daylilly

I love Daylillies, each bloom only lasts a day, but the plant keeps on producing and producing, it's like they put on a big triumphant happy smile each day. I've got them in shade and in sun, in yellow and in deep red, I do nothing to them and they just keep on coming. Great plant. I'm also a sucker for these little candle holders, they're only  cheapy things from Homebase, but I think they are rather lovely.

This took a bit more time than usual, it necessitated  lots and lots of staring. Do artists all have wrinkly eyes from squinting? Anyway, I thought the glass was too wonky, and it isn't as simple as I'd like. Paul and the kids were quite complimentary though , even my uncommunicative  lump of teenager son who notices nothing said nice stuff, so I'll quit complaining.

wooden apple

Finally, a bit of time , and no nice fruit or veg  in the house! One floppy head of celery in the fridge didn't really appeal, so wooden apples it is then.

I'm actually chuffed at the one dark streak on the front of the red apple, as it is fairly dark and therefore a bit brave for me. The bottom of the green apple is terribly flat, goddamit.

very red pepper

The whole dark/light/tone squinting thing is still troublesome. As is the pink spoon!

plum toms

Finally, a chance to try again, it's been an age since I've found time to do this.

There are so many things wrong with it , I'm not going to bother. I seem to be cleverly managing to do the exact opposite of progressing ! But I loved doing it, and there are about two brush strokes that I quite like.

lonely plum

This was supposed to be a pic of the plums again, but those darned daughters ate the things, hence one lonely plum.

As the plum was sitting on the ledge for days, I had plenty of time to stare at the thing and decide how to paint it in a few simple strokes. I was all confident and well prepared. Well so  much for that. As usual, the few simple strokes turned into a confused muddle. I quite like the colour though.

plums

Ho hum, another attempt. My head was hurting from studying, so I took time out to do something more enjoyable. I saw the plums and couldn't resist buying them as the colours were gorgeously deep and delicious.

I've been getting worse rather than better at this whole caper, and figure there was a great dose of beginners luck at the start. Things have gone a lot muckier and duller, so I wanted to try and get some good rich colour going. I don't mind it too much; the knife is dead wrong, and I'd love the plums to be in fewer , bolder, more positive strokes, but I don't hate it.

The colour here is so so different to the actual pic, it's wierd that.

kohlrabi

It's been an age since I've manage to try and paint anything, we went off for our hols, but I brought my study stuff rather than the paint stuff, then I had a ferocious assignment. I was all excited about trying again, but it wore off pretty soon!

A kohlrabi  arrived in the veg box, they are pretty weird looking for veg, and I'm sure could look cool if painted well. Unfortunately, I went wrong all over the place. Picking a background that merged into rather than enhanced the veg wasn't too bright. I also got utterly lost amoung the leaves and stalks, impatient rather than accurate drawing. Also, no matter how much I squinted, I couldn't really find enough shadow/contrast to make it come to life. Strangely, even though I dislike the results, I still really enjoy the attempt.