Initial painting which in hindsight I was happy with.
Here's a quick painting that I've been agonising over. I replaced the flamboyancy in my initial painting and used Indian and white ink to strip it out entirely. I'm not sure which outcome I prefer, I think I liked my warm inviting toucan painting but succumbed to frustration from staring at it for too long, getting sick of it then throwing ink at it in retaliation. It rarely works out …
The final outcome, a result of frustration.
Very late September squirrels, I took out my new favourite grade pencil the 4B and began sketching the chunky grey squirrels in a local park. These particular squirrels have no fear of humans and would think nothing of chasing you down or catapulting themselves from fences onto your body to bully you out of your private stash of monkey nuts.
I was asked to paint a budgie for my grandparents as it is their diamond wedding anniversary and they own a pet blue budgie named Joey.
I did something a little different with my painting to pattern the darker blue areas. I did this by pressing into and shaping cling film whilst it lay on the wet watercolour pigment and I really like the effect after it had dried!
This budgie was made from inks, watercolour, white pen, salt and sugar.
As you can see, I’ve been quite busy! Meet my newest watercolour painting, who was born from my client’s love of the film Shame and the actor Michael Fassbender.
I had to incorporate the sullenness and melancholy which were important themes throughout the film and also incorporate my client’s love of cats.
But, as you can see, it took five other developed paintings before I had a piece worthy of my client’s eyes. The trouble with me is that I get so wrapped up in the work of my favourite artists I end up with a higgledy-piggledy styled mess in a futile attempt to try and mimic how they would have interpreted the brief.
I’ve included the other attempts to try and put the pressure off other inspiring artists as it does take a while to produce a piece of good quality, you will produce utter rubbish and here’s the proof — but persistence pays off.
My sixth painting was just me, in a room with a palette of watercolours, and the reference image, putting all other creative influence aside and I developed a piece which my client is very happy with … and so am I!
Look at these coffee stains, interesting right? Manipulated with watercolour and inks they may make some unique artwork in the future which I will be implementing right away.
I crumbled in some sugar and coffee granules which enhanced the textures further. I’ve also included some more familiar drawings of animals I did recently.
Before I ran off to work I found an image of a puma, and sketched it quickly using a 4B pencil, the most effective use of fifteen minutes in my whole week sadly. This image was sketched on recycled paper.
I’ve been practising trying to paint smaller which hasn’t been going too well, but I did manage a little grubby frog which I framed and he looks pretty content sitting in there. Painted using watercolour, ink and white pen, A5 in size.
It’s been a slow week of progress but I did manage to get painterly with some pelicans. I’m not terribly pleased with them, I have too many colours going on and the choice of palette isn’t terribly focused.
I feel the drawing underneath is always much more interesting than the finished watercolour, and through the layers of paint I lose that detail which is horribly frustrating.
I thought I’d show you the more interesting stages of a luminous masking tape beastie, using masking tape I secure rolled up tubes to a carrier bag base until I have a rough skeleton, then the cutting and shaping of hundreds of sticky tubes takes place. I always think a work in progress is much more interesting half way finished than the final version especially in sculpture.
It’s been a while since tentacles have made an appearance, plus it’s been far too cute on here recently so I decided to paint a pacific octopus. Using watercolour, ink and white pen I found a lovely giant Pacific octopus by photographer Lyrinda Snyderman.
One of the many continuous-line drawings I do before I start a painting.
I know this is a bit late in the day, but I actually tried out the advice that water colourists all over the internet had been screaming this whole time — wet your paper before you paint! I was sceptic that this would make any difference but through a few experiments, wetting your paper and allowing it to dry before applying paint meant no paper buckling, which is fantastic, no more weird looking bent up paintings, hoorah!
The pinks and browns of such a tiny little bird — I just had to paint him! Interestingly the colour of the finch is the result of the type of berries and fruit he eats, meaning you can get a huge variation of colours between individual birds.
This week I also added a few new prints to my shop, they look pretty nice!
After the success of the Ashes issue of the City Fox magazine in which I featured, a client approached me to commission her a black wolf. I made this image with ink and watercolour with a few touches of white pen here and there.
© Sophie Godding
Amongst the rich aromas of coffee beans and sumptuous looking heart-attack cakes you’ll find some familiar looking faces, I am now exhibiting in the Coffee in the Wood. I have been so touched by the public’s response and I’m so excited at the level of interest my work has attracted.
Why not grab a soya latte and feast your eyes on something indulgent, though perhaps a trifle odd?
I've run out of hares, so I had to make some more. These paintings were made primarily from ink with touches of watercolour here and there along with some white pen. I've started to invert the colours on images that I use as references which is helping me create some interesting results.
As a result of my first little pop-up gallery, I received a commission to paint a chameleon for a child’s bedroom. Four paintings, a lot of frustration and one week later, here he is! I tried a few species of chameleon to draw but I thought this veiled chameleon looked especially pretty.
I used Indian ink first, then I let it dry overnight. In the morning I painted the chameleon with ink and watercolour, then finally added the background and white pen.
When you spend your days immersed in creation, splashing paints and playing with putty rubber, it can be easy to miss just how far along you’ve come.
So, with just a bit of hesitation I took along some of my favourite pieces from the last year to my first event, the Colliers Wood Pop-up Gallery. And it couldn’t have gone much better. The organisers generously gave me a stall to set-up my prints, greetings cards, and original watercolours. It helps to look back, to look back and say “I made that!”
I met lots of other talented artists and bumped into my amazing college art teacher too.
Thank you to everyone who stopped by my stall, asked questions, said kind words and gave a new home to one of my pictures. It was a huge amount of support, all of which I am very grateful for.
I am especially pleased that the Pied Kingfisher and Scribbly Hares found new owners.
It's April, so obligatory hares this week! I work in a giant supermarket, a hub of inspiration with all those scan-able rabbit novelty things this spring … So here we have it, graphite and pen continuous-line drawings of hares on sugar paper and card. Remember to click or tap on the hare-y face you want for the un-cropped version, enjoy!
Ditching the watercolour painting this week in favour of a more relaxed sugar paper session. Still continuing on with my continuous-line drawing I was able to produce a cockatiel, budgie and poicephalus parrot using black and white pen.
What annoys me about watercolour painting is that is loses my lines. I have really got stuck into the continuous-line drawing, when I finish the drawing on the watercolour paper thinking it would make a nice painting — it doesn’t. It masks the drawing underneath and it is so frustrating.
So I tried something a little simpler, using sugar paper, graphite and pen I was able to showcase my lines and reveal my peacock — and I'm happy with it!
Here is a quick twenty-minute 4B pencil study of a kangaroo by photographer Jaclyn Kavanagh. I believe this drawing may make a fantastic drypoint print.
