a little pastoral care...

the shepherdesses

mixed media on watercolour paper

(watercolour, acrylic, ink, inktense pencils, collage and a little thread!)

Lately, I`ve been doing more watercolours and adding other media to some of these. It seems I tend to get enamoured with one media for a while and then jump to another.  Not for the purists, I`m sure.  While there are times when I would love to just stick to one or two and explore its full potential, I`m sure if acrylics and inktense pencils and oilbars, etc, had been around in say Degas` time, he would have certainly enjoyed experimenting with them as much as I do.  Having said that, I think most artists tend to have a "main" or favourite medium.  Mine is probably still oils, but I`m falling in love with watercolours (and simultaneously hate them at times) for their unpredictable nature, but learning to embrace that very unique quality and not fight it, is what makes it such an appealing medium for certain subjects or expressive ideas.  And of course, each medium has its strengths and weaknesses and we learn to choose depending on what it is we want to say.  (Plus I wanted to get more work done for my opening night and oils take much longer, so naturally, there`s a practical side to it all too!)  

I tend to keep my coloured pencils tucked away in the kitchen somewhere, so that I can work on a piece as I get time and when I can`t get out to the studio, because Annabelle`s sleeping and Hernán`s not here, or whatever.  They`re what I call, my "clean medium" so no risk of pudgy fingers getting the hold of an oil-laden paintbrush, but to be safe, I try to keep any work well out of arm`s reach.  Once, she was in the studio, and unaware  to me had got hold of her favourite set of Neocolor 1 metallic crayons (which I rarely, if ever use, so she has adopted them) and drawn all over an oil painting in the making! Probably helped it actually.... Like mother, like daughter - I drew xs and os all over one of my father`s oil paintings when I was about the same age! He wasn`t too pleased, I`m sure, but  I think he`s forgiven me....

Anyway, hope to post some wee oils I did of the fleeting fall of snow we got last week.  But with Thursday night looming ever closer, will I get the time?