I think it's finished!

I've been having a lot of fun painting this off and on over the summer, but I have a feeling that it's finished. Deciding when something is finished has never been one of my strong points, often, things are finished about half an hour before I stop messing around. This painting combines areas of high detail with areas which are quite roughly painted, and which certainly could be worked into some more, but I think I prefer it the way it is.
I'm not done with the Australian bush theme, however; there's a few more in my head waiting to be painted.

Brown Hare watercolour sketch

Hares are brilliant to draw, big gangly things with googly crazed eyes. Years ago a hare used to visit my parents garden. We called it Hector. He'd let you get so close to him you could literally step on him. I think he was very old, and possibly senile - certainly didn't act in a way likely to prolong his existence.
Where I live now is great for hares. If you walk through the flat fields on the Fylde Coast in late winter you're likely to see 50 or more.

Sofa Dwellers

Not so much to report about these drawings, other than just how great ink is, both for drawing, and making your hands/house/dog black.

Some summer colour

Felt like we could all do with some cheering up, so here's some paintings of nice bright things...I am fairly proud of the fact I've succeeded in creating a back garden of flowers which actually clash.

The last two paintings are of bright purple aubergines, and a giant tomato. I bought them at a market in Vienna because I thought they were amazing. Haven't seen aubergines like this in the UK.

Orange bricks, grey sky: summer view of Galgate

The new windows have been installed at the studio, and we're enjoying being able to see out properly. This watercolour sketch shows a view of the Silk Mill, orange bricks and standard issue slate grey summer sky. Wouldn't look nearly so authentic with a blue sky.

The other painting is a detail from the large scale acrylic I'm working on, showing Australian eucalyptus bush. The red birds are Crimson Rosellas.

New website for Ellel Artists' Studios

So (finally) Ellel Artists' Studios has a website: http://www.ellelartists.org/

You'll see on the website that we are holding our first Open Studio weekend on the 3rd and 4th of September. It would be lovely to see you.

We will soon be getting new windows installed in the studio, to replace the ancient cracking and crumbling ones. The old ones look amazing but I can't say we will miss them, last winter the water froze solid in the kettle a few times! I took this photo of a summer storm cloud through the old windows last week.

Bush

These pictures are of eucalypt forest in Australia, or bush - a totally underwhelming term for the reality of this plant lovers paradise. I found the colours, shapes, smells and textures unfamiliar and beautiful. Particularly the smell of the eucalyptus oil, I wish my paintings could capture that.

I'm thinking/planning a new painting, which will be large, tall and thin, based on these forests. I painted the watercolour from the balcony of my boyfriends' uncle and aunts' house, they live near Woy Woy on the Central Coast, which is basically unbroken forest and gorgeous coast a couple of hours north of Sydney. The second drawing was done recently, from memory and photos; recollecting particular trees and plants. The way that plants in Australia are adapted to fire is amazing. I particularly want to try and capture the feel of the peeling bark. We saw a lot of trees which had been burned, the most impressive were in the Blue Mountains. Enormous trees which are smooth white or silver grey underneath, with ribbons of cinnamon coloured bark hanging down. Even the photos make you want to reach out and touch them.