Summer Strawberries!

At the weekend I had the urge to start a new project so decided to rummage through my many boxes of art blanks…canvas’s, wooden cutouts, terracotta…you name it I have a dozen of them lol, and I came across a medium terracotta saucer that I knew (from past experience) would be fun to paint a design on.  These are sold alongside terracotta pots at most garden centres.
 
 
The plan was to paint a simple beginners piece based on a design by Juanita Denton, a decorative artist from the USA.  Instead of keeping it simple though, I went off into my own little world and a few hours later was feeling very pleased with myself!  No beginners piece anymore….but a wonderful project for the more experienced painter.
I often find I play safe when choosing a background colour for a project and in more cases than not I go for a soft white or light buttermilk colour as I know it will not compete with my design colours and it will fit anywhere in my home….this time though I pushed myself to try another of the new Jo Sonja Autumn Hues Background collection and I am thrilled with the result, this one is called Grasshopper.
I used quite a few techniques on this piece….wet on wet blending, floating, dry-brushing, liner work, double-loading, and using colours to create warm and cold areas…..all working together to produce a design that works as a whole.
 
I will be teaching this during the Summer term as a one day workshop for experienced painters, date to be confirmed….shall we indulge in strawberries and cream too?
 
Happy painting…
Dawn x 

 

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