In January, there is nothing better than reminders of sunny days. Looking through some of my pictures made in Mallorca brings back good memories and inspiration for the year ahead…can’t wait! Wishing you sunshine inspiration too…
weather
it’s unpredictable…
Autumn breeze
Drawing January: Snowdrops in colour
Hello! Another January drawing, again looking at snowdrops. This little group grow in the yard of our village church. What you see below are the stages of one drawing, Little Darlings. I wanted to use the transition effect to animate the stages a little. The most recent stage (stage 8) appears underneath. I’m nervous of this in some ways – often I see a stage when perhaps it would have been best to stop…Nevertheless, here is my drawing in its underclothes of watercolour up to its top dress in pastel:
Little darlings – Stage 8
Drawing January: Winter and snowdrops
Hello – and a belated Happy New Year! I’ve just come indoors from my first drawing expedition into the garden. I know that’s overstating it, but I do carry so much stuff down from the studio, it feels like I’m going to the North Pole! Weather bright and sunny after a flurry of snow – not like the painted sketches I did last year (or was it the year before?), but certainly, it was chilly! I went down to the pond, where I discovered our first snowdrops. I used large paper and pastel for a change. Here are my drawings and photos from today along with a couple of studies of the garden in oil when the snow came down properly!:
Food under the plum tree, (January 2013), Oil on board
Snow banked up, (January 2013), Oil on board
Our first snowdrops!
Snowdrops on easel
Easel by the pond
Easel by the pond, photograph
Storm waves
The weather over Christmas and the New Year in the UK has shown the devastating power of the sea. The sea fascinates and attracts like mad. We can’t help ourselves, but the reality of living and working with it is another matter. Here are some drawings:
The Wave – pastel on paper
Storm wave – pen and ink wash
Storm wave – pen and ink wash
Wave – pen and ink wash
Windfarm at sea – pastel on paper
Pretty in pink
My second post that ties in with the Festival of Flowers blog. A great idea and very inspiring. Find out more – and take part, on http://festivalofflowers.wordpress.com/, (or click the logo below). It was one of those perfect late summer days yesterday, so I took my pens and watercolours into the garden and made some drawings. The two I liked best were of the Japanese anemone, which is so delicate. Unlike the hotter-toned flowers that blaze at this time, the anemone gently leads the garden towards Autumn. Gorgeous! Here are my drawings:
Anemones and montbretia
Anemone – Pretty in Pink
Anemone – pretty in pink – detail
Snow into Spring
The winter in Britain this year has been exceptional, one of the worst in recent memory. This week we’ve seen farmers desperately trying to rescue their sheep and cattle, buried deep in snow drifting over the hedges where they sought shelter. Where the sun breaks through there is a slow thaw, but in the hedgerows it hangs on. The nights have been crystal clear and bitter cold with bright moonlight. The clocks change to British Summer Time tonight but the summer seems a very long way off. Last night, the moon called me at 3 o’clock and as always, lured me into getting my paints out. The white snow line under hedge was still bright, like the moon. Here’s my painting:
The Snow Line by Maxine Dodd, Acrylic on board, Good Friday Night
January blues
This week the weather steadied – snow bedded deep and days were cold. The whiteness is wearing and we’re all tired. I ventured out to meet my friend Sheila who was painting nearby, but mostly continued work in the garden. Along with my usual pen and watercolour, I changed to oil paint on board for the first time in a long while. I felt that I needed paint with substance to convey the scene. I made four small paintings of our trees, birds and hedgerow at the end of the garden next to the field, making wilder marks as I became increasingly cold… Brrr!!! Here are my paintings and drawings:
Food under the plum tree, (January 2013), Oil on board
Snow banked up, (January 2013), Oil on board
Snow under the hedgerow
Too cold under the hedge
Cold Lane
Cold Lane
Acrobat on the peanut feeder
Cold trees with chaffinches
Winter white?
Following on from last week, the winter has begun to bite deep into the countryside. We’ve had days of hard frosts and now today, the snow is falling. It was too cold to hang the washing out, so instead, I festooned our garden trees with food for the birds. Colour arrived in the form of one fleeting but spectacular dawn and a fieldfare bossed all the birds. Here are some of my drawings:
Maxine Dodd 