Postcard Swap

Life has been a little manic since my last post. But I couldn’t resist the call to the latest iHannah’s DIY Post Card Swap. If you love mail art and receiving beautiful works of art through the mail then you really should try it! Just click on the link above or the link button in my sidebar to join in the fun.

Since I started the Art Psychotherapy course just over a month ago, I haven’t managed to do very much art work at home – I’ve been too busy trying to get to grips with all the new information my brain has been receiving. But we do create art at uni as part of the course, and I photograph it. I still take photos on the occasional days out we have. And I still can’t resist the urge to do a spot of digital blending to see what happens.

This is the result of a digitally altered piece of artwork blended with a photo of an piece of underwater paving. But I have ten hand made postcards to create for the swap – so I’d better get busy creating! Keep watching!

New Start!

Today I have been getting ready for a new start. Tomorrow I start my Art Psychotherapy Masters Degree! I was hoping to do some painting today, but last minute form filling and organisation took over leaving me just enough time for a little digital blending but not much else!

A little digital blending and some photo manipulation created these wonderful psychedelic magic mushrooms!

Yesterday I played with another Notan design. This one has lots of faces in it. How many can you see?

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?

What is Notan?

One of the problems I’ve had during the move is that I haven’t had time to keep up with my daily blog reading list. I know I could have just marked my backlist as read and started again, but I’m glad I didn’t or I might have missed this post from Karen Isaacson about Notan. What is Notan? It’s a Japanese concept exploring the contrast between dark and light in relation to design. Maybe you’ve heard of it, but I certainly hadn’t and Karen’s post intrigued me. I went on a Google search to see what else I could find out. I found this lesson plan from Lotte Petricone very informative and was particularly intrigued by the idea of using the shapes asymmetrically.This article by Sharon Himes interested me with the parallels it drew to all art and design concepts.

But enough about the theory! As you must have guessed by now – I had to try it out!

This was my first attempt. I cut shapes out of a square of white paper then stuck them symmetrically round the square in exact reverse of their original cut out position.

This was my second attempt. This time I arranged the cut out shapes to reverse their original cut out position. I think I’m going to have a go at an asymmetrical arrangement next. Keep watching this space!

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.