When yellow and blue make shades of green

My postcard from Vivien is a double delight  -  golden yellow on the front and an array of blues on the reverse.

So what's my meaning in the title of this post? Obvious! When one is lucky enough to receive a postcard from Vivien, you just know that everyone else will be a shade of green. Green with envy.

The front depicts some of the fields close to where Vivien lives. The bright gold is oil seed rape,  now grown abundantly in many parts of England during spring. In huge fields it's visually mind blowing.

On the reverse Vivien's used gouache.  Blue sky and a blue and turquoise sea, done from memory in a 'wish you were here'  right now kind of moment.

Thank you so much Vivien. I love both sides equally -
The fields remind me of my family home ........   and
The sea.... yes, me too, I'd love to be there right now...... !

A Moody and Changeable Day in Cornwall

I received this beautiful card from Vivien this week.
"Distant rain, the wet sand shining with pinks and mauves and layers of cloud"
Vivien has captured it perfectly with her watercolour washes overlaid with coloured pencil.
I really wish I could draw/paint coastal scenes more, and haven't been able to get out to the beach much this summer (due to our wet and cold weather) so it is a real treat to have this propped up in front of me ... enjoying and studying it all month.

Thanks Vivien!

Softly rendered perfection of mysterious origin

Vivien Blackburn

Vivien sent me these exquisitely-defined feathers collected by her students on a nature walk.  As there was no sign of the previous owner, they had to guess what birds might have lost them – poor things will be missing that lovely downy warmth, whoever they are!  

In fact Vivien was quite sure an owl and a quail were involved, but I went ahead and did some speculation of my own after noticing this disgruntled cat (I wish I could draw cats as easily and expressively as Vivien!) on the stamp on the back of the card…. I know cats don’t have feathers, but I believe this one suspects Vivien has hi-jacked his colour scheme for that lovely big feather in the middle. This is not a working cat BTW, Vivien’s postcard was carefully enclosed in an envelope, with a regular British stamp, so the Queen did the heavy work in getting this tiny perfect masterpiece all the way from England to Victoria in a record four days!

Night Sketcher

Coloured pencil on black paper - Vivien Blackburn

14.5 x 19.5 cms

I really can't call this beautiful nocturne from Vivien a postcard.  It's a painting and it absolutely delights me.  It has some of the magic of Van Gogh but is distinctly and beautifully Vivien Blackburn.  

I'm off to buy a frame!

My October card from Vivien

Vivien sent me this wonderful card which she says began its life as an oil painting but then wanted to be mixed media. Well what ever she did to create this beautiful postcard works for me! I love everything about it, the colors, the textures. It is really wonderful to explore all the secret areas in this card, which by the way is huge! Thanks Vivien!

The coast near Porthgwarra

The sea at Porthgwarra, Cornwall
(mixed media)
Vivien Blackburn

Walks for sketching sometimes have to take second place to other commitments - particularly when a family member has been in hospital as has happened to Vivien recently.

This then is another of Vivien's experiments of sketching from her memories of a scene from a walk in Cornwall along the coast near Porthgwarra.

I thought I'd misread the spelling to start with - but checked it - and it's definitely Porthgwarra.  I wasn't sure where this was despite Vivien's description - so took a look at the map

Location of Porthgwarra Cove (see arrow)

It's where the arrow is on the map (click and open in a new tab to see a bigger image).  That's west of Porthcurno and south of Lands End.  The reason I was confused is that I'd forgotten that Lands End is not the most southerly point of the UK - it's the most westerly point - and is just off the north west corner of this map.

This is how the Sennen Cove website describes Porthgwarrow - and it's definitely a good place for a walk!

A superb, secluded Cornish Cove just under 3 miles southeast of Lands End. Porthgwarra is steeped in history and tradition - one time a busy fishing cove , now just one boat regularly works crab pots from here.
The cliff path leads away west towards Lands End (roughly 1.5 hours walk) , and east towards Porthcurno (45 minutes) - both very scenic and dramatic routes !

Vivien says she was trying to catch the movement and varying depths of the water - with the rocks half seen underwater.  She assures me that the sea around this part of Cornwall really is the colour she's painted it! :)

What I like about it is that look of translucency of the water - I'm more familiar with the water off the west coast of Scotland and it very much reminds me of seas I've seen there.  It's also got that sense of the swirling movement of the water in a cove which is so difficult to catch.

I'm told the art media used for the postcard included gouache, coloured pencils, tippex and a secret ingredient.  My lips are sealed!

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!

Sennen Cove

A wonderfully moody, atmospheric card arrived from Vivien this month. I feel very priviliged to own this as it must have been drawn when she was on holiday with her family in Cornwall and even more as she describes Sennen Cove as one of her all time favourite places. Vivien has painted and drawn a whole series of studies of Sennen Cove on her blog capturing the changing light, colours and atmosphere so it's amazing to have one of these.

I feel, even without reading Vivien's words on the card, that her love of this part of the world really shines through in this image. It's stormy and grey, not the sort of weather most tourists want to see when they come here, but it's still inviting - the lines are drawing us to walk along the path to the harbour wall and take in that sea air. And what view awaits us if we just walk a little further and see what's around the corner of the building?

In the flesh it has some lovely textures but I'm not sure what Vivien has used to achieve this - perhaps pen, pencil and charcoal? Whatever was used, it is a fabulous card and I love it - thank you Vivien!

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.

Sidney Harbour Bridge - my February postcard from Liz Steel

Sidney Harbour Bridge and Borromini Bear stamps, postcard from Liz Steel

The postcard from Liz dropped through the letterbox and it's absolutely delightful - Borromini's cheerful face peers out from the stamp - what a fantastic idea!

There is a lovely loose but beautifully observed view of the bridge and opera house - an iconic Australian scene :>)

Such beautiful writing too.

And of course there is talk of cosy cafes and Earl Grey :>)

Gorgeous - and thank you Liz.

Hoar Frost - Misty Morning greetings by Vivien Blackburn

Hoar Frost - Misty morning by Vivien Blackburn acrylic on paper 

I am the happy winner of a beautiful British winter landscape by Vivien Blackburn. She took the time and effort to do this piece at low temperatures. I never tempted to paint hoar frost. It is so beautiful to see the landscape powdered in white. I always considered it an "impossible" subject for me. This is a great start that fits so well for me because we had similar beautiful landscape vistas over here in Germany just a couple of days before this. Thank you Vivien!

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.