dry dock iii - anchor chain

©  JANE MINTER 2013

"anchor chain"

dry dock iii

56 x 76 cm

Fabriano Cold Press 300g/m2

watercolour based on a series of my reference photos 

  

Traditionally anchors and anchor chains are removed from boats and laid out on the dry dock floor ........I'm working on a series of studies and paintings exploring dry docks .

With "anchor chain"  I was inspired by  Nicholas Simmons techniques in "INNOVATIVE WATERMEDIA" DVD  by Creative Catalyst Productions

with special thanks to Nicholas Simmons      

http://nicholassimmons.blogspot.it/ .  

  

cherries

© 2013 JANE MINTER

"cherries"
orecchini ciliegia

watercolour sketch 

A5 Arches 300g/m2

painted from life ...no pencil 

broken egg shells

©  JANE MINTER 2013

"broken egg shells"

watercolour sketch

A4 CANSON FONTENAY 300g/m2
still life painted from life

rosa - single petalled roses

©  JANE MINTER 2013

"rosa"

single petalled roses 

plein air watercolour sketch 

honey spoon

©  JANE MINTER 2013

"honey spoon"

olive wood honey dipper

watercolour sketch

A5 Arches 300g/m2

a quick sketch painted from life with no pencil 

ink sketch

©  JANE MINTER 2013
"sketch"

ink

sepia ink 

Fabriano CP 


NOTE : Finding an alternative to Google reader ....as many of you know Google reader is closing "turning off their feeds" on 1 st July 2013  . There are many alternatives to choose from  Feedly,  NewsBlur, Digg reader, The Old reader , Feed reader  to mention a few  ..... so you can  keep updated with blogs that you already follow . The most important thing is to transfer your feeds from Google reader so you don't loose your own data.
Christina Dalla Valentina has written an interesting post on an alternative service "Feedly "
http://cristinaswatercolors.blogspot.it/2013/06/feedly-unottima-alternativa-google.html#.Ucxl2_lSjW8

watercolour + ink + gouache

©  JANE MINTER 2013
"sketch"

watercolour + sepia ink + white gouache

Fabriano CP

quick landscape sketch on off cut ....posting a few sketches and studies with watercolour , ink and gouache which I painted in March

red cherries

©  JANE MINTER 2013

"red cherries" 

"ciliegie"

painted from life watercolour study

still life

32 x 41cm 

The  taste of summer "eaten" unfinished  cherry study experimenting with  watercolour washes .......these cherries proved too tempting . 

blues - blu

©  JANE MINTER 2013
"blues"
blu

watercolour wash 

watercolour 

24 x 41cm

.........posting a section of a  recent watercolour wash 

white calla - la calla ii

©  JANE MINTER 2013

"white calla"

la calla ii

watercolour study

white calla lily painted from life
CANSON FONTENAY COLD PRESS

32 x 41cm 

green lunaria - honesty

©  JANE MINTER 2013

"green lunaria"

green honesty 

watercolour study ... painted from life

CANSON MONTVAL 

la calla - fading white calla lily

©  JANE MINTER 2013

"la calla"

fading white calla lily

watercolour study

 painted from life 

CANSON FONTENAY COLD PRESS

32 x 41cm  

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 .