Angels, Angles, Smangles!

Well peeps, look at my totally awesome, revamped blog!  What do you think to the new look?  My good friend, Jeanette, gave me a makeover.  I asked her how I could add pages with a bar across the top and she said it was easier to do than to try and explain via e-mail, and kindly offered to do for me adding "would you mind if I tweaked a little bit while I am there?"  Well!  After just a couple of hours, if that, all done, total revamp, and wow!  Do I LOVE it!

So where have I been you might ask, indeed one friend made the comment "Oh love the new blog...gorgeous.  Perhaps it will give you the impetus to get blogging".  Well my apologies bloglanders but I have been just sooo busy and I simply cannot write, paint, sew AND blog!  I had two birthdays to make for, one mother's day gift to make AND with the craft fair looming in four weeks (or is it three now?) I have been making bags. 

Anyhow you've seen the bags, and I think the Fairy Dreamer painting, but you haven't seen this one yet.  This was painted on watercolor paper and framed behind glass for my friend, Jackie, for her birthday.  Jackie is a new friend here in my new hometown and quiet frankly she has just been such a great friend looking after me and Lovely Man that I wanted to make something personal.  Can you spot the mistake?  I had it all finished and framed when Lovely Man said "I don't get it".  "What's not to get?" I asked.  Can you see it?  Yup sure enough I got my letters mixed up and got angles instead of angels!  So a bit of Gesso, a hairdryer and a bit of a retouch and we finally arrived at Angels!  I also made her a stationary wallet with a selection of postcards featuring some of my artwork, which like a numpty I forgot to photograph!

So there we are!  and you thought I was resting on my laurels!

Daily Exercise

Ok ladies (and gents) before you get your paint brushes out this morning here is your daily exercise:  please hop over to my other blog just this once and see if you can join me in the 1,000 crane idea.  It's either that or I'll have to copy and paste and FORCE you to read it here LOL!

Have a happy creative day *smooches*

Blooming Complimentary

You may recall that I joined Louise Gale in her Blooming Complimentary challenge and exchange a while ago.  The idea was to pick to colors from opposite sides of the color wheel (complimentary) and create something using just those two colors, plus black and white if desired, with the main theme of the piece being flowers/fauna (Blooming).  I have long been an admirer of Angie Hogan's (AKA Artangel) work, particularly her little painted wooden hearts.  Having carefully shipped three plain wooden hearts all the way from the UK with me I felt it was about time I actually used them.  Not a patch on Angie's beautiful work but not bad for a first attempt at painting on wood, or on something that wasn't flat for that matter!  I also tried my hand at a bit of collage too, giving a paper doily a coat of iridescent white paint before sticking onto the painted heart with gel medium.  I then attempted to paint small violets with acrylic and drew some swirly 'vines' with 'waterproof' Faber Casttell Pitt Artist Pens (they weren't totally waterproof but i think I just got away with it!).  Finally I gave it a few coats of matt varnish and tied some pretty voilet organza ribbon to hang it by.

 

 

I so enjoyed this challenge!  Can't wait for Louise to think up another!

Final Lesson on M3 :(

I have so enjoyed working with Tam and everyone else on Majical, Mythical Makings.  This week saw the last lesson delivered to our computer in the form of 3 videos and several PDF's.  We have toured the works of Klimt, Mucha,  Chagall and Froud concocting our own interpretations of each in the form of Goddesses, Mermaids, Angels and Fairies and, just for good measure, a unicorn or two!  This course has been fantastic!  The first online course I have ever had the bottle to attend and worth every penny ( think I paid something like £42!).  I now have around 12 video lessons downloaded to refer to whenever and numerous PDF instructions.   I also have completed three canvasses, one picture on watercolor paper and I am now embarking on a wall hanging made from canvas and fabric.  At some point I want to revisit the mermaid session and attempt to paint on wood (I chose canvas as I wanted a set of four remember?).  So Thank you to Tam for all her hard work, her lovely videos and her unending support throughout the process, and thank you to all the new friends on willowing for their comments of encouragement and advice.

So this week I am attempting a wall hanging along the theme of Autumn.  A Froud inspired fairy in the woods!