Beddgelert

Beddgelert is my newly finished oil painting on canvas.

Inspiration came from one of my own photographs taken whilst staying on holiday in the little picturesque village of Beddgelert in 2013.

Beddgelert  is a village in the Snowdonia area of Gwynedd, North Wales.  The old stone bridge with it's two arches stands in the centre of the village and crosses the River Colwyn.

The little village was thriving with visitors the day i took the photo!  Most of them queuing up for ice cream at the fantastic ice cream shop with it's many flavours!  Yes, we did visit once or twice whilst we were there! :)

Painting this scene really took me back there, i can hear the sounds of the river water, birds tweeting, and of course the chatter of the people as they decide on which ice cream to have!

Snow Baby

For years i have been avoiding the dreaded portrait!  They need to be so precise, so accurate and well executed in order to be truly accepted as a representation of that person.  Well i had conflicting feelings when the January challenge was announced by Colored Pencil Magazine and that challenge was to be a portrait!  I fancied the challenge, to really push myself and to see where i could take my art.  Could i take it into the unknown, way out of my comfort zone and produce the elusive portrait?  Well i just had to find out!  


I had to approach this one in a completely different way by using a grid to accurately sketch the face first, this was the daunting bit, even planning out the grid was a challenge in itself never mind sketching as accurately as i possibly could!  One line slightly out of place could jeopardise the whole thing and it was a nervy, tentative start for me!  The rest of it just seemed to come together naturally, i was used to the shading part and everything was in it's place from the sketch!  It was very strange once the eyes were in, i was being observed from the paper itself!


Today i finished my Snow Baby portrait, and i must say i am very pleased with myself!  Maybe i won't be so frightened of the portrait from now on, who knows maybe i'll even do one of myself!

"Snow Baby", Polychromos pencils and white gel pen (for highlights) on A4 paper.

Reference photo curtesy of Sally Ford as part of Colored Pencil Magazine's art challenge

One Shot Two Takes

I am collaborating with a fab photographer Alex Taylor, he takes the photos and i interperate them onto canvas. It's a very challenging process to be part of.  It is interesting to see how two artistically minded people can approach the same image in different ways.


There is now a new section on my website dedicated to One Shot Two Takes and we also have our brand new Facebook Page!

Please do stop by and have a browse, like and share too if you like what you see!

Workshop

We had a lovely arty afternoon down at the cloud 9 gallery on my beginners workshop to acrylic painting. Everyone did so well and produced fab paintings. It was very interesting to see the individual takes and styles achieved on the same image. Well done everyone! Thank you to Alex Taylor Photography for giving us permission to paint his beautiful landscape photograph.

My "Patchwork Landscape" Painting (A4 Size)

Work produced during the workshop

Painting Workshop

Only a couple of weeks until the first of my acrylic painting workshops!  Limited spaces available, please contact Cloud 9 Gallery book your place!

Wainhouse Moon

Here is my latest finished painting "Wainhouse Moon". Oil on canvas 16" x 20".  

This is my version of a photograph taken by Alex Taylor which he has kindly given me permission to use as reference. You can see Alex's original photograph here of which my painting is based: https://www.facebook.com/alextaylorphotos/photos/pb.164049740408753.-2207520000.1413203547./399398863540505/?type=1&theater

Please do also check out his fab page at Alex Taylor Photography

For more information on the Tower please check out my blog at: http://www.christineheyworth.co.uk/blog/wainhouse-moon

Make it in design Brief 2

The second intermediate brief for the summer school was titled Animal Print and was to bring different prints together to create a confluent clash.  I tried out different ways of approaching the design but in the end decided that merging the patterns into a stripe suited the finished product better. Colouring the design into the palette given was quite challenging as it was difficult to get away from the traditional animal colours.  I found that by keeping the background quite subdued i could add splashes of the brighter colours as highlights.  This worked perfectly on this particular design and has created a pleasing looking final product.

Find out more about the summer school or see galleries of work produced here at: www.makeitindesign.com/summer-school