Splashing Through Life - Art by Patricia Henderson

We've had more Blue Jays around our feeder than we ever have, and even though they can be a bit loud mouthed and bossy, I just love seeing that flash of blue! And I swear they can see me putting out peanuts from miles away! This collage is a bit different from most of the others I've done.  I created monoprints of backyard leaves by using my Gelli® Printing plate and embellished them at the end with some watercolours. The bird was done with my regular method of applying all sorts of coloured bits of paper. I'm still not sure I like it, but it is growing on me! A Flash of Blue 12" X 12"

I missed last Wednesday's watercolour, but I decided to do a little ink and wash sketch of a little family of geese that we saw at the Brigden fair this past October. Just a little quickie painting to end the year! Happy New Year everyone! Mother Goose and Goslings 5" X 7"

The other day, when I was wandering around the yard, I noticed one brave dandelion that had gone to seed. It seemed unusual to see it at this time of year, surrounded by the golden autumn leaves. I was inspired to paint these three small watercolours. Each one is 5" X 7" and are available in my Etsy Shop . Buy all three and get a 10% discount!

I thought I had finished this piece 2 or 3 years ago. I had entered it into a show, but it was rejected. It's been hanging on the wall in my studio ever since, mocking me. I had just finished another piece ( Corny ), and I had all my collage materials spread out in front of me, so I started adding to it. I'm  much more happy with it now! And thanks to my good friend Lauren , it has a great title! I've already entered it in the show show where it was rejected before. I'm figuring there will be a different juror, so we'll see what happens! Here it is now: And how it was before: The Aftermath!

I've had a couple of weeks off from work and have been using some of that time to work on a new Paper Collage Painting to submit to the Desmond Juried Art Show and Exhibition. I thought I'd paint something we see around here A LOT. Corn. A lot of corn! I kind of like how this turned out. It's a bit more "abstracty" than some of my collages and was a lot of fun to do. Corny 24" X 12" Paper Collage on Canvas

There is a short time in my autumn garden when the sedum is so striking. The leaves fade to a lovely pale yellow and the flowers turn from lavender to a deep rose. I tried to capture this with a watercolour. I haven't done one in a while and so this was a good exercise.

I just returned yesterday from a great week of fun and laughter at my friend Lauren Finn's house in the upper part of Michigan near Lake Michigan. I drove up there with another artist friend Sue Galos , and witnessed the trees becoming more and more colourful the closer we got to our destination. We enjoyed some lovely crisp weather, perfect for painting outdoors or "plein air". It's always challenging trying to capture the essence of a scene, while coping with changing light and shadow, and wind. But I love it! Here are some of the sketches I did, using my prismacolor .01 pen, waterbrush and moleskin sketchbook.

Something totally different from my last painting, an acrylic on canvas! I had botched an earlier attempt at watercolour over gesso'd canvas last summer, so I thought I'd gesso over it again. My jar of black gesso was screaming out, "Use me! Use me!" (I guess it was lonely!) So I did. The canvas sat there, a blank black square for a few days, while I decided what to paint on it. It almost became the background for a collage, but while looking through my reference photos I came across one of some Bittersweet berries I had taken at Rondeau Provincial park in the fall. My original intent was to use the photo as a basis for a watercolour painting, but I thought, what the heck, I'll do this in acrylic! I almost left the background black, but decided it needed some zip. I liked the way some of the black showed through around the berries and also through the background in places. I think I'll still do this as a watercolour....I told you I couldn't stick with one ...

Well, the idea was to post a lot of progress shots along the way.....um, I got one more and then I finished it! LOL Here is the progress shot, with the first wash on some of the leaves. Then, since it was such a yucky, rainy day, I did nothing but paint. I had the house to myself (Pat was at a Chili cook-off),I had the music blaring, and I proceeded to overwork that one leaf there. (The dark one) Overall I was fairly satisfied with most of this painting, there are parts I really like and some not so much. Anyway, onward and upward!

Well, it's a perfect day for painting: cool, wet and windy! A blustery fall day is just the incentive I needed to get back at my Autumn Berry painting. Today I worked on the stems of the berries, and I've just started putting a light wash on the leaves.

Slowly working on the berries...I do a few, take a break, do a few more, take a break...etc! This afternoon we are planning on taking a drive to Rondeau Provincial Park , so I hope to come back with even more reference photos to have on hand!

Seems like the only time I have (or have the energy) for painting is on the weekends. Lately they have been busy with family Thanksgving and visits, so I haven't been in the studio much. Now that the weather is turning cooler, I look forward to more of my favourite pastime! Today I decided to go through some of the photos Pat and I took while out on a nature walk a couple of weeks ago. There were some beautiful red berries that caught my attention, so decided to give them a go. Using the photo as reference, I did a very quick pencil sketch. I then deepened some of the values and will use the sketch as a guide. I loosely traced my sketch onto the backside of some Arches 140 cp paper. (My favourite!) Here is my studio set up. I am mostly using my sketch as a reference and only peeking at the ref. photos occasionally. There is my one and only brush that I will be using! You can see an open book by Ann Blockley that I have out as inspiration. Love her work! I'm loving the reds of t...

I had a sudden urge to paint something with acrylics yesterday, so I dragged a canvas out of the closet, and dug out the acrylic paints. I had taken some pictures of the hay bales that were sitting in the field behind our house so tried to compose a picture using them as a subject. I still have a lot to learn about acrylic painting, but I really had a lot of fun doing this! One thing I probably need is some kind of proper palette, instead of the back of an old margarine lid...or not, but those darn paints really dry out fast! Anyway, here it is.

I've had a week off work, and am nursing a cold, so I thought I'd get back to practising landscapes. I took a lot of pictures when I was in Belleville this past fall, so I thought I'd use some of those for inspiration. Here are "Early Autumn Drive" and "The Old Mill".