Something red for Christmas

Oil on board 20 x 20" 

                                          On the easel today. Something red for Christmas.

      Wishing all the people who visit here a very Happy Christmas and a Joyful New Year.

                    Thankyou for your comments which are always helpful and much appreciated.

                                                                                                                                                                         

A Winter Sun

A Winter Sun

Oil on canvas 20"x20"

Bridget Hunter 2012

December is halfway through with it's cold weather, short days and a winter sun. I took this photo recently at Culzean when the sun was low and like a soft white orb in a beautiful dark sky. It became the inspiration for this painting.

On the Easel

I've been caught out too often and handed in wet oil paintings protected, thankfully, by glass. So the idea is to have a few ready to go and dry! And leave them alone which is the difficult part. 

At the moment I've got 3 paintings laid in and waiting for some sort of next step.

How they'll look at the end I've no idea as paintings seem to go their own way. I can never visualize the finished result , I don't plan. I just get inspired and need to paint.

Hopefully there'll be a reasonably happy ending!

But that means coming up with some interesting titles.

Lilies at a Window

Oil on board  20x20"

Bridget Hunter 2012

After much adding and scraping away at last a finished painting. Promised myself that I will not touch it again, I will not, I will not.

The first layin and then a lot of thinking and not knowing what to do next. I still think maybe I've overdone the final work wishing I could have left the looseness of this first working. Next time maybe!

An Arran landscape

Oil on board 10x10"

Bridget Hunter2012

Sold

I'm barring this Windsor Blue/Green from my palette! It's like an addiction. A small painting for the MacMillan Charity Art Show at M&Co, Glasgow. "An Arran Landscape".

A small work

Lilies in Black

Oil on Board 8x8"

Bridget Hunter 2012

A small painting now hanging in The Beresford Art Gallery, Ayr.  The usual dithering over a title

but eventually called it Lilies in Black simply because it's in a wide black frame!

An indoor Landscape !

There are many things that inspire me and this little indoor landscape is something I'd love to base a painting round.

I got the table quite cheaply at an auction, loving it's Deco look. I was really after a large bookshelf to house some of my many books but came home with this instead. Excuse was it fitted in the car !

Lillies at a Window

I'm already trying to work on this painting but don't know what to do with it, where to put the next brushstroke. The usual story !!

But I love these orchids and I'm hoping I manage to keep the plant alive long enough to be part of a still life. After all, the label says it only needs a thimbleful of water a week. Surely even I can manage that!! 

Trying something new!

The Swing

Print  7x5"

I've stepped outside the comfort zone of using a paint and brush and been attempting to print from watercolour paintings. This is from a 10x12" work though I printed it onto card first and intensified the colour with paint and pencil. Then it was reprinted in a size to fit the square frame I'd bought in a bargain basement.

Gone Fishing  6x6"

The Swing

6x6" 

Sold

I'm feeling very clever, having actually managed to produce something that looks OK and it's set my mind to thinking about producing greeting cards from some images. 

But choice of support is important, floppy cards would be no good,  and, as I'm not the tidiest person and known for covering everything in paint, I'm wondering about employing a professional printer.

Then, if I want to do this properly, there's the problem of marketing, though there are small gift shops in the local area I could approach. Be a bit brazen.

So lots to ponder before I even think about this new venture!

Red for Summer

Oil on board  8x6"

Bridget Hunter 2012

sold

Gallery at Dereel

This small local venue holds exhibitions now and again. It's the home and studio of Irene Walker . I know she's been very busy clearing her studio to make it into an exhibition place and want to thank her for all her hard work and for including my work amongst the exhibits. 

I've 3 paintings there, including this small oil.

Just Fishing!

Watercolour  8x6"

Bridget Hunter 2012

Sorting through old artwork, binning some and wondering if others could be salvaged and found this washed out watercolour of my youngest when she was 5 and fishing in the burn. I'm thinking maybe I can redo this in watercolour achieving a better effect, or even try it in oil.

Catching up with 3 for Arran

View from Brodick

Oil on board  8x6"

Garden at Brodick Castle

Oil on board  8x8"

Across to Lamlash

Oil on board 8x6"

It's been a catchup time this last week, trying to finish and frame 3 small paintings to go on the ferry to the island of Arran and The Arran Art Gallery. It's been such a rush that I even forgot to take photos of 2 of the paintings unframed. So apologies for the poor quality of the images.

The reason for the lack of art work has been my total immersion in the Olympics and the Paralympics - especially the Paralympics. I'm in total awe of the achievements of these amazing athletes and now suffering withdrawal symptoms as it's no longer compulsive daily television viewing. 

Though it was a late night recently watching our Andy winning the American Open !

The Way Home

Oil on board  24 x 20"

Bridget Hunter 2012

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I've been searching through sketchbooks for resources for paintings and using memories to recall the essence of places. This latest painting is of a rather neglected sheep pen in the Galloway Hills and again I've included sheep as they are such an integral part of the landscape. 

Ayr Sketch Club Exhibition

The Ayr Sketch Club Annual Exhibition started today and continues till 19th August. It's held at The MacLaurin Gallery, Ayr.

        http://www.themaclaurin.org.uk/.

 The Sketch Club is made up of a  great bunch of friendly people, amateurs and professionals, who meet weekly for crit nights, demonstrations and workshops.

http://www.ayrsketchclub.co.uk/

It's always quite scary seeing your work hung in an exhibition and it's very tempting to linger behind people who are discussing one of your paintings. I resisted the urge and instead had a glass of white wine !

An antidote to Green

Arran in Aubergines

Oil on Board   24 x 24"

Bridget Hunter 2012

Sold

I've another best colour and that's  Permanent Rose. I hardly ever use it straight but rather as a mixer, shaken and stirred to make wonderful oranges, purples and pinks. So to get away from all the recent green works I decided to give an impression of a cooler season in this painting again of Arran, where every road passes these little whitewashed farm type buildings.

Here a sheep, there a sheep.

Arran Hill Farm

Oil on canvas  12 x 10"

Bridget Hunter 2012

Where I live, wherever I look, there are sheep, usually the Blackfaced Hill Sheep, hardy wee souls. It's the same when I visit the islands off the West Coast to sketch and paint.

They are such a part of the landscape that you almost forget their presence. And it's a bit of a dilemma as to whether to include them in a landscape painting. But in this oil I decided to include a few to add to the character of the farm.

A bit more of Skye

Oil on Board  24 x 20"

Bridget Hunter 2012

This is another version of "A Little Bit of Skye". There was something about the first painting that irritated me - so I thought I'd try a second time, same size and same 7 colours but a slightly different composition. In other words I've deviated from the original sketch but think the basic lush greens of Skye are better shown. 

A painting subject - or not?

Poppies in the sketchbook

Beautiful sunny days here a few weeks ago brought out the large patch of poppies I usually have a go at painting. But the timing was wrong this year and I came back to a patch of weird but wonderful wilting poppy heads. Irresistible  !! I've tried to capture them in a sketchbook and wonder if a white jug of drooping poppies would make a good painting subject. Something to think about .

Taking the ferry to Arran

 Holy Isle off the coast of Arran

Goatfell 

Brodick Castle

Village Shop at Whiting Bay

Whiting Bay

Lochranza Castle

I've been staying on the Island of Arran, an hour's ferry trip away. I've come to paint but the weather has been changeable so I've been sketching mostly and taking photographs. When it's damp the midgies are lethal so that's another excuse to leave the easel in the car.

If you'd like to see the "midgie dodging sketches" they're on my other blog 

Bridget Hunter's Sketchbooks

http://bridgethunter2.blogspot.co.uk/

A last Postcard to Vivien .

Cliff Walk at Ayr

Acrylic on Card  2012

This was my very last postcard, sent to Vivien  - http://vivienb.blogspot.co.uk/ - as part of our postcard exchange. It's been the best time - making and receiving cards from all around the world and not only seeing my Blogger friends' work in reality but to be able to keep them.

Round 2 is just about to start at http://walk-postcard.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/keep-on-walking.html

with Cathy's wonderful new logo.

A Little Bit of Skye

A Little Bit of Skye

Oil on board  20 x 24'

Bridget Hunter 2012

Still trying out the new blue ( Windsor Blue, green shade ) and finding it makes some very intriguing mixes with Cadmium Red or Yellow Ochre or a warmer blue, or combinations of a little bit of this and a little bit of that. I work with a limited palette of 7 colours anyway so it's been an adventure into the unknown.

 This oil is based on a sketch done when I spent a week in Skye last year and, like this May, it rained !

A Greener Shade of Blue

Lights and Darks at Culzean

Oil on board   20 x 24"

Bridget Hunter 2012

I've painted the small pond at Culzean before but recently went sketching there again and used the sketch as a resource for this painting. It's very much based on a new colour I bought - Windsor Blue ( green shade) which is very strong and needs scouring powder to remove from the  hands !! It's always the same with a new colour though- the need to use it to prove you've not wasted your money.

Watercolour in sketchbook

Paisley Art Institute

Paisley Art Institute

The Annual Exhibition starts on Saturday 6th May and is well worth a visit.

I am delighted to have a painting included this year.

November at Borrowdale

Oil on board  28x24"

Untitled in Greens

Untitled in Greens

Oil on board  20x20"

Bridget Hunter 2012

A painting from a photo taken last year at Culzean.  I've changed it from landscape to square format because, being a bit "Scroogelike", I had a frame that size and shape from another painting and wanted to use it. No real artistic reason then -  more a case of needs must !!

I'm at a loss as to thoughts for a title. It's a view of a field at Culzean at a time when lush greens, due to our sometimes wet climate, were everywhere. 

There is no gold in the painting and I don't know why it appears as if there is. 

My photo used as a reference.

Sketchbook Blog

It's been a long while since I bothered with my other Blog  'Bridget Hunter's Sketchbooks' ,  about a year probably, since most of my sketches are really done as resources for paintings and full of scribbles and notes or studies. But I've been a bit inspired lately by some of the wonderful Sketching Blogs around and how the sketches are finished works in themselves.

So I've decided to have a go again at proper -grown- up- sketching for the pure pleasure of drawing, and posting these more often should the results be 'blogworthy' !

Hence, a new blog banner.

I'd like to have a new more interesting blog title but at the moment I just can't think of anything. Any ideas welcome !!!

Sketching Kit

Acrylic Sketching at Ardnamurchan

Path to the Loch

Oil on board  24 x 20"

Bridget Hunter 2012

Another painting started from a pencil sketch then worked up at home. I seem to have been painting very dark skies but sometimes the sky does go dark and the land seems to glow beneath it. We've had a very warm and dry 2 weeks - unbelievable here at this time of year - and yet today there's a forecast of snow. Last week flip flops, this week boots again. "Only in Scotland" people are muttering!