Category: Walking

Art Week Bonanza!

28/10/2022

Back in the summer I decided to book a week off work and have an 'Art Week', where all I did was art and nothing else. I often find it hard to get a new project going as I feel I've always got so many other things to get done first, so my art week was a chance to just focus on art with no guilt about having to do anything else and finally do some paintings, some of which I have been wanting to do for years!

This is what I made!

Hello! - acrylic on canvas
By far my favourite painting from art week is this one of a very vocal sheep I decided to call 'Hello!'. It is from a photo I took a couple of years ago on a walk up Cwm Idwal in Snowdonia. This windswept sheep was standing on a big rock calling out down the valley and it was such a great dramatic scene I knew instantly I wanted to paint it some day. I tried to keep a looser style with this to keep the wild and windy feel, which was hard for me because I'm so picky about details! But I love how it turned out and it is one of my all time favourite things I've ever made.

Steps to the Castle -
acrylic on canvas
This is painting was also done from a photo I took a few years ago whilst out walking, this time up to Dinas Bran Castle near Llangollen in North Wales. That day was the first time I went painting outside and I painted 'Dinas Bran Arches', 'Dinas Bran from the Panorama' and 'Purple Trees'. I came upon this view on my way up to castle and really wanted to paint it but I knew I wouldn't be able to do it how I wanted to in such a short space of time. I took a photo knowing I would paint it one day and I'm glad I waited because I love how it turned out. This was one of those paintings where I could see it in my head and then it ended up looking completely different! I love it though and my Mum tells me it is the best painting I've ever done, which is the best compliment you can get!

Weather coming in - acrylic on canvas
This is a painting that seems to divide opinion. Personally I love it and I think visually it is one of the coolest things I've painted, but I have noticed that it doesn't get the same enthusiast reaction from some people that most of my other paintings get. I do think it is one of those pieces that is more impactful in person as I think some of the scale is lost when just viewing it on a screen. It was done from a photo I took about five or six years ago of a fishing boat off the coast of the Isle of Arran being chased by an oncoming downpour. It was such brilliant cinematic scene, and I have been wanting to paint it ever since. Even if other people don't like it as much as I do I think it's great and the little boat has little seagulls bothering it which is my favourite bit!

Bee on Pink Lavender 1, 2 and 3 - acrylic on canvas
This little trio were done from photos I once took of bees on the beautiful pink lavender bush I used to have in my garden. The photos were full of layers and depth; lots of out of focus flowers in the foreground and blurry backgrounds and I wanted to recreate that in these paintings. It was quite a challenge painting the out of focus parts as I am almost hardwired to put lots of detail in and leaving it 'unfinished' in places was torture! I do think I am getting better at loosening up when painting though, which is something I really want to accomplish in the future, if only so I can get my paintings finished a little quicker!

Sweet Nectar (chalk pastel and coloured pencil on brown paper)
and Bird on the Brambles (watercolour)
These two pictures weren't actually done during art week but they were done during the summer. I made them specifically for an open art exhibition at Ty Pawb in Wrexham. The theme was 'Growing Together' and I didn't have anything to enter that really fit so I decided to create a coupe of little pieces.

'Sweet Nectar' was done whilst watching the bees on the white lavender in my garden, and 'Bird on the Brambles' is a watercolour of a photo I took on the coast path in Cornwall. I haven't been able to identify what bird it was but it was very tuneful.

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Painting outside!

5/2/2020

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Last summer I decided to finally try my hand at painting landscapes outside. I've done it once before whilst on holiday in Scotland but it was winter and freezing cold and I had to keep going back inside every ten minutes to warm my hands up!

The first thing I painted was a practice sketch of the bird bath in my garden. I wanted to see how the paint reacted differently to being indoors. I used acrylic paint and found that it dries a lot quicker outside. I also noticed that dark colours seem brighter outside, which means when you take the painting indoors it looks darker, so I had to try and paint everything brighter than it looked.

Bird bath - acrylic painting

Dinas Bran arches - acrylic painting

My first trip out was to Castell Dinas Bran in Llangollen. I made this little study of one of the castle walls using acrylic paint on canvas paper. It was pretty windy up there so I had to chase my paper down a hill a couple of times but I'm really pleased with how this turned out. I also tried out a chalk pastel sketch but I found that wind and pastels is a messy combination!

My next painting adventure was up the panorama near Llangollen. I took a couple of canvases with me this time. My first painting was a view of Castell Dinas Bran. Then I found an interesting row of trees surrounded by heather. It was a lot less windy up there this time which made things much easier. Sometimes when painting I can be a bit too rigid and picky with the details so I made a real effort to be looser with these. I'm really happy with how they turned out and I'm going to try and paint more like this in the future.

Dinas Bran from the panorama - acrylic painting

Purple Trees - acrylic painting

I would have liked to do more of this but unfortunately we didn't have a great summer in terms of weather. Hopefully this summer will be better because I love painting outside!

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Sun, sea and Saddell.

30/1/2015

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You may be wondering why I've been doing all of my Christmas blog posts now at the end of January instead of after Christmas. Well it's because my wonderful boyfriend treated me to an amazing two week holiday in Saddell Castle in Scotland! We went for the first time in 2012 and loved it so much we've been saving to go back ever since. This time we took some friends with us for the first week, and also spent some of the holiday in a little cottage called Cul-na-shee. We saw some amazing wildlife whilst we were there and had almost every sort of weather imaginable! Here are some highlights from the trip, as it's such a beautiful place I can't help but share it with you:

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Wet, Windy Walk - that's Snowdon!

7/5/2014

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Making the most of the quietness of midweek, Sadie, Dad and I took a walk up Snowdon today.

The weather wasn't great on the way up; it pretty much rained the whole way. At the top we were engulfed in cloud and the wind (which to be fair was at our backs so was actually being quite helpful) grew stronger and stronger.

There wasn't much of a view from the top, and trying to take a photo at the summit was laughable in the wind, but no matter the weather conquering Snowdon is always fun.