Ann Mortimer's Painting Blog

Search this blog gadget installed

2012-02-01T15:03:00.004Z

Oh wow! This IT thing keeps surprising me! Was just looking for something (Primroses) that I knew I had put on this blog somewhere and it was taking ages to trawl through the archive on the info section on the right hand side.

So I looked through the gadgets and found a Blog Search which I've installed, just there on the right. Typed in primroses and the step by step sequence I was looking for came up straight away.

Amazing! Well it is to me!

So you could try typing in anything that interests you in the flower line and I might have done something on it.

A friend just got in touch asking about the rose painting in the title header of my other blog

http://annswatercolourstudio.blogspot.com

and I referred her to some works in progress that I had uploaded in May 2010.

So if you want to see that, just type in Nevada Rose in the search box and see what happens!

The Wisley Orchid painting.

2012-01-27T11:11:00.006Z

Here's the painting I made from the photo below.

It's a small version but quick to do so I could try out the backlit effect which I love so much.

I think it may be the favourite so far out of all the orchid paintings I've done. I made the speckles on the petals by splattering with a toothbrush loaded with paint halfway through the painting and then added some more with my brush at the end.

First demo uploaded in Ann's Art Studio

2012-01-26T10:50:00.008Z

I've just uploaded the first technique blog in the Ann's Watercolour Studio blog.

http://annswatercolourstudio.blogspot.com/

It's about NEGATIVE PAINTING which seems to both fascinate people and bug them at the same time!

I love this way of painting and really like the 3D effect it gives.

At the same time, I'm working on a small orchid painting which I started yesterday.

I'm using this photo for reference. I took the photo on our visit tothe glasshouse at Wisley Gardens recently. Love the way the orchid is backlit.

My watercolour techniques blog

2012-01-25T13:16:00.008Z

I'm setting up a sister blog called Ann's Watercolour Studio where I'm going to share techniques with you and perhaps answer questions and solve problems that you have had while doing your watercolour painting.

I want to upload video clips when I've worked out how, and I'll illustrate the techniques with photos.

Hope you'll keep an eye on what's in there!

Click on this link:

http://annswatercolourstudio.blogspot.com/

Workshop notes

2012-01-22T14:20:00.004Z

Just had a call from a friend who has been to loads of my workshops and who is always the first to boost me up when she gets a chance...lovely Jean.

Something she said has made me think of noting down one or two points re. workshops coming up.

In life things move on and they should never stay the same. If you aren't moving forwards, you'll be moving back at a rate of knots. So with this in mind I am going to change slightly the format of my workshops in line with our developing skills.

Up til now the tried and tested paintalong method with an initial drawing has suited us well. People have been pleased to have a ready made design (though not everyone always uses it, some draw their own) and then to concentrate on the watercolour techniques to paint our own version.

To everyones' constant surprise, the paintings are always vastly different one from the other, as we cannot help, thank goodness, our different personalities shining through, but they are all basically the same painting.

In my workshops a good percentage of the painters are returners...I'm very glad to say. And I think we've all been developing over the last few years, including me. (You never stop learning!) Our experience and confidence are building steadily. What is more, on a practical level my stock of reference material is building up so that now I can offer more choice to people coming to paint.

So I think I would like to work along the lines of everyone choosing their own reference material and making their own design. This would include their own ref. material that they might have brought along, whether real flowers or photos.

I will still demonstrate the techniques that I feel suit the subject. It always helps to see an example of the techniques in use. But then I will coach everyone separately according to how they have decided to tackle the subject.

It might not be as "tidy" a solution as in the past but I think we're ready for it.

Thought I'd upload a pic to cheer us up. Roll on Spring! The snowdrops and hellebores are both about to flower in my garden. Yay! The flowering year is starting again!

Past workshops, Demo paintings and the wonders of masking fluid.

2012-01-18T13:23:00.007Z

Is it the cold weather or is it that nasty recession thingy... or is it me????

Not had a whole lot of feedback to my reminders about Spring courses. The classes are filling up slowly but surely but I have put an advert in the local free newspaper just to help spread the word.

I sent off the "roughs" of my paintings to the publisher for the orchid book and am now looking forward to March and the trip down to Tunbridge Wells to do the step by step demo paintings while being photographed. I found this to be a good experience when I did my first book.

I like demonstrating paintings and have no problem painting while someone watches. But there is more to it than that and a lot of care has to go into the preparation and design of a piece so that the readers can get the most out of following the different steps.

You have to have thought about your colour mixes and have rationalised them to be the most economical use of paint in the palette. No stopping halfway and changing your mind about a colour or just adding an extra colour for fun!

You have to generally make the painting "do-able" and cannot let yourself go into complete spontaneity. So it has to be quite measured and disciplined.

Which is why the other day I had a sudden desire to let myself go and use masking fluid on the primroses painting, gallons of it, to completely mask out the flowers and then have fun in the back ground. I generally tend to avoid using it too much with students as they are apt to be frightened of it. Unless you use it often, as I have been doing over the years, you tend not to believe that it's best to put a good thick layer of it on the paper. But that is the best thing to do as it comes off very easily then.

But I digress. The photo I've up loaded for you today was taken after a Pansies workshop. It summarises a workshop...drawings, photographic reference, real flowers, painting materials and the finished painting. Pansies are such perfect little flowers...they have inbuilt contrast with those splodges of dark on their faces as though smeared with blackberry jam!

Spring Classes

2012-01-06T13:10:00.004Z

Are the creative thoughts stirring? The artistic juices starting to flow?

I still have spaces in my SPRING WEEKLY CLASSES on Tuesday and Wednesdays starting 13 March 2012 for eight weeks.

The Tuesday class will be for Beginners/Improvers and the Wednesday class for more experienced improvers.

I have only ONE place left on Wednesdays.

THREE places left on Tuesdays.

Also there are still places on my DAY WORKSHOPS where we spend the day painting and you are treated to a two course lunch with wine!

25 Feb Early Spring Flowers

24 March Spring Flowers

21 April Early Clematis

26 May Bluebell time (probably a landscape)

All the details are on my website in events where there is a booking form you can print off.

Also there are details on the side bar of this blog.

My artistic juices are definitely starting to flow now along with the juicy watercolour washes and the Spring flowers and bulbs are poking through the soil...snowdrops, primroses, hellebores...can't wait!

January primroses

2012-01-05T15:19:00.004Z

I painted this today having been inspired by the little clump of primroses I saw in the front garden. They looked so perfect against the dark earth and I just love these opportunities to get outrageous contrast with pale flowers against a dark back ground.

Happy New Year!

2012-01-01T16:29:00.004Z

Well it's New Year's Day 2012 and I wish everyone a good year with good health, lots of artistic inspiration and all around positivity and joy!

It's raining and windy but not too cold...in fact unseasonably mild, but I'm sitting here in the studio at 16.30 and it's pitch dark outside. Which presents problems if you want to photograph work at this time of year. You have to plan things so that you do any photography early on in the day if you want to catch the daylight.

I'm working on the Painting orchids book and I am at the point of being able to send the proposed demo pieces to Search Press, the publishers. But I need to photograph them all and the drawings and today I missed the light. It'll have to be tomorrow now.

So frustrating not being able to show you what I've been doing. I'm quite pleased with the paintings and I love the bright colours and exotic shapes of the orchids.

The garden is in its brown/ grey Winter state but there are signs of life, snowdrops poking through and other bulbs pushing up through the dark cold earth.

But one plant is making a brave face of it...the Winter jasmine with its starry yellow flowers brightening the North facing side of the shed where it grows. I've up loaded a painting I did last year where I was wanting to depict the tangle of branches and leaves and the yellow stars shining out.

Orchids 'R' Us...Getting down to work on the new book.

2011-12-01T20:57:00.002Z

Orchid mania is rife in my house at the moment. I've started work in earnest on the book I'm doing for Search Press in the Ready to Paint series.

Orchids were not flowers I knew much about before about four months ago...but I've learned such a lot about them and I've begun to understand why they are loved by so many people. They are amazingly various in colour and form and grow in tropical forests as well as in English meadows and woodlands.

I'm having a great time researching and poring over pictures in books and on line and waiting for inspiration to come, which it does, often, out of the blue. I'm at the stage of working out the designs for the step by step projects in the book. And actually I am spoilt for choice as there are so many varieties and different forms of this flower.

I painted a still life today and the inspiration for a simple background came suddenly to me during the night. And I was raring to go today having completed the drawing yesterday and I finished the painting early afternoon. But I can't show it to you! I have to keep it all under wraps of course. So I'm just posting a photo of my desk today as I was feverishly painting one picture while allowing another one to dry.

Vibrant Autumn and time to check in

2011-11-18T19:37:00.005Z

I've come to this page a few times, stared at the screen for a while and left again, not knowing what to say, but now I feel I must check in even if it's just to say hello and I'm still here!

What I saw in Spain was absolutely stunning. I had a great time and saw lovely things and loved the Autumn sunshine. I think it all needs to settle in my mind before I start to paint what I saw.

But in the meantime, I've been equally impressed by Autumn fruits and berries this year. They are so beautiful and colourful and round and juicy looking, just a huge pleasure to paint in watercolour. It just makes me so happy to know that as the seasons come around year after year there will always be gorgeous things to admire and paint in the hedgerows and in the garden.

I've finished my classes and all but one workshop/demo for the year. Now my thoughts must go to the book I'm preparing for Search Press. It's about painting orchids, so those are the flowers that will be filling my mind for a while.

I'll leave you with a little watercolour of my favourite Autumn subject this year, hawthorn berries.

Poster fun

2011-10-24T16:36:00.003+01:00

Thought I would share this with you...a theatre group asked to use my painting for a poster for their production. I was very pleased to say yes, and here it is. The production was well attended apparently and I'm sure they wont mind me showing you the finished poster.

Spring Courses 2012 Dates and Times

2011-10-23T16:14:00.002+01:00

I've put news of the new Spring Courses 2012 in my studio on this blog. To have a look please scroll down to see dates and times on the right hand side of your screen. Please email for availability if you are interested to ann@annmortimerart.

Arnold Hill craft fair 15/16 October 2011

2011-10-12T15:02:00.003+01:00

I'm going to be taking my cards, some prints, paintings etc. to exhibit at Arnold Hill School craft fair, Nottingham on Sat 15/16 Oct. I thought I would use the opportunity to sell some of my vast stock of cards at knock down prices and also tell people about my weekly classes which I will be continuing next March 2012.

If you're in the vicinity, hope to see you there, come and say hello!

Good chance to look around for stocking fillers...I didn't actually mention Christmas...whoops! now I have, so sorry!!!

Oh well might as well go the whole hog and upload a Christmas scene! Ha!

Any Alison House photos to share?... and getting a perspective on things.

2011-10-10T11:57:00.006+01:00

I'm feeling refreshed now after the weekend...we did put a lot into our painting course, all of us. I think we were all pretty drained with the effort of producing such a lot of excellent work. But you have to put a lot in to get a lot out!

Just wondering whether any of the course members have photos they'd like to share?.. I know the cameras were clicking! Please Email any you would like me to put on the blog for everyone to see.

I'm going to look at perspective with my class tomorrow. You can't ignore it...it is the bugbear of many an artist, student or not, but better to face it and welcome it as a friend! Has to be said that any painting involving buildings will look tons better if the perspective is convincing. And unlike with many aspects of watercolour painting which are intuitive and based on spontaneity, this thing called perspective can be learned. There are rules, and you just have to understand how it works and then draw and draw, doodle and play, draw cubes with vanishing points and more cubes after that and eventually the penny will drop! Trust me!

I've uploaded a painting I did a few years ago now which involves perspective. The hollyhocks are the main subject but it was important that the perspective was right so as not to distract the viewer's eye from the main interest.

October painting course in Cromford

2011-10-07T10:53:00.008+01:00

Well once again we had amazing weather for our October painting course at Alison House. Below is our wonderful view from the studio...I'm pretty sure that there aren't many painting venues that can match that view...It makes the artist's spirit soar!

We had a great time and as you see by the amount of work posted on the studio windows, a fruitful time too. Everyone worked so hard at their painting but ate, drank and laughed a lot as well. Thanks everyone for making it all so thoroughly enjoyable! Here's to the next time!

Cromford here we come!

2011-10-03T10:39:00.004+01:00

The morning of the first day of my second residential painting course at Alison House, Cromford, Derbyshire. When we will spend Monday to Thursday thinking of nothing but painting and enjoying ourselves, no worries apart from having to change the painting water now and again.

I am so ready to go that I have time to write a quick post. The weather has been amazing over the last few days...long, soft, golden Autumn days. It's turning now unfortunately, but we will be studio based so nice and comfortable out of the weather while surrounded by lovely countryside and garden views out of the studio windows.

The leaves caught my attention and I've decided to do Autumn...nothing is more inspiring to a watercolourist than those Autumn colours of reds, siennas and golds. Great opportunity for using texture too and letting go with the splatters, vibrant inks and generally having a fun time.

Above is the sort of thing that we'll be looking at...

Must be off now. I have a car to load up!

Cosmos and Phlox workshop...the step by step demo and ref. photos.

2011-09-25T13:37:00.014+01:00

I'm uploading the reference photos for yesterday's studio workshop on Cosmos and Phlox for the members who attended and worked so hard at producing their paintings. So Carol, Molly, Barbara, Roger, Kathy and Greta, here you are! And as a bonus the step by step stages are here too so they can compare their efforts with mine.

I love trying to depict flowers growing in their natural situation in my garden and I am always taking photos as well as spending hours staring and observing how they grow. White flowers are a special favourite and I like to make them pop and spring out from the page. Hopefully that is what has been achieved here.

Click on any of the photos to enlarge.

Late Summer Hydrangea step by step demo

2011-09-05T14:56:00.009+01:00

Here are the six stages of the painting. Starting with my photo and then the drawing with some flowers masked out.

At the drawing stage, I drew around the outside of the flower mass first and then put the details of the separate florets in.

I laid a wash wet in wet to start with and then gradually worked into that first wash defining the negative spaces, mostly and then finally putting detail into the flower and leaf forms.

Late Summer Hydrangeas

2011-09-04T16:45:00.004+01:00

I had the bright idea of looking at Hydrangeas with my new art group meeting on Wednesdays.

Hydrangeas do have a bit of a reputation for being rather dull, standing as a a lonely shrub in a neglected suburban front garden. For some reason I immediately think of Hyacinth Bouquet! perhaps it's because her hats remind me of full blown hydrangea flowers. Not to mention the Queen Mother!!

But look closer and they are the most complex of flowers and when they start to go over in Autumn, they have an amazing array of hues and textures within them. They often have a range of colours within their complex pom pom shape and each small floret has a lovely self contained simple shape which twists and turns to create movement and interest.

So I see them as an opportunity to practise observation and drawing, to use different texture making tools, to employ negative painting technique and to create vibrant colour mixes.

Yesterday I spent the afternoon doing a painting of a white hydrangea from a photograph. (Although I have gathered plenty of live examples of the flower in the studio as well.)

Really enjoyed the painting. I will upload the step by step stages next time.

Come back sunshine.....all is forgiven.

2011-08-31T15:39:00.003+01:00

Ohhh, I wish we still had the sunshine of last week! The world has gone all atonal and dull and it's so chilly!

I've posted a little texture exercise that I demonstrated on the course last week, just to have something to decorate this blog entry!

After the excitement of last week's course in Derbyshire, I am now putting my mind to the weekly classes that start next week. Beginners or "restarters" on Tuesday morning and Experienced painters on Wednesday.

I still have one space on the Experienced painters session, so anyone out there wanting to have a weekly friendly painting session where you can forget the outside world and immerse yourself in some interesting projects, please get in touch!

I'm excited about the beginners. As is often the case with watercolour, I don't feel that I ever had, years ago when I started studying it seriously, a proper initiation into its secrets and special charms. I fell straight into doing full paintings tending to just draw and colour in rather than exploiting the full potential of this glorious medium.

Through reading loads of books and watching artists I admired, I gradually picked up different nuggets of information and of course gradually realised what it could actually do when I gave it its head and let it do its own thing.

I'm looking forward to helping people have a proper respect for this dynamic medium right from the start. Can't wait!

We had a laugh!

2011-08-25T19:48:00.003+01:00

Just returned from my course at Alison House where we had a really good few days.

I'd like to say thank you to all the lovely course members who made it such a good experience.

Thanks for putting up with me and well done for producing a copious amount of quality art. I think we were just getting into our artistic stride when we had to stop, so here's hoping you continue the wonderful work at home.

So cheers, (left to right) Lesley, Lynne, Joy, Janet, Elaine, Margaret, Jean, Patsy, Isabel, and Eileen. Here's to the next time!

Cromford, here we come!

2011-08-19T14:59:00.003+01:00

The watercolour painting course I'm running in Cromford, Derbyshire starts on Monday. I am so excited!

There are so many ideas running around in my head, the main problem is going to be to try and curb my enthusiasm and not present people with too many things to do! We only have three days!

Here is a watercolour of a scene at the side of the canal in Cromford where wild flowers were growing in abundance this Spring. I liked the way that the daisies stood out against the dark water behind.

Japanese anemone in the sunshine

2011-08-09T21:41:00.002+01:00

It was lovely and sunny this afternoon and the Japanese anemones looked so white and bright in the sunshine. I did this watercolour of a single flower showing the cast shadows over the petals. These flowers never fail to please every year and I never tire of painting them. This is a small painting, less than A4, finished in less than an hour.

Dog roses

2011-08-08T16:10:00.007+01:00

Some dog roses that were growing near the front entrance of Alison House Hotel where I am running the first of my two residential painting courses in a couple of weeks time.

They wont be there when we go but I took lots of photos. They were nicely set against the dark front wall of the hotel. The same dog roses were growing along the canal where we went for a walk later on the day of that visit.

Couldn't resist making a quick watercolour this morning.

Woodland walks

2011-08-04T22:32:00.004+01:00

If anyone had told me a few weeks ago that I would be walking through a SSSI (Site of Special Scientific Interest) ancient woodland assiduously scouring the verges for Broad leaved helleborines, I would have said "You what?"

They are a type of orchid which I had never heard of but which suddenly has become the most desirable thing in the world to see as we walk slowly through the undergrowth.

On our walk we meet up with Derek and Iris, both carrying very impressive looking cameras, light metres and tripods and doing the characteristic concentrated nose to the ground amble along the woodland path.

They are very friendly and well informed about orchids and wild flowers in general. In a matter of minutes I am treated to a run down of all the local sites and an impressive list of the orchids that this intrepid couple have seen and photographed in the Nottinghamshire/Leicestershire/Derbyshire vicinity. I see some of their excellent photographic work and realise in a flash (sorry!) that my compact camera is patently not up to the job...I need something better to do these rare flowers justice.

Suddenly I am impatient for next Spring when I can go up to Miller's Dale and see the first of the Early purple orchids...Iris tells me that Frog orchids and Common Spotteds can be seen on this very spot and now the thought that I might someday see a Lady's slipper is too exciting to bear!

I am well and truly hooked!

My photo of a Broad leaved helleborine above is a truly pathetic offering, but I took it and I saw it and now I can tick it off my list. My first wild orchid! I'm proud!

Echinacea and Poppy seed heads

2011-08-02T16:56:00.003+01:00

The Echinaceas or cone flowers in bloom in the garden at the moment are a deep, deep pink colour and are looking gorgeous. I wonder whether they're deeper pink because of the fact that there has been so little rain this year? That sounds really fanciful I know, but I have noticed that flowers change their hue from year to year, particularly clematis and that may be due in part to the weather conditions.

Anyway...I am going to do Late Summer flowers for my workshop in September and thought these might be a good subject.

I've tended to avoid painting them because I couldn't see how I could get the tonal contrast with the back ground. And pink is a difficult colour to paint successfully. So today I had a go. Still don't relish the pink but I loved rendering the form of the flowers with their twisty turny petals. The centres are a bit of a challenge too. They become more cone like as the season progresses and at the moment they are quite flat. Fascinating geometric form within the centres...hopeless trying to get that with watercolour so it's a question of summarising and giving an impression.

I'm hooked now though!

Polperro pen and wash

2011-07-21T10:52:00.004+01:00

Just a quick upload today as I am determined to get to that studio and produce art!

The computer is a false friend in many ways...you sit at it researching ideas and communicating with other artists and looking around and staring at images and, and....before you know it the morning has gone!

Here's a pen and wash sketch of a cottage in Polperro which we visited on our Salcombe holiday.

I'm thinking that the medium suits buildings and streets and stone structures. Hoping to do some of this work on my course in Derbyshire in August. The stone walls and structures in that part of the world lend themselves to pen and wash.

Salcombe views, Orchids and Buzzy bees

2011-07-16T13:14:00.008+01:00

I am still here and writing this blog. No posts for nearly a month! I apologise! There's been quite a lot going on including a wedding party here at home for my daughter Sophie who got married in the US last year without our being able to be there.

Just returned from a welcome week away in Salcombe which is a beautiful place totally unknown to me up til now, but I feel like going back! Wonderful views along the coastal inlet of the Kingsbridge estuary and Salcombe itself is an unspoilt little town with lots of original buildings, small shops....great retail therapy opportunities!...and interesting features.

While there I saw a book by artist Sue Lewington which was on the shelves of the holiday flat we were staying in. It was a book in the form of a sketchbook with the title Salcombe and had some really characterful and inspirational pen and wash drawings telling the story of the town. Made me want to immediately get my sketchbook out.

As it was, I confined my artistic activities to visiting an orchid nursery in Newton Abbott and looking for wild orchids on Orley Common, sadly none to be found. Why orchids?...there may be another book in the offing...more news later. Took loads of photos.

Back home here, the garden is a riot of colour and overgrown with flowers being visited by the bees. On that subject I read an article by Joe Swift in today's Times about flowers to grow to encourage bees..something we should all try and do to save our rapidly declining bee population. Bees like simple open flowers like daisies or bell shaped flowers that they can easily crawl into.

In this garden, the ones most visited are the lavender, scabious, cosmos, the cranesbill geraniums, nepeta, annual cornflowers, marigolds and nasturtiums, which I'm growing among the vegetables and of course the hollyhocks. Even the runner beans and potato flowers attract the bees...we had our first potatoes from the veg plot yesterday for tea and they were delish!

I'm rambling, a bit like the garden is after being neglected for a week!

I have one place left on my beginners course, starting September 6. Three places on my Improvers/Experienced course. The Day workshops are full apart from one place on the September one. (Autumn Flowers)

The next few weeks will be spent thinking about my courses in Derbyshire. Nothing but art to think about now...total immersion from now on...

Spanish painting holiday!

2011-06-23T10:17:00.005+01:00

This is looking quite a way ahead but I'm looking forward already to going on my Spanish Painting Holiday with Sue Sareen, my friend and artist colleague.

She has been running holidays at this venue for several years now and this Andalucian finca/hotel has gone from strength to strength as a beautiful and relaxing place to paint and enjoy the wonderful mountain scenery of the nearby National Park.

Take a look for yourself. Sue has just returned from her first course this year and couldn't stop praising the place...especially the food!

http://www.hotelfinca.com/

I figure that late October will be just right for me. I don't like it too hot, especially when I'm trying to paint. And apparently the longer shadows at that time of year make for some wonderful compositions.

I can't think of a better way to spend a few days than with keen painters out to have a good time while enjoying wonderful Spanish scenery and hospitality. Can't wait!

By the way she still has spaces!

Sue's website with holiday details:

http://www.sareenarts.com/frame.htm

A successful outing to Basingstoke

2011-06-17T20:23:00.002+01:00

Yay! Three paintings sold at the SFP exhibition at The Vyne near Basingstoke. So it was worth the double round trip to Basingstoke.

I never did get to see the exhibition itself as we had to return home on the handing in day and of course everything had been taken down when we went to collect the unsold paintings from a nearby community centre which was the handing out point.

Such are the vagaries of exhibiting. Unless you have endless leisure time and endless financial resources, you don't get to enjoy the exhibition yourself.

But the day was made all the more worthwhile as husband and I met up with a good friend of ours for lunch.

I've posted one of the paintings that sold, my Blackberries and Hawthorn watercolour.

Patchings Festival...having a great time!

2011-06-10T19:49:00.003+01:00

Patchings is well and truly underway and the weather has been kind..ish so far. Thought I would post the main painting I have on display there at the moment...better than a pile of bags ready to be loaded into the car!

I've been enjoying demoing and talking to loads of artist friends and student mates. The courses are filling up fast as well. Bring on tomorrow and Sunday when it's the turn of the general public as opposed to art groups who tend to make up the majority of visitors on Thursday and Friday.

Must go...have to print out more course brochures for tomorrow!

Ready to roll...

2011-06-07T21:17:00.002+01:00

Well there is the evidence of several day's work! Doesn't look much I know, but here is my stuff ready to take to Patchings tomorrow. I'm amazed myself at how deeply unimpressive this looks! Just as well I posted those photos below of the stand over the last few years.

It's good fun being able to share this years festival with you on this blog, something I've never done before. I'm determined this year to enjoy it, take my time, look around, talk to people. It's always been a very serious affair in my mind, but this year it'll be different...I'm going to chill and be more relaxed.

I always enjoy the painting part, the demonstrating that I do as part of the deal. It's a really good opportunity to sit down and paint with no interruptions for shopping, housework, phone calls and with a genuinely interested audience to make it worthwhile.

I'll be happy at around lunchtime tomorrow when the stand is set up and we can start enjoying the event.

Patchings...festival fever!

2011-05-31T10:18:00.005+01:00

Just got my exhibitors pack for Patchings Art Festival this morning with parking passes, stand layout, and various paraphernalia which tells me it's coming very soon.

No matter how many times I tell myself,

"Well you know, this is no big deal, hey it's just a few marquees in a field"...

I can't help the excitement building. Because I secretly know that this IS a big deal! I know that there will be scores of massive art society hired coaches lined up in the car park, crowds jostling for a look at the hundreds of stands and that there will be some serious art celebrity presence there.

This is my seventh year at this event. This is the event where in 2005 I turned professional publicly, this is the event where the commissioning editor at Search Press asked me to write a book and the editor of Leisure Painter has commissioned articles, this is the event where every year I meet up with artist friends and share experiences of the ups and downs of being a working painter and tutor. I can't wait!

Click on this link to see what I'm talking about

http://www.patchingsartcentre.co.uk/patchingsfestival/patchings_festival.php

Autumn Courses and Workshops

2011-05-29T17:34:00.005+01:00

Experienced Painters Sessions

Autumn 2011

8 Week Course

(6 Painters only)

in Ann's garden studio in West Bridgford, Nottingham

Cost £96

Deposit £20 payable on booking

Balance payable by August 19

Wednesdays 9.30 – 12.00

DATES

Sept 7, 14, 21, 26

Oct 12, 19, 26

Nov 9

(Note: No session on 5 Oct and 2 Nov)

This will be an opportunity to paint with like minded people exploring different techniques, approaches and subject matter.

These are painting sessions rather than learning classes where the emphasis is on self motivation and self expression.

Ann will provide resources, guidance and feedback but painters can equally be free to pursue their own ideas and projects.

Price includes tea/coffee and biscuits

Beginners/Improvers Course

Autumn 2011

8 Week Course

(6 Painters only)

in Ann's garden studio in West Bridgford, Nottingham

Cost £96

Deposit £20 payable on booking

Balance payable by August 19

Tuesdays 9.30 – 12.00

DATES

Sept 6, 13, 20, 27

Oct 11, 18, 25

Nov 8

(Note: No class on 4 Oct and 1 Nov)

This is a course for beginners or those who have already had a go and want to improve their techniques. Topics will include:

Laying a watercolour wash

Wet in Wet technique

Colour choice and mixing

Understanding Tones

Brushstrokes

Pigment to water ratio

Textures

Price includes tea/ coffee and biscuits

Day Workshops

Autumn 2011

Workshops will run on Saturdays from

10 am to 4.30pm

(6 Painters only)

Price includes a two course lunch with wine

with tea/coffee and biscuits throughout the day.

Cost £65

Deposit £20 on booking.

Balance payable on the day.

DATES

Sat 24 Sept Autumn Flowers

Sat 22 Oct Autumn Colours, Leaves, Fruits

Sat 12 Nov Painting the Winter landscape

So this is the deal with the Autumn studio courses. I've copied and pasted the info. from the brochure I made today.

Please drop me an email to annmortimer@gmail.com if you have any queries.

Paintings delivered and thoughts of Autumn term courses.

2011-05-27T12:37:00.006+01:00

This is a recent photo of the studio and garden...more details below about new courses here in the Autumn...

We delivered the paintings into the capable hands of the SFP hanging committee for the Spring Exhibition in Basingstoke yesterday. There and back in a day, it was quite a journey, especially with the M1 being closed in two places!

The volunteers of the SFP do a great job in organising these exhibitions. It's a thankless task, I fear, but we are all very grateful for the opportunity to exhibit and I for one say a warm thank you for their efforts.

Patchings in a week or so... but in the meantime I've been thinking about starting up some studio painting courses from this September. I've spent the year so far reassessing and pondering the way forward as all artists do from time to time, I think. But now I'm ready to embark on some new ventures.

So look out for news in the next few days of courses I'm going to run in my studio here in West Bridgford, Nottingham. This is a good time of year to plan new courses as I meet a lot of people at the Patchings Festival (9-12 June) and it's a great opportunity to spread the word. But for readers of this blog, here is advance notification.

I'm going to run two courses, each with 6 places only, one for beginners/improvers and the other a weekly painting session for experienced painters.

The beginners course will be a back to basics exploration of watercolour techniques. It could be that you have never tried watercolour or have learned a certain amount, but feel you want to revisit the basic techniques now that you have had a go.

The experienced painters sessions will be an opportunity to paint alongside like minded people to explore different approaches with some guidance and feedback both from me and the others in the group.

I'll be giving more details of these in future posts.

I will also be doing some Saturday workshops as before, a day long session with lunch provided. So look out for more on those too!

Any queries, drop me an email to annmortimer@gmail.com.

Perhaps worth a ride out?

2011-05-20T09:39:00.006+01:00

Here's the poster for the upcoming SFP exhibition. I'll have some paintings and cards for sale, but it might be worth a ride out to see the quality of work which will be on display. We're not talking just botanical paintings here, there will be a whole range of original and contemporary work on show all on a floral theme. Please click on the poster to enlarge.

An afternoon's work

2011-05-10T18:41:00.004+01:00

Here's the result of my afternoon's work today...six paintings framed. And there're my paintings and cards ready for the SFP exhibition as well.

I decided to frame this little snowdrop painting for Patchings and have uploaded it here for you to have a look. I think that's just about it. With the paintings I already have framed, I have enough material for my stand.

No more excuses, now!

Flowers in the Landscape

2011-05-06T15:45:00.002+01:00

I've just uploaded this image on my Redbubble page, so thought I would share it with you here as well. I've entered it into a group challenge on the site where RB members can upload one of their images according to a challenge theme set by the group leader and people can vote for the image they think is best. All a bit of fun really.

I've been busy and have all my paintings, folios and cards ready for the SFP exhibition. Wrapped in bubblewrap and boxed, they sit in a pile on a table in the studio while I look at them smugly.

Not too smug though because I haven't actually done any painting again so the dreaded creative dearth continues.

Trouble is I've got the June Patchings Festival to think about now! So I've been out buying frames this morning. So more handy displacement activity to put off the picking up of the brushes.

But this weekend I'm going to have a go at Acrylics with Sue Sareen, my original teacher and watercolour guru. That will be a laugh to try something new when I am so utterly entrenched in the watercolour method. Should be interesting. Might provide the needed impetus to get out of this torpor!!

A severe case of painter's block...

2011-04-25T17:17:00.004+01:00

Yay! I have painted a picture! For the first time for what seems like weeks after suffering from an inertia that made painting a watercolour seem like climbing a mountain.

It's often a light effect that inspires and the sunlight on these narcissi I thought was worth having a go at.

The bells, the bells....

2011-04-24T12:55:00.003+01:00

Reader, we went to the wood.

We took a trip out to Bunny Woods this morning. A mild windless air, still damp from last night's rain shower greeted us as we entered the wood. There was birdsong in the calm and a woodpecker made its mad hammering noise in the distance. The predominant colour was green and we could see that the recent warm weather had made the undergrowth quite lush and that the bluebells were not as plentiful as in previous years.

But what this did was make us appreciate the other wild flowers, the herb Robert, the cow parsley, late primroses and wood anemones.

Further into the wood and up the hill apiece there were more bluebells and the familiar blue haze greeted us. You just have to stop and stare and even the best photograph cannot depict those clouds of lavender and lilac and electric blue. Just lovely!

Bluebells in Bunny Woods

2011-04-23T16:12:00.005+01:00

It's bluebell time again! This is a painting of part of a small coppice in the village of Bunny in Nottinghamshire which in May is carpeted with a misty haze of blues, lavenders and violets.

If I can convince my husband that he needs a drive out for some fresh air, we'll go and have a little look to see if the bluebells are out again.

SFP Exhibition preparation

2011-04-15T16:36:00.002+01:00

I thought I'd better check in as you've probably given up on me!

Not been feeling too well lately and not full of the joys of Spring so the blog has been neglected.

I've still been active on Redbubble, adding one or two paintings and keeping an eye on the wonderful variety of art that always gives you a lift whatever your mood.

I've been preparing for the upcoming Soc. of Floral Painters exhibition at The Vyne, National Trust near Basingstoke starting the 28 May.

I'll be putting three paintings in and some cards and a couple of folios (mounted, unframed paintings). But there's a lot of work involved for just this small number of works. You have to decide early on which paintings you want to show, making sure they fit into the criteria for the SFP, especially size wise...(this year, due to lack of space, they must be less than 18 inches on the long side, which is very small.) We have to fill in forms listing the titles and sizes of the paintings and the card titles and send these off with the handling fees.

Then you have to get these paintings mounted and framed, either doing the work yourself or paying a framer. Then you've to sort out the cards you are selling, making sure they are priced and boxed and labelled. The paintings once framed need to be labelled and have removable labels attached to help the hanging team. Then they have to be packed up in bubble wrap and delivered to the venue in a two hour slot on the handing in day and Basingstoke is quite a long way from Nottingham where I am!

All this effort has been worth it in the past, especially on one memorable occasion when I sold all the paintings and the cards and didn't have to go and collect anything! Last year, I had done all the work and taken the paintings to Poole in Dorset for the annual exhibition..only to not sell any paintings! But I did sell prints and cards.

So exhibiting requires a lot of energy and enthusiasm often for very little return! I've posted one of the paintings I'm exhibiting. The Tree Peonies...hope you like it.

Derbyshire Days....painting holiday research.

2011-03-27T11:37:00.010+01:00

We went to Derbyshire last weekend to do a workshop with the keen painters of Matlock Art Society and to go to the painting holiday venue to have a look round.

When you go into a scenic part of the country such as the Derbyshire peak, you realise what you're missing in terms of variety of subject matter to paint when you live in a suburban environment as I do! The ivy covered stone walls dividing the fields, the rolling hills, the stone cottages and majestic trees along the roadside...everywhere you look there is texture, variety of form and ready made compositions to render in whatever medium you choose.

On visiting ARKWRIGHTS MILL again, we saw how much the reconstruction had advanced and were amazed at the story told by the information boards dotted around the site. Amazed also at the size of the trout shimmying against the flow in the stream that passes through the site and the size and depth of the waterfall in the old waterwheel housing which used to provide the power to run the textile mill in the 19th century. The mill site is becoming a hub of activity with shops, craft and art studios and museums and a cafe.

We went on to the CANAL QUAY where materials used to be shipped in and out of Cromford. The old building by the canal has been carefully refurbished and now houses a cafe.

With the painting holidays in mind, and my intention to do some pen and wash work, I took some close ups of the craggy cliffs and WALLS in the mill area, covered with lichen, ivies and self seeded Spring flowers.

Before leaving Cromford we walked around the VILLAGE POND, passing by the famous second hand bookshop, Scarthins, and round by the working waterwheel at one end of the pond. The daffodils were out.

Its a little gem is Cromford... sober, modest, quiet but full of fascinating social history and understated beauty.

Primroses...steps one to five.

2011-03-10T14:18:00.008Z

Here's how I tackled the primroses the day before yesterday. I had a good reference photo which I had been lucky enough to capture a week or so ago when the sun was shining. I wasn't too impressed with the photo until I had a good look and saw the effect of the sun on the petals at the top. That was enough to get me inspired.

You have to wet the paper thoroughly before putting on the first wash and then let the quite strong, thick colours blend in the water on the surface of the paper. You have to have an idea in your head as to which colour is going to go where. I look at the ref. photo through half closed eyes to see the tones more clearly.

Primroses...workshop preparation

2011-03-08T15:52:00.002Z

I'm doing a workshop with the Matlock Art Society on the 19 March and the subject is Primroses. I always like to freshen up my knowledge of the flower I'm going to be painting and it's often interesting to see how things have developed since last painting the subject in question.

Primroses are out now, trying their hardest to thrive despite the frosty nights and cold damp days we've been having. I took a photo of these as the late afternoon sun was skimming them and making them back lit. It was the light effect I was trying to capture above all else.

Irises and Clematis

2011-02-28T15:28:00.004Z

Finished this painting yesterday...it had been sitting in my file unfinished for months....Sometimes you have to wait for the muse to revisit!

View cards and prints of it here.

Cromford Watercolour Painting Courses...look what you'll be missing!

2011-02-27T10:20:00.005Z

I thought I'd put a little taster of the sort of things we will be looking at on the courses in August and October. Two residential painting courses running from Monday to Thursday in Cromford, Derbyshire, where I will be sharing my watercolour techniques with you and where you could have a relaxing painting break with all your accommodation and meals provided in a beautiful setting. Your only worry would be to change your painting water occasionally!

(Scroll down to read more).

Here's a little vignette produced from a scene close by the hotel where we'll be staying. Keeping our eyes peeled for likely painting possibilities is all part of the creative process and on a visit to Cromford last year I noticed this corner and couldn't resist painting it.

It could equally well have been done in pen and wash or left as a pencil drawing.

There are all sorts of similar subjects in Cromford and around the hotel. We will be spoilt for choice!

To find out more...

email me at annmortimer@gmail.com

or telephone 0115 9743658

Tulips and a stained glass window...with paint daubs effect

2011-02-26T22:33:00.003Z

I'm fascinated by stained glass window designs a la Louis Comfort Tiffany. Was trying out a different approach with these tulips. I'd taken a photo a long while ago of the tulips in front of some stained glass windows we have on our staircase at home. It took until now to get around to painting them.

I can't resist too putting the paint daubs effect on in photoshop....it seems to give the work a more integrated look. I've put both versions here for you to see. The smaller pic is my original watercolour.

Painting Courses in Derbyshire Book now to avoid disappointment!

2011-02-25T22:22:00.004Z

I thought I'd put a little reminder on the blog about the courses I'm running this year. I still have some places left both in August and October.

Please tell your painting friends if you think they might be interested!

Watercolour Painting with Ann Mortimer

I want to tell you about two residential watercolour painting courses I am going to run in 2011.

They will be at Alison House Hotel and Conference Centre in Cromford, Derbyshire.

www.alison-house-hotel.co.uk

Many of us have attended courses there in the past and enjoyed this relaxed, quiet spot which is in its own grounds in the village of Cromford. It is under new management and I have been to meet the new couple who now run the hotel and it is still as welcoming and relaxed as ever. But now it is licensed and is AA Four star.

Each course will be for four days. We will start with settling in and dinner on the Monday evening, followed by an introductory demo in the studio. We will have full days painting on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday packing up after lunch about 3-4pm.

The package includes tuition in a designated, comfortable studio and three nights’ accommodation in en suite rooms with coffee/tea making facilities, television, wi-fi broadband, etc. Then lunch every day and dinner with a glass of wine on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday evenings.

Price £395 everything included. ( Non painting partner £200)

Dates for the courses

Mon 22 – Thurs 26 August 2011

And

Mon 3 – Thurs 6 October 2011

I chose this venue for the courses as the hotel has all the facilities we would expect and it is a short walk into Cromford where there are shops and some interesting historical sights. So you can get out and have a little stroll around if you wish in an interesting place.

I’m really looking forward to this! I know we can have a really nice painting break away from it all and with no worries apart from having to change your painting water every now and again! Bliss!

I envisage doing a mixture of flowers and landscape/gardens/features as well as perhaps some painting and sketching in the grounds. But I will send you more details later on.

Drop me an email if you’re interested or give me a ring and we can have a chat about it.

annmortimer@googlemail.com

Tel no. 0115 9743658

Best Wishes from Ann

You've got mail!

2011-02-24T16:30:00.002Z

Using a photo taken a few years ago in France of a letterbox outside a house, I made up this little scene with a possible card design in mind. I love painting foliage with dark crevices among it. The wash starts flat and then gradually becomes more and more 3D in nature as the negative spaces are filled in with darks.

Love in a Mist ... the Nigella challenge!

2011-02-10T13:06:00.005Z

I have been having fun painting along with Barbara Glatzeder http://www.redbubble.com/people/bglatzeder on Redbubble and we are looking at different approaches with watercolour.

I wouldn't normally have tried painting this flower...in fact I've stared longingly at it in the garden and at photos I've taken of it in the past and thought "Nah! Much too hard" and moved on to something more attainable. But Barbara was doing Nigella and she challenged me to have a go.

If you click on the above link you will see Barbara's Nigella paintings.

I enjoyed it although the cloud of ferny foliage is a bit of a challenge to summarise and it's always difficult to get the blue right in blue flowers as they have a lot of pink in them and you can soon lose the light with trying too hard.

Excuses...excuses!!

Below is a photo of them growing in the garden.

Love in a Mist

2011-02-10T12:21:00.002Z

The irises at last!...Bird bath and Irises

2011-02-06T21:54:00.003Z

Here's the irises painting I started a week or so ago. I gave up on it, I was getting all precious and careful and so I did what I sometimes do and threw caution to the wind and quickly threw a dark background wash on it to see what happened, thinking it didn't matter anyway as it was destined for the bin. But then I went on to something else....and the painting was lurking in a corner. So I had another go at it and here it is for better or worse.

Treestory ...a film in the making

2011-02-05T12:24:00.003Z

Treestory is a film that is in preparation by director Ward Serrill (Heart of the Game - Miramax). Watch the film preview on the website to get a taste of the sort of documentary it will be. My daughter Sophie happens to be married to Ward. They are trying to fund this film from donations as perhaps they feel that we all have an interest in, and sense of ownership about, trees. Anyway I hope you'll have a look.

The painting is inspired by the new Forest, one I made a while ago in quite a loose way while having a bit of an art session with Sophie.

Who wants a Valentines card when you could plant a tree for your beloved instead?

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/TreeStory-News.html?soid=1103422986116&aid=6LBWRgDBcvw

Winter Jasmine...yellow stars in the February gloom

2011-02-04T16:13:00.002Z

I've been toying with the idea of documenting a year in this suburban garden of ours with some paintings for every month. At the moment the Winter jasmine is coming into flower and is the only bright colour in the February gloom.

I like the way it grows in a very untidy heap so that the tangle of stems and leaves adorned with the bright sparks of flowers provide a great opportunity for negative painting fun.

I masked out some of the flowers I'd roughly drawn straight on to the paper before laying a wash of yellows and pinks to begin with and then streaking darker colours into the wash wet in wet to represent the twigs and stems. Because the wash was wet the twigs ended up soft and out of focus. But I made sure that a lot of the yellow stayed uncovered. Then I worked into the first wash after it was dry and found leaf and twig shapes.

Finally I removed the masking off the flowers and painted them.

Nasturtiums - the designer flower and the joys of Redbubble

2011-01-27T11:50:00.005Z

These nasturtiums were growing in my herb garden last summer. They are “designer flowers” I always think, their shape is so strong and graphic, the leaves and tendril-like stalks as well as the flowers. Their colours are so gorgeous. They were often used in art nouveau designs.
I am drawn to them and embark on a painting but then remember that they are quite difficult flowers to capture! But I can’t resist the way their pale green stalks and leaves overlap and run in and out of each other making lovely crevices of darkness to contrast with the oranges and yellows.

I love these flowers with their flowing shapes and tendrils and flat disc like leaves and the oranges and yellows against the bluey green of the foliage. Not totally easy with my painting but there is enough about it that is pleasing for me to be able to allow it to be aired.

I've had a down time painting wise...not been inspired. But these set me off and while painting them, I had a feeling of having gone up a level in my understanding of the how the colours and tones work. It is amazing how you go on and on and on learning, absorbing information in your every day life, assimilating new ideas that you come up against if you're obsessed as I am with looking at images and art. Redbubble plays a huge part here...it is images a go go and so many different media and styles to look at. Also I have dialogues with the artists by email, some of whom are searching and searching and asking and asking and open to all sorts of creative stimuli.

For instance Barbara, who is a stunningly talented artist/designer already, but who is intent on trying out new things and wants to master traditional watercolour. We are swapping ideas and having great fun. It goes without saying that this is an International phenomenon, and art communication is taking place worldwide, instantaneously. To someone of my age, this is amazing. Given that we didn't get our first land line until I was a teenager and of course mobiles were unheard of and the internet wasn't even a twinkle in Bill Gates's eye.

But I digress!

There is an iris drawing waiting for me in the studio...yes, I'm back there again with the irises!

Hollyhock and Letterbox

2011-01-24T12:29:00.004Z

This is part of a step by step demonstration that appears in my book. Flowers in the Landscape (Search Press) I made this painting while the editor and photographer looked on taking notes and photographing each stage. That was fun, if a little scary!

I concocted the composition from some photos I had taken in Barbizon, a village South of Paris in France while on a touring holiday in the region. The important factor was the morning light which was coming obliquely from the left and casting interesting shadows over the flowers and structures.

Along with the light and cast shadows there was an added bit of human interest afforded by the box with its half posted letters.

I've put the photos here for you to see how you can combine different elements into one painting.

Daffodils

2011-01-16T17:50:00.003Z

I thought I would post something to cheer us up. I am still waiting for the weather to brighten up and for the garden to deliver us some little hints of Spring.

Here are some daffodils which I painted last year at Patchings Art Festival. I like these as I actually succeeded in leaving them quite loosely painted and did not over finish as I sometimes do.

Also in this post I am asking you to have a look at a project which is being undertaken by a friend, Olivia, inspired by the Haiti disaster and expressing her response to it.

Her art is heart stopping I think! Please donate if you can and help make sure that the project can proceed. I have. Many of her paintings are available to see on her website. The link to her website is in this advert. Click on the link...it will not commit you to anything and you will see some wondrous art that may change your view of things forever.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1799231214/forgetting-haiti-project

Please LIKE treestory on the treestory facebook page!

2011-01-12T18:28:00.002Z

TreeStory

TreeStory needs to get it's "Likes" up to 500 by the end of January! Why? Because this is how our tree movement will start! You are in the center of our snowball . . . can you help it to grow by giving it a little push? Please encourage your friends to visit this page and "Like" us. It's a very easy way to help us help the trees!!

Please if you are on Face book, go on the treestory page and click on LIKE, give it the thumbs up, please! This is the page for the documentary film Treestory which is soon to be made but needs funding desperately.

Please click on this link and LIKE. Thank you! It's a good cause! See the post below to read more about the film and see a lovely preview.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/TreeStory/114949375227609

Scribbler tool - Pansies

2011-01-12T16:57:00.002Z

This is all the rage on Redbubble! The scribbler tool that allows you to draw with the mouse. It's great fun and has an unexpected advantage of making you loosen up your drawing as you just can't control things as you would like to. I love it!

Trees Tell Our Story

2011-01-11T23:08:00.000Z

Trees Tell Our Story

Irises....with effects

2011-01-08T16:12:00.002Z

Have been playing with the Irises today. I made a watercolour using some black crayon and, not really satisfied with it, I put it through photo shop and added a dry brush effect. Here's the result.

It was good practice for the straight watercolour I will do next of this Irises composition.

Finding my way with Irises

2011-01-07T16:20:00.003Z

Here's my drawing of the irises composition from my photograph. It seems to me that it's a nice expression just as it is.

I love the lines, but I love the colour too...how can I find a way of combining the two?

Irises in the garden

2011-01-06T22:02:00.006Z

I've got 99 likes/thumbs up on my face book page.....Who's gonna make it 100? Yay!

If you do, I'll let you have a look at this picture of irises in my garden taken last May. I like the horizontal format and I'm working on it. I've done a detailed drawing and traced the drawing to preserve it. Might start a painting tomorrow.

New Year Inspiration

2011-01-02T10:07:00.006Z

Just a few random paintings from the archive to give them an airing and to hopefully inspire you...and ME!

The studio is going to be invaded today with determination and extra convector heater...I'm going to splash a few colours around and paint one or two subjects that I've been storing up.

Bring it on!

New Year Greetings!

2010-12-31T19:06:00.000Z

As 2010 draws to its close, may I wish everyone who reads this a Happy, Healthy and Wondrously Creative 2011!

!HAPPY NEW YEAR!

My studio showing work in progress

2010-12-31T12:12:00.000Z

This is a place that is becoming a distant memory...my studio! Too much going on over the holiday period. Too warm indoors by the fire!

Thought I would get into the mood by posting some pics of last summer when I was looking at cosmos. I made several paintings using the same palette of colours and because there were poppy seed heads and scabious in the background, this was blue/green based.

I have examples of the flowers in vases and my own photos printed off for reference plus the computer there to provide more reference material. In front of the window I've displayed one of the paintings I'd done earlier to help things along.

I notice my coffee cup is there, dangerously close to my painting water!

Keeping track with a 2011 Flower Calendar

2010-12-27T16:23:00.000Z

It's the day after Boxing Day and the world, well my little bit of it anyway, is still in Christmas holiday mode. It's a case of suspended animation with the days being so short still that there's hardly time to do anything before dusk falls and then there's family and friends to catch up with.

But 2011 is just around the corner, a brand new year and brand new exciting challenges. I thought I'd tell you about the 2011 calendars I've created on the redbubble site from a collection of my paintings.

If you'd like a collection of 12 good quality prints of my paintings on excellent quality thick card, then one of the calendars might be an idea. It'll keep you up to date as well!

Click on the link below to have a look. You can scroll through to see a different print for each month of the year.

http://www.redbubble.com/people/annmortimerart/calendars/6072104-2-ann-mortimers-watercolour-flowers

Or if you're into landscape, there is the "Out and About with Ann Mortimer" calendar. Click on this link to view.

http://www.redbubble.com/people/annmortimerart/calendars/6072176-1-out-and-about-with-ann-mortimer

The North wind doth blow...

2010-12-16T11:35:00.000Z

Hi all,

Sorry I have not posted for a while. It's the time of year! I expect everyone is in the same boat, or should I say Department store, desperately looking for present ideas.

I'm posting this little robin who should cheer us all up. Medici cards used this image for a Christmas card this year. He came out of nowhere really, I didn't even draw an outline, though I took some care to try and get the spade handle and snow and water droplets right. I did the robin wet in wet and left the feathers on the breast just to sort themselves out, adding the red wet in wet with thick paint to spread on its own.

I don't often paint wildlife, but this robin seemed to emerge from the brush with a life of its own.

Snow,snow...quick,quick...snow

2010-12-09T13:26:00.000Z

Hi all! Sorry not to have posted for a while. I have become all discombobulated with the snow and freezing weather. My studio is not such a welcoming place somehow in these freezing temperatures. The other day it stayed at about minus 5c all day. Just the few yards up the path to the studio in the open air is enough to put you off.

Also Christmas duties call...shopping and organising.

The title of this post is a reference to another thing that is taking my attention at the moment...the BBC's Strictly Come Dancing. Now this is no purely British phenomenon...I know it has travelled in its many form all over the world. I also know that this blog is visited by people the world over, so everyone knows what I'm talking about! Have been blogging and making friends on the Strictly blogs, especially the one supporting Matt Baker, who is the main man as far as I'm concerned and with his partner Aliona should be this year's winners.

But back to painting. I'm uploading a painting I did recently with a workshop in mind. Reference photo kindly lent to me by Alan from the Orston art group.

Have lent it a seasonal touch by adding the holly in the foreground.

Enjoy!

Woke up to Snow!

2010-11-27T14:08:00.000Z

I have just tweeted for the first time...I am no longer a twitter virgin! Some nonsense about snow making people go out and walk. Still don't really get it, facebook is much more entertaining. But if it's good enough for the likes of Jamie Oliver, Matt Baker and Lord Sugar, it's good enough for me.

The snow was a big surprise this morning and it's still lying there looking beautiful. I would post my latest snow painting but I am without my computer as our router has failed and I need to connect the new one. Writing this on Andrew's computer.

I have finished my workshops for the time being. Not booking any new ones is a deliberate policy on my part. I want to see what I can do with my painting with no particular direction to follow, no subject to research, no workshop to prepare for. The readers of this blog are witnesses to my fate. Will I flounder and lose the will to live (paint)? Or will I lose myself in a surge of unparalleled and unimagined creativity? Hmmmm!

Watch this space....

Blackberries 2 - the workshop version.

2010-11-22T16:06:00.000Z

We had a nice time at the last studio workshop of the year, Margaret, Barbara, Kathy, Jean, Ian, Megan, Greta, Lynne and I. The hedgerow blackberries and hawthorn gave us a complicated subject but with lots of interest, including as it did, flowers, fruits, leaves, background, texture and so on. There were some brilliant paintings at the end and I was so excited, I forgot to take any photos!

My second version of the blackberries has more light in it with some "skyholes" and more of the white blackberry flowers lifting the composition.

It was quite sad to say goodbye to everyone. I want to thank everyone who has come to any of my studio workshops. We have run 40 workshops since 2006 when I first got my lovely premises built thanks to the belief and generosity of my husband Andrew. He has also provided the delicious lunches that have sustained us through many hours of concentration and hard creative work. So thanks, partner!

Blackberries Painting demo in five stages

2010-11-19T11:08:00.000Z

It's my final studio workshop of the year this Saturday and we are going to look at blackberries and hawthorn growing in a hedgerow.

This isn't the exact composition that I'll be demoing at the weekend...I'm leaving that for the course members to see first! This is one I prepared earlier in the best Blue Peter tradition.

But people on Redbubble have shown an interest in my method of working and have asked about the different stages of the paintings, how I start the first wash, what I mask out initially and so on.

So here are the main stages photographed as I went along.

I lay a first wash, having masked out the areas that I want to preserve from the wash or keep as white paper until later. In this first wash, I set the scene and some of this first wash will not be covered with any more pigment but will stay as it is. I lay the paint down using my brush in a weaving action in such a way as to leave areas of light which hopefully will shine through later washes.

In the subsequent stages I work into this first wash, painting the negative spaces mostly, as if delving my way into the scene to find more and more depth.

Hope this helps anyone who wants to have a go at this type of watercolour painting. It's fun, I love it!

(Scroll down to see the different stages and click on "Older Posts" if you get to the bottom of the page and want to see more.)

Blackberries Stage 1

2010-11-19T11:07:00.001Z

Blackberries Stage 2

2010-11-19T11:06:00.001Z

Blackberries Stage 3

2010-11-19T11:05:00.001Z

Blackberries Stage 4

2010-11-19T11:03:00.000Z

Blackberries Final Stage

2010-11-19T10:59:00.000Z

New Forest Stream

2010-11-10T14:54:00.001Z

A four stage demonstration of this scene in the New Forest.

I've been preparing for a workshop with the Orston art group. Was undecided what to do with these very keen painters with whom I used to work regularly. Finally picked an Autumn Woodland scene that I saw a few years ago in the New Forest, which confusingly is one of the most ancient managed forests in Britain. It is still kept as a managed tract of beautiful natural mixed woodland with wild ponies and other wildlife wandering through it.

I remember this year there had been flooding and there is evidence in the photo of the river having been a torrent with broken trees and debris lying about.

Quite a complex subject, especially for a watercolour flower specialist like me (!), but with lots of interest. I tried to get a sense of distance and depth and a feeling of the light shining through the canopy of leaves from above. The water is tricky and it's easy to overwork, as I think I may have done in this version. Beware!

I have uploaded the different stages of the painting plus the reference photo, mainly for the group to be able to look at and print off if they want to.

(If anybody else wants to have a go at painting this, that's fine with me. But to avoid confusion, it would be good to credit me, Ann Mortimer in the final painting. Thanks! That goes for any step by step in this blog.)

Scroll down to see the demo.

New Forest stream Stage 1

2010-11-10T14:53:00.001Z

New forest Stream stage 2

2010-11-10T14:51:00.000Z

New Forest Stream Stage 3

2010-11-10T14:50:00.001Z

New Forest Stream Final Stage

2010-11-10T14:48:00.001Z

Autumn Hedgerows...a blackberrying we will go!

2010-10-27T23:00:00.000+01:00

I've been looking out for signs of Autumn in the hedges and gardens, not only for leaves for the Autumn Leaves workshop but also for my last studio workshop of the year billed as Autumn fruits, flowers, etc.

I walked down to the nearby Grantham canal which has hedges and trees growing along the length of its West Bridgford section. I was amazed at how many different brightly coloured fruits and flowers and leaves I could find with my camera. I saw blackberries growing alongside their flowers even now in October. The berries were in bunches of different shades of green and crimson and purple and the leaves were invariably tinged with reds and browns....very attractive and lovely to paint. There were rose hips and hawthorn berries and white morning glory flowers in different stages of growth. Quite a feast of material to paint.

I've posted my painting of blackberries and a photo of hawthorn which I think will make a good ready made composition for another painting.

Photos for the SFP painters

2010-10-25T08:49:00.000+01:00

I promised the ladies at the SFP workshop last Saturday that I would post the reference photos, so here they are. Hopefully you can print them out if you want to. The single flower images will give you an idea about the placement of the cast shadows on the petals. Essential in order to give the painting that sunny look.

Painting Cosmos with the Society of Floral Painters

2010-10-24T11:16:00.000+01:00

We had a great day's painting in Bursledon with the Society of Floral Painters and although the paintings were unfinished at the end of our long day's creative work, they really did make a good show as you can see in the above photo.

I have to say thank you to lovely Ann, the workshop coordinator, who had signed up twelve artists who I could tell were passionately interested in this type of looser flower painting. I think they are normally much more measured and detailed in their work but they are really keen to be "loose women"!

So there were pleas of more water!, more pigment!, go for it!, being heard throughout the day and there was one special moment with Ann where I really think she got the hang of letting that paintbrush have its way on her painting!

I understood more than ever before how watercolour can be used in many different ways, from the one extreme of providing a close academic study of a plant or flower primarily for identification purposes, to the other extreme of allowing the water and pigments to create a set of marks and textures playing together in an abstract design.

Our paintings yesterday were somewhere in between the two. We wanted to create identifiable flower portraits but wanted them to be set in a context where our colours had been allowed to move and mingle in a dreamy background of gorgeous colour combinations and suggestive marks. The viewer could then use their imagination and memory to create the summery flower border that we were evoking.

I hope everyone enjoyed the day as much as I did and that that they felt that the hard work and intense concentration was worth it! (Click on the photos to enlarge.)

Society of Floral Painters workshop coming up...

2010-10-21T12:51:00.000+01:00

Today I'm preparing and packing up all my stuff ready to make the journey down to Southampton for a workshop I'm running for the Society of Floral Painters. I'm always delighted to be asked to do this for them as I know that they are great flower lovers and serious floral artists. No pressure there then!

We're going to be looking at White Cosmos. While I was painting them this summer at the time when they were abundant in the garden, I decided that they would be a good subject to tackle with the SFP members. They are nice simple open flowers in their form so we can enjoy placing them in a more complex background of varied flowers and leaves. Added sunshine should help us produce a fresh, lively painting of an abundant summer border. That's the plan anyway!

I have used a blue/green palette, led by the muted glaucous greens of the poppy seed heads that were there at the time. This is relieved by the bright yellows of the flower centres.

A good time was had.....

2010-10-16T20:33:00.000+01:00

We had a good day today at the Autumn Leaves studio workshop.

Margaret, Christine, Barbara, Megan, Roger, Les and I really went for it with the reds, yellows, oranges, pinks and greens of Autumn. I've uploaded their paintings and am really impressed with the high standard of their work.

The studio was awash with brightly coloured leaves and we did them justice. Well done everyone...good job! (Click on the photo to enlarge).

Autumn Leaves....workshop coming soon.

2010-10-08T10:46:00.000+01:00

I've been looking at leaves and using up my tubes of gold, crimson, yellow, pink, and siennas. I'll have to get a new stock in for the workshop! But it is great fun. As long as you get the outer shape of the leaf right, (and don't tell anyone, but a real leaf makes a wonderful template!), then you can go crazy with your colours and textures within the leaf.

In this painting I've introduced a bit of structure by putting in some branches and twigs. I like the dark, knobbly shapes of the twigs.

Rainbow Hydrangeas

2010-10-05T10:05:00.000+01:00

I had good fun with this yesterday. Used a piece of the back of an old painting and just set off with a little bit of drawing with some watercolour pencils right in the middle plus some loose washes of the different colours I could see in the flowers. Then worked my way out, adding more flowers. I had a vase of about 5 flowers in front of me and I kept turning the vase to get different views. I suppose I was trying to get them to look as if they were growing outside in the garden.

They turn different colours as Autumn advances and they have speckles, and colour changes within each petal. They almost look like a watercolour painting! I like painting them because each flower is made up of several different florets and you can go into the crevices with negative painting to create depth within them.

I used quite a lot of pencil rubbed against sandpaper to make the speckles. Good fun!

Walled Garden workshop debriefing....

2010-10-03T12:24:00.000+01:00

There were eight of us, Margaret, Anne, Rosie, Shirley, Marion, Di, Jean and I here in the studio yesterday for the workshop and we did some good work. Everyone ended up with a very decent painting. I've uploaded a photo but Jean had to go early and so her lovely painting isn't there.

(Click on the photo to enlarge and scroll down to the 26 September post to see the photo reference we used.)

It was quite an ambitious project, but I couldn't resist it as I thought there were so many aspects to get our teeth into. Tree bark catching the light, flower borders to be loosely summarised, leaves silhouetted and falling naturally, figures to give it life and the cast shadows across the lawn.

Di said that she would never have attempted such a subject but in fact she ended up with a very beautiful convincing painting.

We all enjoyed a delicious lunch thanks to lovely Andrew!

Well done everyone! You did work hard but it paid off!

My tree story on www.treestory-seattle.com

2010-09-28T11:11:00.000+01:00

Do you love trees? Who doesn't really? Check out this website and share your story.

This is mine....

Seattle is not my home but people I love dearly are there. And this is not really a story but TreeStory Seattle has been an inspiration and has made me realise the huge part that trees play in my life.
I am a watercolour painter, that’s my job and it’s how I spend most of my waking hours.
In a landscape that I’m painting, trees with their heroic, majestic forms invariably provide the structure, the framework. Trees give me the leaves, with their myriad colours and shapes, the fruit and the blossom that I love to paint.
Most of my working days I hold a gift from a tree in my hand, my paintbrush! This sensitive wooden tool with the soft sable at its end is the channel for the emotion, the creativity that flows on to that textured white surface which has often been provided by…a tree!
Until now, I don’t think I really knew how much I need and love TREES.

Studio workshop coming soon...Walled Garden

2010-09-26T15:53:00.000+01:00

This is our subject for next week's workshop in the studio. It's an example of how you can jazz up a reference photo to make it more interesting. This is a lovely garden belonging to some friends. I loved the long shadows across the lawn and the foreground tree.

Burton Joyce workshop.....We had fun!

2010-09-25T18:31:00.000+01:00

It's been a lovely day at Burton Joyce Art Group. It was, of course, quality rather than quantity today as there were just the six painters in the group which was better for them, more tuition time, and better for me, more individual contact, and better for all...more biscuits! They made some really good paintings and enjoyed themselves as well. I have their permission to show off the paintings and a group photo. I'm also uploading the doorway photo in case they would like to have another go at the subject.

Just click on any of the images to enlarge.

Upcoming Workshop preparation - Sunlit Doorway

2010-09-24T14:39:00.000+01:00

Preparing for the upcoming workshop at Burton Joyce art group. We're going to do this sunlit doorway scene. We will be painting sunshine again, or at least the effects of it which are usually cast shadows and highly contrasting surfaces.

This is from a photo of an old doorway that my sister Janet took and let me have as painting reference.

The sunlit wall standing out against the dark background and the shadows cast by the flowers growing out of the wall over the door are good fun to try and capture. They provide the wow factor that every subject should have to make it worth painting.

Seeing it in black and white...Oleander Workshop review.

2010-09-19T08:58:00.000+01:00

We had a good time, yesterday, Margaret, Barbara, Kathy, Roger, Jean, Sue, Anne and I at the studio workshop. I don't know whether this was due to the art or the home made brownies at coffee time and the excellent lunch with wine prepared by Andrew, but everyone seemed happy!

When we got to the end and were preparing for a show of work which we usually do outside, it started raining, so I wasn't able to get a photo of the students' work. But as always the finished paintings were remarkable for their quality and variety, considering we all did exactly the same subject.

Anne had printed a black and white version of my finished painting and it was interesting. It struck me that viewing our work in black and white is something that we could all do to check out our values and whether we have achieved a good tonal range in any painting. All you have to do is put the image through photoshop and click on "remove colour".

I was quite pleased with my Oleander painting in black and white. The lightest bits are,as intended, the doorway and the dappled sunlit floor and the flowers stand out pale too.

Interesting to see how the red chairs, which stand out in colour are in fact the same tone as their surroundings and almost disappear in the non colour version.

And thus it is that you never stop learning in this business of watercolour painting!

Blossom Inspiration on Redbubble

2010-09-17T16:32:00.000+01:00

I saw an image, a photo of some cherry blossom, on Redbubble ( you'll have to have a look!) taken by Meg Hart and I was struck by its simplicity and beauty and the tonal contrast within it. On this site you can leave comments and encouragement to the artists and I duly admired Meg's image and congratulated her. I also asked permission to paint from the image as I sort of knew that I would love doing it. And here it is....I went straight off to paint it even though I should have been getting ready for tomorrow's workshop. Finished it off this morning....I'm pleased with it. I shall be looking out for cherry blossom next Spring as I love that combination of colours...the pinks and pale blues and purples and the dark brown of the bare twigs.

Upcoming workshop - 18 September Under the Oleander Tree

2010-09-04T16:51:00.000+01:00

Here's my painting of the subject for my next studio workshop. It's from a photo of a courtyard in Crete lent to me by my wonderful friend Greta. It took quite a lot of painting! But that's because I've done a very detailed study. Apart from the chairs, which need to be carefully depicted, I think it could be rendered much more loosely. I might have a go, but at the moment I'm all "oleandered" out!

I liked the subject because of the cast shadows on the floor and the little doorway leading ....who knows where? The chairs provide a centre of interest which then, hopefully, leads the eye to the doorway. I put in the pot in the foreground.

Cromford in the news...it's the place to be!

2010-08-23T11:07:00.000+01:00

The watercolour painting courses I'm running next year in August and October are based in Cromford in the Derbyshire peak.

Was interested to see in the business section of the Times last Saturday that Emma Bridgewater (creator of the lovely pottery spotted mugs and cereal bowls and smart business woman ) is a trustee of Cromford Mill and The Arkwright Society. Remember Richard Arkwright was the

man who developed the first water powered cotton spinning mill at the time of the Industrial Revolution and the impressive mill he built in Cromford is still there.

I read in the Times article that Ms Bridgewater has kept her very successful multi million pound business as a sustainable family concern and has not sold out to venture capitalists. She feels that Britain needs the stability that this sort of family business encourages. Good for her!

The Arkwright Society that Emma is supporting hopes to develop the original mill buildings into an interactive heritage visitor centre and centre for community projects. Not hard to understand as the place is already home to various art studios and craft shops and is already thriving.

So people, this is the place to be! Another reason, if you needed one, to sign on for one of my courses. I felt very fortunate already to find a venue in such an interesting and beautiful part of the world and I'm really pleased that go ahead and socially conscious people like Emma Bridgewater are involved in the area and looking towards its further development.

There are two residential courses in 2011 at Alison House Hotel and Conference Centre, Cromford. Price for three days tuition and fully inclusive AA 4 star accommodation is £395.

Course 1 22 - 25 August 2011

Course 2 3 -6 October 2011

Please email me for further information. You can find my email address by clicking on "view my complete profile" below the "About me" section on the title page of this blog.