New Canvas

This morning I sketched up an idea for a new canvas. I was inspired by a picture I saw of Nicole Kidman. I was watching some trashy tele the other day and they were talking about stars getting fashion wrong and used Nicole Kidman as one example. I had to disagree though as I thought she looked lovely in this dress. The dress I'm talking about is one that she wore to the oscars I think some years ago. It was a lovely greeny blue colour and she added a peacock feather. Anyway after seeing that picture the other day i couldn't get that image out of my head and thought that particular look she had would translate to one of my ladies perfectly. So stay tuned as I hope to start working on the canvas today. I also went into town and bought some texture paste which I'm going to try on this one, it's white and you can apparently mix it with acrylics to get some texture into your picture and you can paint over it etc. So I'm not sure where I'm going to put this but I'm going to experiment today. I also received my first commission yesterday. A lady from my sons school saw the canvas I donated and asked if I could do one for her but incorporate her daughter. So I'm going to use my light box so I can get a bit of a likeness but I'm going to do it in my style. This is very exciting for me and a cool project to work on as I'll be trying all sorts of new techniques. So I thought I would try out a few new things with this sketch in preparation.....hope that all makes sense

Marvelous Moustaches - Mixed Media Monday

Hi everyone the theme this week took me in a completely different direction. I thought I would try to include an animal in my work instead of a person this time and I quite like how it turned out. Owls have always looked very distinguished to me so it wouldn't shock me if I saw one with a nicely groomed moustache and an monical!!! Tee hee, yes I'm mad!!! ;0)

I used lots of different materials for this one, acrylic paint, iridescant paints, my new pastel pencils and my coloured pens. As well as a few little stars glued on!

A new venture......

Well I have been super busy!! Actually so has my mum as she has helped me laminate book marks and then picked up lots of goodies from the craft store like beads, for me, thanks mam!! I will buy a laminator in the near future as I really enjoyed making these bookmarks.

I have also been working on turning my art in something wearable and you might recognise some of my paintings in the pendants. These were my very first attempt at making pendants and I am currently waiting for more glass to arrive, squares, circles as well as bobby pins that you can glue the glass onto and rings etc. I discovered etsy and the suppliers on there and after dealing with a couple of dodgy people (who's products I'm still waiting for nearly 2 months later) I found a great supplier who is very prompt and consistent. I guess it's all trial and error when you're starting on a new project which you know nothing about.

So a while back I showed you a painting which I said I was donating to my sons silent auction at his school fair. Well I'm also going to donate 4 bookmarks and 2 pendants for their craft stall which if they get sold would be the first things that I have made that someone has bought, so far I'm giving them away as gifts.

Its very exciting for me heheheh.......you never know maybe one day I might be good enough to have my own etsy store????

I'm no photographer as you can tell from my pictures but i shall work on taking better ones in the future as these were a bit dark, it was hard though as you can't use the flash especially on the pendant as they just reflect off........

'Madonna?'

Well this morning I was rather productive, not only did I do my entry for Illustration Friday (last post), I also whipped this up. I bought some oil paints a while ago and haven't used them yet I guess it's because it's a bit more fiddley than the usual paints and it's a bit tricky with my 3 year old running around. But I do have some oil paint paper which is like canvas. So I tried my acrylics on this one.

I sketched this lady, not really knowing where I was going with it and for some reason I feel like I might have been chanelling Madonna......I decided to just use the paint for this one and resist the urge to go over some parts especially the eyes with pencil or pen and keep the painterly look instead......anyway I quite like the result and could see this one in a pendant.......

Illustration Friday - Fast

Well I think this piece has been created in record time. I woke up this morning and saw this weeks prompt and just sat at my work table and played with all sorts of materials. I used oil painting paper, some of the hand pressed paper with the petals in it, acrylic paints, coloured pencil, glitter and some stars. This is what appeared!!

The thought behind this piece is that this poor girl has slept through her alarm yet again and has to get moving fast or she will be late for work!!! Hope she makes it!

Playing around with water colour

This is just a quick sketch that I painted in water colour. Then I used some of my pens to add some detail. Just thought I'd post is as it was a bit different than my acrylic. I feel so keen to create at the moment but it's like I have a bit of a block, perhaps Illustration Friday will give me another kick start for the weekend?

I've also been working on some pendants I shall take a photo of them this weekend so I can show you what I've been doing......so much to do so little time, I wish I didn't need to sleep so I could sit up and work on my art while everyone is in bed and it's nice and quiet!!

'Waiting'

This is a new canvas of mine. I started with a black canvas and then painted in layers on top. I do like the feel that the black underneath gives the picture, it's like a dream like quality if that makes sense? For this piece I really tried to concentrate on my composition and background as well as trying something new like a building. I think I need to work on more buildings but I like how this turned out and I felt like I pushed myself. I also used my coloured liners to finish off the face and the blossoms as I felt they needed to look a little more detailed and it was hard to do that with the brush.

Mixed Media Monday - Mothers and Daughters

Well it's been a little while since I participated in Mixed Media Monday. This week the theme is Mothers and Daughters. Because I am a mother of two boys I looked at this theme from my point of view as a child and the relationship with my mother. I don't think you can ever feel more safe or secure than when your mother held you as a baby all snuggled up. I have memories of my mum nursing me when I was quite small and she used to sing me 'Amazing Grace' I love memories like that! My mum and I are great friends and have done, and continue to do lots together. My mum introduced me to art and used to take me along to her evening classes with her when I was just 10. Since then we have had this wonderful bond through art and I value her opinion so much when it comes to my work. Thanks mam!!! I dedicate this piece to you!

I used so many different materials in this one. I had great fun. I used acrylic paints, crackle medium. The flowers are cut out from paper which looked to be hand made and pressed with real leaves and petals in it. I painted a light wash of acrylic on these to brighten up the flowers which seemed to give them a felt look. I also used coloured pencils and some ink and my iridescant paints!!! I have missed you Mixed Media Monday!

Illustration Friday - Frozen

When I started working on this piece I wasn't sure where it was going to take me. But my Bampi (grandad) seemed to appear in my work yet again. When I thought of frozen I thought of a snowman and whilst I was drawing him I realised that Bampi and I needed to be in the picture too, one of my many fond memories of my Bampi was when we built a snowman out in his front garden. We were so proud of ourselves and I remember being very sad when he melted and disappeared.......the snowman that is, not Bampi ;0)

I used watercolours, coloured pencil and ink for this one. Water colour seems to give my work a softer feel than those very bright vibrant acrylics. But I think for this piece soft was best.

Little Witch

Here is another experiment using the same patterned paper. I just drew straight on to the patterned paper with coloured pencil then out lined it in ink. It was nice to make a change from acrylic paint as I really do favour that most of the time I just love how vibrant the acrylic paints are but I would like to experiment with alot more materials.

Illustration Friday 'Flying'

It was so hard to get a decent photo of this canvas so I'm afraid this is the best I could do. For this piece I used some patterned paper which I bought last week. I've got more left so would like to experiment further with this material. The theme for Illustration Friday this week is 'Flying', this is the image that came to mind. I've had many dreams where I could fly, how cool would this be if it were possible? Although I do have a fear of heights in the real world ;0)

Pastel Pencils 'Freaky lady'

This time I drew on black paper which I love to experiment with as it makes me look at things so differently. I think her expression is a little 'out there' though....but I thought I'd post it anyway.

'Isabella'

I really liked my lady from 'The secret garden' so I decide to do another one along the same lines. This time I painted the canvas completely black then sketched out her face with white pastel pencil. I then just layered the paint on leaving parts of it black for example the lines around the face and the eyes. I found that doing this instead of painting black lines gave it a softer look. I'm quite pleased with how she turned out and look forward to using the gloss varnish on her. I'm going to have to start thinking about what to do with all these canvas' I seem to be building up quite a collection but I just can't stop! Ah well I'm having lots of fun doing it!!

Lazy summer days....

For this painting I really tried to concentrate on making my background more interesting with more details. I used a different technique in that I put layers of colours then the top layer I dabbed on with the brush. I certainly filled it with lots of colour but I think perhaps I went too far? I do love colour and seem to get carried away at times :0)

Illustration Friday - Germs

When Dr Hehir peered inside the patient's mouth it became obvious that this was no normal sore throat, her whole mouth was full of germs having a wonderful time!!!

My new pastel pencils

The other day I was given a lovely surprise! I gift voucher for my favourite art shop as a belated birthday present. Thank you Leah!!! So yesterday I went in and spent ages walking around trying to decide what to buy. I ended up buying some arcylic paints and some pastel pencils which I have never used before. I've always wanted to use pastels but found them too bulky so when I saw these I just had to try them. This is my first drawing that I did quickly just to get a feel for them, I think I'm going to enjoy using these!!!

The Secret Garden

This is a canvas that I finished today. I approached this one quite differently as I painted the background black first then built up the colour.

It was basically and idea that I had in my head and just doodled away on the canvas.