Sometimes when you don’t feel like painting or don’t have the time to work on a painting, it can be helpful to just play with color mixing; this is also great for a beginner in watercolor (or any medium!) or if you haven’t touched them in awhile and feel rusty.
Watercolor practice mixing - pages 1+2 of sketchbook
Here is my small field sketchbook opened up to show you my color studies. I wanted to experiment with greens and then various blues for landscape painting. It can be great fun to do this, it’s relaxing and loosens you up with the paints. I find it good practice to try to copy from life, that is the landscape right in front of you, but also from pictures of paintings you like in books.
Watercolor - practice mixing - pg 1
I made this nice and big so you could read my notes, I abbreviate the names of my colors and put (+) plus signs where I mixed a new color in.
Watercolor practice mixing - pg 2
The blues at the bottom of this page are from looking at watercolor paintings and trying to copy the color and study how the artist (A. Heaton Cooper) made it look like water.
Having these pages in my field sketchbook is great reference when I’m in the field painting or at home in the studio, you can refer to your color notes when searching for the right color. This was a great exercise and glad to share it with you, give it a try no matter what your level of experience, remember even virtuoso violinists warm up and practice their scales everyday!
This morning was sunny so I headed up the country lane to walk above the little village of Edlingham in Northumberland, England. Here’s a watercolor painting I did while sitting in a field, see the pictures following it and ‘come along with me’ on my walk. Enjoy!
"Fields above Edlingham"
After walking as far as I thought I had time for, I picked a corner of a nice field, not far from the road to work. The painting above is almost all done sitting in the field, I added details to the house and changed a few little things on the hills once I got home. There’s a picture later showing how it looked when I came home, before details were added.
Rock possibly from Roman times
This is the very interesting rock I sat on, I keep a pad in my bag from an old diaper bag; it’s great to sit on cold damp rocks or ground. I’d like to learn more about this rock, there is an old Roman fort right at the top of a nearby hill; we feel this looks Roman made.
my sketchbook with 3 page layout
Here’s a picture to show you how I worked, my sketchbook is on my lap clipped to a small board with watercolor pan handy. I had a small container of water on the ground within easy reach and I’m holding the only two brushes I used to create the painting. One round and one flat, it’s the first time I ever used a flat with watercolors and I’m very happy with what I could do. It was great for making the bush and tree lines on hills.
As you see I was also wearing gloves because it gets very chilly when you just sit still for one plus hours; these are thin kidskin I think, a dress pair that I decided would serve better on my sketch hikes. They’re thin so I can feel what I’m doing still and the leather helps me with grip.
writing on clouds
Please click to read better, these are the thoughts I wrote before I started to paint.
Close up- left side of painting
Here’s a close up of the left side of the painting, just to show you more of the details. I touched up the house, posts some of the road and if you notice the tops of the clouds I softened them up. I’ve also totally removed a treeline somewhere…can you find it? (compare to the pic below)
Fields above Edlingham watercolor unsigned
Here’s the painting just as it looked when I left the field to go home.
country cat
A friendly cat I met while walking up the hill, I caught her with her tongue out! I LOVE the note cards, mugs and stickers I made from some cats I’ve met…including this one and a gorgeous black cat on the castle wall. (Go here to see their pictures!)
country lane
The beautiful lane I wandered along…it was great.
Sheep resting
There are many different breeds of sheep here in England, this one I still have to learn. My favorites are the black faced sheep. These moms and lambs are really enjoying the sun. (Go here to see more photos of sheep in fields I’ve seen in England, you can order note cards if you like.)
country lane
The hedges here are of Hawthorn, when they’re in bloom not only are the pretty but they smell great.
Field view
The riding lesson
Here’s a girl getting a riding lesson, walking on a long line then sometimes off.( Here’s some note cards and gifts with my horse paintings, drawings and photos I’ve taken.)
I hope you enjoyed taking this stroll with me and seeing my painting. Please visit my shop on Zazzle to see many of these photographs as note cards and more, here’s Landscape Photos and Landscape Paintings.
Today we had such a great walk that we really didn’t expect. The weather turned out nice in the late day as we drove to Alnmouth on the Northumberland coast just north of Warkworth Castle. I wasn’t expecting to go on much of a walk so I didn’t even have my field kit with me! Makes me feel bare, but I did have my camera and my purse which always has a small handmade sketchpad in it.
Road to beach at Alnmouth
I really can’t resist putting so many pictures in my post because it’s hard to pick and choose, leaving one out when I feel they are all beautiful! All of these will be in my shop as note cards and gifts, please visit the links at the end.
Dunes at Alnmouth
As we walked from our car, this is looking back through the dunes at the Rape Seed fields. The sand dunes here are quite impressive and filled with interesting shells. I picked up a bunch, so many that I had to fill my purse pocket. I have a story about that on my next post make sure you check back.
Beach at Alnmouth
This is the gorgeous beach at Alnmouth, the sand was fine and light colored, a great beach!
Cross at Alnmouth
This is St. Cuthbert’s Cross, that’s the name carved onto the base of this cross. Here is a great link about St. Cuthbert explaining more about the patron St. of Northumberland. This is the view as you climb up the not very high hill, to a windy spot that gives you views inland and out to the North Sea. We saw many sea birds and a heron ‘behind’ the hill, as the waterways wind around behind it as tides come and go.
Alnmouth from 'cross hill'
This is the view of Alnmouth you have from the top, it’s really great. I just love this photo with the sweeping clouds and quaint buildings.
Me drawing on hill
So you must have known sooner or later I’d have my sketchbook out! I had my tiny field sketchbook in my purse and tried to whip out a quicky sketch with watersoluble graphite pencils. Gary took this photo but my photographer friend Mark Baker did some editing to perk it up, Thanks Mark! ( www.mhbaker.com)
Alnmouth waterfront sketch in water soluble graphite
I had to touch it up at home as it was getting late and we needed to go home. No sitting and sketching time today 🙁 I used a waterbrush on it to do the washes. (I took a photo of the sketch with my camera to upload it.)
Cross at Alnmouth 2
Well I’ll leave you with this last view, though there were many more I had to choose from.
To see these wonderful photos as note cards and other gifts, go here to my shop. Just scroll down the page to see all the photos from Northumberland.
I wanted to share some work in progress with you on a little painting I’m doing of Edlingham castle. It was built in the early 12th C by the Normans, it’s in Northumberland and I can walk to it everyday from where I’m staying!
Sketch of Edlingham Castle, Northumberland
(Forgive if my pictures aren’t perfect as I’m using my camera to upload images) I brought my field kit with me and walked not on the typical path that tourists take right up to it, but one that goes behind an old Abbey that sits next to the castle grounds. I don’t like to be painting around lots of other curious people so I decided to view from afar. I found a big wooden gate with nice heavy posts that I sat on top of, I sometimes have a pad I can sit on to keep away the dampness, lucky I had it today. I decided to do a detailed drawing of it, not knowing if I’d get time to watercolor it on the spot, I took several reference photos before I left. The weather got really drab, cold, windy, actually chilled me through! So…the detailed sketch is as far as I went! Pretty clear for being drawn while sitting on a fence post!
Edlingham castle work in progress
Back in a cozy house, with a pot of tea, I pulled the picture up on my laptop and worked on it from that. The color is NEVER the same but it’s not a bad way to work, especially good if you can take color notes while in the field. I figure I may get back down there on a nice day and finish it up, or just work from the photo, we’ll see.
Until I finish it, you can see some nice photos of the castle here in my shop. Follow the link above or go to this one for more photo note cards of the castle.
Come with me on a walk up into the Ingram Valley in Northumberland England, land of unending vistas and wildlife. I know that sounds ‘corny’ but its true, Northumberland is so beautiful and wild.
Mama sheep and 2 lambs
As Gary and I began our walk, right away we met a proud and healthy mama black faced sheep with her two little lambs. Walking the hills in lambing season is so much fun, the little ones prance, bounce from all fours like they have springs in all hooves and they join up in little gangs to play king of the hill. When they can they run to their moms and push under for a feed, their tails wag like little flags of victory!
Ingram Valley -shepherd's road
We turn our attention towards the uphill walk in very chilly wind, but with the sun it was bearable. This is a small track used by the shepherd with his quad-bike, to visit the various hills with sheep on. (I’m actually taking a look ‘back’ downhill here).
Ingram Valley-old stone wall and some lone Scots Pines
This is along the way up, an old stone wall like so many you see in England, with a few lonely Scots Pines playing sentinel on the lonely hills.
mama sheep
When we went as far as we wanted to go, we watched the sheep playing and running. This ewe and her lamb were all by themselves on the other side of the fence. The lamb looked so special that we couldn’t help but wonder if the shepherd had separated them on purpose. The mother was gorgeous with a coat like no other! (I loved them so much I created note cards of them, and the other sheep, in my shop!)
Wheatear in Ingram Valley, Northumberland
As we made our way down, I talked Gary into stopping for a sit down….of course this was my chance to try to do a watercolor study of the hills opposite! We relaxed, and sitting quietly as I worked, a little bird landed down the hill a bit and started to work it’s way up towards us. I got my camera slowly and started to shoot as he came closer and closer; the wonderful thing about nature sketching or plein air painting is because you’re so quiet, usually wildlife will come near. (keep your camera always handy!) I created note cards of this one too of course, I can’t wait to do a painting of it!
sheep on far hill
Now this is the hill we looked at on our way down and what captured my attention for painting. I wanted to show you first if you look closely, you’ll see tiny white dots on it, those are sheep! No kidding…see the picture below.
sheep on far hill-Zoomed in
This is a close up of the same hill, see the sheep walking single file along the steep hill? They are sure footed but Gary told me sometimes they do fall and get killed 🙁
The picture shows you the scale of the size of the mountain.
Ingram Valley
So I sat on one of many tussocks remaining from and old forest, (a tussock is a small hump covered with grass that remains from where a tree used to be) and used my watercolor pan and one water-brush.
Ingram Valley-watercolor
This is the finished painting; I used the photo I took and looked at it on my computer screen when I got back to finish it. It may have the wrong color cast as I don’t have a scanner to use while I’m away from home, I just shot a picture of it with my camera. Here is a note card of this painting in my shop.
I hope you enjoyed this hike with me, I enjoyed having you along! Remember when you’re out for a walk to look around with curiosity and you may discover something you never noticed before.
Remember for any of my note cards, if you order 10 or more you get a discount…and the savings increase the more you buy, they can ALL BE DIFFERENT CARDS TOO!!
This evening we went for a drive up towards Beanly Moor which looks over a gorgeous valley with the Cheviot mountains in the background.
Road by Beanly Moor
You can park your car on the side of the road here and just walk up to Beanly Moor, a beautiful and wild area filled with heather and bracken with wonderful views.
Shepherd and his dogs
I love seeing the shepherds with their dogs, they don’t go on foot or by horseback as they used to, nowadays it’s a quad bike or 4 wheeler as transport across fields and the dog seems to LOVE riding on back!
View from hill by Beanly Moor
We walked up the hill and watched the sun set here, I just love this view. I dream of having a house in a setting like this, with a view just as peaceful.
Cheviots from Beanly Moor + Rothbury biuldings
I pulled out my watercolors and used my water-brush to do a little sketch. It was a bit hard because though it’s sunny, it was cold! At the bottom of the page is a pen and ink sketch I did the next day, of buildings in Rothbury, a small town in Northumberland. I was freezing while sketching this, but I liked the windows and stones and though angles are tricky, I like to do them because it’s good practice.
Church in Rothbury, Northumberland, England
You can see the day was cloudy and cold, I sat on a bench looking out across the town square. You can see the hills right in the background, I love walking near Rothbury.
Rothbury church
I hope to get a nicer photo of this church on a sunny day then do a painting.
Well as the title says, my adventure to England started slowly. I got to the Buffalo airport in plenty of time, even after dropping my favorite polar fleece jacket in the hall and having to retrace my steps all the way back to the check-in point, I still wasn’t late to the gate. Yes, this does happen even to those of us who are SO careful, just pop into every restaurant and shop along the way and ask if anyone’s picked it up. Well there it was at the last one; I really need that for the plane ride!
Then I get to the gate and they say the planes are all delayed because of rain in NJ, so the flight before mine hasn’t left yet, “would I like a seat on that one to get my into Newark early?” Um…YES! If they’re running late then better go early. It finally gets in, an hour late, and we board, but first I’m told my bag will be too big to fit overhead in the bins! Darn, just bought this bag because it was extra trim and I carry all my camera and laptop equipment in it, things I’ll never stow out of my sight. SO…..I went to the side and pulled lots of things out and stuffed them in my field bag that I was carrying on my shoulder, camera bag went in my hand. It’s only an hour flight to NJ…I can live with it all by my feet. Well as you can read on my sketchpage below, we were boarded, then sat on the tarmack, then pulled back into the gate and we had to get off for an hour. It was a bit confusing as to what was going on because everyone seemed to get into a huge long line at the counter. Well I just went back into the plane and asked the pilot, he said come back to this same plane in less than an hour, we may leave early.
Well I got to Newark airport finally, went immediately to see the departures board (learned from past experience that they can and do change gates at the last minute), I was SHOCKED when I saw in big red letters, “CANCELED”!! “Yikes! What is going on? What do I do?” It’s not like there are other flights to Scotland that night! I made my way to the gate and they said to go to the Service Counter to get help. Need I tell you there was a line stretching down the hall from about five other international flights that were canceled? We stood in line for 2 1/2 hours waiting our turn to be told simply that the Iceland volcano was erupting again and we had to rebook our flight to tomorrow night if we wanted. Thank goodness a nice Scottish family was in front of me, their daughter had an international cell phone and she let me call Gary so he’d know I wasn’t going to be at the airport in the morning. We all talked and decided that when we got our luggage we’d find a hotel together, it felt nice not to be alone in this!
"View from Terminal C Window, Newark Airport"
May 4, 2010
The sketches from Terminal C are from my second day of trying to leave, I did them while standing in line again waiting to re-check my bag and go again through security. Last night the woman at Continental said I could just leave my bag and it would be transferred to my new flight, but lucky I got it, when we went down to baggage we saw ALL the bags from canceled flights just lined up, no one checking the tags when people picked up baggage! It was really nice to have my sketchbook with me, like an old friend to keep me company; so boring standing in line like that.
Later I sat at a table to eat my soup and I colored the Terminal C with my watercolors. At 4:50pm I sketched the plane below at Gate 134, it wasn’t my gate at all but it had a nice view out the window of all going on. You can see the Air-Tran in the background, that’s what I had to take to get to P4 to get a shuttle for the hotel and then re-arrive at the next day. I think drawing airplanes and the other things around it, is difficult because of the angles. I was using a permanent pen so whatever mark I made was it, no erasing. I like the telescoping hood that meets the doorway of the aircraft where you board.
Well around about 6pm the attendant at our gate (flight to leave at 8pm) said that our flight had been canceled! Oh no!! Not again! Darn this volcano, what was I going to do? It was still cheaper for me to stay the night rather than take a flight back to Buffalo for $350 some dollars which is not covered by the airline. Anyways, usually the ash situation settles within a few days and I REALLY didn’t want to return home!
"Gate 134"
May 5, 2010
FINALLY~! I’m sitting on board, you can see the tiny sketch I did looking out my window. I was stuck at that airport for three days, two nights at a local hotel, but all day long at the boring airport. The canceled flights were to Scotland, Ireland, England and most of the people who were stuck like me, were from there and SO nice!! We always asked each other when we saw each other at breakfast at the hotel, or around the airport, what news we’d heard. The biggest problem was not hearing what was going on with the volcano on the news. We had to rely on talking to family or friends in the UK to hear what direction the ash was moving. Lucky my hotel had Wi-Fi so I could be online with my laptop.
“Sunset After Take-Off”
Finally in the air, after so much trouble and waiting. I did this quickly with one water-brush and my pan of watercolors.I find the sunset in the air so unusual, sort of like it’s upside down, the sky is so beautiful blue, the area below is just dark, dark and the glow just above it from the sun.
I’m looking forward to my summer of lots of sketches, photographs and paintings while visiting England and the rest of the UK.I hope you’ll tune in for more updates to see my adventures, just sign your email in the little box at the top right column, then click accept when you get the email notice.
Come walk with me on my Spring morning hike at Long Lane Farm!
Song Sparrow
Below is the first page in my small field sketchbook from today, I’ll type what it says below in case my handwriting is hard to read! (Click the photos for larger view, drawings are already enlarged.)
"A Glorious Morning!" 4-23-2010 pg 1
“A glorious morning! Frost on the ground and now at 9am it’s just wet in the sun, sparkles on the grass everywhere. The House Sparrows are chattering at the barn and a Song Sparrow has staked his claim to the back corner of the yard. Ginger waits in Fox Lane for me. Tree Swallows diving at each other near the nest box, constant twittering, bubbling, chatter. “
Tree Swallow
I saw some great birds today, the Tree Swallows are a joy to watch! They swoop and turn and I’ve watched them play a game by snatching up chicken feathers from the ground while in flight, then carrying it up high they drop it and another bird will catch it out of the air! I can’t get over the glossy green blue of their feathers.
me sketching
Here’s a picture of me sketching in the lane, wearing my tall mud boots (Wellies), winter coat, bag for sketch supplies and my camera with the long lens. I like to cross the strap diagonally from my shoulder as it takes pressure off my neck and back better.
"Budding Tree" 4-23-2010 pg 2
“Song Sparrow over and over, cardinal in the treeline and a crow, gurgling of the Red Winged Blackbird and Tree Sparrows. Such a sound! Now a Yellow Shafted Flicker…off up the field somewhere. I hear a Field Sparrow now at the maze.”
The trees are just starting to bud, looking up at them in the sunlight they looked like little gems glittering on the tips of branches.
Bluebirds
I was so happy to see a pair of Bluebirds have chosen one of the houses in the field, the Tree Sparrows have claimed the other one.
"Secret Circle Lane" 4-23-2010 pg 3
I had fun discovering tadpoles, snails and a tiny red mite on “Secret Circle Lane”, all in the freezing cold water flooding the lane.
Water Mite
As I wrote in my sketchbook, I was finally able to scoop up a ‘red dot’ floating in the water. Later I was able to study the tiny red dot from the photos I took and found out it’s a Water Mite. Before it got any ideas of how tasty my finger would be I released it back into the water! I’d like to know what they do live on or how they live.
Here’s a short video clip I shot while standing over the flooded lane (now promise you won’t laugh at me!) :
"The Wet Woods" 4-23-2010
I walked into the wet woods and standing in 4″ of water I did this tiny watercolor sketch of the dead tree. What fascinated me the most was how the shadows and sunlight dappled on the ground and tree branches
"Snail Study" 4-23-2010
Once home I looked at my photos on the computer screen and did this little watercolor study of a snail and two tadpoles. I haven’t identified the snail yet, but it was amazing to see when it was floating in the water it wriggled until it looked like it was out of it’s shell. It was a queer blue color, I never saw one like it.
The shell of the snail was not flashy or patterned boldly but I think it was beautiful in it’s own subtle way. It looked almost of a gunmetal grey with a cream background.
There’s nothing prettier than a field in springtime. Today I took a walk with Ginger out back…up very wet lanes and through my field with water in all the low spots and ditches. There are dandelions coming up and tiny little specks of pale violet flowers that look like bits of paper in the grass they’re so small. Something people often forget is to stop and take a look back from where they came, for a different view or perspective.
"Looking Back" 4-18-2010
(Go here to see Note Cards of this painting: “Looking Back”)
I tried hard to find a spot I might sit and do some sketching, but the ground was too wet even for my plastic bag. As I turned to look back I thought I’d do I quick sketch of the house and field with my watercolor pan and waterbrush. I used just one brush for this, a large, juicy flat that lets water flow quite easily. A little messy but I was cold and my bag was heavy, I didn’t feel like standing too long, and neither did Ginger.
As we entered the field I noticed a flutter of blue out a ways, it was a male Blue Bird! He and his mate were perching on tops of bushes and flitting down to the ground to hunt or gather grasses. I think he was hunting bugs to impress her, as I never saw her fly down! I think he’s impressive! I shot a lot of pictures of him, though it was difficult with the wind whipping up and I was hand holding a very long lens. So some are a little fuzzy but still great for painting references.
"Two Bluebirds with an Angel"
(Link for note card with this Bluebird photo-Two Bluebirds with Angel I also have mugs in the link above, with this picture on it)
In the photo above, I had a little fun playing with a setting on my photo program under “Effects”, it’s called “mirror”. The cool thing is when I flipped the image, an angel appeared in the centre! I think it could make a good inspiration for a painting!, I’ll have to think about this.
And last I leave you with a gorgeous photo of Long Lane in springtime. How pretty this is, a simple lane of grass with bushes…blue sky and budding leaves. But there’s something more perhaps, a promise of new beginnings? A full summer of growth? It makes me forget about “Looking Back” at the past..time to look ahead to what’s coming anew!
Hope you enjoyed this walk with me, please leave me comments below.
Don’t forget to visit my Zazzle shop to see lovely note-cards, prints, t-shirts and other gifts with my photographs and art on it.
I wrote some notes upon my return to the house, they are posted below if you’d like to read them about my day outside in nature. Both paintings were done with a dry palette of watercolors and one waterbrush. The sketch below I first drew with a permanent ink pen, brown color, then put washes of color on it while standing there in my snow shoes. This sketchbook is a mere 4.5″x5″!
"Winter Water and Shadows"
my notes
I hope you enjoyed a glimpse of my walk, I encourage everyone to get outside despite what the weather might be like to have a closer look around you.
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