branch

Despite my lack of posts, I’m pleased to say I’ve actually been doing a lot of painting.

I mentioned in my last post that I wanted to create pieces with my friend to eventually sell. We’ve got the ball rolling (though nothing finished quite yet) and are finding our feet in terms of style and materials.

Here’s a couple of progress shots from. Hopefully soon I’ll be able to show you a finished piece!

As you can see I’m taking inspiration from previous projects and trying to really master creating an art nouveau style. I want to restrict the colour palette And stop it looking so, well, primary. I’m also trying out an acrylic base and following up with oil paints, which so far I really like! It feels like there’s more scope to make changes as you go but with a gloss finish.

When I was younger I hated the idea of having multiple projects on the go. Maybe it’s something to do with my reduced attention span, or just the realisation that I have a lot less free time now to actually finish a project, but now I find I’m much more motivated and actually likely to finish a piece if I have the chance to step away from it and work on something else.

I’d like to be at the stage where I can make these compositions quickly, so that’s what I’ll be practising most of for the next little while.

I want to try mixed media a little more (which is another thing I never thought I’d say!) so before we add the embroidery I also want to create a textured surface using paint. For now I’m using very cheap acrylic paint. In the past I’ve used a plaster mix but that’s on MDF board, not watercolour paper.