Ona Kingdon 'Emotive Expressions'

What a lovely way to begin the year. Thank you ZeZe Lai and IWS Hong Kong for the invitation to take part in this beautiful online exhibition. Here is a taster of the full exhibition to begin in February. https://www.facebook.com/zeze.arti/videos/2752452165015792/ I hope you all enjoy seeing the watercolours featured in this video.... Such a relaxing way to begin 2021 <3 If you would like to enter the "Everything NEW" International. China Watercolor Elite online Exhibition, the deadline for submission to the exhibition is 31Jan2021. More details can be found in the link below: https://iwsglobeart.net//everything-new-international-ch/

Looking back on my 2020 Art Journey: It has certainly been a far different year to the one I had imagined this time last year, but in a way (for my art only) I am glad it happened. This may seem an odd thing to say when I was unable to send paintings to exhibitions that I had been accepted into, or to take the reference photos that I had hoped and planned to take for new paintings, but the lockdown forced me to take stock and reflect upon where I was in my art journey and the... direction or path I wanted to continue along. The four paintings of Isla in the photo above were not the only paintings I did this year but they were significant for me because the lockdown and then the year of social distancing forced me to look again at previously discarded references with a new more imaginative eye. I decided in each painting I created to consciously focus in on what was important and develop a story or capture a certain mood in each through use of colour and value. I have always loved using the luminosity of transparent watercolour, but this year I wanted to use it with more purpose creating pathways of light and soft high key edges. With no deadlines I was able to take my time. to stop and reflect when needed and sometimes even to start again until I felt the painting conveyed what I had initially hoped for. Top left: Cookies Aint Just for the Big Guy Bottom left: Small Wonders Bottom Centre: Sharing is Caring Right: Distant Dreams Painting them has been an interesting journey and has reinforced in my mind both why I love painting and make clearer to me the path I want to continue along in my art journey. (I promise that I will explain more about this 2nd part next year) For now... I think I have rambled enough for this year. ;) Of the four do you have a favourite?

'These cookies ain't just for Santa' Transparent Watercolour 11 by 15 inches Did you know that if Santa took just two bites from every cookie left out for him on Christmas Eve, he would consume roughly 336,150,386 cookies in one night!!!..... Isla thinks this is way too many for even a magical fellow like Santa to eat in one evening on his own but I am not sure she is going to share them with anyone else but Santa. Do you? ;) Leaving cookies and milk for Santaand perhaps a ...few carrots for his reindeer really took off as a holiday tradition in the 1930s, during the Great Depression. The practice, brought over by European immigrants, was encouraged as a way to teach children generosity, even during the most meager of times. By leaving out cookies and milk for Santa, children would learn to be more grateful for the gifts they did receive, as well as, hopefully, to be giving to those who didn’t have much to eat during the Christmas season. It was a way to reinforce the idea that if you give, you will receive much more than money could ever buy... the knowledge that you have helped someone else to have a happier time. It seems especially fitting to remember this motto this year when so many people have had such a hard year. I am sure Santa won't mind if you 'shared his cookies' around this year. See if you can support a food bank or gift drive to help those less fortunate than ourselves, involve the young ones if you can too and teach them the true meaning behind this well known tradition <3 See more

Looking for a fun, original gift this holiday season? I have created a range of pencil cases and larger carry all's based on some of my popular watercolour paintings. Click on the individual images to find out more about them, how much they are and how to purchase them. For people local to me I offer contactless pickup. For those further afield I can mail to you. Both local and further away can purchase online on my website using my shopping cart.

'Hanging out to dry' Transparent Watercolour 15 by 22 inches During this past summer I helped to raise about 25 monarch caterpillars and our garden became an official Monarch waystation. In the wild only 1 in every 100 monarch eggs will make it to adult butterfly. Not only do they have to find milkweed to feed on and deal with predators as they grow but they also have to go through the process of metamorphosis. Ideally when ready a caterpillar will climb up and away from the... milkweed they have fed on and find a relatively safe hidden underside of a leaf or twig to spin a thread and hang from as they pupate. I quickly realized though that ideal isn't necessarily reality. My little crew would find all sorts of strange and less than ideal places and I had to move a few to safer spots! I just had to capture this in a painting So I decided to hang them on some washing. When the monarchs eclose the butterflies need a couple of hours to dry their wings before they can fly. It gives the term hanging out to dry a whole new meaning doesn't it.

I am so pleased to have 'I saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus' selected to be one of the 63 watercolours in CSPWC's Open Water International Exhibition. Thank you to all at Cspwc/scpa who are working so hard to make this exhibition possible. I am looking forward to seeing all the selected paintings when the exhibition goes live on November the 1st.

Right on cue this afternoon my squirrel friend visited my studio window just as I was starting work on his fur in my painting. It is so much easier to paint his markings from real life than look through photos of him. I was just trying to establish where the light and darker areas were while he was there in front of me. Lucky for me the squirrel was in no hurry to leave and stayed for ages. I pay him model money in seeds fruit and peanuts and he seems to approve ;) I still have lots to do to finish both the squirrel and the painting in general but I am slowly getting there.

'Sharing is Caring' Transparent Watercolour 15 by 22 inches Inspired by a photo I took a while back of Isla eating strawberries and my new garden friend the red squirrel who also adores them, I decided to combine both Isla and the squirrel into one painting.... after all it's so much nicer when you can share isn't it. <3 I have given it the title Sharing is Caring for now but am open to other ideas if anyone thinks of a good one.

Work in progress Wednesday: I am really enjoying my new studio space and it seems I am not the only one. This little red squirrel visits my window feeder to check on my progress several times a day. It's a good job there are snacks to nibble on while you wait because being a model is such hungry making work! ;) So far two ref photos of Isla are being used to get the pose and likeness and then the squirrel was drawn from life and inserted into my painting. I do also have multiple photos of him too for colour ref when I get around to painting him just in case he doesn't stay around

I received my complimentary copy of The Best of Watercolour magazine this week. I am honoured to have a painting included in it and really enjoyed flicking through its pages and reading about the inspiration behind many artists works that I so admire but I do miss the quality of the images and printing in the old hardback splash books. It will be interesting to see how this series develops under new ownership over the next few years.

Had so much fun over this last week teaching an online virtual workshop Eggsperimenting with Texture in Watercolour' :D This was my demo painting which I have called 'Eggspectant' :- Momma goose waits for the time when her eggs will hatch (and yes, we had a bit of an egg theme happening all week and much laughter and eggslporation as well as learning) In our virtual group we had artists from California, Minnesota, Alberta, and Ontario. It was a workshop that was originally planned long before COVID that would have taken place in Cambridge Ontario. Being virtual allowed people from much further afield to join us. Thank you to the workshop organizer Tiina Price for being flexible and working with me to find a way to present it online.

I received some news that certainly brightened my day today: 'A Ray of Sunshine' has been juried into the Pennsylvania Watercolor Society's International Exhibition. I have really cut back on the exhibitions I have entered this year. Not because of COVID- just because at the beginning of this year I felt a shift of emphasis was needed to help me grow as an artist and to give me time to explore other projects I want to do. I am honoured though to have the opportunity to exhibit this work alongside so many artists whose paintings i admire so much. Congratulations to all who were accepted. I really look forward to seeing the whole exhibition online when it opens later next month.