Celebrating!

I really enjoyed this weeks Life Book lesson with Samantha Kira Harding. Each layer had its own special meaning and took courage to cover and move on. But I’m so glad I did – the finished piece has so much depth.

This is the first scan taken after the first three layers. Layer one was journalling done using Derwent inktense pencils. This was followed by a layer of white Gesso which made all the journalling colours run and blend together creating a lovely soft background colour. Layer three was a mixture of alcohol inks shaken from the bottles to create nice ink splodges which I swooshed around with a tissue to spread the colour further, and a lino cut which I stamped over the top using distress inks.

This next scan – done on my lovely new A3 scanner – was taken after the next two layers. It took a while for me to pluck up the courage to add a layer of Gesso to everything and even more courage to start doodling over the top of it, but I’m glad I took the plunge! The doodling on the right page was done using graphite pencil and neocolour crayons followed by a flower collage and face outline drawn in pencil.The left page got a collage of tissue paper.

The final scan shows the finished piece. The face on the right page was painted using neocolour crayons. The left page had a machine stitched border added and journalling done with a gel pen. It took a few days to complete, but I’m really pleased with the end result. Thank you so much Samantha!

Seed Of Life

I’ve just finished colouring in the mandala I drews for the first part of Guada’s free Seed of Life course.

I love her classes and the meditative discipline of creating these mandalas. I drew this one in pencil then coloured it using Derwent Inktense Pencils and a graphite pencil. I’m looking forward to starting this weeks lesson.

Collage Lady

Being without any internet for the past few days, I have had more time to get messy with paint and gel medium! Collage Lady is another catch up from the Life Book Course.

Loosely following Mystele’s week 22 lesson I created a collage from torn magazine pages using a picture of a woman as the central focus. I then used a mixture of pastels, gel medium, neocolour crayons, journaling and acrylic paint to add colour and depth to the work. I must add that the painted lady bears virtually no resemblance to the collaged image underneath!

I had great fun making this piece. Thanks for the lesson Mystele and for the new techniques I learnt!

Badger

We’ve been battling with our internet provider this week and have been without service for nearly two days! It’s just come back up so I’m making hay while the sun shines!

I wasn’t in the mood for crochet (this weeks Life Book lesson) so I thought I’d play catch up with one of the previous lessons I’ve not looked at yet! I chose week 25 by Juliette Crane.

I loved every minute of doing this picture of my totem animal – so much so that I kind of forgot to follow the instructions and ended up with something rather different from Juliette’s wonderful whimseys! I drew the outline using water soluble graphite sticks, then coloured Badger in using neocolour crayons. I used the neocolours to create the background, then added some distress ink to add a bit of depth.

Landscape

The leaf I used to print with on the post Newspaper Collage created a rather unusual pattern which I thought looked rather like a tree. So I thought I’d have a go at creating a landscape made from leaf prints.

This is the result! I started off with a layer of white gesso to which I added a wash of colour using neocolour crayons.Then I added acrylic paint leaf prints to create my landscape, finishing off with with some tree trunks created using an old credit card. Quite effective I thought!

Spiritual Growth

Last weeks life book lesson with Tam was to create a mixed media collage using paper and material celebrating where you are now using no more than two words. I love working with material, so I just had to have a go at this lesson! I chose Spiritual Growth for my two words as above everything else, that represents where I am right now.

I started off with a collage of images torn from magazines. Then I added an assortment of material pieces most of which were more or less transparent so they just added colour while still allowing the paper layer to show through. Next I added the images and words which I printed out using my computer. I used a distress ink pad to help the paper to blend in with everything else. I added some hand stitched crosses and buttons and finished off with some machine stitching to link everything together.

I’m quite pleased with the way it turned out. Its very tactile – I love the feel of all the stitching! Thank you Tam for another great lesson.

Budding Potters!

While Bry and I were travelling, we got the chance to do something we had both always wanted to try – make clay pots using a potters wheel. It was great fun and we both got covered in clay despite the t-shirts we were given to cover our clothes with.

After careful instructions from Roy, the potter, we got to have three goes at making pots on the wheel by ourselves. We then had to choose our favourite which Roy fired and glazed ready for our collection a couple of weeks later. I don’t know if other potters offer this kind of service, but if you’re ever near York with an hour or so to spare, making pots at the Stamford Bridge Pottery would be a great way to spend the time!

Another Mandala

I so enjoyed making Guada’s mandala the other day that I thought I’d have a go at another one.

I used the same template just joined the lines up differently. all the techniques were the same as before – neocolour background, Rapidograph pen and Inktense Pencil lines and shading, but the result is so different. I’m looking forward to starting Guada’s free course on the 8th October!

Newspaper Collage

Newspaper is one of my favourite materials – it is so versatile! You can use it to protect your work areas, you can cut it up and make things with it, you can build things with it, you can use it for papier mache, you can take prints from it, you can use it in collages – and those are just a few of its craft uses!

To create this image I completely covered a sheet of watercolour paper with torn newspaper, then added acrylic paint using a variety of implements including bottle lids, bubble wrap, sequin waste and old credit cards. Next I added some carefully chosen, strategically placed leaf prints and a few stencilled footprints. Finally after scanning the image into the computer, I added a quotation using distressed digital text.

I love the way the newspaper peeps through the layers in places!

Autumn Blues!

I love the autumn when the leaves turn such beautiful colours on the trees. As they fall to the ground it’s the perfect time of year to satisfy the child in me by doing some leaf printing. A few mornings ago, I came back from my early morning walk with a large bag of assorted fallen leaves ready to spend the day playing!

By the end of the day I had paint everywhere, together with a stack of images in a variety of styles and colours. Having scanned them all into the computer, I am now in the process of going through them. Some of them like the one above, immediately suggest something to me, but others may sit neglected for months before I discover a perfect use for them.

Autumn Blues was created using a base coat of black gesso, acrylic paint leaf prints, followed by some digital text and a bit of blending.

The observant among you may have noticed that I’ve just acquired a new badge on my right sidebar. I’ve just signed up for this years Art Every Day Month – the challenge of being creative every day for the month of November. I really enjoyed taking part last year from my Face of Love blog and am looking forward to being part of it again. Why don’t you give it a try – it’s great fun!