I’m inspired to paint!

Ps just seen you’ve already bought your materials so sorry.

I absolutely cannot paint or create such artworks but I'm so glad that others do. I love visiting galleries and we have paintings on every wall. I love them all.
Keep creating Grans!

Good luck foxie. Just a word about watercolours. Depending on what you can afford it’s best to spend your money on good quality paints and buy the basic colours. You need two reds, two blues and two yellows. For eg crimson alizarian (veers towards blue so could make a mauve with ultramarine blue)and cadmium red or similar which veers towards yellow so could make orange. Two blues such as ultramarine blue ( veers towards mauve) and a cobalt blue for sunny skies etc or a favourite of mine Then extras like burnt umber which mixed with ultramarine blue gives you a black and I like sage green which can be mixed with yellow and blues to give different greens. Then watercolour brushes are more expensive but if looked after will last for a long time whereas acrylic and oil brushes are cheaper but need replacing. Ideally the brush should come to a point when put in water and then shaken! Yes it is a big outlay but Christmas is coming up 🤣. I expect you have a putty rubber as you use charcoal but useful, also a bit of blotting paper which can add interesting effects when you pull some colour out. Works well with flowers. It’s all about trial and error. Use enough water as you want it to look transparent for best effect. It goes on and on……..Good luck and enjoy and prepare for disappointments which are necessary for improvement. After mastering watercolour acrylics are a cinch and much easier to go onto but the other way around might be more difficult.

Thanks, Lovetopaint I think you've inspired me to try a watercolour or acrylic as I've bought my own materials. Just need a suitable photo!

foxie I went to watercolour classes and then portrait classes as I have always enjoyed drawing people. I have painted portraits in watercolour.acrylic and oil. Oil takes ages to dry so I have found if you paint in acrylic it allows you to alter really easily and then I often use oil over this. You can put oil over acrylic but never acrylic over oil. The watercolour paintings have been lightly done with pencil which allows alterations to be made and then watercolour is added using plenty of water. You can get some lovely effects this way. I enjoy portrait paintings because they are difficult so you get really absorbed. It usually takes awhile as the smallest change can make a big difference. If I’m lucky I find myself saying “hello Sam”or hello ……. At classes of course I painted only from the model but painting children and family I have taken countless photos which are not posed but showing them in some activity - like a moment in time. I tried painting one grandson from life but as he kept running over to see how I was getting on it became quite difficult. Charcoal is great but needs to be protected or framed. Good luck foxie. Keep at it and never be put off by anyone as the most likely critics are those who don’t draw or paint. Enjoy it and perhaps think of creating memories. On the holidays we had I used to do small watercolour paintings. It was when I got home that I realised they evoked so much more that the countless photos.

Andy Warhol:

"Don't think about making art - just get it done. Let everyone else decide whether it's good or bad, whether they love or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art."

Since my OH died I have taken up painting - there is nothing I have produced that I would try and sell - that is not the purpose - but I have learned a lot, and it has engaged my mind and heart and has helped me through. The process is as important as the product.

Lovetopaint I wish I'd started painting years ago but it's been the classes that gave me confidence to have a go as I didn't do any art when I was at secondary school so didn't understand any of the basics. I've had a go at portrait painting but it's really difficult, easier in charcoal. What medium do you use?

Whiff

foxie you are very talented and love the fact the cow and elephant have personalities.. Love to see more of your art.

The classes have given me a lot of pleasure and I hope others give it a go. It's so relaxing. I'm just someone who copies, absolutely no creative talent I'm afraid but it's still satisfying .

Have always loved to draw. Used to fill up endless cheap sketch books as a youngster. Then my father bought me 72 Derwent coloured pencils which I used for years just replacing individual pencils. When I had a work related break down in my early fifties I recovered mainly by turning to art. I painted anything that meant anything to me. So grandchildren from babies until adults. Holiday scenes. Flowers bought for me or in the garden. The family dogs. Murals for the walls of the grandchildren’s bedrooms. My daughter would buy curtains and bedcovers in say an underwater theme - so there was a mermaid reading a story to some little fish - a wreck with buried treasure along with an octopus and my grandson swimming wearing goggles.He also wanted a shark but “not near me” so painted on the opposite wall etc etc. In another bedroom for the baby there were teddy bears getting up to various things. Later my daughter bought a bedcover with a boy on a skateboard so I went to an art shop (Cass Art close the Portrait Gallery) and bought the largest canvas they had and managed it on a mainline train until I arrived at local station and walked it home as too big for a bus. My dear father was dying at the time and when I wasn’t at the hospital I was painting. That was why it wasn’t a mural as I needed to do it at home. That painting helped me to cope during that period.
Over the years my walls have become covered and my family have also got them. When the boys grew up I painted their girl friends and partners. What joy! All that lovely long hair! So everyone in the family have been painted. In fact the new members were told if you had your portrait painted “then you knew you were one of the family”.I have painted lots for family and friends but have never thought about selling anything. My grandchildren were able to use my equipment on a regular basis and they love art. I am a happy amateur and have enjoyed and been so grateful for what art has given me.

foxie you are very talented and love the fact the cow and elephant have personalities.. Love to see more of your art.

colourwheelartclass.co.uk/art-classes-near-me/ sorry missed off link!

https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202410/medium-385467-img-20241016-104422004.jpg https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202410/medium-498619-elephant.jpg

I go to classes at Colourwheel and thoroughly enjoy them. I was a complete beginner when I started three years ago, although I have no creative talent I get to try all sorts of different mediums and subjects. I'm posting a couple of animal pics I've done which were great fun, one in gouache and one in black biro, just to give you an idea of what's on offer. I don't pretend to have any natural talent but the teaching has been very good! I've put a link to the classes which are nationwide should anyone be interested. I am not in any way associated with Colourwheel, just a happy client and I've made lots of new friends too.

Witzend I have no artistic ability. As you never know what would turned out until you move the paper . I just played and it was fun . Your knitting that's artistic.

Those painting look just a little Premier Inn to me .

Whiff

That wasn't the picture I was going to post . These are

Love both of those, ‘Whiff’!
I do particularly admire anyone’s artistic ability - I have always been singularly hopeless in that respect.

This is how one finished her work

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These are some from our exhibition

Thank you both but it didn't take a lot of skill . You never know if the print will work until you see what's on the paper. But it was fun

Beautiful pictures Whiff! I love the purple one.

I love them, Whiff. Congratulations on your artwork.

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That wasn't the picture I was going to post . These are

This is an article about, I suppose, someone with a second chance.
It's about seizing opportunities as we get older... of following our hearts, hopes and fulfilling dreams.

I retrained in my late 50s and fell in love with a new skill. I know just how that felt. 💕

Art is what you like . Some people like Picasso. I don't . Others like Monet which I do. Art is different for everyone. I went to gel printing classes at the Brain Charity for 8 weeks. We even had an exhibition at my local library for 12 days. Our work was all different as we have different tastes and disabilities. I still think it hilarious that I had some of my work in art exhibition. As apart from cross stitch I am not artistic. But I follow charts other people have designed . My gel printing was all me .
I don't expect anyone will like them but these are some of my work. I exhibited the purple one ,circle ,and yellow and green . I love the green on but lack of room it didn't make it into the exhibition. And the bottom one is in canvas the framed ones on copy paper.

Inspiring to read about Carol Douglas. I had to admit to myself that I'm not an artist. I tried an art class but my efforts were abysmal. I love writing and used to write poetry and fiction. I may take up my pen again as I'm recovering from a nasty fall and get a bit bored.

vegansrock

www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2024/oct/12/retired-cornish-builder-whale-paintings-steve-camp?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Here’s another one that might interest - this Cornish retired builder makes thousands from his whale paintings.

These remind me of Alfred Wallis' naif paintings... lovely