A new Online Watercolor Painting Tutorial is coming soon folks… CHASING AUTUMN is on the drawing board!
It is wonderful having so many of you on board my Online Watercolour and Botanical Painting tutorials with me. With STUDIO BASICS now live and available, it is time to get started on the next ~ CHASING AUTUMN.
As the last of Autumn wraps up here and we enjoy the colour show in its final days, I took the opportunity for a fantastic day trip in the sunshine and clear skies not more than a stones throw from my home. It just goes to show, you don’t need to trace far or to be fancy to have an amazing time adventuring, or to find gorgeous subjects to inspire you to paint. Full of enthusiasm, I explored the rose gardens north to photograph one beautiful bloom after another, the ginger flush of the Taxodiums along the creeks edge, the Magnolias covered in plump buds before the winter even begins, and of course the stunning, flooding colour of the Autumn trees.
South again all too soon, I looped back out the roads less traveled inland, passing through beautiful light filled stretches natural bush. Gymea Lilies, Banksia ericifolias and delicate grasses catching the sun, now low, clear and golden in the sky. Farmland, orchards, wandering chickens, goats and livestock going about their days in peace, timeless silver threads of smoke from work stoves creeping into the lowlands in a velvety blue haze completing the picture as well as any Sunday drive could be. Last stop, a shimmering row of golden Liquidambers lining the roadside and I pull up one last time to kick about the blanketing spent leaves, faded to peachy earth tones and deliciousness, and watch the sun fall to the horizon before home. Yes Autumn is on its last legs but I certainly enjoyed a day saying farewell in fighting form. It was uplifting, inspiring and incredibly restorative… Ive said before, the collecting reference process is half the fun and this was no exception!
It seems so fitting to choose Autumn as our next topic. Leaves at this time of year are a fantastic opportunity to have a play with simple shapes and form, gorgeous colour interractions and delicate textures… It makes every kind of sense as a next stop on the Online Painting Tutorial adventures! Thank you everyone who has been enjoying the first, and for helping me grow something so wonderful for You! These workshops can only be as good as you help them to be. I am SO looking forward to putting what we’ve learned in ‘Paint Realistic Watercolor and Botanicals – Studio Basics’ into action with you, so stay tuned to hear more on the development of this course in the coming weeks. In the meantime ~ Practice, Practice ~ Practice!