Painting Big!

Up until the advent of the new easel, the biggest I had ever painted was a double page in my 12″x9″ Strathmore journal! To be honest, I had never had the courage to try anything bigger. But that’s all changed now! With all the recycled cardboard from moving, I have lots of larger canvases to play on, and because they’re made from recycled cardboard I don’t have the fear of spoiling them that I might have if I’d invested lots of money in expensive canvases! And I’m really loving the freedom of painting big! Every day so far I’ve been adding some more to my 25″x25″ recycled cardboard.

I’ve added more acrylic paint using letter stencils and home made stamps and am loving how it’s looking so far, but have a feeling it still wants some more layers!

Meanwhile, I’ve been playing with some rather smaller pieces as well!

I created this one on recycled cardboard using acrylic paint, stencils, homemade stamps and a paint covered mopping up tissue to add the highlights…

…and this one on salvaged plywood using acrylic paint, acrylic ink and homemade stamps. The only problem with the plywood was that it had quite a pronounced curve from being used to protect the corners of something (I can’t remember what!) and when I tried to flatten it for the scanner it cracked across the top and had to be mended 🙁 …

…and lastly – a little bit of sparkly digital blending – you need to look at the larger version to really see the sparkles.

Finally All Done!

I can’t believe how long its been since I last posted here! I’ve decided that unpacking is a lot more stressful than packing … but it’s finally all done – including the 5 boxes which my brother returned to me (after looking after them for the last 18 months) during his visit last week!

So… what have I been up to? I got my paint trolley from Ikea…

I broke up all the packing boxes and saved a big pile of assorted shapes to use as canvases, then started painting some of the smaller ones.

I painted this on recycled cardboard using acrylic paint, acrylic ink and various homemade stamps.

I painted this on a scrap of plywood salvaged from some packaging using acrylic paint, acrylic ink, clear stamps and a staz-on ink pad.

There are lots more to show you, but I haven’t finished scanning them all yet, so I’ll post pictures of them during the week.

I also got a brilliant easel for painting big …

… as you can see – I’ve already started playing with it. This is just the first few layers – I’ve added two more since I took this picture!! I’ll post another picture when it’s finally finished.

I’ve also been playing digital … but you’ll have to wait till tomorrow to see them or I’ll never get this posted.

I’ll leave you with this beautiful view taken on a trip to the Peak District, half an hour from our new home, yesterday.

Struggling to Create!

Since moving to our new home, I have really been struggling to be creative. It’s not been helped by the wasps who have invaded my new studio space making it difficult for me to get unpacked. Not that we haven’t been busy.

We treated ourselves to a brand new Dyson. I really love the quality in these machines, but today I discovered a whole new meaning to precision engineering – every single piece of cardboard used in packing the machine was a work of art! They were scored and folded just like pieces of origami to exactly fit round each part of the machine. Absolutely amazing! I sat and patiently deconstructed each one because I was so fascinated by their construction!

On a more artistic note, I also treated myself to some Pearlescent Fluid Acrylics. I tried them out in my notebook…

… then just had to play digital blending with the photos I took! Hopefully I’ll be getting really messy very soon now!!

Digital Blending!

As promised yesterday…

…today I played with a spot of digital blending! I blended the original photograph together with a scan of the blue green mail art I created a few days ago. I’m quite pleased with the way it’s turned out. What do you think?

Exploring the Garden!

My brain is willing, but my 60 year old body is feeling the strain after all the exertions of the last few days… but each day the house is getting straighter. I didn’t get as far as doing any artwork today, however I did do a spot of exploring in our new garden. It’s rather overgrown and neglected, but there are some interesting looking plants hiding amongst all overgrowness!

Not being a particularly adept gardener, I have no idea what this is called… it’s very pretty though. Can anyone help me with a name? It looks like a candidate for a spot of digital blending. Maybe tomorrow, I can barely keep my eyes open at the moment – I think it’s time for bed!

Back On Line!

I know I only missed one day, but it feels so good to be back on-line! We’re safely installed in our new house – and about half-way through the unpacking! The kitchen is more or less straight, the living room is beginning to show some floor space, and I hope to get the clothes unpacked in the bedroom tomorrow. I’ve found my big box of essential art supplies, and hope by tomorrow to be able to do some creating… Yeah… getting messy again!! Bry is an extremely happy man; we had our new fibre optic broadband installed this morning, and he’s busy testing it’s capabilities!

Exchanging life by the sea for suburban life has mixed blessings, but the greatest blessing of all has to be the lack of seagulls; their mess – but most of all their noise. If you have ever lived near the coast you will probably know that seagulls never sleep. Where most birds settle down at night and are quiet until the daylight begins, seagulls just never stop screaming at each other!! It is just so nice to go to bed at night and hear nothing but the odd passing car!!

Talking of bed, I just have time to unpack a few more boxes before I turn in for the night, so I’ll catch up with you tomorrow.

All Packed Up!

All Packed up and ready to go… in just over 12 hours we’ll have the keys to our new home – very exciting!

These two boxes contain essentials … my paints and brushes, recycled stamps, gel medium, stencils and many other goodies that I have been using for the last week or so. I feel as though part of me is missing at the moment! So to keep me out of mischief I’ve been playing image altering on my iPhone!

We were given this plant by a good friend just over a year ago, and it is still flowering and flourishing. I have no idea what it’s called, but I love the colour and the shape of the flowers. Can you put a name to it?

Playing With Paint!

It’s less than two days now before we get the keys to our new home and it’s getting to the point where I will have to seal up the boxes with my paint in. But I was determined to have one last play before that happens.

As you can see by the state of my hands, I had a lot of fun!

And this is the new mail art! I really wanted the colour to be all blue, but as you can see… the red and purple just couldn’t help but creep in! I used acrylic paint with stencils and fingers and home made stamps, and lots of layers – so many layers, that I don’t think any of the original envelope shows through at all!

I hope to be back with the paint by the weekend, but till then I’ll be playing with photos and blending and possibly some words!.

Front Room Blend!

I took this picture of our front room today to show my daughter how the packing was going. I was wondering how it would look if I blended some of my scanned mail art with it …

… this was the first version with just one image blended…

… and this is the second version with another image blended. I can’t decide which one I like best. What do you think?

Purple Mail Art!

Four days left and counting! The packing is done except for the last few bits, all the boxes are taped up except for three of my art supply boxes, so we’re almost there!!

Carrying on the addiction, here’s another recycled padded envelope. This one originated from my pen supplier!

I started out with the ‘Fragile’ tape again – I do like how that looks through the paint! Then I added a couple of small gel medium transfers, and followed it up with lots of acrylic finger painting, recycled stamping, homemade stamping and stencilling. I finished off with a little metallic paint drippage. I think this one may have a face lurking in its depths … keep watching to find out!