Busying Around Ready to Paint a Big Massive Hare!

August 24, 2025 by eastwitching

That’s it! I’ve decided to really go outside my painting size comfort zone.

Now “big” to me is A3 as I am usually an 8×10 inch kind of girl. Also I can’t go bigger than A3 as my scanner won’t take it and I want to be able to scan my artwork and make cards and possible prints in the future.

The reason - this absolutely gorgeous Indian Hare.

My latest muse - a glorious Indian Hare

I purchased her image from a royalty free site along with 4 others yesterday - blowing £30 but so worth it don’t you think?

These are the other hare images I bought - so excited to use these in future works…

I printed her this morning - she slurped up a tonne of ink but I don’t care! I want to see large details…

Hare printing this morning

Lately I have been painting a few hares for a client and so I am in hare “groove”.

A recent hare commission in watercolour 11x14 inches

A recent hare commission in watercolour 11×14 inches

The thing is - now I have her printed and ready to go and feel I want to do her in pastel and not watercolour I have realised that I am short of yellow pastels….Oh dear - well - any excuse to go and buy a nice new set of the fabulous Unison soft pastels to complement my stash so far:)

I love drawing in graphite, carbon and painting portraits in soft pastels. This is my drawing gear.

Unison are the best pastels if you ask me - the way they handle, the shape of them and their colour richness is amazing.

I will be painting this hare on Art Spectrum Colourfix Pastel Paper in sand - a divine and fine yet gritty surface that accepts soft pastel like a dream.

Now I just have to get myself all set up as I had put all my pastels away after having a painting day with 3 lovely ladies this week.

My large reference photo - on wall and ready to roll!

Watch this space:)

Painting Day with Anne, Gwyn and Glynis

August 22, 2025 by eastwitching

Three members of Pentyrch Art Society came for a whole day’s painting on Tuesday and we ripped through the demos - producing four paintings each - it was a fast-paced day and I enjoyed their company and chat about all things art.

Here are some pics of the ladies in action!

Gwyn beginning the underwashes of her ladybird

Anne enjoying tackling one of the 4 demos…

Glynis almost finished with her ladybird.

Nitty gritty showing details of cherries and Blue Himalayan Poppies - well done all

Bringing it all back Home

August 19, 2025 by eastwitching

A few months ago I went mad and set myself up with a little website. I thought it was about time that I branched out from Etsy and excitedly learned new skills to do with using this new platform. It was hard going and I never really felt that the “look” was what I was after. I soldiered on though, adding images and trying to create a feel that was rustic, natural and arty.

Original watercolour hare - 9x11 inches "Fisty Cuffs"

Original watercolour hare - 9×11 inches “Fisty Cuffs”

To me though the whole site was clunky and too hard and commercial looking.

Well, long story short is that after about 6 months of it really not doing much I decided to knock it on the head. And what a sense of relief I feel.

Original watercolour fox "On the Trail" 7x10 inches

Original watercolour fox “On the Trail” 7×10 inches

Amazingly almost the same time as I came to that decision I encountered a WordPress template that is so utterly gorgeous that I fell in love with it. The look is exactly what I am after and I am going to enlist some expert advice this time to help me get underway faster!

Original watercolor foal - "Sitting Pretty" 7x10 inches

Original watercolor foal - “Sitting Pretty” 7×10 inches

So come the Autumn I hope to be writing these posts to you on my new blog which will be integral to my new site - everything under one Eastwitching roof!

Meantime - I brought home all my original paintings that were on the other site and for now they are safely roosting on Etsy until I get their new quarters ready!

Above are some new works … enjoy the gallery:) Alison

Dancing in the Moonlight - Mushroom Watercolour

August 18, 2025 by eastwitching

Whilst playing around with my 3 brand new Daniel Smith Extra Fine Watercolour tube paints I decided to paint one of my favourite subjects: mushrooms.

I started off just using the 3 colours I have bought so far to christen my new Frank Webb palette. They are Nickel Azo, Transparent Pyrrol Orange and Smalt Blue.

This palette will be filled over the coming weeks and months with the best tube paint I can buy and it will be my play palette!

Here is a pic of the paints ready to go.

Here is the finished painting. As you can see I added some Winsor Violet and Olive Green to supplement my 3 colours but had fun trying them out of the mushrooms themselves.

Whilst toying with ideas for a clever and witty title the phrase “Dancing in the Moonlight” popped into my head. I suddenly remembered that back in the 70′s I had loved that track by Thin Lizzy and it was in fact the first ever 45 single I bought….memories eh?

The I thought of another title - “Moonlight Shadow” and realised that that too was a song title of one of my fave ever tracks by Mike Oldfield.

Soon I will be adding further colours - just cast your eye over just some of the luscious colour choices I have from Daniel Green…

If you fancy any leave me a comment about which 3 you would pick and why!

Watercolour Jumping off Points

July 31, 2025 by eastwitching

Sometimes you can carry on too long with a painting.

I recently prepared a magnolia watercolour demo for an upcoming class I have.

I painted the flowers and petals and stems in stages and took shots as the painting developed.

At the point where I had defined the flowers and stems sufficiently (photo above) I thought it needed a background and so picked a green that was opposite pink on my colourwheel and proceeded to paint the negative space around the flowers in a wash of this green plus some rose mixed in.

how the watercolour evolved

Then for a lark I posted the results on my FB page and asked what people thought.

There was a fairly unanimous reply that it was more appealing without the background.

I love to hear what others think of paintings and why - a never ending source of feelings and tastes are uncovered!

Please feel free to take the poll below. Is it better with or without the green background?

Judith gets herself a watercolour shopping list

July 29, 2025 by eastwitching

I met Judith Whately many years ago on the recommendation of my friend Anne who had trained with her to become a Reflexologist. I too had wanted to follow this path and so was very excited to discover that Judith was still running the Academy for Combined Reflexology and that there was 1 space left for the next intake.

I studied with Judith and finally got the coveted title of MAR and have used this brilliant holistic therapy since with family and friends.

A few years on and I thought about mentioning to a few friends that I was now running workshops and Judith was among them.

With her very busy schedule as the Senior Lecturer in Reflexology at Cardiff Metropolitan University and Clinic Director of Something Else Therapy Centre in Merthyr Tydfil it was hard to pin her down to finally come for a watercolour taster with me.

She told me that years ago she had tried watercolour in a holiday setting and that it had left her feeling that she would never manage to paint in it.

As her morning progressed slowly but surely she realised that there were ways to manage the mercurial nature of watercolour and that beautiful effects could be attained quite easily.

Taking the watercolour brush for a spin

She felt so excited and pleased that here she was - just a few hours on - being able to produce a poetic seahorse, watery reflections and other techniques that would allow her to progress at home.

After she left I was sending her a long watercolour shopping list feeling so pleased that she had been bitten by the painting bug.

Thanks Judith for being such an adventurous student and let me know when you have that smock and beret.

A weekend away

July 29, 2025 by eastwitching

Over the weekend I was spoiled rotten by two friends Greg and Alex at their fab barn conversion home in the countryside outside Bath.

The barn conversion. Now hand up who wants one of these!!!

I haven’t seen them for over 10 years but none of us had changed much so we just hooked up from where we left off!

Greg walking with Sophie - now up to her belly in lovely black mud!

We ate gorgeous meals prepared by Alex and spent time walking the dogs Sophie and Charlie at a local nature preserve where there were some serious insect spotters about!

On top of th eMedips there is a marshy area that floods to provide many small ponds that are home to wildlife

On top of the Mendips there is a marshy area that floods to provide many small ponds that are home to wildlife

I have to admit I spent way to much time sleeping (the train and motion had upset my balance in the middle ear plus it was really humid on Saturday) and totally unwound.

I loved that the living space was upstairs and the sleeping areas downstairs…

Some photos show the isolated beauty of their place.

Parking is not a problem:)

Feeling refreshed and having caught up on each others’ lives I headed home on Sunday morning having had a lovely time and now looking forward to seeing my dog Tilly again.

Watch this space for a possible watercolour sketch or two of the nature reserve I mentioned:)

Treat yourself to some art supplies!

July 24, 2025 by eastwitching

Why not!? It’s an investment in yourself to get some new gear and supplies now and then.

As I am teaching a lot now I have a perfect reason to go paint and equipment shopping!

Top of my list this month was to treat myself to 2 brand spanking new Frank Webb watercolour palettes.

Finally - after 20 years I get two new Frank Webb watercolour palettes - joy!!!

My fist one bought 20 years ago is still in use every day - see how it looks next to the new one:)

before and after (20 years after that is

I am going to fill one of the new ones with paint colours I have never or would not normally use. Why you ask? Well - I want to shake thing sup a bit and try different colourways. A change is as good as a rest as they say.

So watch this space as I go for new paint colours on my next shopping trip.

The other day I popped into my local art store for some paints, pencils and a rubber.

Even these simple things give me a lot of joy as I can sketch with the pencil and the new rubber was much needed.

I would strongly recommend your buying a lidded palette if you are going to start in watercolour. It will save you tubes of paint as once given a little spray with water each day and the lid is replaced the paints stay moist and don’t go mouldy either.

To buy the Frank Webb palette you will have to get it from the USA as I haven’t found a UK supplier. Has anyone else found one?

Anyway - here is the link - but please know that it will be expensive as you pay all sorts of taxes and shipping is high plus you may get stuck with a UK customs charge as I did.

http://www.cheapjoes.com/frank-webb-watercolor-palette.html

If that is all too much for you there are a few lidded palettes here that aren’t too bad at all:)

http://www.saa.co.uk/shop/advanced_search_result.php?keywords=watercolour+palette

Into these of course you will need to squeeze watercolour tube paints - have fun!

Helen’s Painting Day in the Garden Village

July 23, 2025 by eastwitching

Picture a perfect summer’s day - patio doors opening onto a lovely lush lawn with fruit-laden apple-tree in Rhiwbina Garden Village and you have the scene set for my friend Helen and I to spend the day watercolouring.

An Impressionist’s dream garden…in Rhiwbina, Cardiff

Helen is a Homeopath and Reflexologist and has longed to try out watercolour.

Helen - getting in amongst it!

Enter me! After finally fixing a window of opportunity (always so difficult with people’s busy lives) we ensured that we would not be interrupted and could focus on a day of watercolour discovery and creativity.

This is a spare palette I took as I picked one of the ladies as my shadow painter for each demo - they painted along with me as the others watched us both

A good basic palette of artist’s quality paints

In Helen’s gorgeously rustic kitchen we laid everything out on the farmhouse table and soon she was discovering the joys of experimenting with watercolour. Handling paint and familiarising herself with the effects on different types and wetnesses of paper then progressed to painting an actual seahorse in poetic washes of green an yellow.

Part of the seahorse step by step handout I had prepared

I was at pains to explain that you only get these lovely effects with Artist’s as opposed to student grade paints and paper and was over the moon with how Hel fell in love with this exuberant medium.

She soon picked up the importance of light and shade to suggest the forms of objects such as a cherry and a teazle and loved the way the paint granulated and settled on different paper types.

What could be better than painting in your cosy kitchen with open patio doors letting summer in!

There are so many ways to use watercolour but I was pleased to at least share the fundamental techniques and my love of painting this way.

We enjoyed a gorgeous lunch too and talked art as we worked.

Thanks for a lovely day Hel - you are on your way now!

Spending the rest of today sketching and painting teazles

July 19, 2025 by eastwitching

A friend wants me to teach her the basics of watercolour and is very drawn to teazles and all things hedgerow.

A sketch I did just now of some teazles

My kind of subject! So today after sourcing many teazle images I am sketching out random shapes and forms from those collated.

The stark, uncompromising spikey spindley cage of the teazle - I love its organic shape

I am going to use the best one or ones to then create a simple watercolour lesson on how to execute them in this medium. So excited as I love wildflowers and plants so this is a great excuse to immerse myself in hedgerow flora and fauna.

I’ll use one of these from which to create a watercolour demo

Watch this space for the watercolour demo. You can paint along too if you like.

Brushes at the ready but I only used a 3 and a 6 round really.

I have until Sunday to create two lessons for her - one on teazles and one on cowslips. A perfect sunny yellow flower that echoes the heatwave sun we are being exposed to here in Wales this last few days.

Do you have a wildflower that best evokes the British countryside to you?

eastwitching

Watercolor Animal Art for All

Author Archives: eastwitching