3rd Canvas

This is the last of my canvas paintings, for the moment. This one I think I'll put in Rhys' room!!!

Paintings on canvas

I bought 3 different shaped canvas' at a sale the other day and decided to do a small series of paintings which are based on pictures that I have done either for Illustration FridayMixed Media Monday or just doodles in my diary in the past. I've been thinking of painting some pictures for nieces and friends kids for their birthdays this year so thought I would have a look at how they might turn out and find out which designs are best suited. The mermaid taken from the Mixed Media Monday piece I did a few weeks ago. I'm thinking of scanning this one in and making it somehow into a book mark. I'll have a play around with it a bit more I think as I like this design. The Princess is one that started from a doodle in my diary as I was watching 'Merlin' on the tele the other night with my little boy. The second painting is done in acrylic but I also used the flow improver which makes the paint smoother and more watery without loosing the colours. I'm quite happy with them both and didn't want to wait until I could get my hands on the scanner so I took a pic, it'll be interesting to see how they look when they are scanned in as I think they have come up nice in the photo.

Mixed Media Monday 'Inspirational Words'

This weeks prompt for Mixed Media Monday is 'Inspirational Words'. I chose 'Blossom'. Even though I'm my own worst critic I felt that 'Blossom' best describes how I feel about my art at the moment. I've been painting and drawing again for the last 8 months or so after a very long break and I have to say I don't think I've ever been as creative as I am now or motivated. Especially since I discovered websites like Mixed Media Monday and Illustration Friday. Having these prompts each week has really got my creative juices flowing and I'm loving it. Although everytime I'm working on something new at the beginning I'm loving it but by the end I'm questioning it and not sure if I like it anymore. Ah well I guess that's normal hey? I created this piece on watercolour paper, with acrylic paint, news paper and ink. I even experimented with using a different tool to put the paint on as I wanted to experiment with texture. So I ended up smoothing the paint on with a flat plastic tool. I think I like this painting it is quite different from my other work and I think I'd like to do more like this.

Illustration Friday - Hierarchy

Sometimes my hubby and I start to question the Hierarchy in our house! Our two year old Riley is certainly well and truly into his terrible twos and between him and his big brother we feel that sometimes we are just running around in circles after them! I wouldn't however change them for the world but I have to admit, when they are both tucked up in bed at night I relish the silence til around 6am the next morning.

This is my first attempt at mixed media with some text. I drew the figures onto the black paper that I have been experimenting with. I then cut them out and figured out how I wanted them arranged onto the water colour paper. Then I painted them in acrylic and went over some parts in ink as the features needed to be more defined. Then I painted the back ground with acrylic inks and also found some words that I felt went with the idea behind the piece. I really had fun doing this one and enjoyed experimenting yet again. I'm really loving trying new things especially mixed media as things always turn out much more differently than I imagine.

Pretty Lady

Yesterday I bought a black drawing pad, only A5 size as I wasn't sure whether I would like it or not. I had a great time experimenting, I tried coloured pencils but found that the acrylic paint was best. It really made me approach the painting differently as the black paper makes the paint slightly different as well as the fact that I had to paint in the white space such as the eyes and highlights. I really enjoyed it plus I ended up just using the paints and brush without the pen outline and i like the look of it. I think I'll be using this paper again, perhaps in a mixed media piece?

Rhys' birthday invite

Well my little baby is turning 6 in a few weeks so I decided to make up an invite for his party. My lovely talented step-father Tony made me my very own light box the other day and gave it to me as a suprise. I was very taken aback and love it! So I used my new toy to create this image. I drew the outline of Rhys' face onto some watercolour paper and put his head on Yoda's body as he quite like's Star Wars like most 6 year old children. I'm in the process of fiddling around with the style of the wording on the computer and perhaps putting some sort of back ground on the picture too. I'm not so tech savvy at the moment so it's still a work in progress but I thought I'd post this picture anyway.

Mixed Media Monday 'On the beach'

The theme this week is 'On the beach'. I decided to have another go at using the 'toilet paper' technique that I tried last week for my 'Daily Art stop challenge Wednesday' piece, as I really enjoyed doing that. The toilet paper technique was just me pasting some toilet paper to a sheet of paper then I waited for it to dry and flattened it out then painted it with arcylic paint and acrylic ink. Once that was dry I cut the figures out that I had sketched and painted with acrylic paints and also used black pen. I then stuck them on top. I really like the texture of the back ground when I do this as well as the way the figures pop out a bit more.

I based this idea on fond memories of my Grandparents and I, especially my Bampi (Welsh for Grandpa). They used to take my brother and I for the school holidays and after school as our parents had to work so their home was a second home for us. They also took us down to the beach and Blackpill (in Swansea) in the summer time when they had us for the day. They would spoil us rotten and we loved it!!!! I really miss them both but I'm so glad I have these fond memories, this picture is of my Bampi and me paddling in the sea. I think he would like this picture, especially as I've actually drawn him with a bit more hair than he actually had I got a bit carried away.

Illustration Friday - Theatre

Well I can't believe I actually got something finished today. It has been a crazy day with lots of crazy kids running around and practically jumping all over me while I'm trying to draw. Quite stressful cirmcumstances to draw under but I just really wanted to keep going and I got there in the end I think. I'm not entirely sure that it's exactly right but I think I'm happy with it. When I saw the theme for this week the first thing that sprang to mind was how my kids and their friends seem to be able to make up so many different games and basically seem to be acting out certain things. Sometimes there are monsters, sometimes there are witches or wizards and sometimes there is a princess that just needs to be rescued. Whatever the situation they come up with there are some great pieces of acting and it's very entertaining to watch!!! I painted the background in watercolour, and the characters in acrylic paint then cut them out and stuck them on to the background. I've done that a little bit lately and really like how the characters seem to pop out!

Daily Art stop - Challenge Wednesday - 'Earth'

It's been a while since I have done a Challenge Wednesday the last one I did had a 'spring time in Paris' theme and was one of the first things I posted. I seem to be in a right old routine these days and I'm drawing pretty much every day which I'm loving!!! It's so great to be creative again. So this week I thought I'd try and submit something for Challenge Wednesday at Daily Art Stop So here it is:

The theme is 'Earth' and I guess I'm trying to convey the message that it's important to look after it now so it's there for our kids. I worry about what the future holds for my boys in terms of the environment. I decided to play around with texture and do a bit of mixed media as I'm really enjoying that and wanted to try something new so I kinda made it up as I went along. I pasted some toilet paper (yep toilet paper) to a sheet of normal drawing paper then when it was dry I painted that. Then on another sheet of paper I drew and painted the girl etc and cut her out and stuck her on. I used acrylic inks and normal acrylic paints. I'm quite happy with how she turned out and really enjoyed doing it. I had no real plan I just did it. I'm looking forward to trying a bit more of mixed media and seeing what else I can come up with!!!

Mixed Media Monday "Mermaids'

Well today I came across another great website 'Mixed Media Monday'. I thought I would attempt the theme as I have been playing around a little bit with mixed media plus I really wanted to re do my mermaid that I did for my very first Illustration Friday attempt a while back. So here it is. I used water colour paints on acrylic paper, then went over parts in acrylic ink and acrylic paint, then went over it with black liner pen. I really like using the acrylics on top of water colour as sometimes water colour lacks a bit of oomf for me. I also made this a little project for Rhys, my nearly six year old boy and he had a great time with glitter paints, pens, texta's and all sorts. I drew a basic mermaid and he did the rest. Riley my 2 and half year old had a go but decided not to follow the theme and painted a tunnel, that one is still drying on our deck.

Mixed media attempt

Well today I played around with mixed media and drew another 'Girl at the window'. I was going for blue grey tones so that it would hopefully look like nighttime. I painted the girl in watercolour on watercolour paper, then I cut her out and stuck her on acrylic paper and painted the curtains with acrylic paint, then coloured the window in coloured pencil and went over the whole thing with black liner pens. It's something different from what I normally do which is great as I'm wanting to try loads of new ideas and techniques. And it's always great to see what works, some things don't but you learn alot!

Illustration Friday 'Impossibility'

Gilbert never believed in Fairies, even when he was a small child. He used to say that it was a complete impossibility that anything that magical could exist. That was until Ruby started whispering sweet nothings in his ear! He is now an old man but a believer!

Little Witch

Another example of playing around with my characters.

I had this image in my head the other day, I don't know where it came from but I had to get it down on paper in the end!

Pencil drawing

This past week I seem to have been playing around with faces. I wasn't 100% happy with the eyes I had been doing as I felt they needed a bit more life so I've been experimenting over and over with different ideas and seem to be settling on these sorts of eyes. I'm much happier with how the eyes are turning out now.

Illustration Friday 'Fleeting'

My life feels like it is divided into 3 major parts. The first being my life growing up in Wales, the second when I emmigrated to Australia at 15 and the third when I started a family of my own. I guess that I feel like my childhood ended when I emmigrated and I associate my childhood with growing up in Wales and spending it with my family and friends over there. I wish that I had savoured my childhood while I had the chance as I'm sure most of us do. Also rain is very fleeting for me at the moment as I'm living in Australia and we have been in a dreadful drought for the past 5 years at least. Coming from wet windy wales, I didn't realise just how much I would miss the rain and everything that it brings with it. It's very brown over here compared to where I grew up and I do miss it. So the picture I have drawn represents me as a young girl soaking up the rain.

Ruby's 1st Birthday Card

Well this week I managed to make 3 cards! I think that's a record for me, each one has been a great exercise though as they are all different kinds of celebrations. I'm really glad that I've started making cards again as I think they are a great gift to give somone. Today is my niece Ruby's 1st birthday. She is a very special little girl. I was at her birth a year ago today and it's probably the most amazing thing I've ever seen, (and yes a little bit scary too) I feel honoured to have witnessed her come into the world and she is turning into a beautiful and cheeky little munchkin. This card I made is painted in water colour paints and outlined in black pen. I really love this little character.

Anniversary card

This is the anniversary card I made for my hubby. It is based on a design that I made for a tattoo that I got a couple of years ago after the birth of our second boy. The tattoo itself is just of the figures and slightly different in shape and colour. I added the hearts around it for the card. I like this design and card as it symbolises a lot for us. I painted it in acryclic paints as I wanted it to be vibrant and I also wanted it to have the brush strokes through it. I'm quite happy with how it turned out.

Mam's birthday card!

This is the birthday card I made for my mum. Her favourite flower is an iris. I painted this on my very special water colour paper and outlined it black ink.

Rhys' picture

This week has been rather busy with birthdays, an anniversary and of course Easter get togethers. Today we are off to my mum's birthday lunch, I made her a card and Rhys, my 5 nearly 6 year old drew her a special picture. He loves drawing, I gave him my nice paper and good pencils! This is the result.

Illustration Friday 'Talisman'

This week the theme for Illustration Friday is 'Talisman'. I decided to work on something that I had come up with before as I felt it fitted in with the theme. This is a character called 'Marmaduke Quigley' and his 'Talisman' or good luck charm is his magical monical! This is a character created by my cousin Clare http://clareincher.blogspot.com/

Clare and I are working on lots of ideas together and this is one of them. She gave me a brief of what she had in mind and I drew this little guy. I'm sure he's going to have many adventures.

I decided to try coloured pencils as I don't want to limit myself to just water colours even though I really like water colours and ink.