HAPPY CHRISTMAS

" H A P P Y   C H R I S T M A S " 




WISHING YOU ALL 
A VERY 
HAPPY CHRISTMAS!


tanti auguri
JANE 




BUON NATALE 
© JANE MINTER 2011

blogger award - special thankyou to Irina

My blogger friend Irina Ирина Рехвиашвили  awarded me with "The Verstile Blogger" a while back please have a look at both Irina's art and photography blogs  Irina painting and stuff  .... as part of the award I have to  pass the award on and highlight 15 bloggers and their blogs ..a belated thankyou Irina !
as part of the award I also have to include 7 facts about me


I pass the award  of  "The Versatile Blogger Award"  on to  the following wonderful 15 bloggers and artists :


Junkar's Cardesin's  The creative bug
Jeanette Jobson's ILLUSRATED LIFE
Neomi Gonzàlaez's  Pintar Acuarela
Fernando's blogs    http://watercolorspainting.com/ and  http://acuarelas-fernandopena.blogspot.com/
Carlo's  DIBULOS - Calos Leon Salzar
Jala's blog Jala pfaff
Rhonda's WATERCOLOURS AND WORDS
Sandra's Sandraws
Lucinda's Colbalt Violet
Tito's Blu Oltremare
Jamilia Alladin's Passion for Art
Sue's A BRUSH WITH COLOUR
Javi's blog http://acuablog-javi.blogspot.com/
Hilda's blog http://hildasnaturblogg.blogspot.com/
Jean Haines Watercolour with life http://watercolourswithlife.blogspot.com/
Jean has started great monthly challenges ..the Christmas challenge sounds fun !

7 facts about me :

...I'm a Piscean ... I love water
..."less is more"  .... one of my favorite quotes
... one of my favorite watercolour books I've read this year is  "Painting from the Heart" by Barbara Nechis.
 ...it's been a wonderful experience this year to be invited as a parent and volunteer to both of my daughters schools  to give "art lessons in English"  - to 6/7 year olds and 12/13 year olds.
...one of the most exciting things to happen to me this year as a result of my exhibition was to be asked to teach watercolours here in Italy .
...Wish I could go back to UK more often ....it was a treat to see David Poxon's Watercolours at the Mall Galleries in November . "Pots" is an incredible painting .... the exhibition Discerning Eye was fascinating ...here is a link to read more.  http://www.discerningeye.org/exhibition/gallery/gallery.php?filter=POXON%2C+David
 I'd love to see this collective watercolour exhibition if we were in UK over Christmas .... " The Magic of Watercolour", an exhibition at Christmas , London . I've recently discovered Geoffrey Wynne's blog who is one of the  artist exhibiting ...here's a link to Geoffrey's site , a few of his superb paintings and details of the exhibition.  http://geoffreywynne.blogspot.com/2011/12/london-at-magic-of-watercolour_4236.html
...I've been enjoying  designing Christmas Cards for the last couple of weeks.

Thanks again Irina !

pandoro

© JANE MINTER

"pandoro"

"christmas tree"

watercolour sketch

montval  canson
24 x 32 cm

© JANE MINTER
"pandoro"
"golden bread"
WIP 
montval  canson
24 x 32 cm


....with Christmas in mind......a couple of quick sketches /ideas of pandoro which is a traditonal Italian sweet yeast bread  popular at Christmas time and New Year . Both sketches are from memory ....the top sketch hopefully gives the idea of a pandoro cut in the form of a "Christmas tree" with the star sections - one on top of each other dusted with icing sugar ...the bottom sketch shows a simple pandoro covered with icing sugar which is meant to resemble the snowy peaks of the Italian Alps

100 +

© JANE MINTER

"100 +"  

watercolour washes 

fabrinano 300g/m2

recent watercolour washes / swatches carrying on from 100 washes challenge ...hooked.

dog portrait - initial study

© JANE MINTER
"nina" 

golden retriever

dog portrait 

watercolour study
32 x 41cm Fabriano 

....wanted to share one of my first attempts of  a dog portrait ....I painted this study about five years ago ,  with the initial "wet in wet" wash adding some detail "wet in dry" , at the time I took the advice of a good friend and  artist to leave it as it was at this stage and just enjoy it as it was   ....so it was left unfinished without adding darks and further details  ...the owner of nina loved  this initial study so much  I gave it as a present to her.
 I have recently been looking at old portraits and pet portraits studies and sketches as i've decided to take a "portrait course" with London Art College  ....hope to post a few of the exercises  ... busy drawing eggs at the moment ! ..the portrait course will be a difficult challenge for me.  

cat

 "cat"

 watercolour study

32 x 41cm

.......this week's watercolour lesson inspired by Marina Macolin.