Taking the time…

I have to admit, I’m really enjoying taking the time to be creative again. I’ve worked my way through the free workshops for the first time now, but am thinking of revisiting some of them as they were so full of inspiration that I’m sure I’ve missed some of it first time round. But I’ll share some more of what I’ve created so far.

I created these two images in response to the workshop led by Kate Crane. I love how Kate uses recycled cardboard as a canvas to create her images – she’s definitely a lady after my own heart. I’ve been using ‘junk’ in my artwork for many years now.

Rae Missigman always inspires me with her workshops, and this one was no exception. I’m not quite sure how the pages got to be so pink though cos I am definitely not a pink person normally!

I thought I was going to struggle with Andrea Schroeder‘s workshop, but the results took me by surprise. As I followed her instructions, I found pictures kept popping into my head waiting for me to add them to the page. There’s still some journalling to do, but I’ll probably add that later.

Diana Trout‘s workshop is definitely one that needs to be revisited. Her enthusiasm is so infectious, and I only took in a small portion of the amazing ideas she was sharing with us. That said, I really enjoyed creating this page and am pleased with how it turned out.

Hmmm… what shall I play with next?

Over Half Way!

We’re over halfway through the void now, and the mandalas are still flowing. Journalling with words doesn’t come easily to me – I prefer to express my thoughts in visual ways…

…so I’ve been up in my studio for a while today responding to my thoughts. This is my first completed mandala painted with very wet acrylic paint in my mandala journal.

There are two more in process…

…this one is made with recycled cardboard, acrylic paint and crackle paint – the crackle paint is taking a long time to dry…

…and this one is made from a cardboard disc and moulding paste. It too is in the process of drying, and I will be painting it once the moulding paste has properly hardened. I’ll post more pictures of these when they’re finished.

Addicted to Doll Making!

Did I mention that I am becoming addicted to doll making? This one’s taking a bit longer than the others have, and she’s still not quite finished, but I thought you might like to see her anyway.

The pattern came from Elinor Peace Bailey’s book Mother Plays With Dolls … and Finds an Important Key to Unlocking Creativity. It’s a generic pattern which can be adapted to make any number of variations – there are some amazing examples in the book. I stuck pretty much to the basic pattern, but wanted to add some wool hair. I searched online for some tutorials and finished up using a combination of these two tutorials: this one from Gillian Wynn Grimm at Dried Figs and Wooden Spools; and this one from Gillian Austin at Astableulah. I haven’t decided whether to paint or embroider her face, and I may add some other bits and pieces while I’m at it, but I’ll post another picture when she’s finally finished.

In between playing with dolls, I’ve also been playing with paint.

I started off with some recycled cardboard and a double page spread from a newspaper, added some blobs of moulding paste then swirled them about. I added acrylic paint, acrylic ink and spray paint to the mix, then left it all to dry. But that wasn’t the end! After scanning it I had to play digital blending…

…I thought this one was quite nice, but then I thought I’d try inverting the colours…

…and came up with this which I rather like. What do you think?

Melt Down!

Still struggling to keep up with my studies – yesterday I had a total meltdown!

I stormed off to my studio and started squeezing paint! This image really doesn’t do justice to the dimensional nature of the finished piece, so I captured these close-ups to show you just how much paint I used!

I called this one Faces because I can see a strange looking face in the bottom left corner of the image. Can you see it too?

The Tram Tracks in this one were created when I vented some of my frustration using the wrong end of the paint brush!

The Coffee Rings were created using a selection of circular objects pressed into the thick paint.

This one reminds me of a stormy sea – a bit like how I was feeling at the time!

But the exercise worked it’s usual magic. By the time I was done, the feelings had transferred their trauma to the canvas leaving me able to move on.

P.S. I’m still waiting for the paint to finish drying!

Academic Overload!

I’ve been totally overwhelmed by academic overload of late! But I have been painting … here are some of my latest creations!

I’ve been using quite a lot of thread and string in my art work recently – a reflection on how I’ve been feeling, perhaps? I created this using recycled cardboard and packaging, string, brads, spray paint and acrylic paint.If you look at the enlarged image you can see how dimensional the paint is!

Some more recycled cardboard and packaging, machine stitched and painted with acrylic paint and acrylic ink using a selection of stencils.I created this piece alongside a stitched postcard that I made for the Great Big Stitched Postcard Swap. I’ll post a picture of the postcard once I know it’s been safely received.

This is my favourite piece. Unlike the other two pieces, this was created in a much more intuitive manner while reflecting on an issue that I am currently dealing with. Like the others it uses a recycled cardboard base, together with acrylic paint and acrylic ink. Which one’s your favourite?

“Paint, Glorious Paint…”

“Paint, glorious paint…” a slight misquote I grant you – but after a long absence (at least a week!) its so good to be slinging paint again!! Even in my little journal!

The colour’s not very good in the photo, the original is a more peacocky colour! I created it with some acrylic paint, stencils and a bit of spray paint!

Then I went back to my recycled journal to make some more background pages.

I don’t really like pink… I know girls are supposed to, but I never have! So it was really quite a surprise for me to create such a pink page! I used a lot of different types of paint; acrylic paint, acrylic ink, fluorescent paint, spray paint, a few stencils and a homemade stamp.

I reverted to type and went back to my more usual colour palette.

That’s better… Sigh! All that pink… very worrying! I used acrylic paint, stencils and homemade stamps to make this page.

Last but not least, I dug out a piece of recycled cardboard for a change.

I do like working on recycled cardboard – it’s such a forgiving medium. It just sits there and takes whatever you throw at it! In this case it was acrylic paint, spay paint and stencils.

I really think I’m overdue for a Big piece of cardboard. So watch this space!

Another Journal Page!

Following on from yesterday’s success, I’ve managed to create another journal page using the scanned digital technique. Yay!

This is the background I created in my altered journal using acrylic paint, home made stamps and stencils.

And this is my digital interpretation of todays ‘When Frogs Sing’ journal prompt.

I finally got around to processing the second of my recycled cardboard paintings from the other day. I created it using acrylic Paint, acrylic ink, stencils and moulding paste.

You can’t really see the relief on the big picture so I took a couple of detail pictures to show it off. It makes a lovely textured surface – I really love texture!

And you know what – I haven’t played blending for ages! So I just had to try a little blend here! I really like how this one turned out. What do you think?

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to you all! This post has been a long time coming, but December was a totally chaotic month with so much going on that I scarcely had time to breathe! However… January is here now, and I have started creating art again! In fact I spent most of New Year’s Day painting up in my studio – what a great way to welcome in the new year!

I created 2 images on recycled cardboard and 5 journal pages in my recycled journal. I had a bit of trouble getting my scanner to work after it’s long rest, but the perseverance paid off! I created this piece using recycled cardboard, acrylic paint, stencils and spray paint.

I’ll post the rest of the images over the next few days as soon as I’ve finished processing them. (I’m busy struggling to write an essay for my course at the moment!) So keep watching this space.

Out of the Darkness!

I haven’t created my postcards yet, but I have been producing some extremely dark art as a result of the emotions released by my studies and the therapy I have started as a course requirement.

It started with this piece, created after my first therapy session last Thursday. Although I could have chosen an Art Therapist, I deliberately chose to go to a talking therapist as I felt it would be too easy to evade my deep buried issues using Art Therapy. I might have known that I couldn’t get away from the art that easily. After therapy I had this compulsion to paint, and this was the result – created on recycled cardboard from our move using acrylic paint.

On Friday we went to Nottingham to see ‘Art in the Asylum’ – an exhibition of ‘Outsider Art’ at the Djanogly Art Gallery in the Lakeside Arts Centre. The exhibition was incredible! (Unfortunately today is the last day) I have seen reproductions of much of the art that was exhibited, but to be able to see the original artwork was totally awesome. It was a very emotional journey for me and I created this piece in response to my feelings.

I thought I was done with emotional painting for this week, but then last night my daughter messaged me with a link to the ‘Bedlam’ series that was shown on Channel 4 (UK) last Thursday. The first episode was entitled ‘Anxiety’, and I never dreamt that I would have any problems watching it, but by the end of the screening I was an emotional wreck! This image is my interpretation of how I felt.

In case you’re worried, I do have very secure support systems in place to help me cope with the process …and I have been producing some lighter pieces as well – I’ll post them just as soon as I think they’re finished.

More Notan!

I’m finding this Notan quite addictive… so here’s another one.

I cut this one a bit differently. Instead of folding the paper into four before cutting, I only folded it in half; and rearranged a couple of the pieces to break the symmetry. I wasn’t sure which way up it should go, but I think I prefer it with the straight edge to the left. What do you think?

I’m still busy scanning some of the smaller cardboard pieces I created a while ago, so here’s a couple more.

I created this piece on recycled cardboard using acrylic paint, acrylic ink, stencils and homemade stamps.

This is another piece on recycled cardboard created using acrylic paint and acrylic ink. But this one was calling to be blended…

…this is the result – quite dramatic, don’t you think?