Painting Australian Animals with Karen Bloomfield | Colour In Your Life

[@manjiabanti]

A piece of art should reflect your personality.. How true 👍👍

[@Jude2408]

Absolutely wonderful

[@LinathaKairrin2712]

A different light is amazing to me

[@jess65963]

I really like the plain wood as back ground. It makes your talent stand out fabulously!❤️👍

[@cherieadamsdodd1460]

How wonderful! Love seeing the wood !

[@jacsfalconer1929]

Amazing amazing Art. 👌👌👌

[@manjiabanti]

One of my favourite artists ❤️❤️

[@paulre8272]

thanks to Karen and Graeme...beautiful arts and show!!!

[@EvieD]

Really enjoyed watching the use of charcoal with the water based inks. Something always to learn on CIYL videos. Thank you Karen for sharing your talent.

[@karenbloomfield9559]

My pleasure! It was fun sharing!

[@AeriolNicols]

Fabulous. Thank you.

[@ARTYCOATY]

Very wonderful art! You have talent. I respect you. Thanks for sharing. I'm happy to meet your video. Today was a good day. 😊🎨✨✨✨

[@karenbloomfield9559]

Hello and thank you very much Rina! I appreciate your comments very much. Have a wonderful day.

[@janjonker3596]

Amazing, great work

[@valerijohnson2839]

Beautiful and very original work. Thank you for the video.

[@jostandaar6922]

wowsers that was totally awesome... something so unique and wonderful ... thanks Graeme too for another great artist.

[@GratefulThird]

I love using the grisaille technique, because it helps me to think separately about value and hue; I never thought of using charcoal powder under ink - it’s genius! I adore your work, Karen. I also love your "don’t be a fraud" motto. I recently retired early for that exact reason, and am now joyfully spending my time earning a certificate in botanical art and illustration and learning how to make art. You are such an inspiration.

[@karenbloomfield9559]

Thank you Anne! I'm so glad to hear that you are following your heart! All the very best with your studies xx

[@dmullins311]

Thank you, very interesting techniques and so inspiring, so different! Thank you to Graeme for introducing you.

[@andrewcoslett9036]

Beautiful work Linda, fantastic techniques, brilliant titles, big respect from Wales UK. Great to see some colour on a gloomy Welsh winters day!!!

[@mariakellner5429]

Fantastic technique.

[@karenbloomfield9559]

Thank you Maria!

[@kaholee3756]

Very very beautiful painting

[@ColourinyourlifeAu]

Thank you so much 😀

[@annakelder5732]

Beautyful Work 👍 thanks for shahring this 👌❤❤❤❤

[@ChrissyBear99]

Great paintings Karen and 💙 the titles

[@karenbloomfield9559]

Thank you Chrissy! They really do mostly name themselves!

[@jt5439]

WOW... I am impressed!! Beautiful, AMAZING and AWESOME work!!!

[@karenbloomfield9559]

Thank you very much for your lovely comment!

[@margaretphillips3264]

Beautiful work, inspiring artist, fascinating techniques. Love the titles you give to your work!

[@karenbloomfield9559]

Thank you Margaret! Lucky for me my paintings usually title themselves!!

[@lindak7499]

Thank you for a very timely video about the animals and what your country is currently going through. The technique was very interesting and the drawings beautifully portray the birds and animals. I wish you all well. And, she's left handed like me!!

[@karenbloomfield9559]

Thank you Lefty-Linda! We love our incredible animals here and yes are completely horrified by the devastation the fires are causing to our land and its inhabitants. That said, we will continue ongoing rescue efforts &, with luck, better management into the future. xx

[@antheablackmore5838]

Wow a totally inspirational video .....such a unique talent...absolutely love you work, mesmerising!

[@karenbloomfield9559]

Thank you Anthea, so glad you enjoyed it!

[@marionwigzell7334]

Thank you Graeme. Karen your work is amazing, love your techniques. I think it is very poignant at this time to have an artist who enjoys painting our beautiful Australian wildlife too (-: Marion

[@karenbloomfield9559]

Thank you Marion. There are so very many artists who love to portray Australian wildlife and rightly so - they really are some of the world's greatest characters!!

[@sharondoolan2314]

Wow totally amazing and really enjoyed this episode thank you

[@maiarynning7619]

awesome work

[@ColourinyourlifeAu]

Thanks for the visit

[@davidclark1793]

Heck--I'll be your first comment. Super technique. I first thought it was watercolor over the charcoal, but the ink probably stains the wood better and makes for a more permanent mark. I am fascinated by the kinds of layering you exhibit in the works you demonstrated. I also really like your other paintings. Are they acrylic or oil? You work with some wildly varying subject matter, and have a delightful perspective on them. Love your titles. I've always liked titles that tell you a little about the artist's mindset while doing the picture, and including humor lets us get to know you a little more. Far more interesting than "Two Birds on a Branch." Excellent. Thanks.

[@karenbloomfield9559]

Ha ha! 'Two birds on a branch'! Thank you very much David, and thank you for being my first comment ❤️ My other paintings are oils. To be honest I am frequently asked if watercolour would be just as effective over the top of the charcoal and my answer is always the same, "please give it a try and let me know"! Personally I can't see why it wouldn't work just as well, but I do not work in water colours and don't actually have any 😆

[@davidclark1793]

@@karenbloomfield9559 Actually, I do layer dry media (graphite, charcoal, conte, pastel) with watercolor, but i work on paper, not plywood. I don't know if wood would (would wood?) have enough tooth. Probably wood would. 🤪 Too Many Woulds (Woods)!

[@karenbloomfield9559]

@@davidclark1793 not much tooth to work with on the wood because it is seriously sealed so the response to the wet medium is different every time in the effect you attain. This is my one concession to being in control.. 😆

[@davidclark1793]

@@karenbloomfield9559 Thanks for replying. I might give it a whirl sometime just to see what happens. Heck, with enough varnish anything'll stay on it. 😉 👍✌

[@karenbloomfield9559]

@@davidclark1793 😆 let me know!

[@lizwiesemann2612]

How do you display these beautiful pieces of art? Frame.etc?

[@johnhoffmanpaintings8512]

I thought I had tried most techniques in charcoal.... nice to find another to have a go at

[@karenbloomfield9559]

That's great John!

[@donnaryan71]

Beautiful work! Not sure if you've tried it, Karen, but Cretacolor makes a gorgeous charcoal powder that may save you time. I've used it in some paintings and it's beautiful to dust over then pull out highlights from, and creates mid-tones.

[@karenbloomfield9559]

Hi Donna, I've not tried it but will look into it. That said, I really enjoy the process of 'the grind' 😆 and it ensures that my powder tone is the same as my other marks. A student shared her pre ground charcoal powder in one of my workshops and we all agreed that there was no depth to the tone but I'm positive it was not Cretacolor. Lots of experimentation to be had!! Xx

[@peterhinton6423]

Brilliant, i have booked! :)

[@karenbloomfield9559]

Hi Peter, I look forward to seeing you in the day!

[@peterhinton6423]

@@karenbloomfield9559 Hi Karen, you said you use Fijian Plywood I think. Where do you buy it? I'd love to try it baut don't want to waste time on ordinary ply. many thanks.

[@romansXIII]

Bonus points for the old intro!

[@cindyzink8550]

Her art is amazing! I would love to know how she finishes the edges. I paint on birch plywood but I seal and gesso the entire panel. I am never fully happy with the edges of the wood. The edges aren't smooth because it is plywood so my work must be framed to hide the edges.

[@karenbloomfield9559]

Hi Cindy, I sand my ply to smooth it as much as possible and box-frame the finished piece. The edges don't bother me much because I am making a feature of the ply.

[@chriswhitehouse8982]

Very interesting techniques. Seems like a great technique that could be adapted to acrylic paints as well. Are "water-based" inks the same as acrylic inks? Thanks for sharing this Graeme!

[@ColourinyourlifeAu]

water based inks a little more runny and I think more iridescent

[@ArtistWizardry]

I thought inks were not lightfast for display art. Would it work to just be fixed with UV spray to keep their colors?

[@ColourinyourlifeAu]

yes that would work but you would need a few layers and best after spray to paint a layer on as well

[@ArtistWizardry]

@@ColourinyourlifeAu thank you. :)

[@karenbloomfield9559]

Krylon make a UV fast fixative.

[@patytrico]

It´s so true: we should never forget that, if we are trying to make a piece of ART, it should contain part of us, our vision and interpretation! As she says, if we want something exactly like the reference, we print the reference :) (Or we should change to photography instead of painting or drawing, it would be a lot easier:) I am not saying that Botanical or Zoological Drawing is not Art, it is, and there are fantastic artists in that fields, but most of us don´t/couldn´t pretend/stress over to reach that level of precision, specially beginners :)

[@karenbloomfield9559]

Thank you for that clarification Paty. Yes, botanical, zoological and realism are important arts in themselves and not what the majority of us are aspiring to. I guess my main message is ENJOY what you're creating! Xx

[@patytrico]

@@karenbloomfield9559 I was so entranced with the rest of the video that forgot to express the most important: I love your work, is truly inspiring and your techniques are fantastic ;) Your birds really have personality :D Thank you for share your art process with the world :)

[@karenbloomfield9559]

@@patytrico Thank you Paty. My pleasure to share and I'm thrilled that you enjoyed the video so much!

[@organicpaul]

Really really good !!!! Loved it. Would love to see the painting side of her work as well thanks guys!