Jessie Lilac Blog

I was passing a lovely little bookshop the other day and what should be in the window at a greatly reduced price? This lovely book! The book is about the artist Anna Pugh and each page is a treat for the eyes. I'd like to show you every page but I expect Blogger might go onto meltdown if I do, so here are just a few of my favourites. They're all my favourites really so perhaps this could be called a random selection. :) Such colour and detail, I could spend hours looking at each one. I'd love to own one of her paintings to have on my wall but I'm guessing they're way over my budget so I'll enjoy my lovely new book for now. It gave me (even more of !) a yearning for green places so a trip to Dyrham Park was in order. Dyrham Park is only a half hour's drive away from my home and it's a nice place to feel as though you're out in the countryside, like one of Anna Pugh's paintings. :)  Is that a face I see in th...

I love to visit gardens, especially this time of year when everything is beginning to bloom. I fantasize about sitting down with a sketchbook and patiently, slowly and carefully drawing each detail of the beautiful flowers. But I never ever do this. You might have noticed I have flowers in most of my recent paintings. They're invented and evolve as they appear on the canvas. I don't have a plan, not even what colours I'm going to use. Maybe this is why it takes me so long? ;) I envy artists who know exactly what they're going to paint, what size, colour, materials and subject matter. The photo above I took at the weekend at Westbury Court Garden  in Wiltshire. This garden is meticulously planned and apparently is the only restored Dutch style water garden in the country. It was originally laid out between 1696 and 1705 .  Now there's planning for you! I love the detail and orderliness of this drawing of the gardens. It's an engraving by Johannes...

First of all can I say a massive thankyou to all of you that have 'liked' my page on Facebook. This picture above was an illustration I did a while ago and it seemed so fitting to celebrate the occasion. (I added the text afterwards!) Thankyou to my bloggie friends too! I really enjoy your visits and your comments here. Do you remember the painting I was working on in  my previous post ? I've now finished it and given it a layer of varnish to protect the surface. It's now ready in waiting for its next adventure. I hope someone would like to buy it and give it a new home. :) (The copyright watermark won't appear on the actual painting.) I love to look at people's houses and imagine what it would be like to live there. I do admire pretty gardens too and wish the magic garden fairy would do all my gardening for me, well maybe not all of it because I like to do a little bit of planting when I'm on the mood but I could do with some help if ...

What's happened to the weather? It's raining and windy and my gas was switched of all day yesterday so it was cold too! This little sketch popped into my sketchbook from my windy head. I finished this painting on canvas above a few days ago, it's called 'Safe Harbour' and soon after finished the other painting (with the bird flying a kite) too. I didn't have a name for it until the end and I decided upon 'Summer Breeze'. That was a day when the sun was still shining but the wind was beginning to stir. Summer Breeze sounds quite soothing doesn't it and I quite like the song of the same name. :) That guitar intro takes me back to being 13 before teenage angst really set in! Windy and rainy it might be but my latest painting is filled with a peaceful setting of pattern and colour. I like textures and the effects of different painting techniques and I'm trying to balance randomness with pattern. Not an easy ta...

I do believe this painting is at last finished. I'm going to call it 'Safe Harbour'. I was working on two paintings at the same time and finished the other one today too! Here it is... I don't have a title for it yet so any suggestions?? Both these paintings are a combination of coloured tissue paper, collage and acrylic paint with lots of layering. I used runny acrylic for the darker part of the background. I like the way the wet paint makes these spots when it's dry! I used stencils and patterned paper and went a bit over the top with the fluorescent pink and had to tone it down a bit. I was developing a tendency to become addicted to it! It's bank holiday in the UK so I'm very pleased to have these finished in time. :) I'm going to close my Etsy shop until Tuesday, so until then, I wish you all a lovely weekend.xx