Still Paying it Forward :D

What with all the grey miserable weather I felt the need to spread a little sunshine, and set about making another Water-colour paper journal. This one is for Vicky Rafael, who is one of the sweetest people you could ever hope to meet online(and I believe in life too). 

The journalling reads "Flowers and things with butterfly wings...are made to brighten dreary things..."

(I am convinced Vicky has Butterfly wings :D)

I felt Vicky would like purples and pinks...and I know she likes butterflies...so I grabbed a piece of cellophane and squooshed some bright cheerful colours on it(like when you make butterflies by folding the paper in half) 

and smooshed it onto the journal cover... 

and this was the result.

It screamed "flower garden" at me, so after adding stencilling and more paint to the background, I started to pick out the flower heads. There are actually 4 sections to this cover,but only 2 fit on my camera lol.

                                     

I used inktense pencils and acrylic paint to highlight the flowers...

and then black pen to add definition.

 Close up showing part of another panel.

The final thing was to "suggest" the presence of 2 large butterflies, who had been fluttering around discretely in the background...and add the journalling(see 1st pic)

I now only have 2 PIF gifts to make for 2013(though the original 5 has increased to 8 already lol)

I would like to share this as my Piece for the Week....and I have already posted it to Vicky...hope it brings her a little sunshine :D

Enjoy :D XXX

Ghosts, Girls and a Grandma...

For February's ARC, I decided to read and review a short book written by one of our group at ARC (Artful Readers Club)

AlmaMia Cienfuegos (a story of blood, scars and nightmares) by Magaly Guerrero

I have known Magaly since she started writing this story, and have had the privilege of watching it grow from a slippery fresh mango stone into the fabulously juicy ripened fruit that it is today :D

Not for the feint hearted, this short story is a roller-coaster ride of intense emotion wrapped in the snotty hanky of a small child.

It is a fabulous doorway into the lives of the Cienfuegos family, and I am already wanting to know much , much more about each of the characters involved. Why are they all so horrid to each other...is the family cursed for some past transgression? What is the significance of the Mango trees? How far back in the family did the "Gifts" manifest?

There are amazing moments in this story, where I went from hating a character to sympathising to despising....but who is to blame for it all?

There are many stories yet to be told about this group of characters, and I really hope Magaly goes the whole hog one day and makes them into a full blown novel ...and I'm not bullshitting because she is a friend...I truly love this storyline!!!

I was inspired to make 2 pieces for this review.

The first is a dark and deeply textured canvas, from which evolved a gnarled and spooky Mango tree. Beneath it, in the dark of night, a spirit walks and gathers fallen fruit...

Dark Mangoes

The second is a portrait of one of the characters from the story...AlmaMia's devoted Grandmother.

I don't know how close to Magaly's vision it is. I saw her before I read the brief description ...and was thrilled to have gotten her body shape and hair right :D.(I is psychic you know...mwahahahaha...:D)

(Mamabuela Cienfuegos)

I think she must have been very beautiful in her youth :) It doesn't say in the story, but i think her eyes are a soft brown, flecked with gold :D

Enjoy :D XXX

Spring of eternal love...

This is my entry for A Piece a Week...a commission piece with very specific instructions...

"Can you do one for Vicky's mum? A couple like the black and white one you did us, but in blues and greens....with that shimmery stuff...and square not rectangle...and no black. She mentioned turquoise...and jade."

When my son showed his girlfriend's mum the painting I did them for Valentines, she asked if I would paint one for her. I have to say I am very flattered...it is one thing for his girlfriend to like my style, but a prospective mum-in-law!!!! They don't do "sucking- up" lol, so she must really like it :D

I call this "Spring of eternal love" (it is much greener than it looks here, think Jade and Turquoise and Viridian green)

The thing is, I like to use something personal to the recipient in the base layer, so it is literally "their" artwork. But I don't know anything about this couple...so I used the "drop sheets" from when I was painting for their daughter, and added turquoise and yellow hand prints...

and I could see the couple straight away :D

then it was just a matter of building up the layers...

Love this section :D

The background figure is actually a rich deep turquoise, while the front figure is soft cerulean blue, but my camera insists they both look the same :S...and the background has smudges of iridescent medium that makes it glow and shimmer. It is going on a magnolia wall, so the colours will really zing!

And I know your going to shout at me, but I only charged for the canvas and paint....as times are getting hard here, and I still want to spread some love :D

Enjoy :D XXX 

A Loving Touch...

This is a 20" x 30" canvas worked to specific requirements from my eldest, as a gift for his lady this Valentine's day....and when I think of all the years he refused point blank to even get involved in such behaviour lol. Now I get a request ....5 days before the date for" another couple painting, with his arm around her, in pinks and reds...and can you make it look like there is a heart behind them, but not actually a heart...that glowy thing you do?"...and you know how I love pink :S

I am calling this "A Loving Touch"

For the base layer I used a National trust newspaper highlighting words like February/discovery/Trust...then used sponge stamps and hand prints in bright acrylics

before picking out the happy couple. I tried to angle the heads so it looks as if they are looking into each others eyes :D

Then I started to build up the background...

The colours are very rich and vibrant...and the whole effect to me feels like one of those humongous brilliantly coloured bouquets of flowers you want but can rarely afford :D

Happy Valentines to you all, wishing you love and bright flowery days :D

Enjoy :D XXX

Handle with care!

Been busy doing ANOTHER art work that I cant show yet(makes my head hurt lol), so I needed to make something just for me.

I realised I hadn't tried out the technique from One Little Book Club, where we had looked at Mary Beth's "Flavour for Mixed Media", and this is the piece I created.

"Handle with Care"

The book is about using different stuff to create texture in your work. I decided to work on foam board, so that it didn't get too heavy, and chose a photo I printed off years ago but never used. 

I made some texture by pressing a bottle top into the foam base, then gesso and a piece of twine

Next I tore up some flowery backing paper...

and then dabbed paint on with a sponge (i like dabbing with sponge, I do it a lot)

I had already  fancy cut the figures from the photo, so I glued it in position, before painting more detail over the top(see first pic), using the flowers on the background paper as inspiration.

So this is my "Piece a week" that I can share for now lol

Enjoy :D XXX

Ever have one of those days.....

So today I decided to work from Class 2 of "Paint what you see" from OHL ning, by Jeanette House.

This involved stamps and acrylic paint. Many people have suggested using bottle tops to stamp circles with, and I had a "meatball" tray which held possibilities :D

I made a smooshie acrylic paint base layer, over my usual textured gesso layer...

and went nuts with the stamping lol

I am not good at doing "free-flowing lines" (I end up drawing), so I dipped a piece of thread into black paint and just let it fall onto the page randomly...

and this is the finished background I ended up with :D

So now to "Paint what I saw"

I call her "Startled Cow"

She makes me smile like a loon.....she reminds me of those horrifyingly funny moments when you wake up suddenly and don't feel the right way up :D

(or am I the only one who gets those?)

She is my entry for this weeks A Piece a Week for Rita.

Enjoy :D XXX

"Pluuuuuuunge!"

Such fun! :D Had a total "Miranda" moment this weekend, when Dawn set the new challenge for her Journal's Journey as "Choose a Word"

Comedienne Miranda Hart has a wonderful way of emphasising words she likes, and I am certain "plunge!" would be on her favourites list.

Then I got to thinking...what a Superhero called "Plunge!" would be like....(my brain needs a serious flushing out) :D

I am using my small desk diary for Dawns challenges this year...

I wipe any excess paint from other projects onto it's pages to give me a base layer to work on.

I wanted a shimmery underwater world for my superhero, so blended with soft cerulean blue and silver acrylic... and forgot to take a pic as I built up the background by picking out shapes from the underlayer.

The journalling reads:

"When wading through life do you paddle or Plunge!"

I know it should be a ? at the end of the sentence ...but PLUNGE! just neeeeeeds an !

PLUNGE!

Enjoy :D XXX

Made myself an art journal :D

During last month I made myself an art journal, and decorated the cover with shiny painted aligning planets :D

The shiny makes it hard to scan, so here is a close up to show how strong the colours really are...

I watched a few vids on youtube about decorating blank pages so that you have a starting point when you decide to use your journal....so this is what I did yesterday(and yes there are a lot of 3 folded pages :D)

(Watersoluble crayon/acrylic paint stamped on with bottom of my barrel pencil sharpener+ thick coat od white gesso)

(acrylic paint dripped on and spread with a sponge + white gesso rubbed down with baby wipe)

(inktense pencil scribbles worked over with wet brush/acrylic paint rubbed on with fingers + thin coat of white gesso) 

(drips of acrylic paint spread with sponge roller + thick layer of white gesso/textured with paper towel)

(acrylic paint stamped on with plastic box/ black acrylic dry-brushed to form grid + thin coat of white gesso)

(water soluble crayons spread with wet brush + coat of white gesso rubbed down with baby wipe)

(acrylic paint dry brushed on + thin layer of white gesso)

(inktense pencil doodles worked over with wet brush + thin layer of white gesso)

(soluble crayons with very wet brush + thick layer of white gesso)

ooooowwwwww...pretty colours!!!

I added a coat of gesso to all the pages so that anything I use over them will stick easily, as shiny acrylic is hard to write over, and soluble wax crayons will re activate if you want to paint over them :D

Hope you like :D

I think I am going to use this journal for Simona's Free ChakraART workshop, starting on March 4th. This sounds like a wonderfully spiritual workshop, it only lasts for 7 weeks...and it's FREE

Rather than work through the pages in order, I will choose which page "feels" right for each Chaka :D

So excited :D 

Enjoy :D XXX