Ignored, Cat Sketch

Ignored by a Cat, pencil on paper

This cat so pointedly wanted to be ignored, or do the ignoring, but I didn't oblige. A quick sketch couldn't be resisted.

Beinn Damph, Scottish Landscape Painting

Beinn Damph, mixed media on board.

I wanted to experiment with this, and combined two of my favourite materials, gouache and chalk pastel.

Goodbye Comfort Zone, Suilven Landscape Painting

Walk into Suilven, oil on canvas

I don't like brown. I really hate it. I never wear it. It's an old school uniform thing.

But while painting, I decided to push myself out of my comfort zone. So I got the brown paint out.

• Burnt Umber
• Raw Umber
• Raw Sienna
• Burnt Sienna (I quite like that one, actually)
• Yellow Ochre (it was in my school tie, so it's still hard to stomache)

I mixed in blues and pinks while I was working, just to alleviate things and even scraped away paint with the hard end of my brush. This is what I came up with.

I'm not finding brown quite as offensive as I once did.

Wild Azaleas, Landscape Painting

Wild Azaleas, chalk pastel on board

The first signs of spring after a bitter Korean winter - pink azalea flower. No leaves, just the flowers.

Winter Korean Temple Sketch, Landscape Painting

Winter Korean Temple Sketch, chalk pastel on board

When I look at paintings I have finished, they take me back to the moment I worked on them. It could be a piece of music I was listening to at the time, the struggle I had to create what I wanted, or in this case, the experiences I had in the place I was working.

The bitter, bitter Korean winter was nearly over, and at last, I was able to sit outside to draw without freezing. I headed up into the hills not far from Busan, to the tranquil setting of one of South Korea's many, many Buddhist temples. Enjoying the peace, I settled myself down, with all my materials around me and nearly keeled over with fright when morning prayers began. Far from being calming, they were being broadcast deafeningly over a crackly tanoy, its speakers attached to trees all round me. The sound was bouncing off all the hills and echoing for miles. It was loud.

I worked through it, giving up on listening to my iPod. After 45 minutes, silence descended and I began to work. The monks left me to it, except when wordlessly plying me with coffee and, bizarrely, gobstoppers. 

I loved Korea's temples, and would visit and draw them many times over, at many different times of the year.

Silverback, Gorilla, Wildlife Painting

Silverback, chalk pastel on board.

I love silverbacks. I love gorillas; so I drew one.

Bluebell Sunrise, Landscape Painting

Bluebell Sunrise, oil on canvas

One of my favourite subjects - bluebells. This painting has sold, but you can find prints and cards at http://www.tracyharrisonbutler.gallery/land_tracy_butler_bluebell_sunrise.htm.

Cherry Blossoms and Hazel Wood, Springtime in Korea, Landscape Painting

Blossoms and Hazel, chalk pastel on board

I painted this in South Korea after experiencing my first extremely cold Korean winter - everything I looked at was brown.

Just as thought I was never going to see colour again, spring arrived; there was still no greenery, but flowers erupted out of nowhere. Deep pink wild azaleas, cream magnolias yellow hazel wood and clouds of cherry blossoms lining roads and filling parks. Spring was on its way.

This painting has sold but you can buy prints and cards through Tracy Butler Art.

Butterflies II, Wildlife Painting

Butterflies II, oil on board

This is the second butterfly painting I did. You never know, I may do more.