Postcards from the Lake: More from the Art Table

Back at the art table and happily playing with my palette and brushes.

That starter above (you can see the photo I was working with on the left) ended up looking like this.

I redid a Cotswold cottage I painted quite awhile ago to see if I was any better. This is the old version...

  ...this is the new. I don't know if one is better or worse than the other -- just different, although I do need to work a bit on the window which looks a little crooked!

I'd recently done a very ugly Notre Dame. I tried to fix it and I don't think it can be done, although I'll give another pass to the wall and water and maybe try some pen and ink detailing to see if I can help it out a bit. Then I'll move on. This may well be cut into salvageable sections for bookmarks.

The fact is, not everything "works." Sometimes they can be fixed, sometimes not. For example, in the iris below I'm not sure I like how the background paint looks when it nears the actual image. And I'm not quite sure what to do about that than just keep practicing.

I have been trying to work on sky and water. Here's another from a quick sketch in my book. I'm liking the sky, the water -- not so much.

My fun project has been working on a Christmas card commission. This was the prototype she chose for a tree. The finished ones will have a star at the top. They've been loads of fun to do and I will share some of the finished ones, along with another group of cards she ordered soon!

Meanwhile, just keep practicing!