Work Revisited and WOYWW

This is how my desk looks this week.

I have been revisiting a piece I did for the Summer of Colour challenge. I thought that it looked unfinished so I did some more work on it.

This is how it looked before.
   

 

And thiis is how it looks now.

 

I added some stencil work, changed her hair, re-touched her face and  used a charcoal pencil to pick out her dress. Now I am much happier with her.

I didn't stop there. A while back I posted this sketch.

   

                                            

I wasn't happy with her face.so I changed it and now she looks like this.

I have also adjusted her muscular shoulder. Lol.

I want to say a BIG thank you to everyone that has left such helpful comments and tips over the last week or so. They are very much appreciated

Although it is little late, as well as linking this post to WOYWW, I am also linking to Art Journal.Journey where the theme for this month is Flower Power.

Thanks for visiting. x

The Face at the Window.

This was painted with someone in mind. She is a lover of cats but I can't say more than that because it is intended as a gift.

The Face at the Window

Materials used, gesso, acrylic, charcoal pencil and watercolour pencils.

In recent posts I have shared what I have called my 'doodle girls'. These have been created on the spare of the moment on any scrap paper lying around on my desk. This time I was experimenting with my oil pastels. 

She is my version of one of Kelly Rae Roberts angels. Her book 'Taking Flight '  in which she shares tips and techniques is one of my books that I return to time and time again for inspiration.

I was pleasantly surprised how she turned out. I think oil pastels are quickly becoming one of my new loves.

Thanks for visiting.x, 

Paint Party Friday

A local gallery is holding an open exhibition in September and I was considering showing one of my mixed media paintings.  I have shown a textile piece in the past but never one of my mixed media pieces.

The title of the exhibition is 'Escapes and Hideaway's'. I have exercised a bit of artistic licence with my piece and I am not sure if I will get away with it. What do you think? The clue is in the title.......

Escape Within Yourself.

mixed media on 9"x12" watercolour paper.

A close up of some of the detail.

I am linking this post to Paint Party Friday.

 If you don't already know what it is all about and you would like to see some artwork from some very talented artists click on the badge in the side-bar and take a look.

For those of you who visited here one Friday a while back and remember the beginnings of a tiny concertina book. You can see what happened to it here.

Thanks for visiting x

WOYWW 268

This week I thought I would spare you from the full view of my desk for a change and just concentrate on the work that is on it.

I started by scrunching up a book page and applying some gold acrylic paint and some Lumiere paint on Halo pink-gold (my very favourite Lumiere shade.) and then used a script stamp and stamped in gold acrylic. I then ironed it out so that it was flatter for drawing on.

She was painted first in acrylic and watercolour and then on top of that I used oil pastels. I love to use oil pastels to put finishing touches to my mixed media projects but in this piece I used them a lot more on her face and hair than usual and I really like the overall effect. I used a handmade stencil to add the stars in gold and halo pink- gold to finish.

As I have said in the past I only have a cheap set of oil pastels and I would love to invest in some more expensive ones like Sennelier which I hear have a soft and creamy texture. The problem is there are so many things on my must have list. I love using my black charcoal pencil and would love a set of tinted charcoal pencils. Sadly I am on a limited budget when it comes to art materials so I will have to add them to my Christmas list.

Recently, after the sale of one of my mixed media paintings to a blogger friend I was toying with the idea of maybe offering pieces for sale here on my blog or even starting up a separate blog solely for works for sale. I have sold a couple of textile pieces at a couple of local exhibitions in the past but have never offered my mixed media paintings for sale before.

There is an open exhibition at a gallery here in September and I am thinking of exhibiting one of my mixed media pieces there. Maybe I will see how I get on and then make a decision. I am working on it at the moment and hopefully will share it here for Paint Party Friday. 

Well I am off to check out some other desks. Thanks for visiting. x 

Concertina Book ?

Some of you may remember this:-

In my post I reminisced about little souvenir book brooches, from my childhood, that opened out into a concertina of photographs of your holiday destination. That, coupled with memories of school excercise books filled with keepsakes of birthday cards and cherished cutouts. All this sounded like great inspiration for creating something exciting.  However I am sad to say it turned out to be a bit of an anti-climax. And to those of you who expressed an interest in seeing it finished I can only apologize in advance.

I think it was the anticipation of making something special that doomed it to failure. It lay on my desk day after day as I couldn't decide what to put on it's little pages. The other day I decided to make a start even though I didn't have a clear idea what I wanted to do .(Big mistake!!). The first page was a failure so I ripped it off which left the concertina lacking in length. Then the next page was also doomed to the rubbish bin. So after that, I removed  the rest until there was just the inside of the cover left.

This is what I finished up with.

I decorated it with a bit of left over hand painted tissue paper and printed the title with my miniature printing press.

I called it 'Just Me' as the only thing inside is a painting which could pass as a self portrait.

She looks a bit blurry (just how I felt by the time I was finished). It's not the camera. It is because she has had a layer of gesso all over her when I was nearly at the point of binning the whole thing.

I was so looking forward to creating a little book that lived up to the hint of nostalgia that I felt during that previous post. Maybe it is a project for another day........?

Something that came out of all this, though, was a little doodle girl (well lady really) which I doodled on the piece of scrap paper on my desk, whilst struggling with my book. You could just see her in the pic of my printing press.

Patience

watercolour pencil on scrap paper. 

I have edited this post to change my doodle lady's name from Matilda to Patience which I think is a good name for her in light of my blog friend Susi's inspiring comment.

Thanks for visiting x

      

The Colours of Summer.

I am linking this post to both Summer of Colour and Paint Party Friday.

I am quite sad this week because this is the final week for SOC, I have really enjoyed taking part in this challenge as being limited to just three colours means you have to think just that little bit harder about what you are going to create.

This week the colours are

 

Raspberry, Tangerine and a touch of Lemon

I was so happy to see this lovely combo after last weeks which was not one of my favourites. I have even managed to copy the colour palette over. I had some tips on how to do this from a couple of very helpful fellow bloggers but I still had problems until I thought to ask my son and BINGO! there it is.

Here is my offering for this week.

Mixed Media on 9"x12" Watercolour Paper

Materials used:- acrylics, charcoal pencil, watercolour pencil and book paper (decorated with a stamp and permanent black ink).

If you missed seeing what else I have been working on this week and are interested in taking a look you can see my previous posts here and here.

Likewise, if you would like to see some beautiful artwork from around the world click on the SOC and Paint Party Friday badges in the side-bar.

Thanks for visiting. x

Something Simple.

Today I thought I would do a little cut & pasting, not on the computer but in my sketchbook.

Materials used :- Handmade collage papers, book paper and charcoal pencil.

I am linking this post to Art Journal Journey where this months theme is Flower Power. If you click on the badge in the side-bar you can find out all about this great monthly challenge.

Thanks for visiting. x

WOYWW 267

This is what is on my desk this week.

This is my latest mixed media painting

.

Mixed Media on  9"x12" watercolour paper.

I posted a few days ago about struggling with the layered background but it came good in the end.

Materials I used were acrylics, brusho sprays, stencils, handmade stamp, charcoal pencil, watercolour pencils, butterfly collage images and pages from my son's old school exercise book.

If you would like to see whats on other desks around the world click on the badge in the side-bar and take a look.

Thanks for visiting. x

Background Dilemma

This weekend I have been working on the background for my latest piece.

I have posted before about struggling with layered backgrounds and I had a lot of comments from fellow bloggers saying that it was the same for them which helps a little.  I have watched a lot of videos on YouTube and some artists make it look so easy but sometimes the layers just don't seem to work for me. As I add each layer, a lot of the time, it just seems to look a mess.

I took a break from it to do this post because I am just sat staring at it not sure what to do next.

This is how it looked at first.

I didn't like it

I didn't like that either. I think I over did the Quinacridone Magenta. So next came a thin coat of gesso.

When I look at them here on the screen I think I might prefer the first one, OH! I DON'T KNOW!  It's too late now anyway that layer has gone forever. That's the nature of layering.

Back to stare at it some more. WISH ME LUCK!! x

A beautiful Pea Green Boat.

Today I have joined two challenges together. Paint Party Friday and Mix it Monthly. This months theme over at Mix it Monthly is boats. There is also a colour palette which you can see if you click on the badge in the side-bar.

I don't seem to be able copy the pallets over to my blog. If anyone has any tips on how to do it please let me know.

The Owl and the Pussycat

I did a  bit of paper folding and made a 3d boat and attached it to the background with matt medium. So the owl and the pussycat are actually sitting in the boat and then attached to the background. The moon is silver foil and I used a purple glitter gel pen for the stars.

Other materials used were book paper, acrylic, Lumiere paint and charcoal pencil.

Thanks for visiting. x

Summer of Colour week 5

Two posts in one day,well I never.

This week the colour palette chosen for SOC was red, blue and a touch of light blue.

I must confess that they are not my favourite colour combination so I was really stumped as to what to do this week. Until, that is, I picked up my mobile phone to check my emails.  The search engine on my phone is Bing and they change the photo on their home page each day and today's photo gave me the inspiration I needed so here is this weeks offering.

He's not very pretty but her fits the brief. Lol!

Thanks for visiting. x

WOYWW 266

What is on my desk this week?

All set up for some new projects.

On the left I have my paints ready for this week SOC challenge .

The colours are red, blue and a touch of light blue. Not my favourite colour combination so I'm a little stumped on what to do this week.

To the right is the start of my piece for Mix it Monthly where the subject is 'Boats'.

I did a little paper folding and made a boat to start with which I will attach to a background. I'm keeping my plans for this under wraps at the moment but I will share the results here soon.

Also on my desk you can see a little sketch I did in my small sketchbook.

I was tempted to add colour but  I like it the way it is so I think I will leave it as a pencil sketch. Maybe I will use it as inspiration for a future painting. Sometimes my painting/drawings tell me a story and this is one of them. I think that is the reason why I haven't painted them so as not to change their expressions or the look in the eyes. I just had to leave them just as they are.

Why not take a look at other work desks around the world. Just click on the WOYWW badge in the side-bar and take a look.

Thanks for visiting. x

SOC week 4

I don't know where this week has gone. I have been on catch up, finishing my WIP's which you can see here.
All of a sudden it was Friday night and I realized I only had two days to go for this weeks SOC challenge. I was in a bit of a panic because I wanted to do something  different this week because my last couple of entries have been of my 'girls'. I toyed with an idea but it wasn't working out so I plumped for another of my girls.

Ooh, I almost forgot to tell you that this weeks colours are pink, apple green and a touch of dark green.

If you remember back to week two when the colour palette were coral, teal and a touch of  white, This was my painting for that week.

SOLD

Well I am more than happy to say that a lovely lady from across the Atlantic, saw her and fell in  love with her. I was so happy and surprised when she contacted me to ask if she was for sale. Now she has safely arrived at her new home. 

 Why not click on the SOC badge in the side-bar and take a look more entries for this weeks palette.

Thanks for visiting x

Two Out of Three Ain't Bad.

This week for Paint Party Friday I can share two of my projects which I earlier posted as WIP's .

First is my 6"x12" box canvas.

The second is another of my 'girls'.

'Child of the 60's'

acrylic,charcoal pencil and gel pens 

Her dress was inspired by a trouser suit my mum had in the sixties.

I am linking this post to both Paint Party Friday and Art Journal Journey as this months theme over at AJJ is 'Flower Power'.

Click on the badges in the side-bar to see some lovely works of art from around the world.

Thank's to all of you that have been kind enough to leave such lovely comments. They are very much appreciated. x

WOYWW 265

This is how my desk is looking today.

As you can see it is quite a mess. I have been working on three projects at the same time which is unusual for me and I haven't had chance since my last post to do any more to any of them.

You can see two of them on the left, one of my ' little girls' and a mini concertina book. If you would like to know more about my WIP's you can read about them in my last post.

In the middle you can see a couple of old editions of National Geographic which I am so pleased that I found  in a local vintage shop. The reason for buying them is to try my hand at making some Citra-solv altered papers to use in  my artwork.

Citra-solv is a household cleaner which when it is painted on old National Geographic pages dissolves the ink and results in some interesting patterns.  If you haven't come across the technique before you can see some lovely artwork by searching 'Citra-solv art' on Google.

I can't wait to give it a try. Now, I just have to acquire a bottle of Citra-solv!

Well I am hoping to spend tomorrow working on my WIP's so I should have something finished to show you soon.

Thanks for visiting. x