Last of the summer photos and some recycled illustrations

Pink'nfrilly

Gorgeous flowers en masse at the Hampton Court Palace Flower Show.

I've gathered together the last photos from my summer holiday and made some more montages. I decided to accompany these with some sketchbook bits and pieces, some of which I've shown before, but most of which have had something new added for the occasion!

'Sweetpeas' watercolour ©Caroline Soer

Sorry that the quality of this image isn't very good. I wanted to include it as sweetpeas are such lovely frilly flowers! It's taken from a larger watercolour painting behind glass. I painted this many years ago - the flowers were from my Mum's garden ... I can smell that heavenly scent now! I've added a couple of lines from a poem by John Keats and a digital pastel colour detail.

'Tango' watercolour with collage©Caroline Soer

These roses from a beautiful bouquet were quickly rendered in watercolour in my sketchbook. Later, for an Illustration Friday project, I teamed them with a pair of my little folded butterflies. Today I added a coordinating border made from digital colour swatches.

Just feast your eyes on these luscious summer berries! Click if you want more!

Cherries - watercolour ©Caroline Soer

Sometimes paintings just don't go according to plan! This illustration is something salvaged from one such occasion! I decoupaged the image of cherries onto another piece of watercolour paper and added a border digitally from colour swatches.

'Cherry pairs' watercolour ©Caroline Soer

Cherries from a sketchbook I used on holiday in Provence couple of years ago.

Part 2 to follow later!

This 'n that

I've had a bit of artist's block recently and haven't been in my studio much. Today I spent some time sorting through zillions of photos I've taken of the area surrounding our house !

The rain forest on my doorstep.

Our house in the distance



This little chap is what we call a Scrat - a cross between a squirrel and a rat! Love that bottlebrush tail!


So much to see growing locally !

Bananas

?? Looks like an enormous apple!


Starfruit

Mango

Looks like a kind of fig!

Jackfruit

Papayas


Unidentified!

Another unidentified fruit

Unidentified open

Beautiful flowers!




Coconuts



Digitally manipulated image of palm fronds





And some seed pods get the digital treatment too



Sorry if I haven't visited your blogs lately - will try to catch up with you soon!

Sunday breakfast in the garden

Couldn't resist sharing a few photos of this morning's breakfast! The sun's shining and we're in the garden enjoying sunny poached eggs on toasted rye bread, accompanied by grilled tomato topped with sesame seeds.

And to follow....

Bring on the fruit! From left to right, Rambutan, Buah Nona (Sugar Apple or Custard Apple), Chiku or Sapodilla (top right - looks like a potato!), Longan and Dukong (larger of the two).

This is what they look like when peeled. Clockwise from the top Custard Apple - sweet, you gotta suck the flesh from the seeds (too many of those!). Longan - delicious, tastes like, but is better than Lychee. Dukong - yummy, sweet, fresh, - a bit grapefruity, even - (do not eat those seeds - sooo bitter!) Rambutan - sweet, again a bit lychee like.

Here are the seeds.

Potted up - let's see what happens!

Illustration Friday - 'beneath'

Mangosteen fruit
watercolour ©Caroline Soer 2010

It's that time of week again already - where does the time go? It's flying at the moment! Herewith, my offering for 'Beneath' - this week's Illustration Friday theme. A watercolour of the delicious Mangosteen fruit - you'd never know that such a delicious little fruit lies beneath that leathery skin!



I've been sketching and painting these fruits on and off all week - getting the colour right by layering on the pigment without disturbing the previous layer has been a test of my patience! I've tried sloshy effects on scrap paper, this more precise version and now I'm part way through a textured painting on tissue covered mountboard. I'll share the finished painting at a later date (if it's a success!).