Thatched Cottage with Country Garden

**valchina612** · #1 10-16-2006, 09:57 AM

I finished this little painting today. I have a great love for Thatched Cottages and Cottage Gardens, so enjoyed painting this one. It is 7"x5" on Canvas Panel.
All C&C is very welcome and appreciated.

Val.

amurphy · #2 10-16-2006, 10:10 AM

This is very pretty...It think there needs to be a shadow on the right side of the door overhang or if its a porch entranceway the wall needs to be in shadow to define it.
Makes me think of afternoon tea and and all the nice goodies that go with it......

Audrey

**valchina612** · #3 10-16-2006, 10:22 AM

Thankyou Audrey. You are so right -- as soon as I uploaded it I realised I had missed that shadow -- it stands out like a sore thumb. Shall put it in tomorrow considering it is midnight here now.

Val.

dreamz · #4 10-16-2006, 06:15 PM

the roof eyebrows need some shadow to help form them and I have a bit of a question about shadowing both sides of the roof peek. Its a very charming scene

**Lady Carol** · #5 10-16-2006, 06:20 PM

Hi Val, what a pretty painting.

**valchina612** · #6 10-16-2006, 09:12 PM

Thanks dreamz and Carol.

I take your point/s dreamz, as I too was a bit amazed at the photo reference. I have always painted the roof eyebrows with shadow on the shadow side and highlight on the rasied bits, to show the roundness of that area, but this photo is just as I have portrayed it here in the painting. There is also shadow on both sides of the roof peak in the photo. I think I'm going to take some artist's licence and go back and do my own thing with these. I know I've followed the photo, but then again I'm not happy with the results.
This Image also isn't really true to colour, as it looks a lot brighter and happier than this photo shows IRL.

Val.

dreamz · #7 10-16-2006, 09:24 PM

Maybe if you just tone down the shadow?

My daughter has been pestering me for a similer painting, hope you don't mind if I use this as a reference, of course I'll use LOTS of artistic license!

**valchina612** · #8 10-16-2006, 09:31 PM

Go right ahead Doc. I'm sure yours will look a lot better than mine. I'm going to re-hash this one when I get the 50 thimbles finished that I'm slaving over at the moment.

They're driving me batty, as I can't give the time to anything else that I'd rather be doing. (It's a Commission, so I'm really not complaining all that much.

).

Val.

dreamz · #9 10-16-2006, 09:34 PM

thimbles? as in sewing thimbles?? lord a mercy.,, Id need a watchmakers visor!

**valchina612** · #10 10-16-2006, 09:44 PM

Doc, they're Porcelain Thimbles -- 7/8" high. In the last five and a half years I've painted in excess of 3,000 of these little critters (er, gems) on bone china and porcelain. They are Collector's Items and there's a big demand for them. I use on-glaze china paints to paint them with and they have to be kiln-fired quite a number of times between the beginning blank thimble and the finished one. I've been teaching Porcelain Art for 25 years now, and the strangest thing I've been asked to paint on a thimble was Boy George -- I finally talked the girl in to going for something a little more easy on the eye.

Val.

gingery · #11 10-16-2006, 10:32 PM

I think this is a charming painting.

Wish I lived inside!
ginger

Cherylyn Gaiter · #12 10-16-2006, 10:41 PM

Hi Val

, I love this thatched cottage painting. It reminds me of the villages in England. My family and I used to go to Cornwall, Devon for the holidays, and there were all these sorts of cottages in the villages. I really like it.

How many thimbles ???? You must have the patience of a saint Val. Do you actually use different eye glasses to paint these little critters or have you just got very good eye sight ? Do you think you could upload a couple for people to see just how tiny the painting would be. I can't believe you have done so many, it's amazing.

Cherylyn

gurleygirl · #13 10-16-2006, 11:22 PM

This is so pretty! I love it.
Tracey

spiral_world · #14 10-17-2006, 01:26 AM

what a romantic place .... wish I can live somwere like this place
very nice picture

Dragica

**valchina612** · #15 10-17-2006, 05:26 AM

Thankyou so much ginger, Cherylyn, Tracey and Dragica for your very kind comments. Cherrylyn, if I can get a copy of a couple of thimbles I will post them in this Thread, but I'm having trouble with being able to get copies at the moment. I don't use special glasses or a magnifying glass. I do wear bi-focals and can paint really well with those, and I also have computer glasses and they work well also. I do have glaucoma, so it really does surprise me too that I can see so well with these tiny little bits of porcelain. Am so thankful that I can.

Val.

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