HAPPY NEW YEAR to everyone !
Well, here we are at the start of 2014 and for course 9, on the last leg. I'm not alone on this course so I'm sure we're all beavering away. Good Luck everyone! Nearly there !
Just taking a little time out today to acquaint myself with some new stuff from Jackson's Art Supplies, a late Christmas present. My parcel arrived yesterday and here's the photo.
A new sketchbook, some Spotter brushes - never tried them but should be useful for tiny detailed bits, and some paint - Jackson's Cobalt Blue, absolutely gorgeous, and DS Quinacridone Deep Gold, so rich and transparent and just an amazing colour. Don't you just love new art stuff ?
Polly O'leary
SBA Fellow, Dip SBA (Dist)
Adventures in Botanical Art
Wednesday 15 January 2014
Thursday 9 January 2014
Guest Artist at Jackson's Art Supplies
Jackson's Art - Guest Artist Polly o'Leary
Well I should have posted this aaaaages ago, but have had trouble accessing my Blog. Seems to be sorted now.
I was amazed and thrilled to be asked by Jackson's Art if I'd like to contribute a blog page to their Guest Artist Blog. Would I? Do plants need sunlight? LOL It took a while to get the photographs of my work to a standard to be digitised, and then of course there was the write up. But I got there, and now my work is published on the Jackson's Art Blog in the guest artist section.
So you didn't see it here first folks, as you should have, but you did see it here at last.
Off now to work on one of my Diploma pieces, and hopefully not have to start again - again!
Wednesday 4 September 2013
Working in the Field
Working
in the
Field.
Clover Study by Polly O'Leary |
I was so
worried about the logistics of this assignment after last year’s
disastrous summer. I even discussed with the tutor what to do
should it be impossible to find any flowering plants. Last year,
just about nothing flowered until September, too late for this
assignment.
This year,
we had the opposite problem, it was so hot that many things grew and
flowered quickly and went to seed just as quickly. I chose a marsh
not too far away for this assignment, as part of the assignment was
to be visiting almost daily to record the different plants at the
site.
I didn’t
realise, though, that I was supposed to be drawing and painting every
plant at the site, to send in with the finished painting! Good job
I reread the brief about half-way through the two months or I’d
have had even more work to do in the final two weeks.
Throughout
June and half of July, I’m afraid I paid more attention to my
oldest dog who was unwell, than to the assignment. Unfortunately, despite our best care and the care of the vet, we sadly had to make the heartbreaking decision to say goodbye.
I have to
admit, I more or less was sleepwalking for the rest of the
assignment, apart from when the Horseflies found me in the marsh and
decided I was delicious. Trying to accurately measure, draw and
paint plants while fighting off these sneaky little biters was no
fun. Forget the beasties and bugs of the Amazon, these little
blighters were out for BLOOD and even managed to cut me through my
blouse! I spent many a day trying to outrun them, whilst trying also
to get some work done. In the end, I’m afraid I took samples of
the more common plants and brought them home, although the marsh
orchids stayed put, apart from three small flowers collected from the
head of one particularly floriferous Orchid.
Two weeks
doesn’t seem very long to accurately identify and record all those
plants, draw up dissections, and then produce a painting of Five of
them. But it’s long enough. I was even almost pleased with the
painting when I sent it off, with photocopies of the fieldwork
sketches, to my tutor in time for the deadline. And luckily he
seemed to enjoy my work, giving me my highest mark yet!
Friday 14 June 2013
SBA Course 9 Seminar Day
The much
anticipated day of the seminar arrived and I woke up in a hotel in
London with a painful scratch down the middle of my chin, acquired
sometime in the night. My family assured me that they hadn’t
noticed, whilst talking to my chin. Lovely stuff, at least I could
stop worrying about my hair going frizzy in the damp heat of an
unexpectedly glorious day, no-one was going to notice.
I had a
little time to spare before the seminar, so took the family into the
exhibition to have a look around and get photographed with my pencil
drawings. The student section is amazing to see, and easily holds
it’s own with the main exhibition. It was lovely to see the work
of people I have been in touch with who have finished the course.
All too
soon it was time to wave off the family to their own adventure and
make my way up to the second floor where we were gathering for the
seminar.
There were
several lecture tours of the exhibition, on differing subjects, to
sign up for, and I signed up for most of them. Luckily, I left a
few sessions free, the tours were running back to back and it all
became a little frantic at one point with students rushing up three
flights of stairs and through corridors, only to rush straight back
down to the basement again for the next lecture. And getting very
hot and bothered in the process.
I did find
time to watch my tutor for the last three assignments, Sandrine
Maugy, showing how to drop colour onto wet paper and just let it
flow. Possibly one of the most difficult things to do in
watercolour, as the need to ‘direct it’ can be overwhelming.
However watching and talking to Sandrine about this technique made me
realise I have been too busy trying to ‘make’ the colour do what
I want when I should be sitting back and letting it happen. No
wonder I’ve had trouble reserving my highlights.
I
particularly needed to talk to the tutors about my sketchbook - ‘am
I doing it right?’ as I have never really kept a sketchbook of my
workings for paintings, I’ve always been a spontaneous, let it
happen kind of gal, rather than planning everything to the last
detail. But I am seeing the value of trying out several compositions
and colour schemes, and doing colour tests before starting. I’m
even beginning to put ideas onto paper that have nothing to do with
what I’m working on, for future reference. Now that’s progress.
I also
needed to discuss with my current tutor the problems I’m
anticipating about working in the field. In this part of Wales, it’s
more likely to be ‘working in the bog and marsh’ especially if
this summer is anything like last year, which it’s likely to be as
I’m on this course. It’s just my kind of luck that we bought a
nice big tent a few years ago so we could have some cheap holidays
with the dogs. A month later it started raining and we had the worst
floods this country has seen for centuries! We were booked to camp
in the Cotswolds and all the surrounding area was under water for
weeks. We managed three days and still packed up in the rain!
Anyway, I
wanted to discuss what my options might be if the weather does what
it has done for the last five or six summers and it looked like bog
snorkelling was my best bet. I now have a few options I hadn’t
thought of and none of them include bog snorkelling.
Unfortunately,
during the first lecture tour, my daughter tried to ring me, and my
phone wasn’t switched off as I had thought. It’s a very loud
ringtone as often I’m in a musical setting which can be quite noisy
and sounded even louder in the hush of the echoing, exhibition hall.
Being a new phone I couldn’t switch it off at first and,
understandably, the tutor looked very annoyed. As I struggled to
find the off switch people started to giggle, until most were roaring
with laughter as I panicked and dropped the thing, then retrieved it
whilst apologising profusely. Finally, I managed to switch it off,
and the lecture continued. Later, whilst discussing my sketchbook
with Kay Rees Davies, the phone went off again. I was mortified, and
yet again couldn’t turn it off quickly, until everyone was
laughing. I did manage to kill it completely this time though.
Somehow, I don’t think I’ll be forgotten, but what a way to be
remembered, the woman with a red stripe down her chin, with frizzy
hair and a mobile phone that kept going off! Not at all the
impression I’d intended making.
Friday 12 April 2013
Graduation Day for SBA DLDC 8 Students
Today, the SBA DLDC 8 Students graduate at a ceremony in London. I'm
raising a glass to them as I write.
I'm struck by how much work each student has put in to this course in
the last 27 months. There are no holidays, work on assignments must
continue regardless of the calendar. Whether it's Christmas, or the
long summer school holidays, the assignments must be done.
Of course, this is just as it should be. It's good preparation for
working on commissions, since there are always deadlines, whether
you're working on a private commission, for a publisher, or working
towards an exhibition.
Nevertheless, it's a huge achievement, and I'm sure that the Students
are celebrating their success tonight.
Only another year and it will be graduation day for Course 9 ! - I'd
better get moving, there's loads to do, and I'm still deciding on the
subject and composition for this assignment!
Not that it has been easy, there are some beautiful bulbs flowering at
the moment, but no matter how much I love Hyacinths, there is no way I
am going to even attempt to draw dissections of their tiny parts.
Something larger would seem more sensible, but the Lilies I bought,
thinking they would be easy to dissect and draw, have turned out to
have flowers the size of dinner plates! Utterly gorgeous, but it's
patently obvious that they would leave little room for the necessary
dissections of a Botanical Illustration, so it's back to the drawing
board. I'm still making sketches and detailed section paintings of
them though, since I will want to paint them in the future, nothing
wasted here.
Living half-way up a mountain, our seasons seem to be about 6 weeks later than the rest of the south west, and there's little sign of anything growing here so yesterday, we took a trip out to a garden centre. It was cold and wet - despite the weatherman promising warmer weather. So many lovely flowers and plants to see and choose from, but being in a much warmer area that is to be expected. And there they
were, the most lovely little Fritillaries with their chequered flowers and so elegant and delicate,
all sitting in pots waiting for me to choose one. So I chose a pot
with mostly buds, since I work slowly, and they will need to last a
while. Here's hoping they won't suddenly wake up and 'go over' faster
than I can get them down on paper. Now all I need is the time to sit down and do the work!
Saturday 30 March 2013
Making a Start
Beginning my first
assignment was daunting, I was full of worries about not really being
good enough for the course, and whether I had what it takes, the
usual lack of confidence I suppose.
The exercises seemed
easy and being a lover of pencil anyway I enjoyed them, but they did
seem a little too easy- a bit like I was playing at it. Never the
less, I found that by the end of them, I was
For my first
assignment, I was to draw an outline of a plant or flower as if I
were preparing a watercolour, stipple a flower with leaf in pen and
ink, and produce a complete study in continuous tone.
I chose a lily for the
first part, since they tend to last a long time and I didn’t want
to be worrying about the flower wilting as I worked. I’m glad I
used this, as there was plenty of opportunity to draw perspective.
The second part, Stippling, I drew a Tulip. After many practise
pieces, I discovered that whilst the stippling was going well, the
outlining of the Tulip was nowhere near confident enough. There was
always a slight mistake which spoiled the whole thing. By now I was
getting nervous, time was moving on, and if I wasn’t careful, there
would be no time to do a good continuous tone drawing. In
desperation, I decided to forget the outline and just use Stippling
to describe the outline as well as the shading. I just hoped that my
tutor, the Course Director, Margaret Stevens, would accept it and not
penalise me for a lack of outline. It took about 40 hours
altogether to complete the stippling, but I was pleased with the
effect and felt that I would be happy to send it off. On to the
Continuous tone.
After a few false
starts, I settled on a piece of Ivy which my Husband had found
amongst hedge clippings on his travels. It had such an interesting texture
and form and would give plenty of practise for rendering tone.
Working in Graphite was interesting, I had to be very careful not to
smudge the work already done. I hadn’t thought that this would be
a problem as I had done a lot of Soft Pastel work in larger sizes and
never worried about smudging, but working in graphite is so
different, you are working much closer to the paper. So I made good
use of my cheap draughting paper to protect the work. After a week
of work and much use of my soft putty eraser, the drawing was
complete and I could label the backs of all my work. Just in time
too, as the deadline for posting had arrived. Two months had flashed
past in next to no time.
The wait for my work to
be returned seemed endless, but in reality I received my work and
Assessment sheet back in a very short time. Not only had I received
a very good mark, but Margaret Stevens requested both my Stippled Tulip
and Graphite Ivy for the Student section of the SBA Exhibition 2013!
I’m still pinching myself about this, and will only believe it
when I see it in April at the exhibition. Must remember to take a
Photo of me with my work on the wall, it’s the first time I’ve
ever had work in an exhibition, only the student section but it’s a
start.
Monday 18 March 2013
New beginnings
I have been drawing and painting for as long as I can remember, and my interest in plants and things Botanical has been ever present in my life. When I married, my first home, a small flat in the centre of town, was dubbed Kew Gardens by my family and friends, who would battle the profuse growth of herbage to come visit.
Despite my interest in plants and painting, it was only a couple of years ago that I had the opportunity to think about a course to hone my skills. The most relevant courses were full time and/or based in London, neither of which were suitable to someone based in Wales with family commitments. It seemed distance learning was the best option, but how to find a really demanding course?
I did a few short Botanical Painting courses at the National Botanic Garden of Wales and found I really enjoyed the discipline. And of course, that was when I broke my arm, just above the wrist. The left arm, the hand I write, draw and paint with -naturally.
There's
nothing like having an incentive to make you do your physio, and once I
was getting full movement, the real work started. I had to teach my
fingers how to hold and control paintbrushes again, and not drop them all over the paintings or flick them to the floor! After six months of
Kolinsky Sable brushes flying all over my studio area and unexpected
daubs of paint landing on my artwork, I felt ready to do the Introduction to Botanical Illustration weekend course at the same venue and found that it was like coming home. I wanted more!
Researching courses online, I found a post by Katherine Tyrrell, on her Making a Mark Blog, about the artist, Shevaun Doherty, painting carrots in the middle of the Egyptian revolution. And that's when I learned about the Society of Botanical Artists. It was like being struck by lightning. I had to apply for a place on the SBA Distance Learning Diploma Course. I rummaged through my paintings for something half-decent and sent off the letter of application with a sample of my work.
I didn't tell them about my arm, just sent in my application and hoped they'd accept me on the course. And after a long wait, I received the offer of a place. My Botanical adventure had begun.
Despite my interest in plants and painting, it was only a couple of years ago that I had the opportunity to think about a course to hone my skills. The most relevant courses were full time and/or based in London, neither of which were suitable to someone based in Wales with family commitments. It seemed distance learning was the best option, but how to find a really demanding course?
I did a few short Botanical Painting courses at the National Botanic Garden of Wales and found I really enjoyed the discipline. And of course, that was when I broke my arm, just above the wrist. The left arm, the hand I write, draw and paint with -naturally.
Researching courses online, I found a post by Katherine Tyrrell, on her Making a Mark Blog, about the artist, Shevaun Doherty, painting carrots in the middle of the Egyptian revolution. And that's when I learned about the Society of Botanical Artists. It was like being struck by lightning. I had to apply for a place on the SBA Distance Learning Diploma Course. I rummaged through my paintings for something half-decent and sent off the letter of application with a sample of my work.
The Sample sent ot the SBA - Bindweed Study |
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