Memories of Winter

What can i say, this is such a beautiful card, it doesn't need words!

Vivien's use of mixed media is always so inspiring!  She tells me, this was started back in the winter as a demo for one of the classes she tutors. The first frostings of snow, done in oil with a palette knife on brown card. She then finished it off a couple of weeks ago on a scorching hot day "a nice antidote to cool me down" as she put it.

 All the veil of colour on top of the white is coloured pencil.  It's really lovely. No other medium lets you produce such delicate interweaving.  I am definitely inspired to pick up my pencils again.  I had no real idea one could get such effect over oil paint.

Thank you Vivien, it's such a wonderful mix of composition and colour.  I think it will look rather good framed and on my wall!

Wild Cornish Coast

A Vivien Blackburn original arrived here last week, to my great relief after Charlene's postcard to me didn't make it through the rigours of our postal system last month. I'm still hoping it will turn up so won't post the tantalising virtual version of it until all hope has gone...

So I was overjoyed to find this beautiful, atmospheric Cornwall coastal scene featuring Pendeen lighthouse, inside a cunningly disguised plain brown envelope. I love the storm-laden sky, the wildflower scattered coast and the expressive sea that I so much associate with Vivien, and have enjoyed discovering the many little marks that enrich the surface of this lovely painting. Its a wide 300x105mm landscape so don't know if the details will all show up here, but makes the real thing such a pleasure to have

On the other side Vivien stuck a map to show exactly where she was painting the several studies she made for this card, and not to be outdone by the Bear, the Tiger got his own hand-drawn stamp to add a finishing touch.

P.S. Vivien has done a post on her blog featuring some of the details of the postcard.

The Fleeting Pink Glow of Spring!

Capturing the feeling of an English Spring

Its raining and grey outside but Vivien's postcard is a reminder of those wonderful, soft Spring days that start to happen more frequently as the days lengthen. I'm so happy to have it for my own.

I'm going to use Vivien's own words about why she chose this view on this particular day as she says it so descriptively.

"This is a country lane just a few miles from me. The Hawthorn leaves are just about to burst and the bushes have that lovely fleeting pink glow. As soon as the leaves open it's gone."

The postcard has a velvety feel due to Vivien's skillful use of mixed media. I think it's done with soft pastels, oil pastels and white acrylic. But I don't really need to know as the overall effect is wonderful.

A Postcard from Casa Colina

A postcard from Desiree - Casa Colina

This is the beautiful postcard I received from Desiree Habicht in southern California.

This is what she had to say about her visit to Casa Colina on the reverse.

This new rehabilitation hosital is absolutely beautiful.  We are lovers of the spanish and meditaerranean influences in our architecture.  Every street seems to have many subtropicals and varieties of palm trees.  Since we are here several times a week I often will run or walk the area whuch Jennifer has therapy.  Today, as I wait in the outdoor gardens, I am enjoying the sun and the warmth.  The birds of paradise are blooming and the boug. are just starting to open up.  Within a few weeks they will cover the nicely trimmed bushes with a neon pink.

Enjoy!

Note: Casa Colina is located in Pomona, California, about 40 miles due east of downtown Los Angeles on the San Bernardino Freeway, Interstate-10.

Introducing Vivien Blackburn

sunset, Penwith, oil in sketchbook

I'm really looking forward to this postcard exchange with such a great group. Thank you for the invitation :>)

About me: I can't remember a time when I didn't draw - one of my earliest memories is, aged one, posting drawings (scribbles) to my father when he was in Gibraltar, looking for accomodation so that my mother and I could go out to join him.

In my youth I lived in some beautiful places including Cornwall, Malta and on the Moray Firth in the north of Scotland, so, though it may have scrambled my education a little, it almost certainly led to an early feeling for light and landscape.

I went to art college on leaving school, completed my Foundation Year, didn't continue on to the Diploma years - did a few different things - art was on a back burner - then married, had 2 daughters and didn't go back until they were at senior school. I then did my BA in Fine Art as a mature student. It's never too late :>)

This is some of my sketching, the first few are all Cornwall

Sam, evening, silver sea, watercolour/mixed media in sketchbook

Moorland Farm, Penwith, watercolour/mixed media in sketchbook

Lanyons Quoit, charcoal, in sketchbook

Someone commented earlier on about the clean neatness of Albrecht's sketchbook - mine are, I'm afraid, messy ones! I work in all sorts of media - oils, watercolours, lots of mixed media, charcoal, pastel, pencil, acrylic ..... etc etc etc- so loose oils may follow a detailed close up study of something in pencil in my books, followed by watercolour, mixed media, charcoal ,ink - anything goes.

Wild Day, Sennen Cove, oil


Approaching Rain, Mawgan Porth, charcoal and coloured pencil, in sketchbook

Charlestown, Cornwall, watercolour/mixed media, in sketchbook

I particularly like to paint or draw water - the Cornish coast has to be top of the list but canals, streams, rivers tool

Wild Day, Sennen Cove, pencil, in sketchbook analysing the movement of the waves

The Old Packhorse Bridge (very old), Aylestone Meadows, charcoal, in sketchbook

Frog Island, Leicester, in large A3 landscape sketchbook

I don't often do industrial landscapes. This is part of a series of sketches of local waterways that I intend to revisit.

Cardoon seedheads, in sketchbook, pencil

And .... sometimes it's nice to change scale and observe something closely. I found the spiky dry scales vs the fluffy insides of these cardoons fascinating to draw.

I unfortunately have arthritis and asthma. so my walking distance is limited but it is essential to keep moving so sketchercise is great as it will encourage me out walking, sketching and sharing the results :>)

I like to work plein air soaking up the atmosphere, feeling the wind. smelling the vegetation, getting the mood of the day and seeing the colours as the light changes - it is so much better than a photograph, fixing all this in my visual memory, the feelings, smells and memories come back when I look through old sketch books.

Well - my first postcard went out at the end of January so hopefully it's winging its way to Martin. And I'm really looking forward to the first one dropping through my door :>) and following the progress through the months.