Birthday card idea......

Today I'm playing around with a few of my previous pics and seeing how they'd look as a birthday card. I like the idea of using my art somehow as I feel like it's a shame to let it just sit in a folder or book somewhere, anyway this is something that I just played around with. The girl is from this week's Mixed Media Monday collage. I cropped her out and went over her a bit with coloured pencil and ink because I had printed her out slightly larger than she originally was so I could see a bit of pixilation (not sure if I spelt that right) and used a cake from clip art where the numbers were. I quite like how this turned out!!!

My other design is for a niece's birthday. It's a print onto photo paper of a design I did a while ago. I drew and painted the flowers around it!!

Mixed Media Monday 'Numbers'

The theme for the next Mixed Media Monday is 'Numbers'.

My take on numbers is '31' which is my age! I guess this piece is about who I am at 31 and my changing role. I really enjoyed working on this one as I tried so many new things. I also learnt what works and what might not. It definitly looks better in real life, I just couldn't seem to get the brightness of the colours in the scan but I'm happy with it. I have posted the scanned image as well as an image that I have played around with on the computer. I wasn't planning on doing anything digital but the scanned image hasn't come up as well as I would have liked. Although I realise now why. The materials I used for 'Numbers' are: acrylic paint, the toilet paper technique that I used before, which is basically gluing tissue paper then painting over it and you are left with quite a textured effect. That is what I have done for the numbers. I used wood, glittery string. colour pencils, material for her dress and also text. I realised though that the scanning is a problem now because of some of the materials I can't lay it perfectly flat so some of it ie the text in the background is out of focus. Bit of a bummer but I guess it's all in the learning process.

My first blog award!!

I have just received my first ever blog award! From the lovely and very talented Jessie Lilac. Thank you so much Jessie, it was a lovely surprise! Jessie is an artist who produces some wonderful dreamy water colour work amongst other beautiful paintings. I discovered Jessie through blogging, and she has given me so much inspiration and motivation for my own art. I have met so many wonderful and talented artists it just makes me want to keep going with my little dream.
Here are a few rules when accepting your award:
1. Deliver this award to eight other people.
2. Include the following text with the award on your site...
These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends.They are not interested in self aggrandizement.
Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut,even more friendships are propagated.
Please give more attention to these writers.

I have chosen 8 artists/writers and bloggers that have inspired me and also have given me some wonderful advice.

Annette Quirke

Darla

Diana Evans

Karabeth

Amusing Muses

The Doodle Girl

Capricious and Arbitrary

Melinda Smith's Mull and Fiddle

Thanks everyone, I love visiting your blogs and your lovely comments have meant alot!!

Satine

Well I watched Moulin Rouge last night and got inspired to do a painting of Satine the main character. I haven't finished the painting yet but decided to scan it in and have a play around with it, I really need to learn how to use something like Photoshop, this one was just done with the paint tools. I added highlights to the eyes and played around with the background and some other elements. Just thought I'd post it and see what people think is the best software to use for something like this as I'd like to learn.............

Illustration Friday - Crave

Well this week, I felt a bit stuck about what to do with the topic, not because I didn't like it but because I was just really tired. I'm seriously lacking sleep so probably looked a little like this picture when I painted it. This poor woman is craving sleep of course just look at the shadows under her eyes, they are quite like my own. Sometimes it's a little hard to come by especially when you have a sick two year old. I'm not entirely happy with it as it's not like what I would normally do but I thought I'd submit it anyway as it's the best I can come up with this week. It was a good exercise for me though as I've been using acrylics a lot lately so it was nice to have a bit of a change with the watercolour. The more I look at it the more I like it.....I think....ah well I'm off to collapse!!!

Flower Girl doodle on canvas

Well here is my painting on canvas that was inspired by my pencil drawing earlier in the week. The canvas isn't very big it's 5" x 7" or 12.7cm x 17.8cm. It's actually quite thick and I would have liked to have posted a photo of it as well as a scan because I had to paint alot around the edges. (However my hubby has gone away with the camera, so maybe I'll add a photo when he gets back). Anyway here it is, I'm not really sure what I think of it but it's something new and it's all about experimenting isn't it? Now I'm about to get stuck into Illustration Friday for this week and switch to water colour for a bit of a change.

'Flower Girl' Doodle.....

My lovely mum went and bought me some art supplies yesterday, 3 canvas', and some new beads for another project that I've been working on. She's very encouraging when it comes to my art and I'm very lucky. This afternoon I had some time off from the kids and just sat down and drew up this doodle. I've noticed lately that I can't just sit in front of the tv anymore I have to be drawing too otherwise I feel like like I'm wasting precious time that I could be using to create.....I think I'm becoming obsessed with my art...but I don't think that's such a bad thing, I could be obsessed with much worse I think....anyway this is what I came up with it's just a pencil drawing but perhaps I'll end up making a painting out of it on one of my new canvas'........

Mixed Media Monday 'Lace'

I have experimented with using material, and newspaper text with this canvas. I was inspired by the next topic for Mixed Media Monday which is going to be "Lace". I seem to be ahead of myself again this week and will submit this one to the next Mixed Media Monday next week. I'm really enjoying experimenting with different materials and techniques. I also tried playing around with the lady's expression and also tried a different colour skin tone. I can't wait to dream up my next project!

Illustration Friday - Adapt

This week I had started this painting before I saw the topic for Illustration Friday and was very happy that I could 'Adapt' the meaning to suit the topic. In more ways than one. I was inspired to do this painting whilst driving home the other day. It is Autumn actually almost Winter here in Australia and I've said it before I just LOVE the autumn leaves and colours this time of year. As I drove home I saw this tree that was blowing in the wind and there were loads of leaves just falling off it, it looked like it was raining leaves. Very beautiful. Every year I forget how cold it will be in the winter as it is soooo hot in the summer, but each year I just seem to adapt and really enjoy each season. This painting was done on canvas in acrylic paint which I'm really enjoying at the moment. The canvas is slightly bigger than A4 so it cut a little off the tree at the top when I scanned it in. Tomorrow I'm going to experiment for the first time with my new oil paints!!! Yay!!

'Some day'.....

Some day her Prince will come, or perhaps she’ll finally be recognized for what she’s really good at and land that dream job? Maybe some day she’ll be able to read a book uninterrupted or just be able to sleep in late……whatever it is she looks very happy about it!

'Brotherly Love'

This is a piece that I worked on a fair bit this week. I started off with what I thought would be a simple idea and it then turned into something a lot more involved. The initial idea came from the prompt for next week's Mixed Media Monday. The prompt is 'layers'. So I came up with an idea that saw me use different techniques and some collage. I sketched a simple out line from a photograph of my two boys. Then I shaded it and coloured it with coloured pencil. I cut it out and stuck it onto watercolour paper. Then painted the back ground in arcylic paint. I also painted the leaves then cut them out and stuck them on. When I finished I realised that the pencil was just too faint against the paint so I took a chance and painted over the drawing with acrylic so it really is quite a mixture of materials. I quite like the end result considering it's my first real attempt at painting portraits in acrylic and also using mixed media in this way. I have put a photo up of the painting before I painted over the drawing and after so that you can see the difference. I'm looking forward to submitting this to Mixed Media Monday next week, it's not often I'm this organised!

Illustration Friday - Cracked

This week the theme is 'Cracked'. I had two ideas come to mind for my entry and decided upon this little one. I used my more expensive water colour paper for this one and have decided from now on I'm going to just buy the nice stuff. The paint just seems to go on better when I use the more expensive paper and the end product to me looks so much more polished. I really like how the paint looks on this paper, the skin just looks so much better than on the cheaper stuff. I also refrained from using the black out line pen to finish this off as I've bought a very fine brush and I thought I'd see how it looked without the pen. I think it looks a lot softer and I prefer it just with the paint. Perhaps this is how I'm going to work from now on it's funny I never thought I wouldn't want to use the pen as it didn't seem finished unless I'd out lined it in the past but with the brush I think that's enough. It's also the first time I have written/painted the text on and I quite like it.

Disco Diva's

This week I managed to get back into the swing of painting. With visitors, birthday parties and the flu things have beena little chaotic here. I didn't realise just how much I would miss my daily drawing or painting sessions until now. I felt completely out of whack by the end of the week after not drawing much at all. It was nice to have visitors though and Rhys had a great birthday but now I'm very happy to be back to 'work'.

I managed a couple of painting this week. The first one I did was 'Dreaming' which was basically a doodle. I just played around with the acrylic paint and put an idea down on to paper. I'm going to do a canvas painting for a friend's daughter so decided to practice a few ideas. I would like to do more on good quality water colour paper too as I think it just makes such a difference. So perhaps my next session will include something on my very special paper. The second painting I did was 'Disco Diva's' I just started with a doodle again and this is what happened. I really like this one and could see it becoming a design for an invite or a card. It's quite a fun picture!!!

Illustration Friday

This weeks prompt on Illustration Friday is 'Contagious' and for the first time ever I've actually had something already that is perfect to use for it. This piece I did about 8 months or so ago now when I started playing around with painting again but it's still one of my favourites. The pictures are supposed to go side by side with each other so that the doctor is shining the torch into poor little Ruby the hippo's mouth. I really like how the mouth came out in this pic and I've actually posted the first picture before, it was my very first picture I posted when I started my blog. This was done in acrylic paint. If I were to paint this again I'd probably try to make my hippos a little less like teddy bears. I still like them though.

Illustration Friday - Parade

Well I actually did it, I wasn't sure I'd get to do an entry this week as I've had the flu really badly so have been sitting here feeling very sorry for myself. But I managed to sketch out an idea before the fever really set in and so because I liked it so much I made sure I finished it. It probably could have been a bit tidier but I'm quite pleased with it. The prompt for Illustration Friday this week was 'Parade' and ants came to mind as you often see them marching in a very well organised line. I thought it would be nice to make them kind of like a carnival or marching band. Even though I was sick I quite enjoyed this theme and was glad I could finish it.

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?