RED

My entry for this week has no inherent logic in being red, except that I have been wanting to try papercuts for some time. I saw some magnificent red ones at the APT-5 and when the topic came up I knew immediately this was my chance. I have also to thank the lovely Anita and Mark for the gorgeous red paper - it is part of my birthday present of a packet of beautiful Japanese papers. You'll probably see more of them featured in future posts (the papers I mean).

The imagery is a further exploration of the life cycle of the butterfly as a metaphor for transience. This piece isn't really finished, but was nearly running out of time to submit, so this is just a rough mount.

Buzz

As soon as I saw the topic, I knew that I'd be doing something to illustrate the dulcet tones of the whipper snipper. If I was even slightly paranoid I would believe that there are people out there armed with whipper snippers whose aim in life is to haunt me. I really hate those things. Gone are the days when gardening was a peaceful pasttime. Why can't people just let grass creep erratically over their edgings, as God intended? Well, that's enough of a rave about this topic - believe me I could go on...

About the painting: I know it isn't technically very good - I've had one lesson in watercolour several years ago and only used them a couple of times since. On top of that, it's on canvas that I had gessoed roughly meaning to do some mixed media work. Totally wrong! Nevertheless I know I can't blame my support totally. Plus there is a huge compositional error - the shadow from the tree and the whipper snipper should not cross like that. I can see now why artists sketch out their paintings and do studies first.

So...Why did I do this? I just really love using watercolours. I love the translucency and the way the colour floods onto the paper, (well mine does, anyway!) Maybe it's time to do some practice and develop a little technique!

Phoenix

I have used this week's challenge as part of my "Painting-a-Day" month, which is being documented on my other blog. This work is my first attempt at using sgraffito to create a whole work. It is a really enjoyable technique which I've brought across from my ceramics days and I love the way you can create such fine lines. It does place a heavy emphasis on drawing skills, and need to practise these to develop a style I am happy with. I don't really like the look of background, but it does seem to express the chaos of "rising from the ashes".