keskiviikko 30. marraskuuta 2016

1. Joulukuuta - 1st of December







Joulukalenteri - A Yule Calendar

Huomenna aloitan joulukalenterin täällä blogissa. Postaan joka päivä luontokuvan. Jotkut enemmän ja jotkut vähemmän jouluisia aiheiltaan.


Tomorrow I will begin a Yule Calendar here in my blog. I will post a new nature photograph everyday. The subjects are of all seasons.




Huomiseen!

See you tomorrow!


lauantai 8. lokakuuta 2016

Buying New Watercolours


I have been painting with oldish box of Winsor and Newton watercolours that I assume to be the Cotman series. The box is so old, however, that I cannot be certain. I have been thinking about light fastness of the colours I use and also the amount of the pigment, therefore I set out to update my watercolours definitely to the artist quality. 


Where to begin?

I looked at several blog posts and colour makers' websites, compared, and absorbed information. I do not have huge budget so I was really uncertain what to choose. Then I happened to find an article through Pinterest at Swinton's website and the watercolour travel palette caught my eye. Burnt Sienna, Raw Sienna and Ultramarine are probably the the colours I use the most and getting sort of confirmation that I might get along for a while made the upgrade seem a lot more possible. I could begin really limited and then expand to the direction I wanted. I did some experimenting with the Siennas and Ultramarine I already had and decided this was the way to go. 



Pans or Tubes?

The next problem was, of course: pans or tubes? 
I am personally more accustomed to pans but I know that many people speak highly of tubes and that they are widely used. I thought that this would be an ideal time to find out more and experiment. I went to the local art store, I prefer to see art supplies in person, so to speak, you can be certain that your monitor is not distorting the colours of the colour charts, and just handling the items gives sometimes a wealth of information. This certainly limits the availability of different brands but lowers the possibility of buying shades that do not go well together. And it is so nice to chatter with the staff about the colours and papers and so on :) 


This store had tubes by both W&N and Sennelier and pans only by W&N. My chosen limited palette was possible either with the W&N pans or the Sennelier tubes. First time I went to look I chose one tube of Phtalocyanine Blue by Sennelier because I thought I could paint a monochromatic painting, just to see what I liked about the tube form. I came to the conclusion that for me it is just about the same whether the colour comes from a tube or a pan. It is just a case of being accustomed to one or the other for me personally. 


Just to try something new I chose the Sennelier tubes and bought the French Ultramarine, Burnt Sienna, Raw Sienna and Aliz Crimson Lake. 



Next time I will write how I have found it to paint with these colours and what kinds of additions, changes and experiments I have made. 

Wishing you all the best,
Soila

maanantai 4. heinäkuuta 2016

Finncon


Kiitos Finnconin väelle ja kaikille kävijöille!
On aina hyvä saada palautetta maalauksista ja kun palaute on niin ihanaa, mitä Finnconissa sain, sitä on ilo vastaanottaa :)

Tässäpä kuva pöydästäni lauantailta:


Minulla oli Finnconin Taidekujalla mukanani printtejä viimeaikoina täällä jakamistani maalauksista sekä mustavalkoisia printtejä piirroksistani. Pikkuiset uniikit lohikäärmeet yrittivät vallata kaiken liikenevän tilan pöydällä. Jos jokin printti kiinnostaa voit tilata sen osoitteesta soila.salminen@gmail.com Kaikkia printtejä ja kortteja löytyy vielä, sekä liuta pikkuisia lohikäärmeitä, joista varsinaista postausta vielä myöhemmin. 


lauantai 25. kesäkuuta 2016

Step-by-Step of The Genealogist Fox



Here are some progress photos of the painting of the Fox who is reading about the antics of his or her ancestors. The book in the lap of the Fox is called Folk Tales, and the little caption I added means "Grandpa sure was a trickster". In Finnish folk tales the Fox is usually the trickster, fooling the Bear and the Wolf. 



Here are the early layers. I used soft layers of raw and burnt sienna for the background, light cadmium yellow for the light, mix of reds for the chair and some cadmium orange and the siennas for the Fox.


I used burnt sienna and burnt umber for more shading and shaping.


I painted the book of tales green and defined the shadows around the chair. 


The finishing touches were made using burnt umber for the lettering on the book and penciling in the caption and my signature. 

Thank you for reading!

Midsummer ATCs


I drew some Artist Trading Cards over the Midsummer for a swap and thought I'd put them up here too. I think I rather like the result. The colours were inspired by the art of R.C. Gorman, the shapes around the flowers and birds were inspired by the art of Alphonse Mucha. 
Ta-dah!



Wishing you all happy Midsummer!

sunnuntai 19. kesäkuuta 2016

From My Brush


Animals are taking over my desk! I have been taking more time for painting lately. Here are some things I have been working on.



I try to make a dream move forwards. I'd love to make a living, or at least a significant part of a living, as an artist. In this vein, I have couple of goals for this summer. First I will be selling prints of my paintings, perhaps some paintings too, at Finncon and second I will try to submit my some of my nature photography to one photography contest this year. I will also be looking into opportunities to exhibit my work, but I haven't decided on any definite goals in that area yet. 



All in all, this summer is dedicated to making pictures. I will be painting and photographing as much as possible and I will post my endeavours here in my blog. There are other projects at the back of my mind but they will have to stay there a little longer at least. 



Here are some recent paintings. I took progress photographs of the fox and will be making a step by step post next week on that one. Many of these animals appear to appreciate a good read :)





Have a nice day!

sunnuntai 12. kesäkuuta 2016

Duck!



On Saturday we took a walk to the nearby pond or a tiny lake to see and feed the ducks. My daughter took care of the feeding while I photographed the birds. Almost as soon as we got to the shore we spotted the little cuties in the above picture. 


The gulls were eager for food too and at times they were a bit overwhelming in their haste.




The older ducks at the pond seem to be moulting and are a bit patchy and there were feathers lying about in the grass.


Here are couple of more frames of the little ducklings swimming about: 



Happy early summer!