Snow. Looking outside. Hating Sears. Watercolor, Bijou box.
latest updates: snow
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2010Feb 192
tags: Bijou | sketch | snow | watercolor -
2010Feb 16
tags: japan | Kyoto | snow | stabilo
Snow falls in Kyoto
I drew this picture by the STABILO pen. I love this pen very much. -
2010Feb 10
tags: backyard | buildings | flurries | houses | Sarajevo | snow | view | watercolour | Window
Backyard view from my window.
Sarajevo. Watercolour in A4.
This was unusually bright night lit by a dust-like flurries and a moonlight. -
2010Feb 8
tags: Brrrr | snow | Tormain Woods
North from Tormain Woods – Watercolour and Acrylic in a Watercolour Moleskine
This is from a photograph taken on December 26th. I don’t like to depend on photographs but, as I recently pointed out, I am running out of options for snowy “Brrrr” scenes. Thanks to Susan, who saw the original photo on flickr, for putting the idea in my head.
I usually walk, from the woods, down this path towards the main road into our village but the path was heavily filled with drifting snow. I had to backtrack and return the way I came. It all seems a distant memory since all our snow has vanished. The old Scots saying, “Vanish like Snow off a Dyke” (something which WILL happen, frequently quickly) seems appropriate here.
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2010Feb 7
tags: Brrrr | Ratho | snow
Now the thaw – Watercolour in a Watercolour Moleskine
After playing around with other paints I’ve decided to include a scene in watercolour – my favourite medium. I find the best thing about this stuff, when doing “Wet into Wet, is the way certain parts almost paint themselves (see the front area under the fence).
This is the reverse view of yesterday’s post looking towards Edinburgh from the top end of the village. The snow is almost gone in this scene and the grasses in the fields are beginning to poke through. We haven’t seen this since late November and the local farmer will be in a hurry to get this area ploughed so that the summer cereal crops can be sowed.
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2010Feb 6
tags: Brrrr | Craigpark Hotel Grounds | Ratho | snow
The Old Hotel Grounds – Gouache in a Watercolour Moleskine
This is my 33rd post this year, the goal being to fill an A4 Moleskine given as a Christmas present. The object was to record wintry scenes (Brrr scenes). Since six posts were in smaller Moleys I still have three more to go in this book. Its extremely hard work and I am full of admiration for those of you who do this for a living. This painting shows a similar attempt to yesterday’s post as I try to get acquainted with gouache. The scene shows the grounds of the, long gone Craigpark Hotel which stood at the west end of Ratho. Its grounds are now being developed for housing but progress is slow. It seems as if every part of our area is being developed at the moment although the recent recession has put the brakes on things. Since our house is just down the hill, past the houses on the right, we hope that there will not be too much noise and disturbance when building resumes.
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2010Feb 5
tags: Brrrr | snow | trees
Reprieve – Acrylic with pen highlights in a Watercolour Moleskine
The main tree, in the centre, is all that remains of a old hawthorn hedge along the rear boundary of our garden. It’s actually been “bundle planted” – a few saplings planted together to become quickly established and the twisted trunks, at the base, bear testament to this. I believe the original hedge was planted around 100 years ago – well before our house was built. Its companions have long since gone and we have replaced them with a slow growing holly hedge to give us some privacy as well as to impale small boys who sneak in after our apples. The old trees, in the woods to our rear are infested with ivy and this finds its way into our garden and it was, when I was hacking some back the other day, that I noticed the old tree seemed to be dead. It has been sending up “suckers” from its base for some years now – a sure sign of the thing being stressed. Although I was sad to contemplate bringing it down, I felt that a dead tree might be dangerous. I was just reaching for the chainsaw, however, when I noticed some green buds high up in the top branches so it has been reprieved.
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2010Feb 4
tags: Brrrr | gouache | snow
More Snow – Gouache in a Watercolour Moleskine
It snowed again yesterday (Tuesday) morning and it was very sudden and heavy for a short period. The effect was to cover everything very quickly and I hope this post gets the idea across. This is the view, northwards, from my from garden looking over the hedge. One of my neighbour’s apple trees is just on the other side and, believe it or not, still has some “well ripened” apples attached to the branches. The distant trees are on Platt Hill which is on the other side of the Union Canal. Beyond this hill, a few miles away, lies Edinburgh Airport. The only time we get any noise from it is on days like this as frantic snow clearing gets underway. By evening the snow had stopped and had begun to thaw but more fell on Wednesday night and the temperatures plummeted causing much ice on the roads
This is the first time I have used gouache and find it slightly different from acrylic – the main difference being it is not water resistant. It looks as if it can be made thinner and seems to cover large areas more uniformly. I might try combining this with other stuff in the future.
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2010Feb 1
tags: Brrrr | Pentland Hills | snow
“Missed!”- Watercolour in a Watercolour Moleskine
Trying to sketch the local hills a few days ago as the storm, widely forecast, swept in from the east across the summits. That’s as far as it came. Other areas bore the brunt of fresh snowfalls but, once again, the Pentlands sheltered us from Armageddon. Of course, if the wind was from the north, the hills would stop and contain the snow, depositing it on our side. At least we escaped – for the time being.
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2010Jan 22
tags: Brrrr | edinburgh | Pentland Hills | snow
Pentland Hills from the City Bypass – Watercolour in a Watercolour Moleskine
Edinburgh’s city bypass, a ring road, diverts much traffic around the south side of the city away from its centre. It runs between the city and the Pentland Hills which were designated a Regional Park in 1984. They rise almost 600m above sea level and are used for recreational purposes as well as hill farming. The hills form a natural barrier to adverse weather – it can be wild on one side while benign on the other. This scene shows the east end of the range as viewed this morning. Although most of the recent snow has gone there is still a fair bit higher up and more is forecast overnight. The lower areas, however, show the first sights of green as the days lengthen and spring begins. Its touch and go whether winter or spring will be the winner here.
This is a painting study reproducing the lovely work from a...
