Tag Tuesday Catch -up

Hi  Everyone.

I have just posted my tag over at Tag Tuesday. This weeks theme is 'Rock Pools and Beach Finds.

As my total collection of beach finds are a couple of pebbles from Cornwall I struggled some what to come up with an idea for this weeks tag. In the end I went for quite a simple one using black and white images of shells that I found  thanks to The Graphic Fairy.

The tag was painted first with gesso and then white acrylic paint. The images were adhered to the tag using Gel Medium. I then finished off  around the edges and the shells with black oil pastel. After posting the tag and looking at it again I think I should have used more shell images and overlapped them. But to be honest I'm just glad to have got it done.

Here is last weeks tag which I didn't get around to posting here. The theme was 'Sea Birds'.

I started buy colouring the tag with Broken China Distress Ink and did a gel medium transfer of an image of a seagull which I took myself and stamped the words 'echo's of a sea bird' to compliment the faded image of the bird. I then added a layer of gesso to give it a weathered look.

Those of you who remember  my post about the textile picture entitled 'Flowers' will know that I put it in a small exhibition of work from a textile class I go to. Last year I was lucky enough to sell a piece of work but I was not so fortunate this year and my little picture has now come home safe and sound.

I want to say thanks  for the lovely comments I have had, they mean a lot.

Bye for now x

Little Flowers all in a Row.

Hi Everyone,

I promised I would be back to show you the completed textile piece I was working on since my last post and here it is.

As I mentioned previously, this is a request from a friend who wanted it as a gift for a friend of hers and I know she will be having a peek at this post so,  'I hope you like it'.

The techniques I used are detailed in a  previous post entitled  'Flowers' .except that the flowers here are made up of my gorgeous gold crinkly metallic fabric (which I am in love with and only have a little bit left ) sandwiched between two layers of  organza ,one red and one pink, and the stems are not green but stamped with Vintage Photo Distress Ink.

My gorgeous gold metallic fabric (did I mention I was in love with it) was a small piece that I bought from a stall at The Knitting and Stitch Show in Harrogate. I have no idea what it's called so I can't replace it. So I  have decided that I am going to keep it all to myself  and make something with it to hang on my wall.

I have just bought a book on the works of Gustav Klimt because I was fascinated by the colours and patterns in his art work. So perhaps I can use his work as inspiration for a piece of textile art using my crinkly gold fabric.

Thank you so much to those of you out there who have been kind enough to leave comments. They are much appreciated.

Bye for now. x

Sneak Previews

Hi Everyone,
I thought I would stop by today with a couple of sneak previews of a couple of things I've got going on in the pipeline at the moment.

But first I want to say a big thank you  to Shoshi  over at Shoshiplatypus.blogspot.co.uk for nominating me for  The Versatile Blogger Award .Unfortunately I felt that I could not take part because to qualify for the nomination you have to nominate 15 blogs and as I am relatively new to blogging, and only have a small number of people who regularly comment on my blog , I  couldn't think of 15 bloggers that I would feel comfortable  nominating as most of the people I would choose have already been nominated. One thing I can do though is post a link to Shoshi's blog (above) and ask that anyone who has not already visited her lovely blog to please do so as she is a very talented artist.

Now, for those sneak previews  I mentioned. Firstly, I thought I would share with you a pic of  a work in progress for a friend that I mentioned in a previous post.

This is a re-working of a textile picture I did recently for an exhibition. You can see the beginnings of the piece which was painted with Lumiere paints and stamped with text in Vintage Photo Distress Ink. The words are stamped with my letters stamps and sewn to the base. You can see the little circles of fabric cut out ready to form the flowers. I will post again to show you the finished piece.

The second thing I thought I would show you is where I am up to on the little sketchbook I started at a workshop that I did a couple of weeks ago. I still have to do some freehand machine embroidery and add some embellishments to the cover then bind it all together.

The cover is made from heavy-weight interfacing and painted the design onto paper with Transfer Dye and ironed the design onto the cover. You then adhere the painted paper to the inside of the cover using Bondaweb (which I still have to do). The holes are done with a soldering iron.

The pages are made from heavy-weight lining paper (yes, the decorating kind). They are torn and painted with blue and green Brusho and layered at angles on top of each other and left to dry to make those patterns you can see in the above picture.

I am hoping to get it finished after I have completed the textile picture as I am making it with the intention of taking it away with me when I go on my much awaited holiday in Cornwall in a few weeks time.

I also plan on testing different mediums out on the  the lining paper to see if it would be a cheaper (£10.00 a roll) alternative paper to use for a mixed media journal. The only problem is it is off white. The gesso I have is only a cheap make and does not cover very well so I am going to invest in some Golden  which I expect will cover much better. I am slowly acquiring decent quality products along the way.  I wish you could just rush out and get everything at once. But there are so many products out there to tempt you. Dylusions Ink Sprays are the next big thing on my list . After, of course, more Pan Pastels. See told you. My list is endless.

Well,  thanks for stopping by. See you soon with another update.

Bye for now. x

Swimming

Hi everyone,

This weeks theme for Tag Tuesday is " Swimming".  I decided to use an old photo of my sister from our childhood in a snazzy swimsuit..It was taken on-board the ship the Canberra as we sailed home to England from Australia where we emigrated to in the sixties. For the background I used a  page from an atlas showing  Australia which I painted with gesso and pale blue acrylic paint and sponged it back off again to reveal the image underneath.

I used a harlequin stamp from Indigo Blu to reflect the pattern on the swimsuit and the fish is an image from The Graphic Fairy.

There are lots of lovely tags over on the Tag Tuesday blog. If you haven't seen them yet just click on the link above and take a look.

My friend stopped by today to pick up the textile picture that I featured in my last post. I am glad to say that she was pleased with it and has asked me to do another for a friend, based on the one that is currently on show in the exhibition  that  I  mentioned in a previous post.  So I will post a picture of it when it  is completed.

There are so many things going around in my head that I want to do. I still haven't had chance to have a good play with my new Pan Pastels, I still have to finish off my little sketch book that I started at a workshop the other week and I am STILL wanting to make an Art Journal to do some Mixed Media work  If anyone who reads this can tell me what surface is best to work on in a mixed media journal I would be very grateful if you could let me know. I contacted one of my favourite mixed media artists Donna Downey and she told me she uses a certain make of card stock but I couldn't seem to find a supplier in the uk.

As you may have seen in one of my previous posts my blog was unavailable for a short time but the problem was sorted out for me by blogger . But I feel that because of that I may have lost some of you who used to stop by to take a look at what I have been doing.  If you have visited I would love it if you left a comment to let me know.

Till the next time,

Bye for now x

 

Quick post.

Hi everyone,

Just a quick post to show you the textile picture I  have just completed for a friend . It's not photographed very well but  this one was taken before I put it in the frame.

It is entitled  'Home is Where the Heart is'.

In my last post I told you that I was going to an Indigo Blu demo day . It was a good opportunity for me to stock up on a few things and here is what I treated myself to.

I have been wanting to try pan pastels so I can't wait to experiment with them.  The Harlequin stamp I bought for an idea I had in mind for my latest tag for Tag Tuesday but it is getting a bit late so I'm not sure if I will get it done in time for this weeks dead line but we'll see.

Bye for now x

Catch up

Hi everyone,

Just thought I would have a catch up and post this weeks tag for this weeks Tag Tuesday challenge along with the tags from the weeks that my blog was unavailable.

This weeks theme was the "Seaside".  I decided to do a watercolour painting ,something I haven't done since I was a teenager. Therefore I was a bit nervous as to how it would turn out. Half way through I nearly gave it up as a bad job but I persevered and here it is.

It was based on a photo I downloaded  for the purpose of doing this tag but I looked at so many images that I can't remember which site I got it from.

Here are two more tags which I was unable to post due to the reasons already mentioned, hope you like them. I would love to hear your comments.

" Riverbank"

"Green"

For those of you who saw my last post about my the textile picture "Flowers" that I did for an exhibition. The private viewing was on Thursday. The art work there was amazing , both paintings and textiles. My picture was only quite small in size and it looked a bit insignificant next to all the others on show so I don't hold out much hope for a sale this year. But you never know, I will keep my fingers crossed.

Yesterday I went to a workshop to make a Handmade Sketchbook.  I have still got some finishing off to do so I will post some pic's soon.

I have got a ticket to a demonstration by Indigo Blu this Sunday, so looking forward to that and hoping to pick up some new goodies. I will tell you all about that next time.

Bye for now x

Flowers

Hi Everyone,

I just wanted to pop buy to share with you my latest project which is now ready and waiting to go on show in a local exhibition.

I take textile classes and each year  there is an exhibition held at a local cafe which shows and sells  local artists work. Last year I actually sold my first piece of textile art. I was shocked to say the least. This is this years offering.

I know the picture is taken a little far away to see the actual piece but I wanted to show it complete with the frame. Here is a couple of other pic's taken before it was put in the frame.

The background was painted with Lumiere paint in Halo Pink-Gold and stamped with a text stamp in Vintage photo Distress Ink. The stem was painted in Lumiere paint and the flower heads are made up of circles of silk,organza and a beautiful crinkly gold metallic fabric which I bought at a Textile Fair. I finished off with the word 'Flower's' which I distressed with a little Vintage Photo.

The private viewing is this coming Thursday so I'm looking forward to seeing  it up on show.

I am starting work on another textile picture for a friend so I will post some pics when it is finished.

Please feel free to leave a comment as it is always nice to get feedback.

Bye for now x