Walk along the Beach

Beach Walk watercolour pencils and ink. Journal page

One of my favourite things to do in winter is to walk along the beach with my dog.  There has been a few dogs now that I have done this with, Hannah my latest is dog number four.  The one thing that always makes me smile when walking a dog is how far they walk compared with you.  I wander in a fairly straight line while they dart all over the place going at least four times the distance as I do.  You know with the keen sense of smell that there is so much more for them to discover, I feel rather left out sometimes.  But them considering what they like to stick their noses into, perhaps not.

Hannah at the Beach at Lorne

While walking Hannah along the beach at Lorne yesterday a noticed all our prints on the wet sand on the way back and thought what a great pattern they would make, so at lunch time I started the picture.  I think it shows how the walk along the beach went.

Karen

All the Art Supplies arrived at Once

Wind Flower Journal Page Watercolour pencils and ink.

I am in the happiest of dilemmas, all my art supplies have arrived at once.  My Caran d’Arche pencils have finally turned up, (the first set never arrived) and I have been waiting for them since Easter!  Then the new watercolour pencils came as well.  I spoilt myself and bought the rest of the Prismacolor, I had the 24 set and I also ordered the Derwent Inktense set of 36.  That makes over 130 new pencils.  Of course they arrived while I was away on holidays, but my very kind sister came to visit and couriered them to me.  Isn’t it nice when your family understands your obsessions. I started playing with the watercolour pencils first and of course did my colour chart.  I was very happy to find that the colours of the two sets did not overlap much.  The Prismacolors are more subtle and paler, while not surprising the Inktense are brighter and darker.  They compliment each other well.

Derwent Inktense Watercolour Pencils 36 set

I have only just started using the Inktense, but already I have found them not as soft and creamy as the prismacolors and are a little sractchy, but the colours are lovely and I will have to try them on some different paper to really give them a work out.  The paper in my journal is really printing paper and is too soft for drawing on.

Karen Pizza Chef

I am staying in a little house in Dean’s Marsh again with a lovely cottage garden and a little wood fired oven.  So to thank my sister for her pencil delivery I fired it up and made my first ever wood fired pizzas.  Here is the chef in action, apart from a little char on the edges they worked very well.  We had a lovely lunch in the garden.

Lynette and Hannah, enjoying pizza

The wind flowers are out one of the few flowers blooming at this time of year, they are so lovely, I did the drawing of one in my journal and my sister took some lovely photos of them. The background of the windflower is done with the inktense pencils while the flower  is with the prismacolors.  You can see how intense the Derwents are, they really do live up to their name. On to the other pencils soon, don’t want to rush the pleasure of playing with my new toys. Karen

More Raised Patterns

Raised Patten 2, 20 x 20cm rag paper, coloured pencil, ink, embroidery thread and glass beads

I have been doing some more of the raised patterns and this time I have included some stitching into the work.  I have really enjoyed blurring the line between paper and fabric and using familiar mediums in unfamiliar ways.

Raised Pattern 3, 20 x 20cm rag paper, coloured pencil, ink, embroidery thread and glass beads

I was inspired by some art work I saw on the internet that was a plaid design done in watercolour with line stitched on them.  I can’t find the images again and for some reason I did not save them, how annoying!

 

Raised Patten 2, Detail 20 x 20cm rag paper, coloured pencil, ink, embroidery thread and glass beads

Raised Pattern 3 Detail 20 x 20cm rag paper, coloured pencil, ink, embroidery thread and glass beads

So these are patterns that I like, made out of cut paper coloured with coloured pencils, some with a pattern drawn on them, embroidery thread and beads.  I like the more muted colours of these ones, I have used some colour palettes taken from nature for them.  The colour palettes are from a great company called Design Seeds the green palette is based on leeks and the blue one is from a garden bench.  These palettes are a great inspiration as I have problems coming up with colourways straight out of my head and these inspire me to use different and more muted combinations.

Design Sees Palette ‘Leeks’ Pattern 2

Design Sees Palette ‘Garden Bench’ Pattern 3

I plan to enter a few of these little patterns into the 30 x 30cm exhibition at the Brunswick Gallery in Melbourne, so I will make a few and pick out the ones that work best.  My main problem is that I don’t know what to call them, I want a names that will link them together yet make each one separate.  I would be very grateful for any assistance that any of you out there can offer.

Karen

Zen and the Art of Pattern Making

Pumpkin Detail

This is my latest entry in my journal, again I have had a lovely time playing with pattern.  I am surprised about my patience in the repetitive pattern making, but I have realised that I find it very meditative and calming.  I also am very run down at the moment and the chronic fatigue is turning my brain to a pea soup fog, so the gentle repetition is very soothing.

Pumpkin, journal page. Watercolour pencils and ink.

Not to worry as I have finally got my holiday and I have three, wonderful, fantastic and much-anticipated weeks off, where I can just relax and make all kinds of art.  How fabulous is that, I can’t think of the last time I had three weeks just to chill out.  You will be getting a lot of posts from me during this time as I share all the things I will be doing.

I saw this great picture of a pumpkin with this wild twisty stem and just had to draw it and then matched it to this fabulous pattern, I love the autumn colours and the country feel to this picture.

I found them all on Pinterest where I am collecting the best array of pictures and pins.  See me there under Karen Bailey.

Karen

Seasons of colour – May Autumns End

May – Oak leaves

It the last month of Autumn and it has turned cold, in fact winter cold and it has rained constantly for over a week.  Now before I moan too much, I must put this in context, we need rain, in fact we usually need rain, so that is good and the garden is loving it.  My problem is that like every autumn I am not ready for winter yet, couldn’t I have a few more sunny days please before it gets cold and grey.

I was inspired to do this pattern by our lovely, huge oak tree that shelters the house we live in.  Not a bad effort as it is two stories and the tree covers over half of it.  It is somehow really comforting to be embraced by this venerable old tree.  It leaves have turned but not all at the same time, some are red but others are still a yellowy-green.  I also channelled a little of mid-century design and came up with this pattern, lots of fun.

May spread in the journal

I thought I would get back to the Autumn colours after by spring toned Easter picture.

Karen

May – Oak leaves