splodges

Foiled again

2012-02-12T10:04:00.000-08:00

Foiled over with a paint programme

Doing the same with the above picture helps me see where I would like to go with my painting expessions.

Above an unaltered oil pastel sketch.

My painting dried badly, but I will add some mixed media to it.I maybe might even tear bits of it up and play around with it as collage.
Sometimes a lot of times paintings just look like the hand has been attached to something else.Anyway all is not lost .Sometimes a bad painting is just a starting point .Hopefully.Two steps forward one back.

a little birdie says

2012-02-11T12:54:00.000-08:00

A little birdie says "soon be spring".

Winter reflection in print

2012-02-10T12:34:00.000-08:00

I stared into the reflection of the print on the wall .I saw the blinds the silhouette of the potted grass in the print image itself and decided to draw what I actually saw.
Afterwards I painted it wet on wet watercolour and after that mucked around on the paint programme.All fun really.
Regarding my carrier bag layering I saw on Art for Housewives( my favourite website)
Embroidered carrier bags ,which is very interesting.
I think from my point of view I would want to layer up the bag until it could support a dollop of paint.

Oh and an idea for used flossie sticks...use them for hairpin crochet?Could it be done?

Layers .Union Jack onion bag sewn on carrier bag

2012-02-09T07:13:00.000-08:00

Below.scrapbook page

Top.Sewn Onion bag and Brussel sprout bag on carrier bag- layering up and probably painting it afterwards.

adding the stamp to the bottle

2012-02-08T09:51:00.000-08:00

Maybe I could add a stamp here and there to a painting a collage.Then play with the experiment with a paint application.
Experimenting with colour feels liberating.I have discovered a love of brown !

Altered Children's Annual

2012-02-07T10:09:00.000-08:00

Layering paint and torn labels and wrappers, I merrily carry on carrying on with my altered book

Lemonade bottles for herbs

2012-02-06T11:11:00.000-08:00

I am saving old bottles for herbs.If I use the plastic bottles I can have a little door to get at the pot.
Jars are being saved as pickle pots or posy pots and pen pots.
Still I am trying to finish those altered books.Instead of throwing away labels I will use these as collage materials to add to my paintings.
I have well to be honest a lot of rubbish I have been holding on to for collage so there is nbo excuse I don't even like to use scissors so one less excuse to experiment..

ice ice girlie

2012-02-05T13:22:00.000-08:00

We are all ice ice girlies today so we have enjoyed the warmth of a nice fire and a good book.How we lose time dreaming or reading.

union jack onion bags

2012-02-04T16:18:00.000-08:00

Tonight I sketched onions with the Union jack flag printed on it. Interesting exercise.

torn envelope booklet

2012-02-03T11:01:00.000-08:00

mirrored bookie I call Lamp

a wasp meets a bumble bee maybe?

Cover the corrugated

my little envie bookie

I found my little booki made from envelopes.I think it is time to make another stash of envelopes for another book.I like the torn edges .Oh and the ribbon.

Fill up a notebook with jottings

2012-02-02T11:31:00.000-08:00

The light is poor and even if it is sunny it is too cold to paint outside.The solution is to draw ,scribble, fill up a cheap notebook with jottings , with undo-able wild ideas.Go with the feeling of acting childishly creative.
I always like to look at paper dolls and delicate mobiles fluttering across a small window.
Maybe the answer is to add a very small daub of paint to hint the vibrancy of something like a vase one flower.

While painting , perfection cannot be grasped everyday or any day by my hand .
An overworked painting is what I end up with.
Perhaps another way to get over the feeling od same ol same ol is to go out and buy something small a posy , a bunch of daffodils , bring in the fronds of ivy to drape over a small wine glass.I don't know if any of it will work when a person like me just yearns for a bit of warm to curl up and read.While the muse is off flirting somewhere else, maybe a toolbox a sewing box or a laundry basket will be the ideal landscape to draw.

whittling the wherefores

2012-02-01T11:20:00.000-08:00

I painted -it dried hurray.
I have whittled my paints down to three tubes.These will not dry out and will get used daily.
Whittling down the whys and wherefores seems a good way of managing a new month of ideas.Keep it Simple I remind myself.
Keep on keeping on is my only advice.

oil pastel over onion washes

2012-01-31T11:15:00.000-08:00

I am begining to lay vegetable washes adding to this more washes in paint and oil pastel.I am not sure where I will go with it all or if it will make a good enough image.Trial and experimenting is exciting.

2012-01-30T11:00:00.000-08:00

My first couple of Altered Annual pages are dry and I am going to add more to them in layers.It's all a bit of a challenge.

2012-01-29T09:53:00.000-08:00

Splash bowl always catches my eye.

watercolour and vegetable waters

2012-01-28T12:55:00.000-08:00

What I did was use my watercolours but used a brush washed in vegetable waters.The result was interesting it gave a much richer hue.The photo of the leaf is my little imaginary leaf boat.All I need is Pooh Sticks.

2012-01-27T07:25:00.000-08:00

drawing childish things helps pass the time.

2012-01-26T12:08:00.000-08:00

I have some ideas and inspiration from Mark Leach's wonderful book Raw Colour with Pastels.I really wanted to get out those oil pastel stumps from under the sink and muck about.I am very glad that I did.

I will do a bit of justice with all the pencils my grown up children left behind.Why do I keep so much of the stuff.It is usually small stuff and what with my grandson growing out of toys and books he has here too.I am stuck for ideas.The altered annual is again being worked on.
I noticed how the empty washing up bottle has a curved doll's body shape this afternoon.

Still have not used my ideas for the carrier bags.I know what I want to do.Anyway here is my oil pastel efforts.

alterations after painting rubbish

2012-01-25T06:29:00.001-08:00


Happy Burns Night.		Cabbage water on Oil pastels			Below adding to an awful painting I try and turn it into abstract.

2012-01-25T06:29:00.000-08:00

on our wall is our grandson's real artwork

2012-01-24T09:33:00.000-08:00

I over painted my oil pastels with cabbage water that dries a nice shade of blue.earlier I did attempt to post up pictures but they failed the pc froze again.It's been not the best of days but I have a few ideas for poems.

oiling the well

2012-01-23T12:59:00.000-08:00

Here is to oiling the well so to speak .Using oil pastel to experiment and move beyond the usual..

inspiration from B Barber.

2012-01-22T10:43:00.000-08:00

My husband picked up a Barrington Barber book on drawing so I have started again with still life.This afternoon sketching took my mind off my swollen cheek.Having some sort of virus lays a person low.Drawing is soothing.

still experimenting with vegetables and cold tea./

2012-01-21T12:26:00.000-08:00

I put a negative application over the photo of the fruit bowl..I like how it looks rather more blue tined.Though my paintings usually lack a lot of blue I delighted in these experiments..I will use red cabbage waters again, and cold tea.
The bottom painting I used a fopil application on the pc.It was a freestyle flower painted again with cabbage water,What I like about this use of vegetables is that is readily available , it is non toxic, and it doesn't have a powdery feel when dried.I can layer the vegetable liquids and the teas on different washes.
I really think most of my problems stemmed from wanting to do things properly , the , "It's too precious approach" never works with me, posh papers, to posh ingredients when cooking ,or even textiles.
Now I approach the spam junk mail as if it is the only chance I will get to express that day.See what happens is my only advice to anyone recycling .

painting with cooked vegetable water and tea

2012-01-20T13:43:00.000-08:00

Have a bit of trouble uploading my pictures.Above a photo play with vases.

So I know that red cabbage water is a lovely blue shade for painting tea is an orchre or yellow as with onion skins water.I use raspberry leaf tea for a red hue.Experiments with vegetable cooking waters are now a joy.

collage over the old

2012-01-19T11:49:00.000-08:00

The beginnings of a page from a child's annual.Have no idea where the direction will go,I had thought of a book themed in green.

An altered art book that has done it's journey comes to light again from insides a dark corner.

A screwed up ball of pulped newspaper I daubed on.I do this sometimes with pulped paper which has been recycled.

wet on wet watercolour experiments are fun.

when you are drained-doodle

2012-01-18T07:24:00.000-08:00

Sometimes maybe if you feel drained- January is for making marmalade, pulling down decorations.
It drains a person sometimes.Maybe you feel the urge to doodle rip up paper and make collage.Or scribble circles.Write lists and sing loudly and out of tune.

begin again

2012-01-17T13:27:00.000-08:00

repeat pattern

sheepdip I call this above picture I don't know why.

Weird I named this one.It is the same painting fly dotted and old but my paint is wet and so I begin again.I am looking for pencil inspiration but turn back to paint.I daubed some paint on an old children's annual which i will use as an altered sketchbook.That too is still wet.
Begin begin again.

got to doodle the moment

2012-01-16T11:03:00.000-08:00

The photo you take isn't perfect.
I have been crying, joy or sorrow it doesn't matter probably a mix of both.
I am red my nose is red .My eye bags have returned because I did not sleep, because my mind raced because I awoke twice because of a disturbance outside.
It doesn't matter
blah blah.
Or as my grandson says
Ra Ra.Everything is RaRa.
Maybe you feel just the same way.Everything off kilter.
You are not where you want to be or
with who you'd want to be with.
You have to take the high road instead of the low road.
What can you do?You dare not cry.
Can you imagine a doodle in the shape of a little hope? the cherished desire? the place?Maybe.Maybe change the way you look at the whole picture.
Doodle with the thought the dream the idea.You have nothing to lose.

I think

2012-01-12T10:44:00.000-08:00

I think we are all practicing art in some way or another.To know this and keep this in mind, helps me. Whether we are colour coordinating our washing on lines or drawing squiggles in the sugar bowl.
If we mend, if we wear make up .If we make a meal.
Because we notice , are aware or unaware we create.
Just by getting up, flicking on the kettle getting dressed we are artists.
Creatures of habit we are all players actors , whistlers ,singers.This is what is great.When I imagine my grandchildren acting or singing or drawing, I feel energised.When I see my daughters bake or make things I feel energised.

I haven't done it yet.

2012-01-11T11:51:00.001-08:00

I have so many ideas, I have not done any of it .Yet!
Scribbling with pencils. My lil un.

Now I was tidying up and noticed an Old Birket Foster flyer for an exhibition from 1999
how I wish I could paint like that artist or at least have a picture of the garden gate and Lilac on our wall.

squiggles

2012-01-11T07:13:00.000-08:00

I think I am going to try squiggling in the squares of the calendar this year.Or making little motifs on till receipts and carpark tickets.All those little items that clog up a pocket in my brown handbag.
Maybe I will get my grandson to make me some paper scrolls out of the junk mail.
Is there treasure in rubbish?
Well this year I will find out.
I rather like the idea of getting a postage stamp framed , it is on the envelope my daughter's card came in.
I thought of inseting it in the silver locket as it is of the Madonna and Holy babe.
As the children's tv presenter says ,
"frame it!!"

drawing with eyes closed

2012-01-10T11:07:00.001-08:00

Drawing with eyes closed visulaising the idea the dream is fun.It might not look like a drawing of anything much, but it feels freeing.
Or I could scribble and add to anything I do envisage.Again not anything to actually see in one's idea of something.A bit like removing the lead of proper or perfection.

doodling with pen

2012-01-09T07:28:00.001-08:00

doodling then a print from an iron over a sandwiched carrier bag between paper
mirroring a sketch
and another doodle with ink
and a collage mirrored.

This gives me an idea to have a note pad especially for those times I doodle while waiting.Imagine a notebook with a year's worth of scribbling.With dates .Social history of another kind maybe.

stuff and nonense?

2012-01-08T11:56:00.001-08:00

Turfing out old paintings applying applications.

Remembering my experiments with collage

Playing with new stuff.I make the day a nonsense with scribbling and seeing what exactly is that I can move or change.
Scribbling helps.
I urge anyone to have a bit of a scribble.

scribbling with pencils

2012-01-07T12:16:00.001-08:00

Pencils are just so easy to use while I am waiting for the almond flour chocolate muffins to bake, I am just scribbling away the boredom and the time.
Them for extra fiddling I foiled one .

ten green sketchpads hanging in a bag

2012-01-06T10:50:00.000-08:00

I am mirroring my sketches again.
I am sorting out my ten sketchbooks that hang on a brass doorknob outside the bedroom .I am trying to see what and where I can use them.Otherwise they are recycling material.
Is this making effort effort to try something new?

After opening up a new calender I liked the envelope.I see where the possibilities are with this.
One throw it away...no way.
two.Throw it into the blue wheelie bin for recycling.
three .Oh maybe the most likely paint it up then use the envelope to hold recipes or patterns.
This is a piece of fabric sewn and painted then using a negative application I played with this .

A quick sketch of the tv remote while my grandson played on the ps 2.
I looked up naturally made watercolours today £15... aged for 4 to 93 why is 93 a cut off age?
I want a palette.

Often at odds with the sketcher within

2012-01-05T12:16:00.001-08:00

I must remind myself to clean the scanner glass!

Sometimes at odds with the sketcher or scribbler within,I have to begin somewhere.I have to scribble or splodge .I have to allow myself off the lead.If I don't go anywhere all well and good it's practice it is running around the running track.In my experience with drawing or painting each time I face the sketchpad or paper , it is the first time.It is never a matter of practice makes perfect ever ever, in anything I do.
My mirrored dragon of the sketch I uploaded yesterday.A proud beastie.
Scribbles are allowed me thinks.Maybe I will add watercolour later.

surrounded by books

2012-01-04T11:58:00.001-08:00

I am I suppose surrounded by books.I might say the sketched girl above is looking down on a pile she has at her feet.
This was mirrored from the above.Watch the birdie was the phrase my grandparents used to say when they caught us on photos, usually it was Joe and You had to watch Joe, because his eyes turned yellow just before he sharpened his beak.A streak of green and then ,Ouch!

Now this watercolour had a foil application then I mirrored it too and I found a Chinese dragon, strange that.I will post up the dragon later.
I hope it is good luck to find one unexpected .Now I have to look see when Chinese new year is.

trip through howling gales

2012-01-03T11:22:00.001-08:00

begining with the imagination

2012-01-03T01:25:00.001-08:00

Right now I am sat up in bed , my sketchbook is in the other room.I start to imagine the pencil floating over cool white paper.I have no idea where it will take me.
I do not think I will use paints .
Just now a ghost -like image of a rabbit in my mind's eye.A pencil is the portal into another layer of imagination and where I explore this afternoon is already tweaking my whiskers.
A granny needs her whiskers.

begining with the imagination

2012-01-03T01:25:00.000-08:00

Right now I am sat up in bed , my sketchbook is in the other room.

the scanner as the background

2012-01-02T12:24:00.001-08:00

above last painting I named Tregal.Sometimes I like the names for my sketches more than the sketch.

I used the scanner as background for a collage of things I had beside the computer, and while I scanned I sketched Georgie.Sometimes I have to work through the void, the rubbish the monkey chatter , paint spam lids and look forward.
My scanner needs a jolly good clean.

moodle and doodling

2012-01-01T09:28:00.001-08:00

Here I painted up my soap box.I will have to decide what to do with it now.
Like all junk mail I am usually undecided what lengths I can go with scrap paper.

Reminds me of our lil un
My mirroring experiment while I am burning my green beans and scorching the breast of duck.
As I frequently do let water boil dry in our cheap but new saucepans, I think I could sketch while waiting for food to cook,I bake I do not cook lol.

I think about the best cooks how they never leave anything but dirty plates and smiling faces and full bellies.
If only painting could be the same.
A great new year day spent eating shed-loads of nuts.Hubby has cleared the decorations.Hopefully my nose will stop itching.

A little flutter of paper.

2011-12-31T09:26:00.001-08:00

I want to wish a Happy New Year to everyone face to face but it isn't possible so I sketch a doodle.

A bit of a bimble with a thimble sized pencil.

curry no soap.

2011-12-30T12:36:00.000-08:00

A curry was made today from the bits and bobs that are wilting beside the stove in the kitchen.
Brussel sprouts do not go well in a curry and neither do they cook well in a microwave.

Using the using up left overs theme I took a soap packet and the paints that my hubby was going to use on a folk art ornament looked too good to pass up.Nest there was a Corned beef tin lid which looked at least square and that got a splurdge of paint, which is still drying but looks wet look which I adore.Oh then lastly the cover off a box of chocs was an interesting surface to practice on.
Actually I lie .
I put the purple paint tube in my left hand, while my daughter was talking about a problem she had had with a neighbour.
Oh then my hand which is untrustworthy when it comes to squeezing tubes , then squeezed out half a tube of paint.
My daughter grabbed a damp sponge to wipe off my sweater and I used up the paint on the lid because I could hardly cover whole pages with purple however much I like the colour.

rainy windy thursday

2011-12-29T10:31:00.001-08:00

I do not do hands.Today I went in search of hands in artwork.I noticed two things, one and that was a lot of hands are sketched wearing mittens.
And two , they are often abstract.
It is a rip roaringly wet and wildly windy day.Not the day to look at the ivy growing rampant over fencing or watching the conifers doing benders and high kicks.

pencil mucking

2011-12-28T14:38:00.001-08:00

While talking over a problem with my daughter I was pencil mucking.Then I had a go at painting a bit of purple paint.My hand started squeezing though and my jumper was covered with paint.That reason alone is why I would like to return to pans.The pencil idea attracts me too at the moment.No muck no mess.

more mirroring

2011-12-26T11:12:00.001-08:00

tea towels
Boxers
Socks
all in a day's mirror and finding out where mirroring takes me.A bit like reading Alice in Wonderland, not.

It isn't always about using the best.

2011-12-26T10:10:00.000-08:00

I would like to think while creating something artsy, or even through expression , the process is not about using the best of materials though it might be nice or ideal.
How many of us want to make a hat coat or trinket, only to find the fabric textile is not available.
So do I leave these ideas festering?
Or do I jump in and make a mess?
It is about using what is to hand I hope.
What is freely available??
I am jostling with a few ideas regarding the use of junk mail.Until I actually sit down and begin,I will feel an aversion to this beginning.

Marry Christmas.

2011-12-25T05:03:00.001-08:00

Merry Times! Merry Christmas!

My daughter is cooking it smells divine.We were talking about Robin the scrap man taking the tv away for free though he doesn't usually pick up tvs.They talked my daughters about recycling metals.I told them i found a flattened gold Creole earring behind the truck and then threw it in the front garden , for what would i do with it?
I looked for the earring just now it isn't there though it was yesterday .Was the finder the postman or a magpie?I asked my daughter what Magpies did with shining objects she replied it was to attract a mate.
My reply a bit like a woman then .
Am I bothered ?
Not really it was not my earring anyway a finder who throws it away cannot begrudge a magpie or a post person for picking up found object gold.I am not like my neighbour who had collected a bag of bits and broken bobs of gold and silver .
It feels good it created a little movement in our patch of front garden.Movement is energy and energy is needed in this road.
Movement is art.

Where did my post go?

2011-12-24T09:04:00.000-08:00

I don't know where yesterday's post went.

Peace love light and laughter to everyone.

I am having fun thinking of a way to create a Christmas table using Natural greenery from outside.Ice sculptures from the freezer.

I threw away my paints that were drying out and will try more scribbling with pencil.

I suppose it is a fun chance to allow imagination to flow as it will.
So far gifts for the weekend has been in nature
A Magpie that stole my attention as it flew across a pink marbled sky.
The tall chimneys that skimmed the peach dusk between the Silver Birch trees.
A robin chirping in the back garden .
A branch of White opening Iceburg roses in our front garden.
An illuminated clump of grass in the lawn.
A goose feather given to me from a towpath along a canal by my husband found in the corner of the dining room..
Some gifts cannot be purchased.
If I had to fill up a stocking I ask myself what could I put into the stocking .

A Japonica flower?
A stone from a road in the peak district ?
A small packet of sand from our sacred beach?
a dried Poppy seed head
A large conker with a etching on it?
A dried red Rose?
A skeleton leaf?
A blue cockle shell with a tiny painting of Sam on it.
a grass woven ring.

2011-12-22T12:52:00.000-08:00

With my little visitor arriving everyday to chat away the hours with us .I cannot paint really read much.
I live for the moment.Today he created a Christmas board game and his ideas for it were quite wow where did that idea come from.I am not often awed.
When he goes home I try to expand my paintings using graphically enhanced applications to whatever I have managed or not managed to do.Sometimes surprised how a simple pencil sketch can be varied more than an actual painting, turned, twisted , or mirrored I follow my sense of how I would like my finished artwork to look .
That is about it.As honestly as I can tell it .I arrive at the finish feeling satisfied or at least I have learn't something.
Something along the idea that I do not create art something else does.
I feel that way about anything created , my poetry for instance works better when I go blank when I don't try , to work it.
Mostly most of it lacks the finish but sometimes I am taken back.Not often, I admit but sometimes I think did I really do that or did I memorize it?
I believe I drift on this thought that ideas spring from a common well.How artists or people in general express it is the real challenge.
There that's it, an naive artist statement of sorts.
On another note....

Oh last year we had a black cat sleeping out in all weathers beneath our hedge.It was adopted eventually not by us but a neighbour's mother.This Christmas week a white cat has made it's home in the same hole in the hedge.I wonder how long I should wait until I contact animal rescue.Snowy revisited.

warmer winds by far

2011-12-21T13:40:00.000-08:00

It is warmer I am aware now that the evenings will begin to lighten.Tonight a rare warm wind chased away my doldrums.
The local streets look queitly quaint.
I am going to put the Christmas postage stamp with The Virgin Mary that my daughter posted to us, in my silver locket.
I love small miniature paintings and would dearly like to paint so delicately alas as this blog title goes dreaming is as near to a quest as the far side of the sun.

ping pong with a paintbrush

2011-12-20T23:51:00.001-08:00

Sometimes when I am painting , it is a little bit like playing Ping pong the muse goes everywhere but where I want it .It will fly everywhere but the table.Onwards and upwards...
Whoever wrote carry on carrying on , wrote that well.
I had to resort to painting some extra Christmas cards last night.I enjoyed the process but was a bit iffy about the finish.I think I love process but often the finish isn't what I envisage.

Tango with a pencil

2011-12-18T23:58:00.001-08:00

I suppose this is a Tango somewhere between pencil and computer art.
I suppose this is where I am at .

I do not know what's with the eyes, or the eye thing.Maybe I was inspired by the recently read book Daughter of Smoke and Bone.Things come out somewhere like the other day some pattern I put into my work reminds me of a similar pattern on the net curtains in the kitchen.

So here is to flittering one's muse with a tinkering pencil.It may be scribbles this week or it may just lead me astray.Can one lose one's self with a pencil?

Or in a mirror of a Summer sketch in Watercolours? I will find out.

learning is fun.

2011-12-18T12:09:00.000-08:00

I think I hope I am learning more.Next week it will be walzing with a pencil .I am moving two steps forward one back.I know now if i run out of a colour I can add it afterwards.I can have fun with old paintings while paint dries.I can really allow a sense of freedom to enter into a moment.

boo hoo to ink

2011-12-17T09:59:00.001-08:00

Boo hoo to inks.I wanted some more paints but I did not get the ink I wanted or the paints so this week after throwing out my tubes last night, I will have to use pencil oil pastel or pencil.
I suppose now is the best time to flick throufgh old books to use for big paintings.
I will need large brushes bold outlines and a lot of bluff
I like the above design I call this butterbird as it reminds me of birds and butterflies.

snowing Urgh

2011-12-16T05:37:00.000-08:00

I look out and look in...Snow?Can I try and paint that?

Wonder of wonders

2011-12-15T14:42:00.001-08:00

Wings of a cloud
Wonder of wonder in the moments of play.No outcome expected just turning up brings it's own reward.
I call this crown

This is called Fountain of joy

Wild Wednesday

2011-12-14T07:20:00.001-08:00

My watercolour framed , painted indoors as it is a wild Wednesday.Wind flicks the pages over as I paint in winds outside.I do not enjoy painting inside.
My watercolour altered , played with ,

The same painting mirrored with applied negative application.

I don't think I should be altering so much, but it is a learning curve.It Allows me to see what more I can do with my paintbrush.I do like to apply thick paint,I do try to stop at trying to make it special.It has to be a case of experimental media.Two steps forward one back.

turning another page in December

2011-12-13T14:49:00.000-08:00

Ochre and yellow mirrored harps.
I am painting my way out of a grey December.I do not do winter very well.So I lose myself in colour the image does not matter.I run out of yellow then blue then red so all that remains are burnt sienna burnt umber and black.
Sometimes sketching something just becomes circles inside circles.Then something hints, a certain whisker is tweaked.I am still waiting for the roll.
I mirrored my painting.
I call this squid.

The only thing about December is a certain new beginning, a letter Z .The book stack beside my bed and the grey skies being easy on the eye.

painted packaging

2011-12-12T12:15:00.000-08:00

Heart
Mont
Bird
The above splodges were all painted on packaging.I had no idea what to paint so let a sketch with paint suggest itself to me.

Sometimes it is okay to let go with colours.

watery

2011-12-11T09:11:00.000-08:00

Mirroring an empty cup on a watery day , finding the joy in some kind of fog
Maybe an ugly bug, maybe burnt rice smells.Or trying to imagine the waterfalls you visited as a child.
Rain sounds more gentle .
Or seeing rain drenched birds in trees remembering Joey.

misty moon's inspiration

2011-12-10T11:32:00.000-08:00

A few months ago I would have not even considered doing so much with junk mail I mean it was throw away recycling stuff.Now I see very differently.I look at every scrap to find it's use.I have no space for storage so I cannot keep much but I can give it an extra bit of life.

Not exactly moon shadow I know but as I stare up at the moon waiting for paint to dry I thought I would have a go at more computer altered junk mail art.
Framing this on the computer , I feel I can reuse the ideas.
Experiments with one page of junk mail art on the computer.I think I can gain inspiration under the misty moon once again.

watching geckos

2011-12-09T14:40:00.000-08:00

Tonight I noticed Neon Lightning Thunderkiss is shedding her skin.Again! Why did she do that because I sketched her?This was a pencil sketch I outlined and I used a plastic application to enhance.

I do love texture .I love thick paint .Oh and melted wax .If I wanted to applique I would like to use tweed fabric but we never find it or fabric shops anymore.
I am learning to love cabbages too.I have changed mashed potato side servings and now serve mashed cabbage.Red cabbage cut open is the most beautiful inside.Like henna band tattoo patterns.

Oh and yellow snails.I used a foil application though because I over did the yellow.

more supermarket junk mail

2011-12-08T11:42:00.001-08:00

More supermarket leaflets drop through the door.They are poor quality but deserve attention.I will first paint them in poster paint.
Add a few collage bits like chocolate wrappers stamps till receipts.I will use these just for extra thickness , lines that can be seen over the painted paper.
There is no use in using anything other than collage or paint with this junk mail.I wanted to continue drawing.

Drawing or scribbling did not last long.Actually it is difficult to stay away from using colour and though I scribble sometimes drawing from the source so to speak just ends up as circles in spirals.If I was to continue I do not know if I will come up with anything which is how I think about my poems.I cannot think before I start I have to do something even if I think it looks or sounds daft.Process?I am not sure if it is even progress.If I get proper about it all the waste bin will be filled in no time.I have to start wildly.

There is a little person in this orchid like flower , it looks like a person doing a yoga asana.
I just mirrored my paintings in the above frame and added a bit of texture.
This a scribble could not be mirrored and my first thoughts were "Oh change it"
followed by some unhelpful expressions.
Scribbling mindlessly can pull one up short.So I painted it in vivid livid red.
Then to add a point I moved my focus away and added a curl to the ram's head.Enough said .

proper painting time

2011-12-07T14:16:00.001-08:00

Just me the music, the colours and the paintbrush.I switched off and forgot everything else for half of an hour.

I scribbled this and overlaid it with a bit of paint.I splodged on the paint a bit thick.
My memories of canoeing in ball point and then with a stone application.I have to learn to forgive myself for mistakes in my sketchbook it has to be sometimes things felt and not seen.
I went a bit daft with the graphic alterations foil etc.Still I like this as well as the orginal sketch, well I can live with it because I like folk art roses .
Oh! and pears.

enjoying

2011-12-06T07:18:00.001-08:00

I added a foil application to my painting.I don't know why I suppose it is similar to never wanting to actually finish a painting then spoiling it.
I put a negative application to the same painting and mirrored it.It was all fun.

rainy monday

2011-12-05T14:03:00.001-08:00

I called this Clover.
My scribble bird.

Mucking about with mirroring I have a kind of silly time.

wet and cold sunday

2011-12-04T11:51:00.001-08:00

A two min sketch of my boots -I have shrank in. I tried more boots on today, felt quite the pirate.Oh Arh!
Two min sketch of moi. Minus any eyebags and wrinkles

I adore my Poppies in the garden.They are like exotic dancers.Red lipsticks, Red Jellyfish
and red Wellies.Like Wings for Flying.

This photo above had had the works thrown at it.It is my sleeve mirrored.We have quite a few half faced photos.I jumped at the chance to use some in experiments.

toy train tracks

2011-12-03T10:46:00.001-08:00

I used a foil application on a line drawing it did not work.

I then look a pretty boring photo of a kids raiil track and had a bit of a play.It is more interesting now,I do not know why I seem to think of bats when I stare at it.
I am pottering off now to watch Merlin.

scribble experiments

2011-12-02T14:26:00.000-08:00

I scribbled around with oil pastels tonight because I either have a bad allergy to something or a streaming cold.I then scanned them and used a paint programme to see what I could do.
I am the constant drip at the moment I have used a whole toilet roll for my nose.I should have it around my neck .
The constant drip was a play our class had to do at school.It seems apt for tonight's downpour.Anyway enough dripping I am going off for a brew( of hot strong tea).

Loving the colours

2011-12-01T14:23:00.001-08:00

I know it is naughty to do too much in colourful graphics but at the moment when it is drizzling I want to think of walking into a fabric or craft shop and imagine I am looking at walls of colour.I will soak that imagery in.

Everywhere junk mail for art

2011-11-30T11:03:00.001-08:00

Some more junk mail artwork.The thing is do I keep it simple? or do I layer it?
There is just so much of it.
Everyday a new batch arrives and we have already signed a form asking for no circulars.We get charity bags through the door and adverts for new restaurants too many to mention.
To mention my handbag is full up with adverts and receipts, is embarrassing but if I am talking about scrap paper I may as well add that.
So apart from using pva glue how does it all get into a sketchbook?I used poster paint mostly with oil pastel and crayon.
I think by machine sewing the paper or layering it as a collage is more sturdy.The sort of junk mail paper is poor thin quality, sometimes though it isn't.

By turning off my instincts to put the whole bundle in the recycling bin,I have opened my eyes to what can be art.
How much rubbish can be made into art?Do I owe it to myself to try harder?
The question is When would I buy good art materials and good paper?
I find my trick of pretending it is some kind of paper of worth - it gives me a bit of added confidence.
My plant pot moss turned into a negative and mirror imaging.

Scrawling out my mangled efforts I go onward and upwards..

2011-11-29T06:09:00.000-08:00

Our late November poppies bloom

And I play with colour again.I mirrored this one.

scrappy experiments

2011-11-28T05:57:00.000-08:00

My scrap paper sketchbook experiment with graphic art.Somehow the middle reminds me of Blackpool tower.
Again with a different approach same sketch I used a stone application,I love orange so did not change the colour.
Alteration and love who wrote that again.I am exploring an idea , changing it to my limits.I suppose I could explore more though.
Reminds me of Merlin and the Dragon.
I just call this mask and before I outlined it it was a pencil sketch then I used the stain glass approach and mirrored it.Too much detail me thinks. Onwards and Upwards I proceed.

apples and pears

2011-11-27T09:28:00.000-08:00

Apples and pears today to experiment with.I had lots of fun.

a splurge of splodge

2011-11-26T11:22:00.000-08:00

One sketch four experiments splurging the Splodge so to speak.Yes I do like colour and in some way this reminds me of my love of lemons.I always run out of Yellow.

2011-11-25T14:52:00.000-08:00

Just doodling with buttons instead of paint is very liberating.
Carpet and art with so many applications I clearly lost my sense of self.

Sketch mirrored.Too many sketchbooks are depressing.Like diaries there are certain summers I was screaming colour other summers I was screaming mistakes.

wind is good

2011-11-24T12:08:00.001-08:00

My junk mail sewn up in a line painted and now dried.I think I will add some stamps and melted crayon.Using old paper bags tags and adverts for take away Cuisine I have had a bit of free fun.It could be better but at least it wasn't just thrown in the recycle bin.It also gave me food for thought which is a bit of a step forward.
Our spice shelf.I do love the treacle tins, of course curry and fairy cake cases.On top of the tin is a pair of small clogs my daughter gave us after her trip to Amsterdam.

Reverse side of splodged trash sketchbook.I used a big brush of course.The warm wild winds have dried our washing my paintings and the kitchen floor and blown away internal cobwebs.

Childhood view from Memory .

More changing than art

2011-11-23T13:52:00.000-08:00

I went outside in the dark and took some photos of things not seen.Once uploaded
I played around with a bit of graphics.Really cheating but you see my paint is drying.
Just twigs in the night time mirrored.
I still like to mirror my paintwork.It gives me food for thought.I think I am learning.The bottom change is a painting I have played around with so much.I think I will now delete it from my tray.

no cutting corners

2011-11-22T07:18:00.000-08:00

My Daughter's bits that are left behind in corners.I sprayed some Poem on the other day and felt I was just a little bit closer to her.Looking at her hand ,I ask myself where to place it.Michael Caine's autograph on a photo lurks beneath.
The Bindweed I like for it 's rampant pattern.
Top photo taken to the limits from a Starting point .
My other daughter's work tossed in her bin and taken out by me.I may paint it up in abstract.

more sketchbooks from trash

2011-11-21T11:35:00.000-08:00

In the kitchen I need some tea lights for our new lantern.

Dead leaves illuminated with a foil application look interesting.

My oil pastel painting
The Bonsai photo with a bit of Graphic art thrown at it.All while i wait for paint to dry and the gas men to return to fix the outside connections.Patience I keep reminding myself is a virtue.

I painted up some adverts today from the letterbox junk mail.It felt pretty good to splodge on red paint add till receipts and paper bags.I am always painting so what with my altered ex library book I still have to finish, and that I intend to make something with expression with what I have no option on receiving.
I will need more pound shop paint, more melted crayon wax, more collage materials all readily available from my handbag which is more like a waste paper basket with handles.
Also something else makes me wonder.Why do I pick up small stones?
I have already put back a small stash found in various jugs mugs and bags.My mum said she picks up stones too.What is it .I am not afraid of getting lost in the forest or anything.Time me thinks to liberate these small stones put them back into the soil.

boo bipity boo

2011-11-20T10:46:00.000-08:00

Boo bipity boo I just like mucking around.I did a sketch then added a stone application and It feels great to be messing about with my art stuff.

I am probably burning my low carb chocolate fairy cakes, still it will all be okay soon enough.
Glass is my favourite material for ornament.

I mucked around with this too.I like red.

foil wrapped ideas

2011-11-19T10:10:00.001-08:00

Ideas are foil wrapped but not oven ready.This one I call Mouse.
I like this one it looks festive no idea what to call him though.
My flowers do not need colour or foil.I lay on the colour too thick.

Turning photos over

2011-11-18T06:21:00.000-08:00

This is my favourite tree.I have no idea how old it is but I like it for the witches broom or hat or whatever they call it.Here I have given the photo a foil application.

Same as above but mirrored and now called Imp.
This is my goblin I call Lemon.Which is what one of my school teachers used to call me.I wonder why?

2011-11-17T07:09:00.000-08:00

Crazy play with graphics, the dramatic sky works.
Actually we have a real photo somewhere of a deep purple sky with white sand.It isn't a negative but this is, I like it.
The start of my adventures yesterday began with this overlaid watercolour above.

chilli cold

2011-11-16T11:24:00.001-08:00

It is a chilli evening.My paints are set in the sunshine option.
Cupboards are drying out nicely after yesterday.The radio is a wonderful tonight.
Pixi

Victorian bowl
The thermals

It is a lovely evening we are enjoying peace. Watercolours set to warm(need new tubes).Radio is inspiring.

No art in leaks

2011-11-15T14:12:00.001-08:00

Thia afternoon we had a rather serious leak in the kitchen.There is no art to dealing creatively with that sort of situation and it left me feeling floored by the speed it all happened.Luckily my hubby was not yet in work and dealt with the search for a plumber before he left.
I had to chuck out a lot of stuff.In the chaos around me I found some photos , good, bad, wet or ugly .
I dried these off and decided as I was in no mood for eating or painting I would have a crazy session experimenting on the pc.
I am pleased with my attempts so far.

Basically I do like the negative app and the foil app.
The experiments are helping me choose different colour choices than I usually take.The graphic art is helping me to liberate awful paintings or bad photos in new and exciting ways.
The watercolour above I like but I rarely if ever buy burnt umber or any kind of brown paint, preferring to make my own , however I am now swayed into having a bit of a change.

More cheating

2011-11-14T11:57:00.000-08:00

Girl on a seawall with Gull.
The cheating begins with colour , mirror and foil application.I call this crab and seaweed.

This is just like a cat's face wearing sunspecs to me.
It also appears like a small globes or drops of water.I still feel like a cheat but it is helping me explore new ways for expressing and an urge to buy and use new materials.
This is to me a idea of a collar or breast plate.I almost appear to see a moth on the upper most top of the painting.

This is crazy

2011-11-13T12:52:00.000-08:00

This crazy.This is cheating.I am having fun.
If fairies exist lol I reckon that they would basically be in for a bit of a game of hide and seek.

This to me is beyond the realm of good talent as art goes, but it is fun.
And all experiment.How far can I take a photo?Push it stretch it?

2011-11-12T11:50:00.000-08:00

This image I have posted before.I like the way the stones look like liquid gold.The alteration I posted way below.
This place has created many stories.I believe the house to date back to the eleventh century.This image looks scarier than the one below.
Today I have been playing around with old photos.I think it did me good.

This is the place where ideas flow into the Barrow.Actually it looks better in golden hues but I have posted this one up before and tried to paint it to discover what interests me so much about it.Of course it might be that it is rock shadow and water my elements of muse.

Friday is flying

2011-11-11T14:13:00.001-08:00

I enjoy the effects of negative applications.

I placed a stone app over my Dorothy sketch.I think it's an experiment.
Sometimes with a paint programme I can do a painting to death.However I like how these paint sketches came out.

Today the sky looked like snow of course it was not cold enough.Cold enough to dream of snow globes and painting Christmas cards though.Cold enough to paint blue Honeysuckle.

Painting with Vivaldi

2011-11-10T12:23:00.001-08:00

I painted over the pencil pattern last night while listening to Vivaldi.I forgot myself for an hour.
Another painting over-painted with Indigo watercolour .I had nothing to focus on while painting.So I went outside and picked some Feverfew Hypericum leaves and a single Rose and placed them in my grandmother's Cornishware fish water jug.

Another Yoga inspired splodge dug out of the cupboard.I like the colours not very happy about the Yogi.But I cannot win them all.Two steps forward and a learning curve me thinks.
I mirrored this watercolour .It reminds me of a heavy African cowrie neck-dress? I saw today and really wanted but, could not afford in a month of Sundays.
I am happy I experimented with the paint programme to change another painting.

Sketchbooks from trash in colour

2011-11-09T06:11:00.001-08:00

Above are sketchbooks made from packaging and junk mail and bits left around.
I adore poppies this painting is too big to scan.

Pastels there is nothing more mucky and as exciting as soft pastels.

under the hedge

2011-11-08T06:12:00.000-08:00

Caught this and mirrored it.I call it my half a sixpence mushroom.
I am beginning to be aware that there is always just half the pattern I am viewing.
Where I go with an idea is only a fraction of the creative process.
Under the hedge I found something I would like to pull up and paint.Instead I have taken a photo and mirrored some twigs of privet.
The fungi is growing large and there are quite a few dainty fairy rings over by the car.
I used a plastic process on graphics for the above photo.
This plant I like to make wreathes with at Christmas time, over an Ivy base.

2011-11-07T13:08:00.000-08:00

Vegetation in a wine glass and lantern.

cold but magical

2011-11-07T07:19:00.001-08:00

It is a cold and frosty day.This morning the ivy looked almost like Christmas decorations as it tumbled down the fence.So with the dreary light no more painting outside today.I decided to use something magical like the stained glass effect.
I need a bit of fairy lighting today.
What is with the fancy fungi beneath the privet I wonder?Strange do to see fungi in a dry place.

laugh out loud at museum setting

2011-11-06T11:40:00.001-08:00

Just a quick painting for a gap listening to the Lovely Paul O' Grady on Radio 2 while cauliflower is boiling.

Putting the camera , hubby not me on museum setting is not what I call success. Ah it was the same last night while we tried in vain to capture fireworks.
All we got was a pin prick of moon in a black sky x 12.
Then when I took photos of my " made from trash" sketchbooks , it all looked rather blurred.The computer got low on energy( didn't I just too?). Waiting?
Waiting for something to load up is a bit like waiting for a kettle to boil using no electric.
Two steps forward one back.
It is still Bonfire night season.Actually i think it is a syndrome for some .A man a few doors down has had fireworks and a bonfire every evening last week, and tonight too.