Fail Big, Fail Often! -  This is a quote I heard from another artist a long while ago. It really clicked with me when I first heard it, and I now have it stuck on the chest of drawers in the studio where I can see it every time I’m ‘Failing Big’ yet again! 

It’s quotes like this that keep me going when I get stuck doing painting after painting that isn’t working out how I’ve seen it in my mind’s eye at the outset. Time after time I will make the same mistakes and my efforts will look clumsy . . .  and then . . . (hopefully/usually) . . . the day finally arrives when something clicks, and all those disappointing paintings pay off; what I was aiming for, for such a painfully long time, finally happens and I have a painting that is pretty much how I intend it to look.

Here’s longingly hoping that this will happen one day with roses, which are my nemesis. I envisage these gossamer, floaty, translucent things of delight - but it just isn’t happening yet; roses are such complicated structures, and with my double vision I lose track of which part I’m supposed to be painting!

Hopefully though, as I keep studying these delicate, beautiful flowers while painting them from life, and my tenacity in keeping on failing(!) will finally bring about the results I want. In the meantime, I will just keep plodding on, Failing Big, Failing Often, and loving every minute of it. 

If you are also trying to get somewhere with what you love to do, be brave, bold and tenacious, and remember this inspiring quote, it’s a good one! 🌸

Cloud Study 6” x 8”

I am trying to keep up the momentum of getting out and painting small oil sketches on location as much as I can, but today was not a day to be out much in my wheelchair. As beautiful as it has been at times, at other times we’ve had rain, hail, strong winds and black skies - today is a prelude to Storm Hannah’s imminent arrival tomorrow. I decided the safest, driest way to do any oil study today was in the shelter of the open conservatory doorway!

The clouds were whipping along at a real pace, so I had to move very quickly while painting, whilst also still trying to focus on the colours, shapes and values of the swiftly changing sky.

I was really glad that I didn’t let myself feel that today was a day wasted as far as getting out and painting was concerned, and that I’d made the effort to get out my kit and sit there studying the sky; it was a great lesson in observation for me and a lot of fun on a blustery day.

‘Tulips’, work in progress, 8” x 8” oil on board

These beautiful tulips were a present from a dear friend who I met up for coffee with yesterday, and they were so pretty I knew I just had to paint them!

Because I wanted to use the limewashed floorboards of the Studio floor as a backdrop, I took the tulips out of their vase and lay them down on the floor, arranging them until I thought  the angle of the flowers against the floorboards worked. I quickly took a photo before placing them back in their vase a couple of moments later.

Usually I paint flowers ’alla prima’, from life in one session, but I wanted to savour my time painting these, so today I just concentrated on doing a thin under-painting using lots of turps, checking the photo to get the composition right. Once the under-painting is dry I will add the final thick and juicy paint, always looking at the fresh flowers for their true colours and tones (photographs are never true to the original), trying as always to keep the painting as loose and fresh as I can - never an easy task for me!

I really enjoyed my time in my little Cwtch studio painting these today, it was wonderful having the window open and the door flung wide, with the reflections of the garden pond dancing on the ceiling and a bumble bee buzzing in and out of the doorway as I painted. The clocks go forward tonight, which means lovely light evenings to enjoy. Spring is here. 🌷