Last Watercolour!

This is smashing Fiona, so tell me you won't pack in with this style, but yes you are trying something differentand there is nothong wrong with that, just view my portfolio and see what deviations I have taken. I really must get back to watercolours, but am trapped in an acrylic whirlwind, mainly as I find it a challenge as much as therapy for my hands to keep working. Even holding a knife edge straight and steady when working with the unsteady things and trying to achieve a sharp edge is hard work. Good luck

This has worked very well Fiona hope it's not your last ever watercolour as they have improved greatly over the time you have been posting on pol. as Derek has said it is a good idea to try new things and going to a specialist group should be a good way to get into oils, I've always just stumbled around with oils, not really understanding them. I look forward to seeing the results of your labours in 2015, have a good one as they say.

This is a great painting and hope you will return to watercolour again. I can empathise with the lack of 'buzz', I have also gone through a similar phase, which is why I looked through old photos and came up with Festival Fillies, and using a painting knife is really a good way of getting out of a rut. Good luck with the oil painting, it's very different to watercolour!

Beautiful. Agree with all and do absolutely anything you want

I agree that it's a good thing to try out different subjects. You just don't know unless you try! Hope the New Year goes well for you Fiona and also, this painting is a beauty!!

This is lovely Fiona. I hope you enjoy "oils" and look forward to seeing your work. Happy New Year to you meantime.

Truly beautiful last watercolour for a while Fiona! I wish you a great time with the new challenge and it's going to be so interesting to see what you'll do for the first oil and to know of course your thoughts about it. Very exciting! Don't forget to post all the new work!! X

I like this, Fiona, and if you've lost the buzz it doesn't show. A change of medium can work wonders - if you're trying oils now (for the first time?) you'll find them very different from watercolour or acrylic, but I much enjoy ringing the changes between the media ... it does sometimes leave me wondering what on earth I'm going to paint a subject with, and using that indecision to procrastinate, but it's a good way of seeing similar subjects in very different ways, and presenting very different challenges. If I can help at all - I know quite a lot about oil paint by this time! - don't hesitate to let me know. The technical difficulties can be greater than with watercolour, but on the whole we do tend to make difficulties which needn't arise with a little thinking ahead. Use good paint! I know you use Old Holland watercolours -well their oils are expensive, and there are cheaper alternatives, but still get the best you can: it makes all the difference.

Hi Fiona, changing to a new medium can be a bit daunting, some "do's" and "dont's" to learn but with a friendly bunch of experienced oil painters around you I'm sure you will love it. I would suggest a snow scene for a beginner and build from there. Good luck and a Happy New Year to all on POL.

Beautifully atmospheric painting. I am sorry if you are abandoning watercolour for a while as I feel it is a medium of great subtlety which conveys this sort of scene particularly well. However, I am sure that you will apply your considerable skills to oil painting and we look forward to seeing some super results.

Derek, Stephen, Vivienne, Dennis, Louise, Jennifer thank you very much for your positive and helpful advice and comments. Even though I have dabbled a little with 'atisan' oils (water soluble) I've never really known what I was doing with the medium. The group I've joined will hopefully teach me about the preparation and application etc of tradtional oils. I will still attempt to paint in a loose style as I do in watercolour but I can't honestly say whether it will work out that way because I will be tackling subjects never tackled before! Thank you again.

Satu, Robert, Norman, Thea many thanks for your encouragement. Having instruction will be a first for me and I've been very fortunate to be invited to join the group. I'm aware of being the 'nubie' and starting from the beginning but it's quite exciting and it's what I need I think. I seem to have come to a standstill in my painting. Satu, your work is always so fresh and diverse and I admire it. Robert, I've gone for Old Holland in oils too, and yes they are expensive! I've chosen two blues, two reds, two yellows and viridian, the last on recommendation of the tutor...he says it's a very useful colour to mix with. I've never used a tube green. Norman, thank you, yes they are a friendly bunch but they've been painting for years, which is a bit daunting. I will still be doing the odd watercolour Thea, I like to take my sketch book and paints when I go out walking but it will probably be mainly sketches. I can honestly say I'm not looking forward to posting the results but I will.....the good and the bad. You may not even recognised that they are mine!!!Lol. Thank you all again.

Please don't abandon watercolour even for a short while - at least not while you are producing work of this standard

Michael, promise I won't totally abandon watercolours......thank you for your support and encouragement.

I like this lovely tree Fiona. Good luck with your new course, look forward to seeing the results. Happy New Year to you.

Happy New Year. I look forward to your new direction. Enjoy. Oils, especially artists quality are a joy.

Thank you Carole, Gudrun...Happy New Year to you both! I'm certainly nervous about putting my efforts on show, here on the gallery! But I am hoping that I will receive lots of advice and critique from all the painters of still life's, interiors and even life painting in oils......eeekkkkk!!!

Hi Fiona, thank you for your good wishes and for saying you miss me in the gallery. Unfortunately my beloved hubby had a cardiac arrest whilst at the gym in November and, though he received CPR almost instantly, he died of brain damage due to lack of oxygen just before Christmas. I'm still in shock and haven't grieved properly yet as I am trying to stay strong for my family. I don't know when I'll get back to painting as I know there are some very dark days ahead of me. In October we were up in your old part of Scotland and, before it happened, I had started an oil of Stoer Lighthouse. I don't know when or even if I'll ever get round to finishing it but if I do I'll post it in the gallery for your critique as I see you are now having lessons in oils and your advice would be invaluable. My days of roaming all over Scotland have now ended but I have so many happy memories of our holidays. Good luck with your oils, Regards Val X