Paint or Draw

I love eating pears and had to resist eating them before I tried to paint them! On this occasion I used watercolour, which is not my usual medium, and enjoyed the process.

Recapturing another age in painting, with my apples. 

After watching some YouTube videos on composition, I set up this still life at home when the morning light was streaming in the french windows. I took lots of photos from different angles and then chose which one to work from. I like how the folds in the fabric turned out, and gave it a dark background to give it a traditional still life look.

A collection of things with harmonious colours and different textures. 

This still life was created as a response to 'Under the Sink' in January's 30-day Sketchbook challenge. It also doubled up for a further exercise in looking at different typographies and fonts used in the media. It ticks all the boxes for me - observational sketching and colouring in with bright colours to drive away the winter blues! And of course, it was fun.

A sketch in pastels. 

Still Life (not) Painted in watercolour and ink while I was in Australia last year with my son and his family. This is his favourite hot chilli sauce and the challenge was to make it zing.

Here is my fresh interpretation of the green bottles which were one of the themes from the u3a Friday Watercolour painters group. I tried to capture the way light reflects off the glass and the varied colours in this still life.

Coffee and croissant! I love coffee, I love croissants, just a treat any day of the week! (this was done using watercolour paints.)

My 'Steel Life' in pastel. I was attracted by the multiple reflections on the shiny surface - the more you look, the more you see!

This still life is a drawing of my doll “Linnea” from the book “Linnea in Monet’s garden". I bought her about 20 years ago on a visit to Giverny in France . She reminds me of the wonderful time we had seeing the flowers and the bridge .

My lunch, toasted cheese crumpet and celery. Thought it looked good enough to eat. Painted in watercolour.

Vintage Chinese Vase drawn with ink pens. I wanted to draw something colourful on a grey winter's day during lockdown time and chose this tiny 12.5cm bone china pot.

This is my painting of onions. Acrylic and pens.