Everyday inspiration

I bought a huge amount of small canvases out six years ago. They cost £2.50 each, but I have seen them for cheaper on the Internet since then. Over the years I have used them for collages and paintings to adorn my walls. For example, there were these three, in my first ever London flat. Quite stylish, I’m sure you’ll agree!

If you are decorating a flat, and don’t have much art, these little 6×6 canvases can be a really easy and cheap way of adding colour to a wall. They are cheap enough to replace easily, or you can paint over an old one if you’re not precious about what you have painted. I haven’t painted any in a long time because over the years I have accumulated (and inherited from moving in with P!) such a large number of paintings and framed photographs that I never need to worry about blank walls again!

Anyway, how, after all this time I still have any left is beyond me, but I found one in a still mostly unpacked box recently and decided to get my watercolours out again. Inspired by a painting I saw in a shop window, I attempted to paint a robin. I love robins. They remind me of my grandmother, who put bird seed out for one in particular every day. I remember it eating out of her hand when I was a child and whenever I went to visit her, I would call out for it and put a little bit of food out. I was also flirting with the idea of having a robin on this year’s Christmas cards, so this seemed like a good idea to test it out.

However, painting/drawing one was remarkably difficult! I must have redrawn this little round redbreast about ten times before finally settling on a shape I liked. The floor was littered with rubber detritus.  Once I had painted him, I added some shading detail using coloured pencils.

And in the end I like the way this little guy turned out.

He looks pretty friendly, don’t you agree?

I then decided to attempt another robin on card, but he turned out slightly less successfully.

He’s cute too, but maybe a little dotish? He looks a little like he’s going to fall off that branch if he gets distracted, so I don’t think he will be adorning any Christmas cards from me this year, I’m afraid.  Back to the drawing board on that one…

As I mentioned, I don’t really have space for the paintings I already have, so I have decided to put the Robin I do like up as my first ever Etsy listing. Scary! I hope someone finds a nice home for him somewhere…