Clare Gladding is probably my oldest friend of those I’ve never met. She’s one of those people who I came across somewhere on the internet, back in the old days when one could actually sell art work on Ebay, and Etsy did not exist, neither did WordPress! She is running a raffle in aid of Brainstrust, who have helped her so much lately, so if you fancy winning this gorgeous handmade one-of-a-kind fairy, visit her Just Giving page: http://www.justgiving.com/Fairytasia. Please note: the Fairy is her creation – not mine! …of course it is because of the fairy theme in both our…
Month: April 2012
No painting and not even a sketchbook…
I am on holiday in Cumbria :-). Just thought I’d post a couple of snaps to show why I’m not painting this week, especially having spent a good half hour or so wrestling with the GIMP in an attempt to enhance the photo below. I am not a Photoshop expert, in fact I have never used it. Instead, I have the GIMP, and what it lacks in intuitive operation, it makes up for in being completely free. So, having fiddled around, the photo now looks more like it really looked, with the rain sweeping in across the hills. Yes, it…
More on Ricinus Communis, the Fairy of the Castor Bean Plant
I will have to put this painting aside for a week, and so this is just a quick post to show you as far as I got yesterday… Here was the painting straight after its hosing down in the shower: At this point, a painting always looks a bit harsh, so I have tended to go over part of it with several colour washes with very translucent paints (some of the watercolours can be better than gouache for this, but the opacity of any paint varies from pigment to pigment and some of the gouache paints also work). The way…
Adding colour: Ricinus Communis Fairy continued…
So after the blue under-painting: https://nancyfarmer.wordpress.com/2012/04/18/start-of-a-painting-ricinus-communis-the-fairy-of-the-castor-oil-plant/ I can now begin adding colour to this painting. The colour is added on in thick gouache paint, the idea being ultimately to stain the paper, so the particular pigments are carefully chosen. All the same, I suspect something of a mistake in the colour of the lower leaves. The trouble is I don’t want them too dark, and with this technique that means adding white at this stage, and the dark green has gone kind of blue (though not, I think, quite as blue as in the photo). I will probably get away…
Start of a painting: Ricinus Communis, the fairy of the Castor Oil Plant
The third of the Poison Flower Fairies is under way! For the initial sketch and photos of the castor oil plant itself, and all about this slippery character and its deadly toxin, look back at this post: https://nancyfarmer.wordpress.com/2012/01/15/sketches-for-the-poison-flower-fairies-ricina-maligned-and-usually-innocent/ Actually this fairy should be called Ricina, not Ricinus, being female, so I’m not quite sure of the proper title of this painting yet. If I call it ‘Ricina Communis…’ I think people and google will assume I don’t know the proper name of the plant. Hmm… Anyway, I have begun the painting. This is the drawing laid out neatly on stretched…
Fun with Nochex
For those who are interested in the outcome of the problems I had with Nochex… (contunued from https://nancyfarmer.wordpress.com/2012/04/16/nochex-no-thanx/ ) I feel it only fair to say that following the exchange below, I shall be re-instating Nochex on my website since they did indeed see my point of view in the end (it is so nice to win 🙂 ) and since I flatter myself that they may actually think twice about doing the same thing again… maybe. They took a little persuasion first, though, and there is something very satisfying about writing a finely-crafted letter of complaint. The first letter…
Nochex: no thanx!
Well, I was all set for a post on the progress of my latest painting – coming soon – but occasionally you come across such stunning arrogance and incompetence in a company you feel like telling everyone about it! Strictly not an art subject at all, but since for some years I have used them as a payment method on my artwork website, http://www.nancyfarmer.net, there is a link, at least from my point of view. Added April 18th: I did in fact get some sense out of Nochex, after a bit of a fight. Which is why I am giving…
Finished painting: Nicotiana, the fairy of the Tobacco Plant
Another finished painting! This is the second of my poison flower fairies paintings. I really had to have this one in the collection – not a plant that one probably thinks of if asked to name a poisonous plant, but the plant that has killed more people than all other poison plants ever: the Tobacco Plant. This is one of many of the ornamental varieties which, of course, is why I had it in the garden. I also planted what I thought was a more attractive plant that had a delicate spray of short, pink flowers, but I chose to…
Finally a finished painting: Aconitum Napellus, The Monkshood Fairy
Finally I have got this on the scanner. I may say that at a little over 13 x 19 inches this picture requires 4 scans with an A4 scanner and some careful fiddling and stitching together by hand, all done at 600 dpi, which gives my computer a bit of a headache nowadays, so this is not a 5-minute job! The Tobacco Fairy will follow in due course. So, here she is in glorious close-up detail: (clicking the images should give you larger versions) …what has a spider to do with monkshood? that was in my first post about this…
Easter exhibition at Spring Farm Arts
Lately I have got less actual artwork done than I would like, however if you are in the Somerset (UK) area, or feel like making the expedition in this direction next weekend, you can come along ans see some of the things i painted earlier 😉 From Friday 6th – Monday 9th Spring Farm Arts opens its doors once more to the public. Spring Farm Arts is a little group of artists who work or live in our tiny village of Moorlinch and have studios / gallery space at Spring Farm. We are: Jenny Graham – paintings, etchings, Anne Farmer…
Art by Nancy Farmer 