Updated portfolio

I just updated my portfolio, it was many years since I did that, so it was about time! You are welcome to use the link:

http://pglidstromportfoliodemoreel.blogspot.com/2021/03/portfolio-update-2012-2020.html

Take care!

Watercolours 10

Perhaps I write this post for my own benefit as well as for you dear reader! Last weekend I finished my watercolour project, for this text I would like to take a minute and possibly share some of my insights. After painting the last one, I counted the paintings and to my astonishment came up with the figure of 204 pieces!

When I started with the paintings it had been years since I used my watercolours, I had drawn but not as much as I wanted to. I saw this project as an excellent excuse to be more creative and to do more drawing and painting.

From the get go, my drawings were a bit fast and perhaps not so accurate, and it did not bother me at all; since these paintings were for my own sake, and solely to get me to learn the names of the plants!

In march I did my first painting and during the summer at roughly half way through the project I started to notice that some drawings were better than others. At that point my only thought were to not mess it up when I added the paint! During the course of the project my painting skills increased as well as my drawing skills, that is from where they were when I started!

In the beginning when I mixed the paints I had pools of paint in my watercolour set because it took so long time to find the right colour! At the end there were no pools and hardly even puddles! My blending skills had also increased. Perhaps an important note here to make is that I had previously painted with acrylics and when you do that you get to be a master blender, especially if the painting takes more than one session to finish! But, that was many years ago!

Something that I learned was to always mix my greens, I have the colour green in my set, but in comparison to a leaf or a stem, those greens were always a bit off. Even when I mixed them with other colours it was hard to find the right value. So after a while I mixed my own greens and never bothered with the greens in the set!

By the way how much time did I spend drawing and painting, you ask? Since I did not log my hours I have to make an estimate here. On an average week I could do from about eight hours to possibly twelve hours, there were weeks when I could do more and weeks with less. The important note here to make is that I did not spend every awaken hour to the project, it really was a few hours here, and a few hours there.

So, is there something I can leave to you dear reader that you can take with you from this project? Even if it looks like it I don’t want to be here and toot my own horn…! I think that if it is a lesson here to be learned it is that if you want to be better at something, you really will be if you go and do it! I included the total number of paintings above to make the point that if I had not made those 200+ drawings and paintings, my skills set would not had increased at all!

So, if there is something that you would like to do or be better at, maybe you should get going and do it, for an hour here and an hour there often turns out to become more…!

Below I have put my first and my last paintings, I thought that it would be cool to share it with you, and also to sort of show the progress made.

Fun fact! I only started this project to learn their names, that I would get better at drawing and painting actually did not occur to me…!

Take care!

P.s This time around I dabbled with the UK spelling of watercolours!

Acer platanoides, the very first...!

Ginkgo biloba, the very last one!

Watercolors 9

And finally we have come to the last installment of the watercolors project. As you might already have seen, it seems that I previously have misspelled watercolors somewhat, from now on I know better! So let us get on with it shall we? Here I will show you chosen images from the 15th and last batch of watercolors!

Take care!

Mahonia aquifolium, usually I have a flower and a leaf to show the characteristics of the plant, for some though that is not enough and I have included berries or cones when that is needed.

Prunus laurocerasus 'Otto Luyken'

Taxus x media 'Hillii'

Thuja occidentalis

Water colors 8

As the water colors project continues I will now show examples from the 14th batch.

Take care!

Cyclamen persicum, this is my favorite flower out of these ones. You can see from the scanned image that it took some time to find the right size for some of the petals.

Euphorbia pulcherrima, here I thought that it would be a great idea to have some background color to the flower... the jury is still out on that one...!

Kalanchoë Blossfeldiana

Rhododendron simsii

Schlumbergera x buckleyi, the best drawing from this batch.

Water colors 7

Welcome to the seventh installment of the water colors project, and this time I will show you examples from the 13th batch. As I am writing this I am producing the 14th!

I have forgotten to tell you that the course finished in December, and the reason why I am continuing with the water colors is because I really want to finish what I have started. But, I am nearing the end of plants to draw and paint!

Take care!

Butomus umbellatus

Calla palustris, this might be the best drawing and painting of mine to date!

Caltha palustris

Iris pseudacorus, when I was choosing among the paintings I was not really sure if I was to choose this one, but I did because it has something that I can not put my finger on; basically I like it!

Trapa natans

Water Colors 6

After the holidays I thought it was time for some new water colors and this time it will be selections from batches eleven and twelve. When I made these I noticed an increase in skill both in drawing and painting.

Take care!

Wisteria sinensis

Fallopia baldschuanica

Hedera helix

Humulus lupus

Parthenocissus quinquefolia

Parthenocissus inserta

Anemone x hybrida, this one and the rest of the paintings are from the twelfth batch.

Echinacea purpurea, I selected this one because this is one of my favorite flowers.

Hemerocallis, this one is my personal favorite, the drawing works and the painting also, at least according to me.

Hosta, I like this drawing and painting too...

Liatris spicata

Rudbeckia fulgida v. sullivantii 'Goldsturm', this is also one of my favorites, I get happy when I see them.

Water colors 5

Well, another week is coming to an end and I would like to treat you to some water colors! Today it will be examples from batches nine and ten!

Take care!

Santolina chamaecyparissus

Plectranthus scutellarioides

Tropaeolum majus, the above three paintings are from the ninth batch and the following from the tenth.

Antirrhinum majus

Begonia x tuberhybrida

Brugmansia suaveolens

Lathyrus odoratus, when I started painting this one and especially the leaf, I noticed that it was a really good drawing and that I really didn't want to make a mess of it with the paint!

Nicotiana sylvestris