Sharon Golding Designs

 Hello All! Back to painting again.  Acrylics on canvas board - a view of the town clock against a very dramatic sky.  Started with a simple drawing followed by block in of main shapes.  Then in to refine and add detail. Not quite finished, but I’m getting there. Have a great week, see you soon! Best wishes Shari 👍

 Hello everyone! Thought I would have a play with mosaics once again.  I’m self taught and have only made a few projects with mosaic, but it’s a very satisfying craft and quite easy to do. I have an old wooden cabinet in my bathroom that I wanted to brighten up and to mosaic seemed a really good option.  I cleaned up the top and proceeded to design the mosaic.  I wanted to keep with my nautical theme in the bathroom and designed a fish for the centre of my mosaic.   Before grouting Grouting done!   You can’t tell from this photo but I added a little pale blue acrylic paint to the grouting which really seems to harmonise the whole piece.  Just got to clean up and give it a rub up.  I’m very happy with the finished piece and it’s so much brighter and cleaner than just plain wood. I hope I’ve inspired you to have a go with mosaic. I’d love to see what you make, if you’d like to share.   It’s really satisfying and quite addictive! See you soon. ...

 Sorry for my recent absence from the blog, I have been incredibly busy with my painting and other creative works that I will post on the blog shortly.  But first, I just wanted to talk about painting fantasy paintings.  This is really outside my comfort zone but always eager to get to grips with a challenge, I decided to have a go with some moon paintings. Firstly, “Harvest Moon” painted in acrylics on canvas. “Harvest Moon” acrylics on canvas I began by a simple drawing of the pathway, tree area and moon on black canvas. Using a limited palette, I set about blocking in the main shapes - And then I began to refine: Adding in more detail: I hope you enjoy the pictures of my process.  The second fantasy painting was “Lovers’ Moon” again painted in acrylics.  I’m really starting to enjoy using acrylics, even though I normally  use oils.  Not sure this one was as successful as Harvest Moon, but I enjoyed painting it.  The only thing with this one was...

 Really getting back into my painting now.  Love this little painting and using a limited palette has really improved my colour mixing skills.  Hillside Cottage I intend to start getting together some step-by-step projects soon online, maybe on YouTube or something similar.  The idea is that you can follow along and actually create your own painting.  They will be aimed at beginner painters, so if you’ve always wanted to paint but not sure where to start these videos will show you.  Please let me know if you would be interested in these videos. Best wishes Shaz

 Hey there Everyone! Italian farm in oils on canvas board Here I am back to painting in oils which I adore.  This painting was quite the challenge for me as I’m hopeless at buildings and usually avoid them at all costs as I can’t draw a straight line to save my life.  But then who is to say buildings have to have perfectly straight lines?  I think they have much more character if they are wonky ;) what do you think? I began as usual with toning the ground and this time used pale blue rather than my usual yellow ochre.  I wanted to see if it made a difference.  It might be a good experiment to do the same painting using one warm and then one cool ground and compare the two.  But that’s an experiment for another day. Drawing the buildings took longer than I usually take as it was important to get the shapes right because those buildings are going to be my centre of interest. I then got straight into the block in, which soon showed up my lack of skill wit...

 Back to panting!  Using one of the photos taken earlier, and after the imprimatura layer was in place I set about drawing on canvas using acrylic paints.  Then blocking in the main shapes, the painting started to take shape. First pass in acrylics Once the block in was complete I began to refine using oils (my favourite medium), getting in the detail and adjusting as needed.   Then, leaving the painting for a day or two, I came back to look for the One Thing to improve my painting.  That was the cliffs needed adjusting to make them less flat and give them a fuller look. Morning Walk in Hunstanton (completed in oils) Hunstanton is one  of my favourite beaches and I don’t think I will ever tire of painting it.  I hope you enjoy the end result and I will be back soon with my next completed project. Such fun! 🤩.  Best wishes Shari

 Hi All This week has been busy on the craft front.  Mostly little experiments and ideas at the moment, oh yes, I’m full to bursting of ideas!  Just not enough hours in the day. This post will be about the bits and pieces I’ve been working on this week. Firstly, an update on my sewing themed linocut.  I’ve refined the design, made the needle look better and had a general tidy up. Still in need of a little more work but it’s getting there. Sewing Linocut Next I worked on the little flower rubber stamp.  It needed more definition, so I outlined the centre and marked out the petal separations.  What do you think, better? Flower stamp The sewing box is still a work in progress, but here’s the original box with a new lid cut out as the old one was rotten and beyond repair.  I have the hinges, etc to reattach.   Sewing Box Project Will bring you updates on this as they happen. Finally, some pieces from my art course:- Ink & Wash   Ink line draw...

 Hello everyone, sorry I’m a little late with this post. Well this week has definitely been a printing week.  I have once again succumbed to the lure of linocut printing! I wanted a design centred around another of my hobbies, sewing.  I am upcycling a sewing box (which I will publish here later) and am considering using a linocut print to decorate. Having arranged some sewing elements - scissors, thimble, button and needle - I drew the design directly on to the Lino. Then I used my Lino gouger to cut away the area that was not part of the print - the part I cut away is the negative space around the design elements. As I am completely self taught in the art of linocutting I am not sure if my technique is correct, but it works for me.  At this stage I am reasonably happy with the result.  I had finished cutting and was happy with the linocut, so I tried a trial print to identify areas that needed more work. At this stage I felt either too much ink was used or I n...

Linocut Printing What a joy to discover something new, unique and beautiful in my craft skills.  Only a beginner at present but I'm loving what I have discovered so far.  Linocut printing.  Draw the design onto the Lino block, then cut away the negative space with the special tool, a sharp gouger which has different heads for different thicknesses. I enjoyed designing this bee and was delighted when it printed out so beautifully.  I must admit it took a couple of sessions to complete as it can be tiring on the hand and this was quite a large design.  But it was well worth it and I was very pleased with the result. I hope you like it too.  If you’re considering trying it out for yourself, go ahead, you won’t regret it! Best wishes Shari

Hello again,  Shari has been busy once again with painting a landscape.  It’s as easy as 1-2-3 … 1. Draw 2. Block in and 3 refine.   Of course after the refine there is something else needed and that is finding the One Thing.  That’s where we review the painting and look for the one thing that will improve the painting.  Live with the painting, keep it in sight each day and keep looking for the One Thing.  Eventually, it will jump out at you and niggle you so much that you have to fix it.  That’s when you figure out how to fix it and voila! Your painting is finished. Waterlily Lake   With this painting I had used a photo reference as a starting point.  I had drawn out my shapes on the canvas with thinned oil paint.  Then I blocked in the big shapes.  Having refined and put in the detail I was not really happy with the result.  So I set about finding the One Thing.  Of course there is more than one thing needed to fix this ...