Little daisies

I decided to practise with my Enamels (paint for glass and ceramics by Plaid) again - this time, on the other side of the gin bottle I worked on earlier.

Just a bunch of lazy daisies, all over the bottle, helter-skelter . . . you get the picture! Hahahah!

Painting on glass isn't easy. Besides working with the right brush, the strokes must be done just right, so that the paint stays on the glass, and is not swept up with the bristles when they leave the glass surface!

Also, I found that many of my daisies dried 'clear' - not the effect I wanted. So, I had to go back and paint them with more paint.

I find that although I practise the stroke before I start, when I get to the actual piece I'm working on - I do it differently! And that sucks :(

I think I am relaxed when I am practising, and remember to 'press' and 'lift' and whatever. But then I hit the bottle (slurp!), and I don't know what comes over me!!! Hahahah! It's like nerves or something.

Ahh well, I guess what I need to do is, to do this over and over and over again - until it becomes second nature to me. So that I can just simply chill and let the colours flow, and set, and be beautiful.

So there's my gin bottle. Emptied and daisied :)

It could be better, but then I find I am saying that about most of my pieces!!! So, I'll say that this is ok, for now. And I'll keep it - as evidence that I'm trying, and working towards being really good one day.

Soon, I hope ;)

Silver ferns on glass

Here's my attempt at silver ferns on an old wine bottle.

This is the second attempt. The first try was kinda crappy - with too many stroke-marks showing though. And then, I realised that I was probably using the wrong brush.

So after wiping the first try off with a damp towel, and then cleaning the glass (oi! very hard lah!), it was finally clean enough for the second try.

On checking, I find that I have only one brush for painting on glass/ceramic :(

How come, ah? I dunno. I didn't really know what I was doing when I was buying my brushes, so now I know.

So this is it: my silver ferns. And these are the best shots.

My angry blue daisies

I'm not entirely happy with this - but what's to do? I guess it says just where I am.

I practise and practise my strokes, and then I think: I'm ready to do this.

And I take out my canvass, and I get out the paints, and I load my brush, and . . . .

... it looks nothing like my practice strokes!!!

I think of these as my angry blue daisies. They were meant to be soft and flowy and not-really-there.

But they turned out angry. Perhaps, I was, too? But I didn't really know it.

Perhaps painting is like writing. In the strokes, as in the words, what you really feel comes out - and it is there for those who know, to see.

Pretty pinky-red and blue flowers

So this is what I was up to yesterday evening. Not too bad, methinks. Better than my previous work on a black background, so I'm thinking: progress.

As usual, they're flowers of non-determinate origin - that only exist in my head. One of these days, I'll actually paint something real!!! MUAHAHAH!

But, if you look closely, you just might be able to see the few forget-me-nots I did :)

My gardenias

These heavenly flowers grow happily in my garden. I have two plants: one with single petals that grows looking like a star; and this multi-petaled one.

The perfume from these blooms are so subtle, and yet so sensual. So, usually, when I find freshly opened blooms, I'll cut a couple for the bathrooms. Before long, their scent has pervaded the whole room!

Isn't there something about the smell of something beautiful that makes you wanna to simply smile?

Beautiful!

Later, I'd like to try my hand at reproducing these blooms - so perfected by nature.

Practise, practise, practise!

And did I say practise?

Here's what I was doing last night - as Patti Austin sang softly about smoke getting in her eyes . . . .

An old blue bottle - put to good use . . .

... as a place to practise my work with enamel paints!

I look at the flowers now - after the 21 days they took to cure - and I can see where I'd like to change things, or re-do the strokes.

But at some point, I must have stuff that is mine - mistakes and all.

So this is here, in my living room, and when I look at it, I know that I have progressed: from nothing, to here, and onto much, much more.


And a close-up, even ;)
















We all have to start somewhere . . . .

I am a canna, it says . . . .

"You stand up for what you believe in, even if it gets in the way of what other people think. You are proud of yourself and your accomplishments and you enjoy letting people know that."


Why don't you play, too?


Click on the text on the pix on the right :)

Still fiddling!

Hahaha! That's all I seem to do these days.

Last weekend, I took out my brushes and paints and didn't manage to do anything decent for the longest time! My comma strokes turned out like fat-blood-drunk leeches on pot, and my fine lines? Fine what???!!!

Ok lah, too long away from something I am not good at - and the result seems to be: Start again at square One!

Which is ok. Because that is just what I did.

And after a bit, things started to look kinda like the pictures I had in front of me, and I felt a little better.

All week, I am in Kayel, and so I have no chance to practise at all. And so it is the weekends, when I am home in PD that I get a chance to fiddle about with colour and brush! And for three whole weeks, I haven't been home!

So many plants dead, the garden so parched with no rain, and my painting: sucks!!!!

Nope, past tense: sucked. It's gotten slightly better than it was at the start of the weekend. Progress of sorts, eh  ;)

Onwards we go: Practise! Practise! Practise!

The you-tube thingy that got me started

The video below simply mesmerised me.

And for some reason, I knew that if I held a brush, and double-dipped it in paint, I'd be able to do this.

Okie. . . Hahahah! It didn't quite turn out as simple as that... but I'm having a blast!!!

Over the Chinese New Year holidays, I didn't have a chance to touch a brush. For three whole weeks. Last weekend, when I finally held one in my hand, it refused to perform as instructed. The hand and the brush lah!

So, I sat and did comma strokes, and exclamation points, and messed about with the horrid black paint I wish I hadn't bought. At least it's coming in handy for practise work and doodling and trying to write with a brush :)

Here's Donna Dewberry who's the angel who told me: "Just pick up a brush and practise. Anyone can do one-stroke painting!"