🐝 Bee Kind

041 Bee Kind

 Saw something very similar to this on Pinterest and wanted to do my own cute version.  I started off by painting a prepared canvas panel with Titanium White.  I then drew my design lightly on top of that.

I then mixed up a few different shades of yellow with hints of Orange and started colouring in the Honeycomb.  With this piece this is what took the time.  I also added some darker or lighter areas to each one.  I then coloured in the bee giving him a cute character. 

To do the lettering I didn't have a stencil with large enough lettering for this project so I went onto my computer and opened the Microsoft Paint program and used the Text tool and wrote Bee Kind on the blank page.  I then selected it into a font that I liked and resized it too.  After this I used my usual method of printing and cutting it out then drawing around each letter on my canvas.

I know it is a long drawn out process but it works well and you can use any font you like as long as it is installed on your Personal Computer of course.

This photo shows some of the lettering has been pencilled in.  I put some masking tape on and drew a level line on it so that the lettering was straight.  I have made mistakes with getting lettering straight in the past so wanted to try this.  I think it has worked well too.  You really can never have too much masking tape!  After both words were drawn round I then coloured them in carefully with a fine brush and with a steady hand using Mars Black.  

This was a fun little project with a very important message we could all take on board.

👑 HM Queen Elizabeth II

 020 HM Queen Elizabeth II

Artist's Notes:  I can still see areas around the chin area that don't look correct to me but I have chosen to leave as it is.  I could quite easily 'do too much' now and ruin the good work I have done.

Here's how I did it

Her Majesty had started out as a New Challenge for me.  Painting a Famous Public Figure.  You can't get much more famous than Queen Elizabeth II.

I am going to attempt to paint Her Majesty the Queen.  Rather than draw freehand, I am going to try something different.  It is a completely new idea I had and I want to see how it turns out.

First of all I printed out the picture I want to paint on a sheet of A4 paper.

I then prepared my 8"x 8" Canvas panel by taping it (using Masking Tape) to a larger board so I can handle it easier without messing up the 8"x 8" canvas with fingerprints and smudges.  After this I painted a background.  

In the original photo, her Majesty has greenery behind her so I used lots of Sap Green and daubs of Naples Yellow here and there, stabbing at the canvas rather than stroking it.

The next step was to cut her Majesty out of the printout.  I actually put it against a window and drew around it which was quite un-necessary and could've just as easily cut out that original, duh!

Anyway, I then drew around the figure so that I had the basic outline.  I then drew the rest in free hand.  

It is quite faint in this picture but you can see the pencil lines in this photo.  Once I had the basic shapes down on the canvas it was just a case of colouring it in.

At the end of today this is how far I have got. I have used various yellows for the Queens attire.  This is really pretty good so far.  I am really very pleased with how it is progressing.  

But for me the challenge will be the next bit.  When I study a photo of someone I see the face as irregular blocks of different colours. The colours may only differ very slightly in another shade but at 2 metres away it looks completely realistic.  

The trick is to get the right 'colour', the right 'shapes', and then getting them to 'blend'.  Not Easy!

🌼 Daffodils

017 Daffodils

From one of my own photos.  It's not turned out as great as I'd hoped.  But it is OK and I am still finding what my strengths and weaknesses are.

 

A new project today, I'm going to try and paint daffodils from one of my own photos.

Background base colours done.  I wouldn't normally use tape in a project like this but I wanted a straight line in the background so I was just a bit lazy!