Johnny Walker makeover

Yes, Johnny got a makeover: in black. With yellow roses, and little flowers on the other three sides.

Here are the pix to prove it:

The half-litre JW on my kitchen table

Little flowers on the other sides

Close-ups of the top,  

... front ...

... and bottom.

Two cups, four faces

These are little coffee cups that I bought a while back. They had a silly 'heart' painted on them, in red, and I knew that one day, I'd wipe it away with some roses and rosebuds. That day came, and here's the result. I especially love the way the leaves and curly-cues turned out :)

White roses, pink roses

What I really want to be able to do is this. Maybe one day. . . .

And how about being invited to a party like this one:

Heart of flowers

A dear friend celebrates her wedding anniversary in December, so I painted this for her, and her husband: she is the E and he is the S.

I took my time over this, starting with the background, which I painted in pastel-green and cream. I painted a three-petal design on the green stripes in warm white, and edged it the stripes in old gold.Then, I painted in the vines, plotted in the places for the roses, and put in the leaves and ferns. 

Then, I painted in the roses, the rose-buds and the forget-me-nots.

And since it is no longer with me, I have these pictures to remind me of what I did, and how I would improve it were I to paint something similar again.

Roses on a wood tile

I have a few laminated-wood-tile samplers, and here's what I painted on one of them.

This last one is me playing around with Picasa, and wondering what this would look like, tone-on-tone, which is my favourite colour scheme :)

Update: I gave this piece to my dear friend, Lita. And she tells me it's made it's way to her Singapore home. Nice. I'm going places, eh?!

Emily's purple round

When I was working on this last night, things didn't seem to be going as I'd planned. And so, when I was done, I thought I'd leave you with this pix, and be done with it:

Then, I thought, that that wasn't really 'honest' and maybe I'd add a second pix:

What do they both have in common? Both were taken from afar, and I'd not have to reckon with the details of my purple round.

And then I remembered the reason for this blog: to document my journey in one-stroke painting, and to not have it all here, even the 'warts' wouldn't be right.

So, here's the story: My friend Emily (who remains an imaginary friend, because we have not met IRL) sent me this cake-board via the office of the Alliance Francaise where I study French every Saturday.

After stripping off the silver paper, I found that the board wasn't of the best quality, so it needed to be gesso-ed, and even after that, it still looked pimple-y. SO: I gesso-ed it one more time, this time, leaving it with a textured feel, with raised swirls (it didn't come through in the pix) - which I hope helps hide the pimples.

I did the edge in the purple Emily wanted - it's here favourite colour, she says - and did a light cover on the gesso (not enough, it still sucked up my paint and foiled my flowers :(

Emily wants to make this into a clock. I don't know if it'll work, Em, but let me know if you succeed.

Here's a close-up of the flowers on top, on the bottom, and an 'honest' close-up of the whole round, flaws and all  ;)

This and that . . . .

I tried my hand at something I saw an artist do on You-tube - use whites and light colours on a black background - to make it pop. And this is what I got. But I'm not sure this is the effect I want. But's it's interesting. And the photos make these next two look almost like negatives.

The roses in the third shot, I did on rubbishy paper - and if you look at the pix, you'll see it. But I am still experimenting with roses, and trying to find a way to do them 'first-time, every-time'!

This last one - of pansies (which I've never cast my eyes on. Ever.) I painted on a board an iced cake came on :) It's not like I don't have anything to paint on, but I'm kinda perverse sometimes! The paint didn't want to stick at times, and it was hell to photograph, and finally I realised that I needed to turn off the flash.

An artist at work

Since I am just a fledgling, and am struggling with even simple things, it does me good to watch someone who is such an expert - who takes things easy, offers lots of advice, and gives sound reasons for everything he does.

From the Jensen Art Studio, from their Ompir studies, David Jansen takes the novice through the steps needed to create a masterpiece, in the antique style after Ompir.

Watch the master-craftsman, David, at work here; and finishing off the work here.