Jessie Lilac Blog

  In my sketchbook I feel free to make images. My sketches here flow from my hand without thought.  Why is it so very difficult for me to feel like that when faced with a canvas?! You might remember these I started last week... A good start but I personally didn't like them because each part of them hadn't flowed when I was painting. It was as though I had a stern voice over my shoulder telling me to "get it right" with every brushstroke. How intimidating! This is the one that you saw in the right hand side of the photo. I do love the colours but I felt I was trying too hard with the composition and that was preventing me from enjoying the process. If you're a painter you'll know how badly a painting will turn out if you haven't enjoyed at least part of the making! So I decided to pretend I was painting in my sketchbook, with no-one to please except myself, and this is what happened to it... I loved creating a...

  It was such a warm and sunny Sunday today, we decided to go out for the afternoon and found ourselves in Lacock. It was so lovely to see so many colourful flowers still in bloom at this late part of September! I remember it was here that I saw the very first snowdrops of the year too. Definitely a good place for growing flowers don't you think? I'd love to live in a house like this with the beautiful leaded windows and stone window sills.  It will only ever be a dream but that's ok, I like to dream. :)  We walked around the gardens near the Abbey enjoying the sunshine, noticing how most of the crops are reaching the end of their growth. It was a lovely warm day but it still felt like autumn, maybe it's the smell, or perhaps the unique light of September that reminds us that Summer had gone? I wouldn't say no to having this in my garden either. :) This beautiful creature was there too enjoying the garden and no doubt relishi...

The evenings seem to be getting much darker now don't they? Today we had hot sun and then early evening, all of a sudden it seemed, the light was fading and then it felt fairly cold outside. I finally have to admit that autumn is in the air. I have rubbish lighting in the room where I paint so I prefer to paint in the daytime when I can see the colours properly. One day I'd like to have decent lighting so that I can carry on painting but for now, my evenings are the time when I do my knitting or crocheting. This is what I've been making. It's a little cardigan for my daughter's son. It turned out too big for him but at the rate he's growing it won't be long before it fits him! For my next project I have an idea of the colours I want to use and I've seen a pattern I like too. On the Ravelry website is says it's fairly easy to make but I think they mean it's easy for an expert and that's not me. I might have been a knitter f...

Before I went away on holiday, I did this sketch (above) of a gypsy caravan. They're so pretty aren't they?  The caravan on display at Bristol City Museum Since I was tiny I would go to the city museum and look in wonder at the caravan they had on display there, finding the inside so cosy and welcoming. Everything inside is so carefully designed and so clean and shiny. I used to love the cupboard at the back where the bed is, with decorated doors to keep the chill out.  Now I'm also intrigued how someone can have all their possessions inside such a tiny space but still make it feel so homely. I'm sure I remember being able to go inside it but maybe I did but wasn't supposed to! Nowadays you definitely can't go inside because they have glass across the door. Such a shame but I guess that's how they keep it from getting damaged with time. I thought it would be nice to make a painting with a gypsy caravan as part of my Mini Matted ...

Hi there! I'm back in studio action again from this week and I want to start by showing you a new section I have in my Etsy shop. :) It's called ' Mini Matted Paintings '. I decided that I'd like to make some more affordable artwork to sell so these are slightly smaller than my usual ones. I don't know about you, but I find that smaller artwork is more difficult to display on its own so to make these paintings more substantial, I've mounted (matted) each of them so that they're ready to either display as they are, or alternatively you can put the ready-matted painting into a glass frame too to hang on your wall! close-up showing matting (mount) I have 3 paintings in this size so far and as I make each one, I'll add it to this section . I'm in the middle of making another one right at this moment so stay tuned! x x