Ann Mortimer Art

…But it has been a very long Winter and even today, halfway through the month of March, it has been snowing and there’s a bitterly cold wind.

I’ve been trying to cheer myself up by seeking out signs of Spring in the garden.  A beautiful pink hellebore has been bravely defying the Winter chill.

 

 

I brought a flower in and made a watercolour.

 

 

Other hellebores are now blooming, and I brought some in with anything else I could find in the garden that had flowers coming…even a sprig of Rosemary!

 

 

 

Happy New Year everyone!

In my last post on this blog, I promised that I would post some tips to accompany the book.  So I thought I’d start with this project.  In the book you get an A4 tracing to help you along if you wish.

How do you get that misty effect in the background with the trees and branches showing up as shadowy shapes?

I’ve made a short video to demo that technique.

 

Of course the daffodils would be masked out  with masking fluid in front of this woodland area.  You could then paint this boldly without worrying about spoiling your flowers.

More tips soon!

 

I painted this a few years ago after a walk along a local canal where the hedges were full of Autumn fruits and I photographed the different stages.

Some more leaf shapes have been cut out of the background wash to give depth.

The leaves have been washed with different colours wet in wet.   The masking has been removed and the hawthorn berries and flowers have been painted in.

Towards the outer edges of the painting you can see areas of the first wash left un touched in order to take the eye towards the middle of the painting.

Colours used:

Winsor and Newton artists watercolours

aureolin                      Winsor blue (red shade)         Winsor red           Ultramarine blue

raw sienna                   Quinacridone gold                   cobalt blue           Indian yellow

burnt sienna                Quinacridone magenta           Alizarin crimson     Permanent rose

 

I used 140 not watercolour paper.  Saunders Waterford.

I hope you’re inspired to paint Autumn!

Hi everyone!  It’s been some time since I last posted but here’s some news about my new book.

There’s an excerpt from the book in the November issue of Leisure Painter.  It’s one of my favourite projects in the book with a lovely Autumn twist to get us in the mood for painting as the “season of mists and mellow fruitfulness” arrives.

Chinese Lanterns are so showy and colourful…I have planted a shrub in the garden now and the orange lanterns are there, glowing away merrily.

And look at the Liquidambar tree in the back garden.  Incredible colour!

Be inspired!

 

 

 

 

I hope you will come and see me on Thursday 13 July at 2pm in the Search Press marquee at Patchings Festival.

 

I’ll be at Patchings this year, but I won’t have a stand.

Blink and you might miss me!

I’ll be in the Search Press marquee on Thursday afternoon, July 13^th at 2pm.

 

I’ll be painting one or two of the projects in my new book, Flowers in Watercolour.  I’ll be talking about the book, about how to use it and get the most out of it and I will have some of the example “inspirational” paintings on show.

Looking through the book, I am impressed by how much we’ve managed to fit into it!  There are 35 projects to have a go at.  All with illustrated step by step instructions, a tracing if desired, a photo of the subject and with plenty of tips about techniques, colour mixing, texture making, etc.

I’ve included here some of the illustrations which didn’t get into the book, but which give you a flavour of what there is inside.

So I hope you’ll come and say hello.  I’m really looking forward to seeing some old friends and meeting some new ones too!

 

I received a forward copy of my new book this month.  Very exciting!

It’s been the best part of a year’s work for me and I was really pleased to see that the book has a lot to offer.  It’s packed with ideas, projects, tracings, illustrations and it looks like good value for money to me…but then I’m biased!

The projects are quick and easy, well as easy as watercolour ever is!  Based on small flower portraits using a variety of techniques which are fully explained.

Makes me remember that when I first started out with watercolour, I used to do small flower portraits…and then would sell them at craft fairs.  Either framed or as greetings cards.

I’ll tell you more soon, but in the meantime here are some of the sort of projects you will find in the book, with full step by step instructions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Towards the end of last year I began a sketchbook to document  the garden and anything else that took my fancy.  I love the concept of journaling but have always been a bit hit and miss with my sketchbook work.

I bought a Strathmore watercolour journal and I was off.  My first sketch was done…

 

And here are some sketches I’ve done recently, ending up with the Plum blossom sketch of which more in the next blog.