Festive Greetings

 Festive Greetings to you all!

May 2021 bring us peace and contentment and hopefully a positive move towards the ending of this awful virus. 

I do hope you are all managing to keep going with the painting. 

Let us hope it won't be too long before we are all back together once more at class!

Take care and be safe!

Caroline

Crofts

Hello Girls!

We finally managed to get to Lossiemouth last week, it was so lovely to be by the sea again.  We had a lovely warm evening for our visit there too.

After feeding my garden with liquid fertilizer the reluctant peonies finally flowered! The shrubs have also benefited too!  Good to have a real downpour of rain today, the garden desperately needed it!
We also have a car again though good to see Richard went cycling yesterday and also cycled across to Tesco to buy us some berries to go with the pancakes I made in the afternoon!  He wants to keep up the cycling and there is a good cycle path from Lhanbryde to Elgin which means he doesn't have to go onto the road much. 

Here is one of my peonies and also another good flowering border plant. Some of you have asked to see our cat Boudica. Here she is!

Before I show you the paintings from home from this last week.  I would like to wish you all a really lovely summer.   We are now allowed out more and shops will be opening again.  Thank you to all of you who contributed to 'painting from home' during our lockdown.  I know it kept a lot of you going to do the paintings and for many of you to receive them.   Do take care and be safe.  I will contact you all again in the early autumn.  Best wishes Caroline

This stunning painting was painted by Alison Murray as a wedding gift for her husband on their anniversary.  Bill went cycling in Switzerland in the past.  He then took Alison to this wonderful location for her to see!  Alison decided to paint the sky this incredible blue which sets off the landscape and snowy mountains perfectly!  Well done!

Sandra has painted two very beautiful paintings of the West coast.  Her crofts are really delightful and she wrote to say she was thinking about how lovely the scenery is there. Well done!

Alison Macdonald sent me a painting she finished from a past class of a croft by the sea. Such a bonny painting and the sea is so realistic. Beautifully painted!

Two splendid paintings by Carole this week.  The first is of an autumnal scene showing a riverside retreat.  The second croft is a simple summer scene based on a meadow near her home, but with a suffolk cottage from a childhood memory! Well done!

Beautiful bold work from Angela from a past croft painting from class.  This scene is full of life and colour! Well done!

Margaret painted this delightful croft set in the highlands this week.  Her husband Bill said it reminded him of his early days in a croft similar to this! Well done!

Ann's cottage is set in a dramatic location. Using her preferred paper of pastelmat she created this bonny scene using soft pastels. The sky and mountains are set back with a slight mist behind the house. Well done!

The first painting Ann did over thirty years ago in watercolours. She decided to revisit the scene this time using pastel pencils on ordinary pastel paper.  Very nice work and her skies are always beautiful.  I like the hills behind showing some texture. I also like the loose style of the watercolour painting. Well done!

Yvonne has had her family to visit recently and she felt inspired to paint the grandchildren. Such a joyful couple of paintings! Well done!

Finally one of Elaine's popular bird paintings.  Let us hope she will have some more done during this summer break.  She has been very busy in the garden!

Crofts and student work

Hello Girls,

Here I am this time in Aberlour a year ago, visiting my artist friend Tamsin's wee exhibition that she had over in the gallery.  Tamsin's work is very impressionistic in style and also she uses natural colours to depict the landscapes of the Highlands of Scotland.

Before I go on to show you some of this week's paintings from home.  I would like to speak a bit about 'expression and subject matter'.  

Very often we are taken by a scene we might see when having a day out, we take a photo and then at home we decide to paint or draw it.  But there are also times when we think about 'telling a story' from a scene. 



Here are two crofts I have painted in the landscape and each one gives us a different story.

In my painting of a winter croft we notice a few things that gives us an indication that there is a 'story' to this painting.  It is winter, a harsh winter of intense cold and the sky is quite blustery.  It is morning and we find that there is no path to the croft. So deep is the snow that we find that the croft is not approachable.  However we then notice a thin stream of smoke coming out of the chimney. Ah so someone is home!  Suddenly the scene becomes more cosy and homely. Words like 'snuggled in' out of the cold, comes to mind.  Also the use of the pretty blue colour behind the hills shows us that it is a day of 'promise' that a better day is ahead.  If we look at how colours are used in our landscape painting we can send messages to the viewer about how we are feeling about our work of art. The colour blue symbolizes a great deal.  Blue is about open spaces and it also represents calmness. So using the colour blue in a rather cold and bleak snowy scene can actually lift the mood of the painting. 

In my painting of a croft by the coast we can immediately see that the weather is blustery and the light is dramatic. So immediately it gives us a different feeling to the one we had when viewing the winter croft painting.  While the painting has dark depths in areas, there is also light that has great energy from the passing storm. The turquoise blue is both peaceful yet also life giving.  The croft is noticeable in that it has an orange roof that makes it stand out.  The croft represents home and hearth, a place to dwell and feel safe at home, no matter what the elements are like out of doors.   The colour orange not only makes the croft eye catching but the colour also represents joy and sunshine.  So the viewer will feel that within the 'storm' there is a safe, yet also a happy place to dwell. 

Here is one of Jean's lovely croft paintings.  It is unfinished at this stage as she went on to add more wildflowers and there was also a mention of perhaps a cat on the doorstep!  
Yet as we look at this painting we see this is a house that is perhaps not a home anymore, it looks like it was once a family home but is now abandoned.  Sometimes deserted crofts are very useful things to use in landscape painting as it stirs our imagination.  We ask ourselves who lived there once and what kind of life did they have?  While this croft is empty it is not an unpleasing scene. It is a pretty scene, the stone work, roof and wildflowers are lovely to see.  The fresh colour of the green grass has us knowing that it is summertime. A time to wander about at peace with the countryside.  A time to accidentally come across a bonny croft in the landscape.  The sky is a soft pale blue, the suggestion of hills in the distance and importantly there is the suggestion of a path to the croft.  So we can have 'access' to it!


For our last 'painting at home' before the summer break, I thought it would be nice for you to create your own 'story' around a croft in the landscape!  Please send your image via the email.  I look forward to seeing your paintings soon!  You are welcome to send one you have done before. 

Here are a couple of photos of crofts you might find inspiring.

Now to view this week's paintings from home and paintings done previously.

Two very smart coloured pencil paintings by Avril.  The eyes are beautifully done

as is the fur of the cats.  Well done!

This fine fellow is called Reggie and belongs to Carole and her family.  Such expression

in the look of the dog! I like the way the green grass and flowers go so well with the limited 

palette of the dog.  Well done!

You may well all recognize Carole's garden!  Here she has chosen to paint the scene using

a palette knife to create a lively and textured work.  Well done!

Sandra has been busy this week painting one of the many lovely poppies that grace her garden.

She has used acrylic paints and nice bright colours to bring us summer time cheer from her 

world to you all! Well done!

Margaret has been busy too, using pastel pencils she is undertaking the task of painting greeting

cards for all of her friends and family.  I think you will agree she has done a fine job of these 

Nasturtiums. Well done!

Many of you will remember Margaret's fine painting 'Monarch of the Glen' from our class exhibition
from a few years ago at the Lhanbryde Community Centre. It was a fine preview evening and you all enjoyed it so much.  How time flies!  Thank you Margaret for sending us your lovely painting!

Greetings

Hello again girls!

Here I am on holiday once again! Last summer we had a lovely visit down to see the family and stayed on the Yorkshire Dales.  Richard knew how much I love anything to do with the Bronte's so 
the first visit we took was to Haworth vicarage to see the home of the Bronte's. It is a wonderful museum and we also had a wonderful drive across dales and then moorlands to reach it. The old village of Haworth is also beautiful with fine old buildings, tea rooms and views across to the moors in the distance.   I am once again back to painting moorlands so this holiday did indeed make a big impression on me, though it is the rugged terrain of Caithness that I am painting.  

Here is my latest work in progress. It is in oils on canvas 40 x 40 cm.

There are two more weeks left of our painting term and then we will break up for our summer holiday.  Next week I will be speaking about painting a landscape with a croft in it. The following week it would be lovely to see a painting from you at home of a croft.  It can be in any medium.
I look forward to hearing from you!


This week we start off with a visit to Susan's beautiful garden.  Susan lives right out in the countryside and we can see she has worked hard over the years to create this wee paradise! Thank you Susan for sharing your lovely garden with us.

Beautiful wildflowers in a meadow from Vera.

Rich colours of red and green and a beautiful textured poppy from Carol.

Precise and delicate pastel pencil pansy from Avril.

Beautiful painting of bindweed by Sandra, pinks and greens another nice combination.  Sandra's grand daughter has been missing her friends during the lockdown. She is very creative like her grandmother! Sandra has made cards from her artwork so her grand daughter can post her greetings to her friends through their letter boxes! Such a nice thought and much appreciated.

Ena says hello from Buckie! she is hoping to move house very soon and she has taken photos of her paintings for us to see. 

Alison MacDonald had a visit from her grandson to her garden where he had a game of tennis. She decided to paint him. This is her first figure painting and I think you will agree she has done really well!

Ann has also been visited by her grandchildren and her garden has a nice display of lavender.  So she decided it was time to get the paints out and paint this lovely lavender field on canvas. 

And finally Margaret's fine painting of a Highland Coo, wishes you all a lovely weekend.
Stay safe and Happy Painting!

Paintings and a bear

Hello Girls from a past holiday at Falkland Palace, Fife.  I thinking about this castle the other day as it really is such a lovely place.  I often find myself thinking about past holidays these days and what special times they were.  That feeling of freedom of wandering about here and there. Surely in the future we will have those times again, I hope.








Thank you for the fine works for the student blog.  Keep painting,  drawing and being creative girls.

Looking forward to seeing all of your fine works here soon.  Please email images through to me. Thank you!

Avril has been incredibly productive during the lockdown, knitting, making cards and here is a  cheerful message for you all! She made this very fine Teddy for the children's Corona virus teddy hunt! Well done!

Here is Avril's pastel portrait of a cat, lovely work and look at those beautiful eyes! Nice fur too which is always difficult to portray well.

Yvonne was inspired by the Hawthorn that has blossom during April to June.   She took a photo of a tree in bloom and played around with her watercolours to create a pretty imaginative vision on her paper. Delicate and romantic!

Elaine's beautiful bird coastal painting, those chicks are adorable!  She was working on this painting for a long time getting in all of the fine detail.  Well done!

Sandra's super painting of  a happy holiday down at Pittenweem visiting the arts festival.  This is such a cheerful and uplifting painting, beautifully done in acrylics using the sharpie pens for the nets.

Alison Murray's lovely acrylic painting of Alaska!  That deep blue sky against the snowy mountains works perfectly. Good shadows on those mountains. The mid distant trees really sit well back and the foreground trees are very nicely done. I think the water is really good, just the right tone, lighter than the sky! Well done!

Carole's very fine painting of her garden! Where she has been spending a lot of time caring for it so well.  I do love those red poppies in the foreground.  Good work!

Finishing today with Margaret's stunning painting!  After Bob Ross.  Excellent trees and the tonal values are really good in this scene.  Good work!