Category: Original Artwork

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Artist Code 2013: First painting of 2021

Artist Code 2013: Three Plucked Petals (Japanese Anemones, Anemone hupenhensis)

I have been working on a little painting since last September which nearly went into the bin! I purchased some black water colour paper to try (Royal Talens van Gogh black water colour 100% cellulose paper 140lbs). It was on offer and once I started working on it I realised why.

For someone like myself, who paints very nitty-gritty, cellulose paper is like painting on rough bricks. Not good at all for botanical work (although I thought flowers on a black background would be lovely to do, ever since I saw a painting at Kew Gardens in Dr Shirley Sherwood’s Gallery of a pink rhododendron on a black background, but painted on calf-skin vellum. It was so vibrant I determined that day that I would do a similar painting sometime). The rest of this paper will be relegated for use in my “moody” painting sessions.

Late last summer (2020) I played tennis at Cambridge Lawn Tennis club where I am a member and there were a few pink Japanese anemones still flowering so I asked permission to pick a few. I came home all excited with my prize and could not wait to get started. However, after sketching out my drawing on white paper to transfer onto the black stuff I realised that I did not know how to transfer a drawing onto black paper! In the end I managed to scan the sketch in and print it on to the paper with a very feint green line. When I started painting with water colour, I was devastated that the paint just seemed to disappear! I tried with oil pencils, but that did not look good, and then with acrylic: better, but still not the effect I was seeking. Very disillusioned, I cleaned my palette and put the painting away.

Having been very busy up till Christmas and New Year producing a couple of little books which I published, I felt like painting a picture. I started on one of Turtle Doves (Blog entry), but lost interest as soon as I started it, so that went on the back burner.

I turned again to the black paper and re-drew the picture with white gouache and paintbrush. This worked very well, so I purchased a few gouache colours and set to work. This is the result. Not sure that I like it, but it will do as a starter.

Happy New Year to everyone, and let us hope that 2021 brings something more than lockdown!

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Artwork for 2020 All shipshape and added to Catalogue

I have just been updating my latest artwork to the website and my Artwork Catalogue to end 2020 and start afresh with a new website layout and shop in 2021 (hopefully!). The new website will have a much-needed “s” after its http! (Don’t worry about it if you do not understand that phrase—it is all automatic.)

I have just added the last Picture Profiles to the 2020 Gallery and all is now complete.

These are the four final paintings to be added for 2020. Two new and two rediscovered old ones from the 1980s (it is lovely that old works come to the fore and bring back memories—when I can remember that is!)

Picture Profile
Picture Profile
Picture Profile
Picture Profile

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas break and that your New Year celebrations will be calm and collected, and shared with some loved ones. Let us hope that 2021 sees us rid of this awful lockdown calamity. Best wishes to all: Tina Bone xxx

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Slight Progress on “I Bow to my Queen” and Tawny is ready to fly

Not had much time for personal painting (Turtle Doves) because there is an unusually high amount of river friend stuff to sort out. Thank you to all those lovely people and organisations who are furnishing me with plenty of news about rivers and rare plants—it is all very much appreciated.

Here is the latest on the “Queen” and her Beau (Artist Code 2017. I know—not much to look at yet, but there are never enough hours in my day to do all that I wish to be able to do!):

And Artist Code 1808 “Moon Eyes Tawny” is now ready to fly to his new Lincolnshire home. All sealed and varnished with fixings.

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2012 The Almighty Reed and Reedlings UPDATE

This little painting for Book 5 in the River Friend Series (REED: ON THE EDGE) is going along quite nicely. Lots of fiddly bits, which you come to expect with my work, but great fun. It is just so annoying that I take so long to paint something!

Here is the latest progress picture:

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2012 The Almighty Reed and Reedlings

Just started the illustrations for the next River Friend book: “REED: ON THE EDGE”, number five in the series. There are lots of nice things to say about reeds, both from a commercial and a leisure point of view. If you think a reed is dull, then this little book will enlighten you and broaden your mind. Not sure how long it will take to do all the drawings and paintings, but it should be out in the next couple of months. I will post when it is available.

Here are a few progress pictures of Figure 1: The Almighty Reed and Reedlings (Artist Code 2012) in the book. Note the first picture (pencil sketch on Aquarelle Arches 140lb water colour paper 14″ x 10″) is enhanced otherwise you would be unable to see it! So apologies for the uneven/thick lines.

Reedlings (Bearded Tits) live and breed amongst the reeds, usually near the edge of a reed stand. Lovely little birds with a characteristic “Ping, ping” call.
The text in the book mentions blue sky, so the background is nice and blue.
Getting the right tonal values and paint strokes for the background reed structure made me think rather.
…So, layer upon layer of subtle browns and creams to get the desired effect
Went out and cut some reeds nearby for accurate portrayal (along Bourn Brook which will be another book in the series: Stream Story 2—eventually!)
Have to paint the green reeds first because, even though they have been in water since plucked, they are drying out and shrivelling up (what a nuisance!).
Two green stems done, just one more on the left, then I can get to the old reeds, birds and nest, which is usually made from old reed stems and leaves as well as being lined with the feathery-soft seed heads of last year’s reeds. The eggs are creamy white with a pinkish hue and little brown marks—I purchased an old birds’ eggs book, from a secondhand book shop, which has proved to be a valuable resource.

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1703 ABBA Bluebells UPDATE (Worldwide Flora Exhibition 2018)

Link to previous post on this Exhibition: First ABBA Post

The weather was rather awful whilst I was trying to complete my bluebells; the photographs look a bit grey – that is because the light was very poor. Fortunately, I had mixed enough blues and greens to complete the painting as soon as I had picked the bluebells (and it was sunny that day!). It took several weeks to get as far as I have because other more pressing jobs got in the way, but I have now got it to the stage where I can finish it at leisure. Please see below for progress pictures, which need no captions:

1704: Stinking Iris

Then I had to start the stinking iris because they had come into flower a lot quicker than expected. Here are a couple of preliminary photographs, and I will post more progress pictures as and when….which is another story! Have a nice day 🙂

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