Brotherton Park

Some photo's of Brotherton Park, Wirral. It's a great place for a walk, and even in the winter there is colour and beauty to be found.

Fun with clay and flowers

What do you do with a ball of clay? What does every artist need?

I know! A paint brush stand here's this weeks step by step:

Make a sausage. Precision engineering is now required to create brush shaped dips. Fingers are good for this.

Paint!
Paint is important - you want to avoid your brush stand being mistaken for a bar of Toblerone.

When mine was completely dry I applied a couple of coats of dark green acrylic paint and of course a few flowers.

The flowers are not botanically correct.

And voila!

See what Sarah did with her paint brushes and new stand by visiting sarahwoodart.com or check out the latest prints available on Imagekind.

New Beginnings

January is quite a gloomy time of year. Here are some photo's I took at Ness Botanic Gardens on the Wirral. New life and promise. It is great to see plants springing into life.

Delamere Forest

The winter colours of the forest are beautiful. Delamere Forest in Cheshire is a lovely place to go walking. I visit the forest more often in the winter than the summer. The forest is a very popular place and is a little quieter in the winter months.

I always find when I go for a long walk that it helps to concentrate my mind on finding solutions to any painting problems I am having. 

There is nothing quite like walking in a forest.

Travelling Studio

Caravan holidays are great, I pack up my studio and take it with me. When I am painting the board is propped against the table so it is at an angle. 

The picture on the easel at the moment is in its very early stages. It is a Maidenhair spleenwort growing in the cracks of a wall. 

The light in the caravan is excellent as there are many windows, but at night I use an extra daylight bulb.

The paint trays are packed away flat and protected with a piece of cardboard. Everything is stowed away into a cupboard.

The advantage with the travelling studio is it usually has beautiful views ready to paint from the window.

Sea Holly and Bee

This is one of my latest paintings. 'Sea Holly and Bee'. It was painted using watercolour and gouache. 

I like really complicated and detailed pictures and this was definitely one of them. The flower was complicated and the bee was complicated, maybe I should paint something a little simpler next time!

The bee was actually on the flower when I took the photograph, but it would not perform well and kept moving into an awkward position. I based the bee on another photograph of mine. Ironically when I took that photograph I was not even looking for a bee and there it was in a perfect pose.

Maybe I should forget about insects and stick to my flowers, at least they don't fly away.

For more info visit my website www.sarahwoodart.com

Ness Botanic Gardens

Some views of my favourite Gardens, Ness Botanic Gardens on the Wirral. I love my visits here. I am lucky enough to be a friend of the Gardens so I get to go as often as I like in the year.

As a botanical Artist it is perfect for me to follow the changing seasons in the gardens. There are interesting subjects all year round. My favourite place in the gardens is the pine wood. It is so peaceful and quiet.

It is amazing how many of my paintings are based on photographs and sketches I have taken in the Gardens.

For more info visit my website www.sarahwoodart.com