She's in Her Sunday Best.

Recently on a Sunday I have had this urge to sit and create something that I don't have to think much about. Just sit and doodle and see what comes out of it.

Coincidentally, I came across Sunday Sketches  hosted by Alexandra over on her blog Blue Chair Illustrations and I thought I would join in.

Sunday Best

Pencil Sketch on paper.

I used coloured pencils for this which I don't work in very often and I'm not sure whether I like using them or not. The jury is out on that one.

Thanks for visiting. x

Linking this post to Sunday Sketches.

Paint Party Friday

I have just completed a small card. I intended to send this to someone but I ended up using my oil pastels and as I do not have any fixative I think it will probably smudge in the post. I usually use hairspray on my charcoal pencil drawings but it doesn't work on the oil pastel.

 Her dress is a piece of citra solv paper. I used mostly oil pastel and a little watercolour pencil (without the water).

I am linking this post to Paint Party Friday. Why not click on the link and take a look at what other people are doing this Friday.

Thanks for visiting. x

WOYWW

Whats on my work desk?....... Well not a lot.

I have been doing some citra solv papers, which I posted about here, and what you can see here is an idea I was just playing around with.  Its a doodle on some scrap paper and a piece of citra solv paper. You can't even call it a WIP because it is just paper laid on top of a doodle face but I managed to get a picture of it which I quite like.

I think I will work on this idea and create something that is more presentable.

Here is a little doodle girl that I did in charcoal pencil.

This little doodle was inspired by a photo of a young cotton mill worker I saw in a documentary called 'The Real Mill' about Quarry Bank Mill in Cheshire England. Which is the mill featured in the wonderful television drama The Mill.
I think the use of the charcoal pencil really evokes the feeling of the industrial age in Victorian England. I have been looking at photos from that era and carrying on from an earlier post about my ancestors working in the tin mines in Cornwall  I feel drawn and inspired by them and hope to use their influence in some of my future artwork.

Thanks to all who have taken the time to leave comments here recently and thank you for visiting.x

Linking this post to WOYWW.

Mail Art and Crazy Papers.

This week I received a lovely piece of mail art through the post. Sent to me from the lovely Joanna over at Jogatheringwild.  It is so exciting to see other peoples artwork first hand. I am building up quite a little collection.

Pop over and take a look at her lovely artwork and while you are there follow the link and check out her shop where you can see her artwork on cushions, mugs and more......

This weekend I have been playing with my new bottle of citra solv. It is a natural cleaner and degreaser but when applied to the pages of  National Geographic magazines it dissolves the ink and produces some really original papers to use in your artwork.

Here are some of the results.

This page only partially dissolved which produced a very interesting page.

.......and this

Some pages are a piece of art in themselves but the idea is to incorporate them into my own artwork.

Thanks for visiting. x

It's Paint Party Friday

Today I have a new painting to share with you for this weeks Paint Party Friday.

The Little Visitor.

Mixed Media Painting on 5"x5"  mount board.

The Robin has a special significance for me and as such this little painting is going to take pride of place on my wall.

I want to take this opportunity to THANK everyone who visited last week for PPF and left such LOVELY comments. I really appreciate them. x

Linking this post to Paint Party Friday.

WOYWW and More..........

Hi everyone,

This is what is on my desk this week.

This is  mixed media paining of Frida Kahlo. Which is this months theme over at AJJ.

NOW!!!!!! A little while ago I posted about those little holiday souvenir concertina book brooches which I remember from my childhood.  Out of interest I checked out Ebay but only found one which was in the USA and that was sold. I would imagine that they are quite rare as they were so delicate 

This weekend I went to a Vintage Fair and what do you think I found ............

Not only that but it was of the Lake District where I often spent my childhood holidays and which I also happened to be visiting the next day for reasons which are very close to my heart. 

It goes without saying that it was a very precious find indeed. 

Thanks for visiting. x

p.s I was just double checking the spelling of Frida's surname on Google and did you know that you can get Frida Kahlo SOCK'S? Can you believe that? Lol. x

Linking this post to WOYWW and Art Journal Journey.

Echos of the Past.

I am still striving to achieve a 'looser' style to my mixed media paintings. But I just can't seem to stop myself from refining those edges here and blending that shading there until I end up with a 'polished' look.

I started this piece with that in mind. I think it is on the right track and I have ended up with something which I think is quite different from my usual work although, after painting in the background, and sketching in the figure  I had decided it was going in the BIN. I had originally put a row of houses in the background and I didn't like it at all. Once I had decided to ditch it, I thought it was an ideal opportunity to loosely paint the face because there was no pressure on me because it was going in the bin anyway. And, what do you know, It turned out sort of okay. Then a story started to emerge. I made some changes to the background and this is how it turned out.

When my hubby researched our Family Tree. he discovered that I had ancestors who worked in the tin mines in Cornwall in the 1800's and this is what I saw in this figure. So I changed the background to show an old tin mine. Although there were women workers at the mines called Bal Maidens that worked on the surface. I see her as the wife of a miner awaiting her husbands safe return.

I like it when a painting speaks to you.

Before I go I just wanted to say that I am really excited that my bottle of Citra Solv has arrived.

All I need is some latex gloves and I am away. I can't wait too see how the pages turn out. For those of you that may not know what I am going on about I will explain when I post the results.

I also received an added bonus which you can see in the bottom right Yessss!! bubble wrap with large bubbles. I can't wait to use it for printing in my artwork.

Thanks for visiting. x

Linking this post to Paint Party Friday.

WOYWW

Thank you to all who visited my desk last week I do appreciate you popping by to see what I am up to.

This week I would like to share another of my mixed media paintings.

Sometimes when I am painting faces I like to use my small desk top easel which is what she is resting on in the above picture.

Mixed Media Painting on 9"x12" Watercolour paper.

I used acrylics, watercolour pencils,/charcoal pencil and glitter gel pens on the grass and flowers.

Thanks for visiting. x

Linking this post to WOYWW

If at First you Don't Succeed.......

I was going for a more painterly look for the background with this one but the layers just wouldn't seem tofall into place.

 Oops!

Mixed Media in 5"x5"sketchbook

The more layers I added the worse it seemed to get. Oh well may be I'll have better luck next time. And that's exactly what she's thinking. x

Love of the Simple Things

Following on from my last post, in which, I mentioned serendipity. I have been putting some thought into my concertina book project that was mentioned in a previous post here. I want it  to have that nostalgic feel of a) the concertina book itself from my childhood and b) the cut and paste element of my scrapbook.
I have dismissed the idea of the school exercise paper and the diminutive size and am considering 4x6 inch and heavy sketchbook paper. The idea is to create little pieces of art on each page by pasting in random scraps of leftover painty papers that catch my eye and fill it with 'happy accidents' like this.

This was a doodle of a bird on a piece of scrap paper on my desk. I especially like the holes at the top. I think it adds a 'little something' I cut it out and pasted it to a page in one of my little sketchbooks along with a strip of book paper and another scrap of painted paper.

It will be a gradual process because the point of it is that it is not contrived it will be a collection of those 'happy accidents'.

Thanks for visiting. x

Paint Party Friday

When I do a painting I usually have a larger sheet of paper underneath my work. I just love all the left  over paint marks you get. You could never create those patterns on purpose if you tried and from time to time I see something I really like and use it in my artwork.

Lately I have been using the board of the back of a pad and found some paint marks that I thought I could use to make a 'crazy dress' which happens to be this months theme over at Mix it Monthly so I added a face and some arms and this is the result.

 

 

I think that's what you call serendipity. x

Linking this post to Paint Party Friday and Mix it Monthly.
























  

Dance,Little Lady, Dance

It's Wednesday again so here is what my desk is looking like today.

On my desk is a mixed media painting I have just completed for 'Mix it Monthly'  For those of you that don't already know this is a monthly challenge hosted by Connie in which she sets a different theme each month and gives us a colour palette for inspiration.

This monthes theme is Crazy Dresses and this is the colour palette.

 

I struggled with the palette choice at first, but got there in the end.

 

 Dance

mixed media on 9x12  watercolour paper

 Hope you like her. x

Linking this post to WOYWW and Mix it Monthly

****Frida****

I'm joining in again this month with 'Art Journal Journey' hosted by the very talented Susi. This week the theme is Frida Kahlo. She was a painter from Mexico who was famous for her self portraits. If you head over to AJJ by clicking on the badge in the side-bar you can read all about her.

I must  admit I felt a bit daunted when I saw this months theme but this is what I came up with.

I chose to do a portrait  but there are lots of interesting interpretations on the theme over at AJJ.

Before I go,I just want to do a little post script on my last post.

Those of you who visited will remember this.

  

I purposely left out highlights on her eye's because I was trying for a misty/smudgy look to them but a couple of people mentioned the lack of highlights in their comments. So, I had a re-think and here she is with highlights.

Thanks to a those of you that are kind enough to leave a comment. They are very much appreciated.

Thanks for visiting x

Paint Party Friday

It's just a short post today as I am writing this post on my old laptop which literally has to warm up before you can get anything done on it and there is a long waiting time between every action so by now my head is about to explode. I'm taking my other laptop to the 'computer doctor' as apparently it has the 'blue screen of death'. Fingers crossed it doesn't take long to put right.

Today I have another one of my 'girls' to share with you.

   

mixed media on 5x5 sketchbook paper.

I applied a subtle painted background with a palette knife but I feel like it needs something else but I can't decide what. So, maybe it is finished or maybe I will return to it another time.

I am linking this post to Paint Paint Party Friday. Click on the badge in the side-bar to see more art from around the world.

Thanks for visiting. x