Something to pass the time...

Our friend's T&V kindly took Lola out again this morning.  She responds much better to their whistle than their own Golden Retriever Milly.  I think she likes the treats V carries in her coat pocket :-)

We were all up pretty sharp this morning, bright and breezy and ready for a full cooked breakfast.  A very civilised start to a Sunday morning :-)

The storage unit for my studio arrives tomorrow so with David's back still sore, Agnes and Adrian very kindly moved the large pile of picture frames from the space where the unit will go, to the living room.  Hopefully the majority of them will fit into the bottom section of the new unit.  It's arriving between 10.30 and 2.30 pm tomorrow.  Allegedly :-))  Will see if that comes to pass.

Agnes and Adrian headed off just after 1.30 and I went to the study to continue working on the cards my friend C wants me to make for her friends.  I sketched an idea the other day that she is happy with so today's task was to turn the sketch into a proper drawing on cotton watercolour paper.  That didn't take too long and I sent her a photo of it to make sure she's still happy with the design.  Didn't want to start painting until she approved it, which she now has.

I also have another two paintings to do, so made a start on one and got the drawing complete.  It required a lot of masking fluid to preserve the white of the paper so while the masking fluid was drying, I had a play with Brusho again and created this little snowdrop painting.

Brusho is fun but quite uncontrollable, which I have found frustrating in the past ( I am a control freak.  Not a good trait in a watercolour painter far less a Brusho painter!) but  I am learning that Brusho's uncontrollability is actually what makes it an exciting medium to use, so I had a lot of fun.

When I think I've finished a painting I always photograph it, as it's only by looking at the photo that I see what still needs to be done.  Weird, but it works every time.  Looking at this I can see there are quite a few bits needing some attention, nothing major, just little tweaks, so I will sort them out tomorrow.

I had a first attempt at painting a snowdrop earlier this week.  It was a small watercolour sketch where I copied a photograph of a snowdrop that I'd taken a few years ago.  I wasn't happy with it (for a start it was on cheap paper, never a good idea) and I wasn't sure why.  Today this little snowdrop helped me figure out why....ditch the conventional colours and paint with the colours that make me happy.  

Simples :-)

PS Thank you so much for all your lovely comments, stars and hearts on my 11th Blipday on Friday.  You are all SO kind :-)) xx 

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