Inspiration and Conversation
Posted: February 24, 2026 Filed under: Hand painted, sennelier watercolours | Tags: Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Hand painted, sennelier watercolours 18 Comments
Today I wanted to have a bit of a chat with you, my readers, and especially take a few sentences to tell you how much I appreciate you. Some of you I have met but many of you I have not. Despite not having met in person I feel that we have formed a community and it is a very friendly and generous one. I took a break from the blog last year for several months and when I returned I was very encouraged by the comments and messages I received. Yes, it was nice to be missed, but more importantly it was lovely to see people engaging in discussion about techniques and materials. Many of you are kind enough to say you learn from my posts; I am so glad you do, but I also learn from you when you take the time to suggest products, methods and artists to check out.
Some of you have told me it is not as straight forward to comment these days. I’ve noticed this and I’m not sure why. I really enjoy hearing from you and read every comment and message I receive.
Today’s cards are inspired by the art of Claudia Drexhage. I encourage you to check out her website or instagram as her paintings are stunning and you will see where I got the idea for today’s abstract landscapes. I have only dipped my little toe into this technique but hopefully I’ll go in further in the future. One thing I find interesting about it is the way the abstract landscape can be seen one way and also turned upside down. I can’t remember which way I painted these panels originally but when I turned them into cards this week I decided I liked one with a big sky and the other with a big foreground. What do you think?
Thank you again for dropping in today and being part of this community. I look forward to seeing a few of you soon at some artsy get-togethers I am hosting but for those who don’t live close I look forward to seeing your inspiring creations if you share them on the interwebs or hearing from you in the comments or contact me button. Your encouragement and friendship mean a lot to me!
Heather Telford 
I like the big sky. Thanks so much for sharing. I have learned a lot from you (techniques, style, etc.)
I think the big sky is my favourite too. Thank you for your kind message; I am so glad you learn from what I post.
I like both, sometimes we enjoy the joy of openness.
I enjoy receiving your email and seeing your creativity.
Jo
I agree; seeing open sky and open landscape does bring sky and ofcourse seeing a beautiful sky over an open landscape can be breathtaking. Thanks so much for your kind message
Hello Heather!I was pleasantly surprised to see your blog post p
Hi Beth, thanks for getting in touch. It looks like your message was cut short!
Hello, it did not like the end of my post which the system told me it
was not approved . Not saying this frustration is the same for everyone
but it is frustrating when all I want to say is I love your work and the beautiful
way you approach it.
Thank you so much, Sharon. The commenting system does seem to make it harder than it should be!
These work perfectly no matter which end is up, Heather! I have a painting that Jack did that looks better with the clouds as waves breaking. It’s amazing how it can take on a different look by turning it upside down.
Thank you Bonnie. I have a couple of gel prints with waves and sky which could be flipped either way and still look realistic!
I cannot explain ‘why’, but I prefer the one with the big sky, even though I cannot tell you why. Perhaps it is because I very much enjoy being out of doors, even though there is much indoors to which I can also turn my attention and enjoy. Dad.
These cards are clearly STUNNING! You are one talented lady! I started following you years ago when you were doing some of your CAS type cards and I fell in love with your work. I even created a Heather Telford’s Beautiful Art Board in my Pinterest account! Now, that’s high praise!!
Thank you so much Marilyn! It’s an honour to have a Pinterest board full of my creative projects.
Oh my goodness… I just saw a “reply arrow”! I have been so frustrated trying to ‘comment’ and hated to intrude on your personal email but am relieved to know others have had trouble, too. Your ‘break’ just caused me to pray for you more but I missed ‘hearing from you’!😄 I am working on using my printed papers from your inspirational encouragement!♥️. I LOVE both your loose, freeplay creations here, but choose the large foreground as my favorite! Big HUGS!
I like the one on the left better. I guess you’d call that one the big sky It just looks “more right” to my eye. One of my issues with commenting (which I’m bad a doing) is on YouTube with their new hype feature, (at least on my tablet) if you hype before leaving a comment then the only way to comment is to go out and come back to re-view the video. Not sure I’ve explained that very well but hopefully you the get the idea. Yes very simple fix, comment THEN hype but I can’t seem to remember to do that!
I think when I painted them they were both meant to be ‘big sky’ scenes. (I honestly can’t remember.) It ended up fun having two panels which could actually be flipped either way so I went with one of each.
I enjoy all your work Heather. And I have learned a lot from you too … I hope I mentioned this before. LOVE the artwork you are showing in this post. It is amazing how the different perspectives appeal to each of us. Loll xx
Thank you so much Loll for your all your encouragement through the years!