Lisa provided us with a great photo for class. Lots of opportunity for texture and values. A lot was done wet in wet which gives you a bit more time to create the foreground effects. Pretty happy with this although I might just tweak the foreground values a little tomorrow to create more of a lead in ..read more

A little tough this one and we battled through it in class. The aim was to break down a pretty complex scene into large areas of similar value to create a good value design but keeping it representational. For anyone interested there’s a video of the final stages ..read more

Wild Primroses. Michele Clamp. Oil on panel. 10”x8” Today was the final session in Paul Foxton’s Threads group and it was a bit sad as I’ve enjoyed these livestreams and Paul’s teaching enormously. I put extra effort in on this study and I think it paid off. Many thanks to Paul and I wish him all the best ..read more

Still brushing up my oil skills. This time with another of Paul Foxton’s livestreams ..read more

A quick oil sketch of a pink rose. Mostly testing color mixing. Probably needs more tweaks in the shadow areas ..read more

Daffodils with Coffee Pot. Michele Clamp. Watercolor 14”x11” This one (from one of Paul Foxton’s references and live streams) was the more succssful one. The next one we’ll be doing in class and I hope to make a better job of it ..read more

Trying out a value study for one of next sessions classes. Not sure if I’m feeling it yet ..read more

Poppies. Michele Clamp. Watercolor. 11”x14” I have a new lighting and camera setup in the studio and so it had to be tested and what better than a couple of poppies. I started by breaking down the blooms into light and shadow and then layered over the subtle crinkles of the poppes. Tried very hard to not overwhelm the overall lights and shadows otherwise all is lost and any three dimensionality evaporates. The background foliage went in in two layers and a used the darks to bring the petals forward and define the overall shape of the flowers. Just about got away with it and managed to stop fi ..read more

Saw-Whet Owl. Michele Clamp. Watercolor. 11”x14” Let’s paint an owl I said. I love painting owls I said. They’re really fun! Oh boy, oh boy what a toughie. I’d forgotten how hard all those delicate markings were and this almost ended up in the bin. But I continued on he finally came together. A few fixes needed tomorrow but not too shabby overall ..read more

Vase and Cup from Paul Foxton’s Threads group Yesterday was session two in Paul Foxton’s Threads workshop. I should put a word in for this if you want to learn the ins and outs of color and value. He’s a great teacher and each session is enormous fun. I’ve learned a lot and had a great time doing it. And all for $20 a month! I’ll probably refine this a little more tomorrow. That handle is annoying me. Here it is next to the photo reference. Acutally I don’t think I posted the previous intermediates. Here they are. View fullsize View fullsize ..read more