HAPPY INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY!

Happy International Women's Day! Isn't it wonderful that there is a special day to celebrate us? I have such fond memories of this day and I always find myself looking forward to it.  When my brother and I were little, we would always find an almond tree and bring a beautiful almond branch full of blossoms to my mother.  I still associate this day with almond blossoms and not with other more conventional floral options. When we were a bit older, we could just buy flowers, but those pre-school days of looking for flowers seem more fun in retrospective. Do you have any fond memories connected with this day?

I'm actually in Croatia right now and I will stay here for the next week or so. On my blog, we will celebrate this day with some art sharing. In the past, I also shared 30 READING RECOMMENDATIONS (LADY AUTHORS) so check that out if you want to celebrate today by reading female authors. Today I'll share a new art update: two paintings that were both inspired by a finishing boat I saw and photographed last year. I first painting this boat in my new royal talens sketchbook (not sponosored) and then I decided that I will transfer it to a canvas as well. So, now I have two versions of this boat. I took the reference photograph of this boat in Jelsa on island Hvar. I used the same photograph as a reference for both of these paintings.  Yesterday, I showed you a commissioned painting of a boat, today I'm showing you a boat motif that I choose myself. 

MY BOAT PAINTING PROCESS- THE SKETCHBOOK VERSION

First I'm going to show you the sketchbook version of this boat painting. If you look closely at my laptop, you will be able to see that I was burning the midnight oil to paint this one, staying up after 1 am. I know that natural light is very important for painting, but often it is hard to find time doing the day. It is not a problem for me to find time to sketch, but to do a proper painting, I need at least 4 hours and then half an hour for cleaning the brushes and so on. That is why I often don't start before midnight. Sometimes I manage to reverse this and make myself get up early and go to to bed earlier but it depends on my day time obligations as well. Fortunately, I have a very tolerant husband who doesn't complain about me walking around the house at 3 am. I did add some finishing touches to this painting in the morning. Anyhow, bellow you can see my sketching and painting process. I sketched the general outline with a graphite pencil and then I started applying the acyrlic colours (by the same brand as the sketchbook royal talens). My art dealer (gallery Michelangelo in Mostar where I took six art courses in the past) has changed up their supplier. As far as the paints themselves go, I'm very happy with the royal talens/art create acrylic paints. I don't see any difference to other quality acrylic paints I used in the past. However, I'm not a fan of the packaging. If you want, I can share a more detailed review. 

THE PROCESS OF PAINTING THE SAME BOAT BUT ON CANVAS 

Bellow you can see the same boat painted on canvas. As you can see, the paintings are not identical even if they are quite similar. I focused more on the sea when it came to the canvas version. The canvas enabled me to add many layers of blue paint (more than I could on the sketchbook paper). The sea on the sketchbook version of the painting you can see above is more simple in comparison to that on the canvas. Sometimes different medium requires different adaptations. On the canvas painting, I tried to really capture the movement of the sea. On both paintings, the reflection of the boat in the water is visible because that was important to me. You could even say that is the key element of both of these paintings. The reflection of boat is definitely the things that attracted me to this motif and made me opt for this photograph as reference. I watched some art tips video on YouTube and all the artists there seem to agree that it is important to choose a quality reference. I like using my own photographs as a reference. It is also easier to paint something you actually saw with your own eyes, well at least for me it is. So, it makes sense for me to use my own photographs or that of my husband because they display things we have actually seen with our own eyes. Scroll down to see the work in process photographs. As you can see, I gave up on an idea of making a sketch and just covered the canvas with layers of blue paint, waited for them to dry and then started to paint a boat on top of that. I find sketching on small canvases to be hard and anyway sometimes you have to work on your 'paint' confidence. I'm always hearing about how line confidence is important and I agree with that. However, I think it is also  important to be able to complete a painting with a brush. Even if you sketch with a brush and set some guidelines that way, the process with be different than drawing with a graphite pencil. I like being able to paint directly without always having to rely on a sketch- not that one shouldn't practice sketching. I definitely need to practice drawing more. I'm just staying that painting directly on canvas is also a good practice.  Anyway,  I'm really happy how this one turned out. Recently I have also applied varnish on this canvas, so now it looks even better. I will share my varnishing experiences in the future as I'm still new to it. 

INSPIRED BY JELSA ON ISLAND HVAR

Some of you may remember that I lived and worked in Jelsa on island Hvar in 2020. You can read about my experiences in this post: ONE YEAR LIVING IN JELSA ON ISLAND HVAR . 

Moreover, here are links TO SOME OF MY PREVIOUS POSTS ABOUT JELSA VILLAGE (SOME SEE IT A SMALL TOWN):

- A GUIDE TO JELSA

- VISIT JELSA, ISLAND HVAR

-HISTORY OF JELSA: EARLY HEALTH TOURISM

-JELSA IN SUMMER TIME

- 9 WAYS TO STYLE.....

- READING UPDATE AND JELSA CITY

- FASHION ILLUSTRATION JELSA

- AUTUMN STYLING IN JELSA

-OUTFIT AND BOOK PROPOSAL IN JELSA

- BOOK BORROWING IN JELSA

- OFF DUTY LOOK FOR EXPLORING JELSA

- 6 MONTHS LIVING IN JELSA: BEAUTIFUL HIKES

-  MINA BAY, JELSA

- 8 MOTHS LIVING IN JELSA

- ART INSPIRED BY JELSA ON ISLAND HVAR

- A BEAUTIFUL PARK IN JELSA AND A BOOK RECOMMENDATION

As always, thank you for reading and visiting. Have a lovely day! Take care and stay safe.<3