WOYWW

Well my desk has been seeing more action recently than it has for the past month or so. This is how it looks today.

BEST WISHES FOR A VERY HAPPY

AND PROSPEROUS

NEW YEAR

XXX

Linking to WOYWW. 

  

Just one last thing.......

I wasn't intending to post again until the New Year but I just had to share some good news.
I had a couple of mixed media paintings in a small exhibition in a local cafe which is well known in our area for showing original artworks for sale.

I am so pleased to say that they both sold. If you are a regular visitor you may have seen them before but here they are in their frames.

SOLD

SOLD

I was a little sad to part with the first one as I loved it so much.

That makes four paintings I have sold in two months. I have mentioned before that I have been contemplating making my work available online but I am a procrastinator. Maybe this is a sign to make that BIG step...........watch this space.

SEASONS GREETINGS TO YOU

&

HOPE TO SEE YOU HERE

IN THE

NEW YEAR

XXX

WOYWW

It has been a long time since my  last post. I have not been feeling very creative lately but I wanted to post one last time before Christmas.

I have had a Birthday since I was last here and I received a gift of some Portfolio water soluble oil pastels so I thought I would try them out but unfortunately I still couldn't get those creative juices flowing and produced nothing. However I did manage a Christmas themed tag (which did not include the use of the pastels).

I used a piece of corrugated card which I covered in glitter and the stylized Christmas tree is made from some leftover brown paper with random patterns stamped in black ink. I then distressed the edges with a distress ink pad.

I photographed this in terrible light and you can't appreciate the lustre of the tag. It looks much better in real life.

For my Birthday my daughter made me this lovely gift to put in my Art Room.

On that note I would like to wish all my visitors a very........

MERRY CHRISTMAS

& 

HAPPY NEW YEAR.  

XXX 

Linking this post to WOYWW.

WOYWW 286

This is how my desk looks this Wednesday.

You can see my latest WIP.

 I didn't apply my usual layers of collage for this background because I wanted it to have a more painterly look.  At first the background was very dull looking so I took inspiration for the colour from the Klimt portrait  you see in the background.

In reality the colour is a much more fiery shade of orange than the camera has picked up.

Thank you so much from the bottom of my heart for all the lovely comments left recently .I really do appreciate them . Please accept my apologies if I have not responded personally or managed to return the favour by visiting your blog this past week.

Thanks for visiting. x

Coloured Pencils Again

Today something for both Paint Party Friday and Art Journal Journey.

This months theme over at AJJ is 'Inspired by the Masters'. The idea is that you create something in the style of a famous artist. For my first offering I chose to work in coloured pencils in the style of 'Modigliani'. You can see it here.

At the moment I have been focusing on using coloured pencils, a medium that I am trying to improve on so my second offering for AJJ is also in coloured pencils along with gel pens. The artist I have chosen this time is 'Klimt'.

I have a lovely book on Klimt and I used the picture on the left  as inspiration for this piece.

coloured pencil & gel pens

on black paper.

I had such a terrible time trying to photograph this. The daylight is really bad today so I had to put the electric light to highlight the gold  in her hair. It's times like this I think I should make the effort to set up my light tent 

Thanks for visiting. x

Catch up and WOYWW

Over at Art Journal Journey which is hosted by the lovely and very talented Susi this months theme is 'The Masters' It is a chance for us to pay tribute to some of our favourite famous artists by creating something in their style.
Since my recent blog break I have been very lax and not joined in with AJJ but today I have put that right. So this post is for both AJJ and WOYWW

Firstly here is my desk.

On it you will see a book of postcards illustrating the work of 'Modigliani' from which I took inspiration for this.

coloured pencil on 

5x7 inch black paper.

For this I used coloured pencils, a medium that I am not yet comfortable with as mentioned in a previous post, as I usually work mainly in acrylics.

 I was inspired to try working on black paper after seeing a beautiful piece created by a very talented artist Judith Logan-Farias over on her blog Judith Logan Art. If you haven't already come across her work you are certainly in for a treat.

I want to send out a BIG thank to all who visit my blog and for leaving such lovely comments especially those sending their congratulations on the sale of a couple of my paintings recently.

Thanks for visiting. x

A good Day.

I had some good news today as I found out that not one...but two of my mixed media paintings have SOLD. They were in an exhibition over the weekend and both bought by the same person as a gift for her daughter.

You may remember them.

Within

Sold

Dance

Sold

They were originally shown in an exhibition in a local gallery in August and one of them was featured in the window for the first week of the exhibition (which I was extremely pleased about) but did not sell.

My former textile tutor very kindly invited me to show them in her exhibition of her students work and luckily someone liked them enough to purchase them so I am over the moon.

She has also given me another opportunity to show a couple of pieces in her next exhibition which is being held over the next couple of weeks. Here they are.

Contemplation

 

 The Gift

Keep your fingers crossed for me.......... x

If at first..........

........ you don't succeed try, try again.

A while ago I posted a drawing I did in coloured pencils. I didn't like it at the time and now I look back on it I can't believe I posted it for the world to see .Lol! Not that I think the whole world visits my blog but you know what I mean.

Well, I thought I would give it another try. My first attempt was 'unpostable'. (I think I made that word up.) Then I had one last ditch attempt and this is how it turned out.

Maybe with a little more practice I will get to like working in them but for now the 'jury' is out.

I am linking this post to Sunday Sketches over at Alexandra's blog Blue Chair Diary Illistrations.

Thanks for visiting. x

Sisters

Hello and welcome,

If you are one of the party goers visiting for Paint Party Friday you may have missed an earlier post I did on a WIP  based on sketch I did a while ago. When I originally did this sketch I loved the faces so much that I didn't want to add anything more to it in fear of changing the look of it.

I came across it while going through my sketchbook looking for something else and decided to use it as a basis for a mixed media painting. I think that once in a while a work, for what ever reason, seems to 'speak' to you. Touches you in someway more than others do. For me, when I look at this sketch, this is one of those times. It was something that I felt could not be captured again in the painting.

  Sisters

Mixed media on card

I am pleased with the way it turned out but I don't think I have captured that same 'feeling'. I would be interested to hear your thoughts. x

Mini Concertina book

A while ago I reminisced about  a little souvenir concertina book brooch which I had when I was a child. The type of thing that when you are a child you buy on holiday then gets pushed to the back of the drawer and eventually gets thrown away. I wrote about how I would love to own one of them now but after having searched on line only found one that a lucky lady owned and posted about on her blog.

Happily I was lucky enough to come across one a little while later at a Vintage Fair. I couldn't believe my luck and it was of one of the places in which I spent my holidays as a child. The Lake District in Cumbria.

Since my first post on the subject I have been wanting to make a mini concertina book and this week at the back of one of my drawers I came across a strip of heavy watercolour paper leftover from an old project which was ideal. So I got to work and this is the result.

I used leftover papers that have images of  ink and paint from cleaning off stamps and brushes. I just love the random marks you can get, hence the  name of my little book, 'Serendipity'.

The cover is made from a brown tag which is stamped with a script stamp and scrunched, opened up and scrunched again until it feels like fabric. I then painted it with some acrylic wax to seal the surface, then added a metal eyelet and some twine.

I am really pleased with the way it turned out and hope to make more in the future.

I am linking this post to WOYWW as this is what has been on my desk these past few days. To see other peoples desks from around the world click on the button in the side-bar and take a look.

Thanks for visiting. x

WOYWW

What's on my work desk this Wednesday?

This is a sketch I posted a while back.

I really liked their faces so I decided not to add colour because once I start painting my faces they can change a little and sometimes quite a lot.

This week I have used them as inspiration for my latest mixed media painting.

The background is made up of scrapbook papers, stamped images on tissue paper, gesso and acrylics.

I hope you will pop by again to see it when it's finished. x

Linking this post to WOYWW

Paint Party Friday

For my regular visitors I haven't got anything new to share today but for those of you that visit on Friday's for PPF, as promised, here is the finished mixed media piece I have been working on.

The Gift.

Mixed Media on card

I also made a card this week from some 'inky' paper if you would like to take a peek you can see it here.

Thank you for all your lovely comments last week. I love to hear what you think. x

WOYWW

This is what is on my desk this WOYWW.

This little birdie appeared on my desk quite by accident. I had a piece of paper which I had been cleaning my stamps on and I used the other side to cut out a bird shape for another project. I folded the paper in half and the stamp impressions showed through the cut out bird shape. The colours were perfect so I cut out this little bird, adhered it to a blank card and added a beak and some legs and there he is.........Serendipity..........

For those of you who haven't visited since last Wednesday and would like to see the finished mixed media piece I was working on here it is finished at last.

The Gift

Mixed Media on card

Click on  the WOYWW button in the side-bar to visit other peoples desks across the world.

Thank you to all who left such lovely comments last week. They mean a lot. 

Bye for now. x

Finished!!

At last I can show the finished mixed media piece that I have been working on recently.

The Gift

mixed media on card

I have been so indecisive over this piece and I am relieved that she is finally finished. 

Hope you like her. x 

Paint Party Friday

I am a little worried that I may be boring some of my regular visitors as I have featured this WIP in my last few posts. However, I wanted to offer something up for this Paint Party Friday so I thought I would show some pics of how it has progressed since my last post.

I felt it needed something in the top corner and I was toying with the idea of a bird but I thought I would try this stamp.

I didn't like it so I covered it up with a torn piece of scrapbook paper.

I applied a few layers of paint and some stamping and then added the bird.

I am a little disappointed  in it but I am too scared of over working it so I think it will have to do. Perhaps I will keep starring at it a little longer and then decide.

I promise that the next time you see this piece it will be finished.

Thanks for visiting. x

WOYWW & WIP

Hello there. It's time again to join in with this weeks WOYWW.

This is what's on my desk today.

She is still a work in progress. I have just placed the little bird down for now to help me decide whether to add it in or not as I feel it needs something else.

Thank you to all who visited last Wednesday and for all the lovely comments they are very much appreciated. x

Cardboard Cutie.

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned that I was working on a piece of mail art for a blog friend. I couldn't share it at the time as I didn't want to spoil the surprise. Now that it has safely arrived at its destination I can now let you take a look.

I used a piece of cardboard and adhered a piece of scrim using matt medium. I then applied some gesso and modelling paste. For this little 'cutie' I used charcoal pencil and acrylics.

I have a fallen in love with this little one. I'm glad she has gone to a good home.

Thanks for visiting. x

Paint Party Friday

I don't know where this week has gone but it's Paint Party time again.

It has been a hectic week but I did find some time to play around with my mouldable stamps. For those of you who haven't visited here since last Friday and are interested to see what I did this week with the stamps you can have a look here.

I made this little piece from one of the stamps and a lovely tiny autumn leaf I found.

Then I used it to make a stamp.

I also used the same textured background on a stamp the add texture to this mixed media piece I am currently working on.

I hope you will stop by again and see how it turns out.

Thanks to everyone who has left such lovely comments recently, they are always greatly appreciated.

Bye for now x

Linking this post to Paint Party Friday.

WOYWW 280

I'm late today. I've been sitting in A&E all day with my Hubby. All the tests came back fine so that's good. So it's now 5pm and I'm sitting here with a late lunch of peanut butter (crunchy) sandwiches and a hot cup of cofee sharing my desk and whats on it with you.

This is how it looked first thing this morning, before the trip to A&E.

I am currently working on small mixed media piece.

Here is a close up showing how I used one of my moldable stamps to create some texture.

If you look very carefully in the bottom right hand corner you can see where I got the impression for the stamp from. I have found that you can get some of your best impressions from lightly textured surfaces.

If you haven't seen these moldable stamps before and you would like to know what I am talking about. You can see on my previous post here. 

Well I'm off to get my second cup of coffee and check out some other work desks. If you would like to see what others have been up to this Wednesday then click on the WOYWW badge in the side-bar and take a look.

Thanks for visiting. x

More Molded Stamps.

Following on from my last post I have been creating some more stamps from moldable foam.

The one on the left was made from sequin waste and the one on the right was from a hair dryer.

With these stamps, together with the little bird stamp that I made a while ago, I made this little print.

Some things make better stamps than others. This household plastic peg turned out well.

But when I pressed the heated stamp onto a group of  beads with a ridged pattern on them and saw the imprint they made, I thought 'ooh! what a lovely pattern they look like seed pods'. But the print came out like this.

I was forgetting that only the surface of the foam stamp would print and all that lovely texture was to deeply embedded into the foam. Lesson learned. Lol!  But it is still rather interesting.

I have used Tim |Holtz Distress Inks here but you can use acrylic paint. But a word of advise. Have some baby wipes at hand and clean them well before you re-heat them or you will not be able to remove the paint.

Thanks for visiting. x