Jessie Lilac Blog

I really liked making my mixed media paintings last week but I fancied a change for this newest painting.  I love to use watercolours and missed their delicacy and the way the paint puddles onto the white of the paper, so satisfying :) I thought I'd share with you the stages I go through to get to the final image :) I did a very quick sketch to see how the bending trees would look swaying to the music, then I drew out the composition with my black Pitt pen. For this I used the 03 size. Then comes the fun 'colouring in' stage. I wanted to use the colours of autumn, reds, golds and purples. I like the random way the washes dry, sometimes I'll use salt on the wet paint to get more texture but his time instead of doing this, I used two different colours that could wash into eachother as they dried to get a sort of 2-tone effect for each hill. Almost done,  when the paint was dry I added more details with black and white ink on the le...

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...

Since I  first heard the John Lennon song many years ago that has the line:  'Life is what happens to you when you're busy making  other plans'   those words have stayed with me.  It's good to plan but so important to remember that we're alive NOW! I got up this morning to a lovely sunny day, with thoughts about how it's important to live each day as it comes and to enjoy being alive. Some people say 'live each day as though it was your last'. That doesn't work for me, I'd end up obese and alcoholic within a month of living like that! ;) I then turned on the radio and the song by Junior 'Mama Used To Say' was playing, singing lyrics that seemed to repeat the thoughts in my head. For those of you who aren't familiar with it, the chorus goes: And mama used to say Take your time young man And mama used to say Don't you rush to get old And mama used to say Take it in your stride And mama used to say Live your ...

I don't know how I managed to draw this today because this lady looks a lot more capable than I feel today! I've been suffering from a chest infection and haven't been able to do as much as I wanted to this week, my energy is quite low at the moment. Thankyou for all your lovely comments on my last post! I love to hear what shapes you make when you're doodling and drawing. I wonder what it says about us as a person? You can see here in the picture above I've included my usual leaf shapes again. I like them to be neat and controlled but they are often less than perfect. Make of that what you will! ;o) You might remember this watercolour painting I did last year. It's now available to you as a lovely print in my Etsy shop. Have a lovely weekend whatever you're doing and I'll see you again soon.xx

I'd love to learn how to play a harp but they probably cost lots of money and I do love guitar music so I'll stick with that I think.

I was enchanted by the performance of the Secret Sisters on Jools Annual Hootenanny show last night. I could have listened to them all night! Thank you for all your visits here on my blog and for the lovely encouraging comments that I appreciate so much. ******************** A happy new year!! ******************** Wishing you a creative new year filled with happiness, love, and inspiration. xx

My builders have finished, well almost . All they need to do is to varnish the doorstep but it's raining so heavily today I can't blame them for packing up and going! Well this has given me the opportunity to sit down and to do Illustration Friday , yay!

I've just come to the end of my sketchbook, the picture above is the last page. The pretty lights in Paignton at the end of the day yesterday. She's not playing a sad song on her violin, endings always mean new beginnings don't they? I love to choose new sketchbooks and this time I've gone for a square format with a nice hard cover and lots of pages. I have my usual problem of being too scared to start it! I used to be like this in school when I was given a new exercise book in a lesson. The first page would have perfect writing in it because it semed so precious and new and I didn't want to spoil it. Same now, every sketch every drawing that comes into my head doesn't seem good enough. How very silly. Don't worry, I'm sure I'll be attacking it very soon! Meanwhile, here are a few pages from my life drawing sketchbook I did this morning.... And talking of endings , don't forget to check out my new listings of my paintings for sale HERE. Have a ...

Don't forget my print giveaway finishes tomorrow when I'll take all the names of you who commented HERE and have a draw to see who wins 3 free prints of the paintings of your choice :o) I'm having a bad morning and managed to kill my laptop with my clumsiness, so I'm on the main family computer and have posted a picture I did a while back instead of a fresh new one hot off the page! I went to see the film Micmacs last night, I'd recommend it to any fans of automata . Here's the trailer: I find automata fascinating to watch. There's something quite eery about the movement that almost seems human. One place I would absolutely LOVE to visit is the Sharmanka Kinetic Theatre but it's in Glasgow, a long way from where we live.....oh one day......!

I had my first guitar lesson of the year last night. I'm learning flamenco, slowly and steadily, I don't practise as much as I should but it's just for fun so I don't beat myself up about it too much! This morning was the first life drawing session this year too. I enjoyed it very much and took this photo of my sketchbook. I'm still without a scanner so I hope you can see it clearly enough.

Here's a photo I took of my table where I do most of my drawing. I love to see lots of pots with pens and pencils and brushes and even if I don't use all of them every day, it's nice to have them there ready for action! This was a sketch I did this morning, the background was another painting that had been painted with blue acrylic. I scanned both of them into the computer, with the intention of collaging the sketch onto the blue background in Photoshop. You see I know it can be done, but evidently not by me. Not yet anyway! :/

Every time I see a rubber ducky, the song from Sesame street comes into my head.

Not literally of course! I went to see Rodrigo and Gabriela last night. If they are ever in your town, go to see them. Go.

I thought I'd challenge myself with this week's Illustration Friday by painting an ACEO. I was worried about the tiny scale of them but it was fine and I really enjoyed doing it!

I had the most amazing night last night. We went to see a band called Gong. I must admit I wasn't particularly looking forward to it because I'd heard their music before and it didn't do anything for me at all. Steve Hillage played a support set before the main band came on which was equally fantastic. He then went on to play in the main set too. I surprised myself more than anyone at how much I enjoyed it! They had an animated light show on a huge screen behind them and what with the ethereal music it transports to another dimension! One of the main singers is Gilli Smyth who looked older than the others. I later found out she's 76! What an inspiration to us females who might think life must slow down to a halt after 50. (me) I'm still in my 40's haha (just) and seeing someone like her looking amazing and doing something she clearly loves was a breath of fresh air. I expect you were wondering how the picture above relates to this. Well this morning was life ...