Finished painting of my daughter

Hello All!

I have been so busy and so inspired over the last few weeks. I have been finding time to do something creative most days which has been fantastic. On top of that I have been speaking to a group based in Chesterfield called Straight Curves about the possibility of running some workshops there. That is all looking really positive. I will let you know when those start to take place!

Today I thought I would share the finished painting of my daughter. In my last post I talked about starting one of her and had done an initial sketch. Well here she is:

I can't tell you how pleased I am will how she turned out! It was a challenge but I enjoyed every minute of it. It really captures her cheerful bubbly nature. I am looking to start one of my youngest daughter next and I will keep you posted!

Bye for now xxxxx

Portrait Practice

Hello All!

Today I thought I would share some of the portraits I have been working on. I decided after watching 'the big painting challenge' on the BBC that it was about time I practiced painting 'well known' faces. I have never had a problem painting people I don't know very well, but the more I know the person the harder I find it to capture them. Family members are difficult but the hardest by far is a self portrait.

Well practice makes perfect and so practice is what I'm doing!

I started with my mum. I did a sketch of her first:

That went well and once I have done a sketch I feel more confident that I can translate it into paint.

So here she is. I am really pleased with how she turned out and it is the best painting I have ever managed of her! With this boost in confidence I tried to paint myself:

I enjoyed working in monotone for this one and it looks quite effective over the wash of colour. I look really serious but that is because I was looking in a mirror and concentrating! It didn't turn out too badly but doesn't look entirely like me. 

I am now on to the next one and I have really set myself a challenge by choosing to paint my daughter! Not only a face I know as well as my own but a child's face which in itself is difficult to do. So far I have only done my first sketch but so far so good;

I hope you enjoyed looking at my progress so far. I'll keep you posted on how the latest one turns out!

Bye for now xxxx

Some Recent Art Journaling

Hello All!

Sorry it has been a while! I kept meaning to blog but life has been busy lately, and I have been distracted with various things. That all said I didn't mean to put it off for so long! I will hopefully make that up over the next few days as I have loads to show you. Today I am going to start off with some recent art journaling:

This first one was an experiment of bold colours and lines. For the lady I used a magazine cutting which I then painted over and I tried to keep to black and white to match the boldness of the page. The whole thing I felt had a confidence about it and so I found the text from a magazine which was in keeping with this. 

This page is in my altered book journal and you may see some of the original text coming through on the right. I have been playing around lately with a lot of portraiture and this is one is a self portrait. Again I stuck to black and white and I think it works well here. This again has an air of confidence and is all about being self assured. 

For this one I really enjoyed playing with layering stamps, ink, pigment powders and tissue paper. I loved the yellow streak running through the page and this is what gave the inspiration for the text. To me the page has a warmth and feels quite happy and relaxed.

Finally this one, done in my small journal, is a bright warm very happy page about my recent family holiday to Crete. It was the best holiday we have ever had, we all had such a good time. The holiday was to celebrate our 10 year wedding anniversary (we went to Crete for our honeymoon) and it couldn't have been better. It was a memory I had to journal about! The colours have a warm glow to them and the image is my youngest daughter paddling in the sea.

I hope you enjoyed these pages, I will be back with more very soon!

Bye for now xxx

Finished Painting - You are only as old as you feel.

Hello All,

I can't tell you how much I have enjoyed getting by teeth stuck into a portrait these last few weeks! It has been a challenge but I have loved it and it is always exciting to see them appearing in front of you as they take shape. Here is the final piece:

I wanted to keep the background quite simple but fun. When I came across the photograph I loved how despite initial appearances she is clearly young at heart, wearing her boppers. I hope I have managed to express this. I do believe it's true what they say... that you are only as old as you feel!

Bye for now xxx

Portrait Progress

Hello All,

Over the last few weeks I have been working on my new portrait and really enjoying it. It's been great getting back into painting a portrait and although its challenging I love seeing it take shape. I have taken some shots as I have been going along so you can see the progression. Here it is so far!

I am now on to the background which I am going to keep quite simple with a little texture and coloured with pigment powders. I hope you like her so far, I will post a final picture when it is finished.

Bye for now!

 xxx

You are only as old as you feel

Hello All,

It's funny how I go through different phases with my art work. I swing between abstract and portraits depending on my mood. I am not complaining, far from it. I love the way my art can be so varied and diverse, there is no rule that says I must stick to a certain medium or style. It's one of the things I love most about art, anything goes and the possibilities are endless.

I have been in an abstract mood for a while now but lately have the sudden urge to paint a portrait. I prepped a canvas and it was left sitting there for a week while I tried to decide what exactly I had in mind. I started looking at photos, books and magazines to try and get some inspiration and came across a photo of an elderly lady sitting in a crowd. In every way she is a stereotypical lady with a scarf, handbag and old brown coat but she is wearing deely boppers. She is fantastic and I love that despite appearances she is clearly young at heart. I decided I have to paint her. I started her yesterday after some initial sketches:

  I am really looking forward to seeing how she turns out. I have in my mind her sitting at the front with an abstract background perhaps containing some text but definitely with some texture. I am going to use really vivid happy colours. I want the feeling that you are only as old as you feel to come through.

I will keep you posted on my progress.

Bye for now xxx

February Art Journaling

Hello All,

Well here we are in February, my least favorite month! I am not one for cold and really dislike snow. It really makes me feel like hibernating until the spring. But one good thing about hiding indoors is that I have more time to journal and I thought I would show you some of the pages I have done this month so far.

I have been playing around with leaving white space in a few of these, something I am not very good at cause I usually just want to fill the whole page with vivid colour, but I do like how these turned out. 

I feel as though I have coming out of an abstract phase and going into portraits again. I do swing from one to the other. I think I may try a mixed media portrait on canvas next... Anyway I hope you enjoy these.

Bye for now xxx

Art Journaling spread 'Bon Voyage'

Hello All,

Just a quick one today to share an art journaling page. I created the background using left over paint and paper towels used to clean stencils. Next I played around, layering some bits and pieces of my own creation and some ephemera recently sent to me. The whole feel of it came across as sunny and carefree and as I was going through my found text (text I cut out from magazines etc) I came across 'bon voyage' which fitted nicely. It was all working well together but definitely missing something. To finish it I added the girl using the magazine technique mentioned on a recent post. Sat looking at it now it makes me want to run off to somewhere sunny rather than sitting in England in the rain. Especially as everything is kicking off over here with the referendum resulting in the vote to leave the EU (I voted remain) Yep I would rather be elsewhere right about now that's for sure!

Quick Portrait Technique

Hello All,

Today I wanted to share a quick technique that I like to use when I want to paint a portrait but haven't a lot of time. I quite often want to add a face or figure to my art journaling pages and although I do usually do these from scratch sometimes I haven't a lot of time or might just be feeling lazy. When I feel like this I use magazines to help me out. I find a nice magazine image and stick it down onto my page, paint over this with clear gesso and ta ta I have a template to paint over. (I usually use acrylics to do this)

If you want to start learning how to paint portraits or if you just need that little helping hand to get started this is a great technique. Here is one I did at the weekend:

It is a really effective way of getting a portrait on to your page and I love the results I get. 

I hope you have a go to!

Bye for now xxx

Holiday Journaling

Hello All,

I'm back from a rather rainy week in France. Rain and mist and heavy cloud all week but regardless we had a good time, still found plenty to do and ate plenty of cheese and croissants. I managed to practice my french (I have been learning for a year or so) and the little 17th century thatched cottage we were staying in was really lovely.

Another plus due to the weather was I had time to sit inside and do a bit of journaling:

The background is gouache with paper towels to create texture and stencils in copper paint. The portrait is of my daughter, taken from one of the holiday snaps. She looked so happy and content and that is how we all felt really despite the rain. I also started another page but didn't get past the background:

This is a section of it. I used wax paper, inks and gouache to create the texture. I will have to find time to finish this one off but I am off again this weekend to a Jive convention in Southport. Non stop dancing awaits and hopefully I will also find inspiration for some more paintings. I want to get back into creating some more canvasses!

Bye for now xxx

Sunshine is bliss

Hello All,

Well the sun came out this last weekend and it was glorious. I spent most of the time sitting in my garden, my kids playing around me, while I read my book or created. Absolutely bliss! I think the only time I left that spot was when we walked into the woods to look at the bluebells that have suddenly bloomed. Everything seems that much better with a bit of sunshine. The trees that had been sat in bud for weeks felt the sun and burst into glorious green. It got me thinking how much everyone loves the spring but only due the lack of it, only because of winter. The return of spring makes everyone breath a sigh of relief and everyone is suddenly all the more open and friendly because of it.

It prompted me to make these pieces. The first is a mixed media index card and as I sketched the bush in my garden all set to burst into colour I thought of the text. It is the idea that at this time of year everything is holding its breath before bursting with colour and new life. The second piece is in my art journal and it is done completely in inks. I was experimenting with the new ecoline inks and wanted to see what they would be like for drawing with. The text says "We have to experience the coldness of the winter to truly appreciate the return of the sun"

It was a fab weekend, really peaceful! That said as I write this it is raining cats and dogs.... hey ho that is the way it goes when you live in England!

Bye for now! xxx

A bit of painting keeps me happy!

Hello All,

Phew after a frantic week I was very ready for a nice quiet weekend. I have been busy at work having recently taken on a new role which is challenging so I am still trying to get my head around it all. Then I had something on every evening and it all left me totally frazzled. A spot of painting was just what I needed. The kids were playing nicely so I set myself up with a cuppa and worked on my ongoing commission. Here is where I got to:

My daughter who is 7 said looking at it made her feel she was inside the middle of a rainbow where it is raining and sunny at the same time. I love that description :)

Recently I have also taken up a new hobby.... aerial hoops. I love it (despite the inevitable bruises) I love doing something so different and exciting. With this in mind I also, whilst I had my paints out, did a journal spread about it.

page in progress

The figure is me, taken from a photo taken at one of the classes. I like the textured background with the relatively simple spread. It definitely expresses how I feel when I am up on the hoops. 

Back to another busy week now, especially good cause it's my birthday on Friday!

Bye for now xxx 

New art journaling page.

Hello all,

What a busy weekend. It was my nephews 3rd birthday so we all went to the Yorkshire sculpture park for the day. Luckily it seemed to be the first real day of spring and was lovely and sunny. The kids loved running about and I got to see the Bill Viola exhibition I wanted to see. I am not normally bothered by video art or installations but I saw his work many years ago while I was at Uni and it is mesmerising, you can't really explain why but you can't tear your eyes away. This exhibition didn't dissapoint and I really enjoyed it. Particularly the piece in the chapel which showed a blazing fire slowy turn to water and then almost to smoke. I recomend going down to have a look if you can http://www.ysp.co.uk/exhibitions/bill-viola

Also this weekend I managed to make a start on my next large canvas and finish the art journaling page I started last week:

I really fancied putting in a portrait and when I had added her it made me start thinking about what is confidence? Quite often it is a mask for many insecurities. When do we actually feel truly 100% confident?

Anyway bye for now! xxxx

Commissions delivered

Hello All,

With both portraits completed I finally delivered them last Thursday and Karen was thrilled. I was a little worried as looking at a portrait of yourself is very different to looking at one of someone else. I was worried that she may not see herself the way I had portrayed her but she was very happy and she delivered them straight away to her partner. They were supposed to be his Christmas present but she said she couldn't wait.

Later that day Karen text me his response .... 

"I can't help looking at them. I'm moved to tears here, it's so flipping weird having you here but not .....And the colours are just so fluorescent, wherever I hang them they must have changing colours to bring out all the aspects......I'm flabbergasted. In fact, my flabber has never been so gasted."

What a response! I am well chuffed!

Bye for now xx