Anticipation
I’m really grateful for the inspiration I have had from Effy Wild and Sarah Trumpp this year. This page was inspired by both of them. The idea for the spread came from my response to Effy’s Book of Days prompt for the 29th April, and Sarah’s week 18, Journal 52 video inspired me to try drawing with my watercolour paints.
Although it’s not perfect, I’m just loving the result and will definitely be using this technique again. Thank you both for your combined inspiration!
At last my postcards for the iHannah DIY postcard swap are ready to send.
Here’s a quick sneak peak at them before they start winging their way across the ocean.
This next image is a bit of digital wizardry.
It started out as a photograph of some bare stems in the evening light. I desaturated the colour to make it black and white, then inverted the colours. I really like how it turned out.
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!
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.
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?
Blending Summer Feet!
The last few times I’ve been out, I’ve been snapping pictures of summer feet…. and true to form – I wondered what they’d look like if I played a spot of digital blending with them.
I took two of my photographs, added an artwork scan and whizzled the blending buttons. I rather like the result – what do you think?
Riot of Colour!
Today was such a beautiful day, I went out for a walk with my camera. Everywhere was a riot of colour: roses, bluebells, campions, clover, wild garlic, buttercups and daisies, to name the few flowers I know the names of, all showing off their vibrant colours in the long overdue sunshine. I took over 100 photographs! – but you know me, that wasn’t enough, when I downloaded them onto the computer I had to play digital blending with them!
These are the three flowers that I played blending games with. I started off with the rose, then added the dandelion seed head, finishing up with the red grass like plant whose name I don’t know. Each flower was blended separately before I blended them together. Can you spot them in the final blend?
Funky Blending!
The other weekend we went to York to visit a friend and were taken to visit the city’s nature reserve. Always on the look out for a photo opportunity, I noticed these unusual plants growing just behind a bench and had to get down in the dirt to photograph them. Later, playing on the computer, I thought they would make a good subject for some funky blending.
I started with the photograph of the plants, then blended lots of layers of a scan of some leftover paint. By this time it was looking very funky, but the plants had disappeared. So I cut them out, duplicated them on top of the pile, and added some colour and blending to make them fit in with the rest of the picture. I’m very pleased with the result. What do you think?