Author: Dartmoor Yarns

Back to the Fuchsia

On By Dartmoor YarnsIn Watercolour8 Comments

At the end of last week I finally made a decision and bought some watercolour pencils.

Derwent Intense Colour PencilsI rummaged through my sketchbook and found this fuchsia sketch

 

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Unfortunately as I copied the sketch onto my watercolour a paper I was also looking at a photo of the flower and leaves, but it was at a slightly different angle, so my drawing ended up a bit squiffy.  Unfortunately I was drawing in the watercolour pencils, so couldn’t rub out and correct it.

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I then shaded it in.

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Then for the exciting part…

I added water…

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Parts of it weren’t quite dark enough, so I coloured and added water again, then drew the veins in…

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I’m pleased with it, but it does look a bit too much like coloured pencil in places and the leaves to look a bit blotchy and greasy. I wondered of this was because I coloured it twice, so tried again, colouring only once and comparing with a watercolour of the same leaves…

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Comparing my results, I think the blotchyness  is actually down to the rough surface of the paper. I think next time I’ll try to draw something more textured on this paper and save drawing flowers until I have some smoother paper.

Until next time,

Bekki x

Sunday Sevens 2020 #6

On By Dartmoor YarnsIn Sunday Sevens8 Comments

Welcome to my Sunday Sevens – a post where I share seven (or so) photos of my week.

As I write I can hear storm Ciara outside, but somewhere this week we also had this…

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Can’t quite remember which day.

It’s been a pretty quiet week for poor Harry. He came down with conjunctivitis on Sunday, so most of the week I quarantined him from his friends and didn’t allow him to play with anyone we bumped into.

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Know he’s looking good here, but he wouldn’t let me show you him looking poorly – that or I forgot to take a photo.

He did however have a friend come for a weekend sleep over…20200208_1651410020200209_14055800

As for Harry’s hat carrying helpfulness, it’s becoming a bit of an obsession. He gets very put out now if I don’t give him something to carry up the drive when we get home.

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Apart from watercolour painting. There’s been no craftiness apart from me repainting the canvas I showed you last week,after I decided the green wasn’t going to work with my plan…

In book group this week we discussed Slaughter House Five. I didn’t read it, because I’m too much of a wimp to read such books.

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And finally, pleased to see these new recycling bins arrive in out local Tesco…

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Hope you’ve had a great week.

Until next time,

Bekki x

Following my Heart – who needs easy?

On By Dartmoor YarnsIn Uncategorized, Watercolour8 Comments

It’s been almost a month since I posted my first acrylic paintings…

There’s a very good reason why. While I was working on the beach hut I started two other paintings. But once I’d finished the beach hut, I couldn’t get the oomph to work on them. After they’d sat untouched on the kitchen table for about a week, I packed everything away.

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To be honest I’d known from the first strokes that I didn’t like acrylic painting. Too splotchy IMO and although I do have two beautiful acrylic painting I love, they’re the exception. I’m rarely drawn to acrylic (or oil) paintings.

So why did I choose to explore acrylic? I hear you ask.

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Because people who knew more about art that me advised that  if I wanted to bring colour into my work I should try acrylic first; much easier than watercolour. But when did I like easy?

However while I wasn’t acrylic painting I’d had been working on my graphite pencil portrait of Harry. I’d loved working on all that detail and wondered if I’d be happier working in coloured pencil, but I knew I wasn’t keen on the look of coloured pencil. While I explored the coloured pencil market, wondering if I really wanted to buy an expensive set of colour pencils, I spotted Derwent’s Inktense watercolour pencils. I then began to wonder if they were what I wanted.  While I dithered, a beginners’ watercolour workshop was posted at art group for February.

I love the look of watercolour. Working on all that detail on Harry had made me realise how much patience I have for this, how much I love learning more complicated things. So how could I ignore a beginners watercolour workshop?

I bought some paints last week. Watched a heap of YouTube tutorials and had a go ahead of the workshop (long story here about trying to stretch paper when I didn’t have any gummed tape, which is why the edges are rubbish) …

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Wet on wet single colour gradient
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Wet on wet, two colour gradient
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Wet on wet playing with dabbing various colour.
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Bird on a tree

They might not be very good, but I loved the technique, the way the watercolours behave and that there’s so much to learn and master.

Who needs easy? Not me when it comes to painting.

Until next time.

Bekki x

Decoupage Ta Da!

On By Dartmoor YarnsIn Upcycling10 Comments

A while ago I spotted a coffee table decoupaged with a map and immediately thought of our old blanket box that needed renovating. I would post a ‘before’ picture here, but of course I forgot to take one.

Two years later Lovely Husband announced he would paint it, because clearly I wasn’t going to do whatever it was I had said I would do with it.

I immediately banned him from painting the lid and two months later finally pulled out the map I had bought in a charity shop. Unfortunately the map was too worn to use, so I had buy a new one…

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Heaven knows why I procrastinated so long. It was so easy – although it took a while to do all the layers of decoupage and varnish, both top and bottom of the lid. And here it is…

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Not easy to get a good angle on it, but this is the other angle I got…

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In real life it blends better with the paint and those weird dark patches on the green paint don’t exist either.

All in all I’m very happy with it.

Until next time,

Bekki x

Sunday Sevens 2020 #5

On By Dartmoor YarnsIn Sunday Sevens6 Comments

Welcome to my Sunday Sevens – a post where I share seven (or so) photos of my week.

This week started with a very little bit of snow…

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As the week progressed we had some lovely sunshine….

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… and then cloud, mist and rain. So I was pleased when my new walking boots arrived. The old ones were literally falling apart. Nice to have dry warm feet again!

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Indoors I painted a canvas green ready for the cork project I mentioned a while ago and confused everyone with my explanation of it.  The canvas dried too green, so I need to paint it again.

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After the success of my first batch of damson vodka I decide to try my hand at making some Damson gin…

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And finally here’s Harry being a true gentleman: When I took my Baa-ble Hat off at the gate, he insisted on carrying it up the drive for me…

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Hope you’ve had a great week.

Until next time,

Bekki x

All Ears – and maybe a nose

On By Dartmoor YarnsIn Drawing10 Comments

I’d like to start by saying when I posted about the picture I drew of Harry last week, I think gave some people the impression I wasn’t pleased with what I’d done. I was actually completely chuffed with my picture, I just knew there was room for improvement.

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Don’t know why my camera turned this photo blue.

So this week I’ve been attempting to draw more realistic fur. I started by trying to copy the ears on someone else’s graphite goldie portrait…

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I think they look more like fur, but also as if they belong to a Merle collie rather than a goldie…

I then tried to draw one of Harry’s ears from a different photo, but got part way through  and thought of a different way I could do it. So I abandoned it  looking like this…

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Here’s the ear drawn with the new method I thought of…

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I think this there a definite improvement. Here’s the first and final ears side by side – although they are from different photos and therefore different angles…

I also made a start on a nose, but it’s nowhere near finished yet. I also bought a tool for doing those tricky under-nose blond hairs and had a play with it – not completely convinced it’s good enough for the job…

 

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And that’s been my drawing week.

Until next time,

Bekki x

New Project Fail

On By Dartmoor YarnsIn Crochet12 Comments

When I decided my next crochet project would be the Granny Rocks sweater, I rummaged through my small stash to see if I had any suitable yarn. I was delighted to find just the right amount: six skeins of my own Shetland-Ryeland 4ply that I had saved when I gave up dyeing. I duly wound them into cakes…

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…and began crocheting.  The rib went well, but after a few pattern rows I realised my tension was way off on the pattern rows. I frogged it back to the rib and decreased across the last rib row and worked a smaller size…

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…but as I worked on it I realised that one of the dark blue skein hadn’t been 4ply but double knit…

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I was was also beginning to think the gaps between the clusters were far too big. So although I could have dyed some of my 4ply Ryeland dark blue and used that, I don’t think I will. I’ve therefore sadly put the yarn back in my stash and am now wondering what to make for my next crochet project.

Hope you’re having more luck with your projects.

Until next time.

Bekki x