whites

©  JANE MINTER 2013

"whites"

carnations

watercolour study 

Arches 600g/m2
 crop  of  56 x 76cm

work in progress ....painted from life

wild iris ii

©  JANE MINTER 2013

"wild irises ii"

Fabriano Artistico 600g/m2 

56 x 76cm

WIP section of watercolour wash ....painted from life 

work in progress

work in progress ......posting a  section from a larger  watercolour study .

wild iris

©  JANE MINTER 2013

wild irises

Fabriano Artistico 600g/m2 

56 x 76cm

watercolour ....painted from life  

pinks

©  JANE MINTER 2013

"pinks" 

hyacinths 

Fabriano Artistico 300g/m2 

56 x 76cm

watercolour ....painted from life  

©  JANE MINTER 2013

"pinks ii" 

hyacinths 

Arches  600g/m2 

56 x 76cm

intial watercolour wash 

watercolour ....painted from life  

frames - restoring old picture frames

©  JANE MINTER 2013

" dark to light "
restoring old timber frames

old timber frames +  sand paper 

I was kindly given a assortment of different types and sizes of old frames by a friend and artist . In the last couple of weeks I have started to restore and make good the old frames so I have a selection of frames to choose from  in the future to utilize for display purposes .

As most of the paintings I sell are unframed  it's also a very good opportunity to take time to enjoy  mounting  and framing some of my paintings  .

All of the old dark frames were badly scratched so I decided to see if I could take them back to the natural timber . To remove the dark staining from the old frames I used paint/vanish remover and then sanded them down with fine sand paper ...time consuming but rewarding.  . I've yet to decide the finish ....to leave them as they are  , treat them with a wax , vanish them or paint them . A couple of them I will re-stain to the original dark as I have a few small paintings that will look good with a darker frame . 

©  JANE MINTER 2013

" white frames" 
making good  +  repainted timber frames 

I made good some simple timber handmade frames by just cleaning , sanding and repainting them. 

The rest of the old frames were painted with multiple layers with a wonderful  variety of colours blue,  pink and white ,  and gold so it took longer to  sand  them down and repaint them . You have to be patience and very gentle when sanding  to be careful not to damage or reshape the frames .  As each frame is different with various sections and moulds to create uniformity I decided to paint them a neutral colour . I used an acrylic white paint with  a satin finish  .  I choose to handpaint them with  a fine flat acrylic / oil brush .  An alternative would have been to air brush them which would have given an excellent finish . 

Most of the frames were in reasonable condition but a few still need fixing at the corners before I start restoring them . 

  It would be good to hear if any one else refurbishes and utilizes old frames .

©  JANE MINTER 2013

" white frames"

BANDOUILLE PAINTING AT THE MONASTERY - PITTURA AL MONASTERO - ATELIER AU BANDOUILLE

VIEW ACROSS THE LAKE OF MONASTERY  AND FARMHOUSE

BANDOUILLE  PAINTING AT THE MONASTERY 

 I have just accepted a wonderful invitation to hold a weeks watercolour workshop in the Deux Sevres region of France at Bandouille . It is a stunning location for a painting holiday . If you are interested for full details of the workshop please contact Bix Nash via

FRANCE PAINTING HOLIDAY 

http://francepaintingholiday.com/

MONASTERY STEPS 

BANDOUILLE PITTURA AL MONASTERO 

Ho accettato la bellissima offerta di tenere un workshop di acquarello settimanale nella campagna francese  in Boundouille . Le Iscrizioni sono aperte. Il corso è in inglese ma parlo anche in italiano se ci saranno italiani

FRANCE PAINTING HOLIDAY 

 http://francepaintingholiday.com/

mandarino - mandarin

©  JANE MINTER 2013

"mandarino"
mandarin 
watercolour study
painted from life
32 x 41cm

yellows

©  JANE MINTER 2013

"yellows"

daffodils + winter jasmine  

watercolour + watersoluble wax pastels neocolour ii 

56 x76 cm
Fabriano  600g/m2

©  JANE MINTER 2013
"yellows"
WIP



flowers from the garden ..work in progress sharing a couple of photos showing sections of a larger watercolour study painted from life...have a good Easter everyone  

  Buona Pasqua !

winter jasmine

©  JANE MINTER 2013

"winter jasmine"

jasmine midiflorum

watercolour sketch
 painted from life 

32 x 41cm  

gouache + ink

©  JANE MINTER 2013

"gouache + ink  i" 
"hidden" 

white gouache + sepia ink 

fabriano 300g/m2 

28 x 38cm 

©  JANE MINTER 2013

"gouache + ink ii"

work in progress 

 fabriano 300g/m2 

28 x 38cm 

©  JANE MINTER 2013

maimeri white tempera  + sepia ink 

 bamboo dip (stick) pen  + squirrel quill mop

......posting a few more  washes from this week using  just white gouache and sepia ink ......on the hillside the trees are still relatively bare some houses  can still  just be seen before the season changes and everything  vanishes again. . The  initial washes above show two different view points exploring different application of ink and gouache.

   

watercolour + ink + gouache

©  JANE MINTER 2013

"watercolour + ink + gouache"
32 x 41cm

initial wash watercolour + black ink 

second wash white gouache + sepia ink 

blue

© 2013 JANE MINTER

"wild blue wood anemones"

windflowers
watercolour sketch  -  work in progress 
painted from life

vigneto - plein air sketches

©  JANE MINTER 2013

"vigneto" 

vineyard 

view i 

plein air sketch 

A5   Arches 

 ©  JANE MINTER 2013
"vigneto" 

vineyard 

view ii 

plein air sketches

A5  Arches 

one of my aims this year is to paint outside as much as possible ..... the views are complex so I hope continiously sketching  will help ....posting a couple of quick small plein air skeches of vineyards I made earlier in the week .  

textures - watercolour + ink ii

©  JANE MINTER 2013

"watercolour wash  +   ink"  
watercolour + ink ii

Maggie has prompted me to carry on exploring with ink and washes when she asked if i was going to add ink marks to my  last wash   . Here is a  recent bright watercolour wash which  I  randomly wet the surface of and just poured ink on ....a few  drips formed they reminded me of the tall lombardy popular trees..I liked how the ink pigment sedimented where I added extra water at the top ....I could have probably added a little extra detail as it was drying.

Maggie Latham  is currently posting a  wonderful series of ink wash tutorials on her blog

green

©  JANE MINTER 2013

"green"
verde

watercolour wash 

.........not sure yet which way up I prefer this wash. 

white rose

©  JANE MINTER 2013

"white rose "

WIP 
section of watercolour study

......mother's day in mind ....painted from memory

GRAZIE MILLE Concetta Flore

a special thank you to artist and blogger Concetta Flore "I colori di Conci- Conci's colours" passionate about nature .....who recently kindly awarded  my blog with the Liebster Award

GRAZIE MILLE Concetta ! 

In the spirit of the award I'm passing the award onto 5 other bloggers . Enjoy looking at their blogs  ! 

Sadami http://sadamisgraffiti.blogspot.it/ 
Sadami is a talented children's illustrator and fine artist  who has a wonderful sense of humour !

Floriana AQUALUNGA  http://rossoriso.blogspot.it/
Floriana is a member of A.I.A Associazione Italiana Acquerellisti  Floriana work is so expressive . I enjoyed seeing Floriana's work  at A.I.A's exhibition in Verona.

Jane Moller http://jane-truecolors.blogspot.it/ 
Jane who lives in Milan  is also a member of A.I.A Associazione Italiana Acquerellisti . I'm enjoying watching Jane's new journey with oils unfold . Her watercolours are very "vivace" and use colour is wonderful. 

Christina http://cristinaswatercolors.blogspot.it/
Christina who is another Italian watercolourist is currently busy preparing her first solo exhibition in Verona  ...good luck  "in bucca al lupo"  Christina !

Noemi http://pintaracuarela.blogspot.it/ 
Noemi has watercolour in her blood .  She is a very active artist and her blog is very informative .

The Liebster Blog Award rules:

1. Thank the person who gave you the award.

2. Link back to their blog.

3. Copy and paste the Liebster award to your profile.

4. Pick 5 blogs that you feel deserve to be in the spotlight (they must have @200 followers or under).

5. Blog about it and leave a comment for your nominations to let them know that you have chosen their blog.

in collina - plein air

©  JANE MINTER 2013

"in collina" 

on the hillside

 view  i 

plein air
watercolour  sketch 

A5 FORMAT

great weather for sketching outside today  ...posting one of the small sketches I did this morning .

calicantus ii

© 2013 JANE MINTER

"calicantus "
Chimonanthus praecox
Japenese all spice
yellow + red

canson montval 

 initial watercolour study painted from life 


.....section of an initial study of the small scented winter flowers .

calicantus branch

© 2013 JANE MINTER

"calicantus"
 Chimonanthus praecox

54 x54 cm fabriano 
 watercolour study painted from life

....a simple study of a flowering sprig of  this beautiful scented winter flower which is known as  ice flower ,  winter sweet , Japenese allspice .

wild hellebore ii

© JANE MINTER

"wild hellebore"

HELLEBORUS FOETIDUS

WIP section of watercolour study 

painted from life 

© JANE MINTER

"wild hellebore"

initial watercolour wash 

painted from life 

 It's hard not to notice these beautiful vivid green flowers of the wild hellebore  appearing  in the woodlands here....posting a section of a larger study and the initial watercolour wash .

catkins

© 2013 JANE MINTER

"catkins"
32 x 41cm 

initial watercolour study 

painted from life

catkins + old man's beard

© JANE MINTER

"catkins + old man's beard"

initial watercolour wash 
working from memory 

Carnevale di Venezia - Venice Carnival

PHOTO © JANE MINTER
"VENICE CARNIVAL" 
 CARNEVALE DI VENEZIA 
SAN MARCO  VENICE ITALY

As this weekend is the last weekend of Carnival here in Italy I thought it would be nice for a change to share one of my  reference photos for you to use . I hope  the Venetian masks might inspire a few fellow bloggers / readers to paint .I look forward to seeing your interpretations  . If you do decide to use my reference photo please link back to my blog . 
BUON CARNEVALE ! 

artichoke - carciofo

© 2013 JANE MINTER

"carciofo" 

artichoke

watercolour study painted from life 

colour theory - swatches + watercolour washes

© 2013 JANE MINTER
"burnt umber + perylene green" 

colour swatches (mixing in palette)  +  wet in wet watercolour washes

© JANE MINTER

"burnt umber + perylene green" 

colour swatches + wash

At the start of January Maggie Latham generously started colour tutorials on her blog, the link is below : Maggie also made a series of very interesting interviews about Artist who blog
 Artist to Artist about role of colour in there work and influences  

 Maggie Latham's Free Tutorials  

"31 DAYS OF COLOUR" 

http://maggielathamstudios.blogspot.it/2012/12/31-days-of-colour-introduction.html 

...posting  my colour swatches and  watercolour washes of just one of the combinations I particularly liked   burnt umber + perylene green 

  

Lost in Venice

© 2013 JANE MINTER

"Lost in Venice"

smarrito

watercolour sketch 

single larch cone

© 2013 JANE MINTER

"single larch cone" 

larix iii

watercolour study
painted from life 

pine cone - pigna

© 2013 JANE MINTER
"pine cone"

picea abies cone

abete rosso - pigna

european spuce 

initial  watercolour wash 

larix

© 2013 JANE MINTER
"larch branch"

larix decidua - pinacaeal - pino larice

watercolour

32 x 41cm 

 painted from life 

© 2013 JANE MINTER

"larch cones"  

larix decidua - pinacaeal - pino larice

watercolour

32 x 41cm

painted from life

.....first sketches of the New Year from the Alps

HAPPY CHRISTMAS - BUON NATALE

BUON NATALE 

© JANE MINTER 2012 

WISHING YOU ALL 

A VERY 

HAPPY CHRISTMAS!

tanti auguri

JANE + FAMILY

textures - watercolour + ink

© JANE MINTER

"watercolour + ink"

textural swatch

  ...... watercolour wash with black rotring ink added and then blue rotring ink