Tag: painting

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The Twelve Months of Christmas – Day 12 December’s Shining Star

Decembers-Sining-Star-Framed-For-Web

December’s Shining Star, Original Silk Painting, Framed size 30 x 30 cm

£95 including P&P – Limited Edition Prints Available

What other flower could I possibly do for December but the wonderful hellebore. When everything else in the garden is looking pretty dull these little fellows pop up and show us their exquisite beauty. And there are so many different varieties all with their own special charms. For me this little plant really is the shining star of December. I decided to use resistad (a colourless resist) instead of gutta on these guys so as not to overwhelm their delicate petals. What do you think? 

I apologise for the poor quality photo today. I finished painting too late to take a photo in daylight.

I’ve really enjoyed my little 12 day project again this Christmas. It’s made me think a lot about the seasons and I’ve had a few technical challenges along the way. I hope you’ve enjoyed looking at the results and I look forward to seeing some of you over the coming year.

Best wishes,

Steph

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The Twelve Months of Christmas – Day 11 November’s Indoor Imitation

Novembers-Indoor-Imitation-Framed-For-Web

November’s Indoor Imitation, Original Silk Painting, Framed size 30 x 30 cm

£95 including P&P – Limited Edition Prints Available

I felt the need for more flowers today. It’s something I want to practice as I find composition difficult with flowers. Although there wasn’t much I could find that blooms in November outside that inspired me so I’ve gone for an indoor imitation. I’ve never had much luck with growing amaryllis myself but both my mother and my mother-in-law have grown some beautiful ones in the past. Such a lovely way to brighten up the house on dark winter days.

Last day tomorrow….

Best wishes,

Steph

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The Twelve Months of Christmas – Day 9 September’s Apple Abundance

September's-Apple-Abundance Framed For Web

September’s Apple Abundance, Original Silk Painting, Framed size 30 x 30 cm

£95 including P&P – Limited Edition Prints Available – Buy Now

Having done the plums yesterday, I couldn’t resist a little more fruit! The apple harvest from the tiny trees in our garden is never likely to result in the composition of an apple blues but provides enough for a few crumble and pie treats and they look so attractive when they are on the tree.

 

Best wishes,

Stephanie

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The Twelve Months of Christmas – Day 8 August’s Plum Blues

August's-Plum-Blues-Framed-For-Web

August’s Plum Blues, Original Silk Painting, Framed size 30 x 30 cm

£95 including P&P – Limited Edition Prints Available – Buy Now

Happy New Year everyone!

A few years back when I didn’t have quite so many jobs and had a bit more time on my hands, we used to have an allotment with a plum and a greengage tree. Come harvest time I used to rope the children into a bit of character building hard labour. They were ok with this until the year of the bumper crop when we picked over 80lbs of plum and greengages. They actually didn’t complain too much about the harvesting, it was the rather heavy featuring of plums in our diet for the next few weeks which pushed them over the edge and led to the composition of ‘The Plum Blues’. This went something like…

Woke up one morning, there were hundreds of plums, We plucked and plucked ’em till we bled from our thumbs, And it took aaaaages and aaaaaages to pick those greengages….. 

OK, so the songwriting needs some work…….

Best wishes,

Stephanie

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The Twelve Months of Christmas – Day 7 July’s Wonderful Weed

July's-Perfect-Peacock-Framed-For-Web

July’s Wonderful Weed, Original Silk Painting, Framed size 30 x 30 cm

£95 including P&P – Limited Edition Prints Available – Buy Now

Apologies to all you buddleia fans out (and I know there are hundreds of beautiful varieties) but the bog standard purple one is firmly a weed in my book. But what a weed it is! It seems to be able to grow almost anywhere (I’ve seen it growing out of the side of a building) and it has a magnetic attraction for butterflies. Particularly the splendid peacock who obviously sees something in it that I don’t…..

Painting the buddleia on silk was another challenge for me. If I had used gutta it would have ended up all line and no colour so I decided to paint it without. I painted each petal separately, drying with the hairdryer before doing the adjacent one. I then used a colourless resist to stop the background from flowing over the finished flower.

Best wishes,

Stephanie

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The Twelve Months of Christmas – Day 6 June’s Jolly Sailor

June's-Red-Admiral-Framed-for-Web

June’s Jolly Sailor, Original Silk Painting, Framed size 30 x 30 cm

£95 including P&P – Limited Edition Prints Available – Buy Now

There’s nothing that heralds the beginning of summer like the emergence of the butterflies and the Red Admiral is one of my favourites. Seeing one always reminds me what wonderfully rich and beautiful flora and fauna we have in the UK. Hope you like my little sailor…

Best wishes,

Stephanie

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The Twelve Months of Christmas – Day 5 May’s Bluebell Bonanza

May-Bluebells-Framed-For-Web

May’s Bluebell Bonanza, Original Silk Painting, Framed size 30 x 30 cm

£95 including P&P – Limited Edition Prints Available – Buy Now

 

Those of you who have seen some of my previous work will know I can’t resist a bluebell wood. It’s one of those very British phenomena that takes my breath away every time. The joy of those intense carpets of blue is something to look forward to every May. In this case the bluebells weren’t really in a wood but on the side of a sunny hillside in Whichford in the Cotswolds.

Best wishes,

Stephanie

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The Twelve Months of Christmas – Day 4 – April’s Tiny Trumpets

April-Daffodils-Framed-for-Web

April’s Tiny Trumpets, Original Silk Painting, Framed size 30 x 30 cm

£95 including P&P – Limited Edition Prints Available – Buy Now

April is my birthday month and therefore the best…..obvs! Everything springs into life and I particularly love to see all the bright colour from bulbs. These tiny little trumpets are called Narcissus Bulbocodium and are so delicate, yet you find carpets of them in Windsor Great Park.

Stay tuned to find out where my crazy mind will take us tomorrow….

Best wishes,

Stephanie

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The Twelve Months of Christmas – Day 3 March’s Magnificent Magnolias

March-Magnolias-Framed-For-Web

March’s Magnificent Magnolias, Original Silk Painting, Framed size 30 x 30 cm

£95 including P&P – Limited Edition Prints Available – Buy Now

Ok so F.C. has been and you’ve had the cold turkey buffet, now it’s time to think about March and what it has in store for us. And yes as promised……it’s not birds….

March is the birthday month of the lovely and very long suffering Mr Stephanie Gay Silk Artist and back in March 2015, we went for a birthday treat to beautiful Valley Gardens in Windsor Great Park. The magnolias were truly magnificent and I clicked away with the camera non stop. I think I did take one of Mr Gay too…..

Will it be birds, flowers or something else tomorrow….?

Best wishes,

Stephanie

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The Twelve Months of Christmas – Day 2 February’s Noisy Woodpecker

February-Woodpecker-Framed-For-Web

February’s Noisy Woodpecker, Original Silk Painting, Framed size 30 x 30 cm

£95 including P&P – Limited Edition Prints Available – Buy Now

Happy Boxing Day! Today I’m looking ahead to February.

February is the time when the greater spotted woodpeckers start to announce their presence and find a mate by drumming, usually on dead and resonant timber. We had local resident a few years ago who discovered that he could sound altogether more impressive by drumming on our TV aerial. It certainly got our attention but I hope he didn’t end up with the most awful headache…..

As you can tell birds are a favourite subject matter for me but it won’t be all birds this time, I promise!

See you tomorrow.

Best wishes,

Stephanie

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The Twelve Months of Christmas – Day 1 January’s Frosty Morning

January-Frosty-Blackbird-Framed-for-Web
January’s Frosty Morning, Original Silk Painting, Framed size 30 x 30 cm

£95 including P&P – Limited Edition Prints Available – Buy Now

Happy Christmas! Hope you are having a lovely day. As promised I am undertaking a slightly different project for the twelve days of Christmas this year. Each day I will be looking ahead to the months of the next year starting, of course, with January.

Sometimes January can seem a hard slog compared with the excitement of December. It’s back to work and there’s all those New Year’s resolutions to uphold…. We need something to lift our hearts and I hope January will deliver at least one or two of those beautiful, sunny, frosty mornings where the sound of the birds singing fills us with joy.

I’ve never tried painting frost on silk before so I found this quite a technical challenge. I hope you like it.

Best wishes,

Stephanie