Sixth aquarelle : Isis

Sixth aquarelle : Isis

22 August 2017

 

Yesterday I had an inclination to paint the Goddess Mother for my sixth aquarelle. Though she is meant to be golden brown, I wanted to use my Naples Yellow that was laying on the palette so changed the tone of her skin.

 

For those who don’t know who Isis is or who have been brainwashed by the adoption of the name to describe a bunch of fanatics which has absolutely nothing to do with her glory, here are some words extracted from Wikipedia :

 

« Isis was worshipped as the ideal mother and wife as well as the patroness of nature and magic. She was the friend of slaves, sinners, artisans and the downtrodden, but she also listened to the prayers of the wealthy, maidens, aristocrats and rulers. Isis is often depicted as the mother of Horus, the falcon-headed deity associated with king and kingship (although in some traditions Horus’s mother was Hathor). Isis is also known as protector of the dead and goddess of children.

 

In the typical form of her myth, Isis was the first daughter of Geb, god of the Earth, and Nut, goddess of the Sky, and she was born on the fourth intercalary day. » More information in case of interest at : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isis

 

I hope you like the aquarelle and the video from where the image is taken.

Isis

Temple of Isis – Diane & David Arkenstone

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmd98J8DjzA

Sketch and song of Eva Cassidy

Sketch and song of Eva Cassidy

19 August 2017

 

I was listening to this beautiful soul’s songs and had an urge to connect with her in a deeper way so made a sketch of her.

 

I listened to a number of her songs while I drew and while Autumn leaves was the one I felt she sang with the most fervour, I liked more, for personal reasons, her interpretation of Ain’t no sunshine. The version I had always favoured was Bill Withers but I think she does this as splendidly as he did.

 

I hope you enjoy both the sketch and the song.

Eva Cassidy

 

Ain’t no sunshine – Eva Cassidy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZGzB8TDvD8

Tango sketches

Tango sketches

19 August 2017

 

A couple of days ago, I was pondering on my love for tango and decided that I needed to express it somehow as I was not dancing much of late. The result is a series of study sketches based on videos I viewed of tango dances. I am not sure which one to choose to convert into an oil painting or an aquarelle.

Please do suggest and perhaps I will go with the most popular one. Thanks for all your views and comments in advance.

 

Tango 2

Tango 3

Tango 4

Tango1

Tango 5

 

Chicho y Juana tango Bajofundo) Mantova TF 2008

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8U7V0p1eLw

Trials of oils

Trials of oils

17-18 August 2017

 

I am delaying the challenge of 10 aquarelles as I decided to check how things would be with oils.

The following are a trial of sketches using oils alla prima on aquarelle paper and a ballerina snapshot from the below videoclip on stretched canvas.

 

As usual with most of my oils, I like using monochrome or a series of tone on tone which gives my oil paintings a naive painting look that I personally like. I hope some of you like them too.

 

oils 1

Oils 2

The second Waltz – Dmitri Shostakovic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEk-0BBbUmw

Fifth aquarelle and sketch

Fifth aquarelle and sketch

15 August 2017

fleurs rouges

This is my fifth aquarelle which has proven to be very ill-assorted to the alla prima technique as the paper was not behaving in the expected way. Upon testing all possibilities I realised I had painted on the wrong side of the paper. I was, however, too lazy to begin again the aquarelle on the other side so continued as it was.

 

The result is a very dry looking composition of flower. I hope you will not be too harsh in your judgement.

 

Meanwhile I also decided to take back sketching as a hobby and have produced this sketch. I find its not so bad considering I am self taught and this is done after several years of not drawing anything. I hope you like it.

 

Old man 1

Poem of the atoms – Armand Amar

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=si6rLeYU5BQ

Chalk drawing of flower

Chalk drawing of flower

15 August 2017

 

This is a new trial in chalk of a flower. I am not sure which flower it is. I initially thought azalea but am not doubting it. Unfortunately there was nothing on the name when I saw the image.

 

I have used smudging as well as direct chalk application. The medium I drew upon is coloured plain brown sheet. My guess is that this would have been better on a lighter colour of the same type of sheet.

 

I hope you like it nevertheless

Azalea 2

Anni Rose – Tulku

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxwG81IOGyM

Fourth aquarelle: Poppies

Fourth aquarelle: Poppies

12 August 2017

 

This is my fourth aquarelle using only aquarelle material. This is again a trial of the alla prima technique with a landscape of green meadows where some poppies and other flowers bloom.

I hope you like it.

Poppies Alla Prima

Un petit coquelicot – Mouloudji

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VaFycyOciI

Third aquarelle

Third aquarelle

12 August 2017

 

This is my third aquarelle using only aquarelle material. I have tried the alla prima technique with a portrait before I think of applying it to nature and to flowers.

 

I hope you like it.

Visage bleu chair

Merging two hearts – Stive Morgan

 

Second aquarelle

Second aquarelle

12 August 2017

Rose 1

This is my second aquarelle but with better material. The paper used is aquarelle paper and I finally bought a few aquarelle brushes instead of using my big acrylic brushes as I did in the previous painting.

I hope you like the result. The next will be with the alla prima technique and I guess a group of flowers or some landscape.

 

Rose 2

Moonlight Sonata – Beethoven

 

Resuming other arts

Resuming other arts

10 August 2017

I realised yesterday that it had been a while since I had either drawn, painted or even photographied anything with great beauty so I thought I should restart that other creative side of me.

For starters, I will go back to using aquarelle which was not my forte when I used to paint a lot. My best medium in painting has always been acrylic as it does not stay wet for so long as oils do and can be used with minimum care and cleaning required during and after usage. The flipside of acrylic is that as they dry faster than oil, any correction cannot be performed as easily as it could be with oil painting.

My first attempt at restarting the painting side is below with two boys fishing at sea. It is a simple aquarelle painting but not dedicated aquarelle paper. Instead I have used simple smooth paper which is usually used for sketching. The result is a rather hazy aquarelle but I am not unhappy with the result. I have challenged myself to produce a series of 10 aquarelles over the following 10 days changing from the normal technique to alla prima and then attempting other variations but all on dedicated paper for aquarelle. Regardless of the result, I will post it so be kind if you find the painting atrocious 😀

Meanwhile I wish all of you a good evening with a short nostalgic song from Cesaria Evora called Saudade.

 

Boat with boys from Greenpeace USA website 3

 

Saudade – Cesaria Evora

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERYY8GJ-i0I