Hello,

More painting!

Charcoal sketch and underpainting:

Close-up of sketch:

First couple of layers in the sky and sea:

Holly :-)

Afternoon!

I have spent all day researching and inventing a new character for the a competition: http://www.icograda.org/web/calendar-display.shtml?pfl=calendar-single-2.param&op2.rf1=1515&op3.tfl=calendar-single-2-FFFFFF.ptml

I'm doing the Alice in Wonderland so have spent all day sketching a few ideas.

Firstly Alice began her life like this:

Then I inked over to bring out her features:

From here I wanted to bring Alice a bit more to life and make her look older:
Colour and life sketches of Alice to see how she would work out:

Making Alice appear more 3D and believeable:

Finally, some quick 5 minute colour studies with watercolour- colour is the hardest thing to think about now.

I want Alice to appear as if she is from a good background but is still quite tomboyish. That's why she has scruffy hair and her socks are falling down. Her mother has dressed her well but she hasn't quite noticed because she is too busy thinking about having adventures. That's how I imagine Alice anyway..

Next I will put the existing Alice in different moods for example angry, laughing, embarrased to see how her features develop from there.

This project has been fun so far and I think it will be a good experience. Already I have lots of ideas for my own characters and stories. Perhaps when I have finished I could develop these for fun!

Holly

Painting number 2 finished:

At the start of this I thought the picture would turn out a bit pants but I'm pleased with the end result - especially the deck chair as it was so bloomin' hard to draw!

Holly :-)

Hello!

Had a really busy but great weekend- I feel very lucky to be me at the moment!

On Thursday evening went to a life drawing class which was a bit of an eye opener and really hard! I made lots of sketches mainly with charcoal and here are two of them:

Compared to the other regulars mine look pants but I'm quite pleased with them for a first go. The class isn't on again until September although I think I will definitely go weekly as I learnt so much in two and a half hours!

Anyway, spent the weekend down in Aldeburgh with Matthews family and went out for a fantastic meal at a restaurant called the 152- scrumptious food and wine- I ate so much I felt physically sick! (oops!)

Spent the rest of the time there on the beach soaking up the good weather and stuffing in plenty of the the best fish and chips you can eat followed by pink grapefruit sorbet! YUUUMMMMMM!

Anyway, that's enough talk about food (for now). On Saturday night Matthew took me to see Jamie Cullum in Theford Forest- if you love live jazz music like I do then go and see him- the whole band has tremendous talent and I was in awe of how well they played . You can tell when someone really does it for the music and not the fame...

Oh! And here are some photos of the cards I have designed for www.artgardenstudios.com (my Mum's website). Altogether there are 9 landscape and 9 square designs. All are glossy with a packaged envelope and plastic wrapping. I think they have come out really well and I especially like the square designs..

Holly xx

Hello!

Went to Mundesley on the coast last night with Matthew. We shared fish and chips and had a lovely evening looking at the scenery...however we are quite poor and experienced an embarrassing and humorous moment in SPAR when all we could afford was a shandy bass to drink! In fact, here I am modelling it now:



Here's a lighthouse we saw on the way- I think someone lives in it (lucky sods!):

And the lovely scenery:

Holly x

After being up ALL night because of the noisy old, mental guy next door (who is now sunbathing naked in his garden and getting pissed) I have had an enjoyable morning of painting.

You can't really see many of the changes as yet although a lot of time has been spent 'tidying' it up a bit. I think the windows in the houses give it more life. Nearly finished now- just a few more hours to go...

Holly :-)

Hello,

Had a good weekend seeing friends etc and am now back to my painting:

Have been struggling a bit with this one for some reason. I have added some boats and lightened it up slightly although it's not finished yet. I think perhaps I need to get up really early one morning and get stuck into it without any distractions. I aim to get it finished by the end of the week.

Spent yesterday with a bit of a hangover (oops) so went to sprawl out on the green next to Norwich Cathedral. There is an unusual sculpture there which I really like as it reminds me of Picasso:

Painting number two in the same style as the first. This is mainly the underpainting.



Off to wash my brushes now (the boring bit)

Spent all weekend at home so had to get out of the house yesterday..

Sketching a lady at the bustop (with a rather large bottom!):

And a man sitting outside the newsagents:

Lots of fun and had to work REALLY quickly. Makes you think about the shapes in the human figure though.

yummy! I made banana muffins!

nearly finished....

Spent all of yesterday painting and I think I achieved quite a lot. I have worked mainly on the right hand side of the image working up the colours with acrylic and charcoal. I need to buy some new acrylic colours to expand my palette, as I don't have many at the moment. I'm used to working with gouache so acrylic is a bit new to me but I like it!

Here's a close up of the houses:



I'm enjoying this painting lark!!!! :-)

Hello,

Had a good couple of days with Matthew. We went to Holkham beach on Monday with a picnic and fell asleep in the sun- very relaxing.

Today, I have been painting with my Mum who has taught me many techniques from her years of painting! I'm lucky to have such help at hand. I am now aiming to produce 10 beach themed paintings to practice my painting and colour skills whilst incorporating illustration. It's all very exciting!

Here's a sneak preview of the first image. It is the charcoal drawing and red underpainting. So far, I have only painted the sea and the piece is a beach scene seen through a window. (Ignore the black line round the painting-bad photo!)

By the time I have reached number 10 I should have developed a good style and soaked up lots of information! It's all good practice and great to actually have a project to finally get stuck in to.

Holly x