so it looks nice as composition!
2. put the kettle on
3. make tea sit down and sigh
6. I started with the largest leaf so I could test the colours. you can still see the yellow base as I have left all the veins and worked in a negative manner.
This is time consuming work and while I love painting I don't love the slow progress you get with these paintings. Another cup of tea I think!
Moving on to the interesting part the flower head.
First pick a place to start and know that you should finish it completely before moving on. layers of sap green were laid in first then green gold over that went permanent rose and then dioxizine purple. All layers were left to dry first before the next.
The very darks have indigo mixed into purple and green. OK while that's drying lets do the stem - working pale washes of sap green and cerulean blue let each stroke dry to get the stripes down the stem. Then repeat a few times more to get the density but don't darken the washes it doesn't help.
You want nice clean even layers.
in the lighter areas apply some thin green gold and in the shadows apply sap green, cerulean blue and purple. leave to dry.
Back to flower head - continue to paint each petal separately
next the fluffy fronds I used potters pink a colour i don't normally use but when mixed with opera rose makes a good likeness. darken with purples and or indigo in a few places. Leave some of the paper showing through to add lightness.
Water droplets for most part these have no colour of their own so I start with shadows then if necessary add a light was of local colour from the plant.
And now to continue with the rest of the plant. As you see a little way to go yet. this could take a few weeks yet.
Have you written out your list for the new year??? No nor have I..
Not going to either I'm just going to add to last years list of I must do's, starting with the new website.It's only half completed but the basic skeleton is ready for upload. I've been having problems with the uploading, just cant seem to find the problem.
OK found the problem I didn't put the folder name in for the server. durgh!!!check out my new website http://www.societyink.co.uk/ let me know what you think
I think I have spent more time on the website than actually painting but I have managed to do a little bit of Botanical painting Globe Artichokes to be more precise I started these some time ago during the teaching some of my classes. I took the photo some years ago at the Eden Project in the pouring rain, it was always going to be one that i painted I just kept putting it off you see why below.
Here is how I got the finished artichoke head...1. draw meticulous drawing - adjust drawing a little so it looks nice as composition!
2. put the kettle on
3. make tea sit down and sigh
 |
| first coat of greens on leaf |
4. breathe deeply and begin.......
5. mix pale cadmium yellow to act as base for all green areas.
 |
| mixes of green gold, sap green,permanent rose and dioxzine purple |
 |
| you can see from this shot I have got yellow base layers and the green layers with a base of permanent rose for the flower tips |
This is time consuming work and while I love painting I don't love the slow progress you get with these paintings. Another cup of tea I think!
Moving on to the interesting part the flower head.
First pick a place to start and know that you should finish it completely before moving on. layers of sap green were laid in first then green gold over that went permanent rose and then dioxizine purple. All layers were left to dry first before the next.
The very darks have indigo mixed into purple and green. OK while that's drying lets do the stem - working pale washes of sap green and cerulean blue let each stroke dry to get the stripes down the stem. Then repeat a few times more to get the density but don't darken the washes it doesn't help.
You want nice clean even layers.
in the lighter areas apply some thin green gold and in the shadows apply sap green, cerulean blue and purple. leave to dry.
Back to flower head - continue to paint each petal separately
Water droplets for most part these have no colour of their own so I start with shadows then if necessary add a light was of local colour from the plant.
Monday, 20 September 2010
getting ready
Another season of teaching has begun this week, For of those who are new to my classes a very big welcome, and I hope you will enjoy the journey. You are amoung friends! For those of you who been with me for a number of years welcome back and hope you've done your homework!!
This season I want people to really find their own style and their expression, while still learning the techniques the professionals employ.
I have been working on another set sketches for the original commission I've been working on for 2 years now, so i have decided to write a complete full colour leaflet on working just one commission from scratch. Which I hope will illustrate in more detail the problems that occur just at thee sketching stage and how the interaction between client and artist works. This is one area of industry where the 'customer is always right' this is because this industry is hugely over subscribed and if you cant give the client, what the client wants then they will go else where. Which brings me to my next point if this industry is that over populated then doesn't that go some way to proving that anyone can do it?
The point is that 70% of what we do is about observation, observation, observation, knowing a little about your brain functions will help you understand why sometimes your work isn't right. That wonderful on board computer of yours takes in everything it sees in minute detail and stores it from when you are born, but as you get older and things are given labels the brain will assimilate almost everything it sees into basic shapes and colours, smells, taste etc this means as we mature our awareness of detail is lost somewhere in our brain never to be heard of again.
As we practice our drawing you will notice more and more the frustration of not getting it right but, with no idea how to put it right - this is because your brain doing the drawing all by it's self but it's telling you, you don't need to know exactly whats there to be able to understand the form. Not true! as you'll find out ...
concentrating on questions such as what do I actually see will help, you see a little clearer. How many of you draw without really seeing? all of you?
Try drawing only what your eyes actually see - it will open the door to a whole new world.
This season I want people to really find their own style and their expression, while still learning the techniques the professionals employ.
I have been working on another set sketches for the original commission I've been working on for 2 years now, so i have decided to write a complete full colour leaflet on working just one commission from scratch. Which I hope will illustrate in more detail the problems that occur just at thee sketching stage and how the interaction between client and artist works. This is one area of industry where the 'customer is always right' this is because this industry is hugely over subscribed and if you cant give the client, what the client wants then they will go else where. Which brings me to my next point if this industry is that over populated then doesn't that go some way to proving that anyone can do it?
The point is that 70% of what we do is about observation, observation, observation, knowing a little about your brain functions will help you understand why sometimes your work isn't right. That wonderful on board computer of yours takes in everything it sees in minute detail and stores it from when you are born, but as you get older and things are given labels the brain will assimilate almost everything it sees into basic shapes and colours, smells, taste etc this means as we mature our awareness of detail is lost somewhere in our brain never to be heard of again.
As we practice our drawing you will notice more and more the frustration of not getting it right but, with no idea how to put it right - this is because your brain doing the drawing all by it's self but it's telling you, you don't need to know exactly whats there to be able to understand the form. Not true! as you'll find out ...
concentrating on questions such as what do I actually see will help, you see a little clearer. How many of you draw without really seeing? all of you?
 |
| not finished yet! |
 |
| can you guess what this is??? |
Tuesday, 10 August 2010
hows it going?
Hi All
Has anyone started their story yet? anyone started doing sketches in their sketch books?
Well I have I started with some ideas that are based on the key elements of the story I remember. This is opposed to reading the story again just yet, because I wanted to let a little more imagination take place.
And as memories play tricks on us I thought it would interesting to see what I come up with.
As you know I chose Alice in Wonderland, while I was thinking about the things I remembered from the story - I realised that I could separate certain elements from "Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass".
So I have decided to continue with this for a little while longer until I feel it necessary to get the stories straight. I also thought about the original author and how he had come to write it. It was quite interesting to find out who Lewis Carroll was and what kind of life he would have had, and who was Alice? Alice Liddell that who she was, with this in mind I want to now do some drawings in ink of the real Alice - who by the way had short black bobbed hair. There's alot to play with in the history of the story so I'm going add some of the real life stuff into the drawings, such as the tiny door - which was the canon's garden gate at the cathederal where Alice and sibblings where not allowed to play, but could only look through the gate. The rabbit hole referred to the quick passage the deacon took to get home from the Cathederal to his home.
Ooo theres so much to play with, this could take a great deal longer than I had antisipated, so I decided to start with little pen drawings which I have been doing on trading cards and postcards. This was in the hope it would take quite so long!!! Wrong...... it's just as long as I dont generally do things too small.
The next problem is where do you keep all these little cards so they dont get mucked up?
In a scrapbook! thats where - I had to construct this from board that you can buy from making little scrapbooks. I'm not sure which is taking more time?
Has anyone started their story yet? anyone started doing sketches in their sketch books?
Well I have I started with some ideas that are based on the key elements of the story I remember. This is opposed to reading the story again just yet, because I wanted to let a little more imagination take place.
And as memories play tricks on us I thought it would interesting to see what I come up with.
As you know I chose Alice in Wonderland, while I was thinking about the things I remembered from the story - I realised that I could separate certain elements from "Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass".
So I have decided to continue with this for a little while longer until I feel it necessary to get the stories straight. I also thought about the original author and how he had come to write it. It was quite interesting to find out who Lewis Carroll was and what kind of life he would have had, and who was Alice? Alice Liddell that who she was, with this in mind I want to now do some drawings in ink of the real Alice - who by the way had short black bobbed hair. There's alot to play with in the history of the story so I'm going add some of the real life stuff into the drawings, such as the tiny door - which was the canon's garden gate at the cathederal where Alice and sibblings where not allowed to play, but could only look through the gate. The rabbit hole referred to the quick passage the deacon took to get home from the Cathederal to his home.
Ooo theres so much to play with, this could take a great deal longer than I had antisipated, so I decided to start with little pen drawings which I have been doing on trading cards and postcards. This was in the hope it would take quite so long!!! Wrong...... it's just as long as I dont generally do things too small.
The next problem is where do you keep all these little cards so they dont get mucked up?
In a scrapbook! thats where - I had to construct this from board that you can buy from making little scrapbooks. I'm not sure which is taking more time?
Your turn!!! try combining some of the crafts you do with your drawing/painting and see what happens.
I've been using trading and postcards in watercolour paper all available from the SAA (society for all artists) which means I can add colour if I want to, at a later stage. remember you can have more fun in your sketch books where you can experiment with lots of different looks.
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