Art Journal Spread

Haven't had much time for arty matters this last week or so on account of a rotten cold that knocked me for six but here's an art journal spread from just before the germs arrived:

A bit of old rusty tin!

Yep, a bit of rusty old tin, that's exactly what I'm sharing with you:



I picked this up as I walked up to meet M & E at dog agility this evening. See, to me, this is a rather gorgeous artefact that will be incorporated into a piece of artwork but to you, maybe, it's a rusty cigar tin lid worthy only of being thrown away! So, which is it to you?? Silly though this may sound, I look at this tin lid and I know that leaving my job is the right move! What say you??

AB Spread

This is my spread in an Alice in Wonderland altered book in the children's literature RR I'm taking part in. It's not a brilliant picture as I had to photograph it instead of scanning. I really enjoyed doing this although I'm sure everyone after me will curse at the 3D nature of the spread when they're trying to work on their spreads!

A few more spreads in my art journal. When I saw the donkey pic from a children's book illustration I just had to do a Shrek inspired spread! My daughter and I quote that line from the film all the time!

Metal Goodies

I thought I would share a pic of some of the goodies I've salvaged from FIL's sheds for arty purposes! This is a fraction of what we've brought home - FIL was an inveterate collector/salvager/recycler and his sheds have been a treasure trove for me. I'm not sure quite what he'd make of it all though, bless him!



The patch of dark on the left is a mass of Blakies - who remembers those? - all different shapes and sizes, they're going to be great to use. FIL had oiled them all to prevent them rusting so they had to have a good soapy wash! I adore copper and there's lots of it in different forms - sheet, nails, locks, wire of varying thicknesses, allsorts! The keys have the most beautiful verdigris on them. :o) I also have a collection of tins, different sizes and in varying degrees of condition which I can't wait to use. Any artwork I make with these items will, for me, be a fitting tribute to my FIL's tenacity.

Art Journal Spreads

Whilst doing battle with back pain this past week I have at least managed to spend some time working on spreads in my art journal and in lieu of anything else to share here they are! I won't go into lengthy explanations about any of them (my pain threshold for sitting at the pc is about to reach it's limit!), so if you have any burning questions feel free to ask!

Playtime

I spent some time tinkering about up in my art room this evening, flicking through books, sorting scraps and reorganising stuff. After a while I started playing with various bits I was unearthing and this is the result:



I'm not sure if it's a journal page or a collage or what, a combination of both maybe! Whatever she is it was a happy bit of no pressure playtime and may become one of my Arty meme pieces! No, I haven't forgotten!!

Cemetery Pics

In view of the lack of creating I've done this last week I thought I'd share some of the many cemetery photos I took in the cemetery in St Jean de Braye on my recent French trip. Even though it was pouring with rain I dragged my two long suffering friends round to gather inspiration for the cemetery theme I'm working on for Creative Journey.



This little glass cross was just lovely. the colours really pinged out on the dismal rainy day although this photo really doesn't do them justice.



I loved the yellow lichen on this stone cross.







These wrought iron crosses were really popular in the cemetery. It was difficult to get decent photos of them because of the backgrounds but I tried!



Another lichen photo! There lots of these ceramic ornaments on the graves, mostly floral, and although they're generally not my cup of tea I did love the way the green lichen was creeping over this one.



This reminded me of a wood block print!



These ornaments were really popular. I don't know what they're made of but I'm guessing it must be some sort of resin. Again, I didn't particularly like them but I love the idea of exploring my cemetery theme using resin. It's not a medium I've dabbled in before but I'm looking forward to investigating and getting down to some experimentation!

Altered Game Cards

In a week of so many other things, this was one of very few artful moments! I altered a couple of game cards to send to friends.

Necklace

Spent a little while this morning rummaging about in my lovely metal stores! :oD On a whim (oh, aren't whims just fab?!) I made myself this necklace:



I was in something of a strop when I went up to my art room this morning and making this has eased my mind considerably! I've got my appraisal (groan!) at work this afternoon and I shall be wearing this as a reminder to myself that I'm not a sheep and nor do I ever want to be! LOL

Poppies

In pursuit of getting back into the arty groove I sat in the garden this evening and had a sketching moment, drawing the poppies.

Chunky Book Pages & Sketch

It's SO long since I posted anything and at last I have have got down to some artiness and have something new to share. :o)

Last night I went to my friend Becky's for some art time and inbetween laughing hysterically about pasties (NOT the Cornish kind!) I managed to make three chunky book pages. Here are two of the pages:



No great shakes but it felt good to get back to actually DOING!

Inspired by meeting Anita Davies,chair of the Fenland Visual Arts Collective, earlier this week I decided to resurrect my abandoned policy of drawing every day in an attempt to improve my drawing skills. Today's effort was just too poor to show the world but this was yesterday's:

Watercolour

Whilst trolling around Sainsbury's fruit and veg section yesterday I was seduced by the gorgeous shiny aubergines and bought one with the express intention of drawing it! This morning I had a bit of a splosh about with the watercolours and this is the end result:



I had a slap dash brush moment hence the wee tail! It does look like it's floating in mid air too!

Charms

Haven't posted anything much of late as I haven't been doing much except some drawing and a few odd bits and bobs. Earlier this week I was asked if I'd like to join a charm swap being hosted by member of my Yahoo group and I felt like doing a little something so I decided I'd join in. ;o) These are my charms, the bases are threepenny bits nad sixpences. The scanner doesn't cope with scanning these knobbly babies very well but hopefully you'll get the idea!

AB Spread

This is my spread in the latest round of the Literatura Infantil AB RR I'm participating in. This time the book is The Weirdstone of Brisingamen by Alan Garner, which I didn't manage to read so was a little stumped as to what to do. After checking it out online I discovered that the stone of the title is part of a bracelet so I decided I would draw a hand and then add a bracelet. Voila!

I used acrylic paint as the background and then drew (again and again!) in pencil until I was relatively happy (there's still something a bit odd about where the fingers join the hand), went over it in pen and then this morning I hunted about and found some bits to make the bracelet with. I've no idea what colour the stone should be although I gather it is a tear drop shape so hopefully Alis (whose book this is) will allow me this bit of artistic licence!!

Drawing

My last Kiss Me Kate drawing is a sketch of the opening set for the show. The perspective is a bit cockeyed but if you've not seen the stage you'd never know!

Drawing

This is the second day in a row that I've drawn something. :o) Another backstage Kiss Me Kate drawing, this time of part of my messy table in the dressing room. I'm quite pleased with what I've done but feel more pleased about the fact that I did it in a room full of people, most of whom don't have an inkling about my artistic leanings. I didn't feel bashful at all, I just plunged in and it felt great!

Drawing

I fished out this little notebook today, I started using it for drawing purposes back in the New Year. I want to try and get back into a daily sketching habit again to try and improve my drawing skills and so I whipped my book out in the dressing room tonight and drew this rivetting subject - the bottle of Febreze for destinkying my costumes after the performance each night! No great shakes but just wanted to share the fact that I'm doing something creative again. FIL's death has made me reassess some of my thoughts about my creativity which I won't share here because I'm not entirely certain I could explain them adequately at the moment but this first little sketch, or rather the act of doing the sketch, is representative of how I've been feeling.

Altered Egg

I've got a few outstanding art commitments that I'm working on and this is one of them which I completed this afternoon - an altered Easter egg swap running on my Yahoo group. We were sent a little polystyrene egg each, they had a yellow/green paper covering with rabbits on and a little bit of yellow ribbon to hang them from. We could alter them in any which way we liked. I knew I didn't want to do anything glitzy, sparkly or sequinny and given that we've just inherited eight hens this is what I came up with:





The base is half of a cigar box that I gessoed and inked. I gessoed the egg and then painted it with acrylic paint, hacked off the end with my craft knife and used more acrylic for the inside and the yolk on the spoon. Then I just wired the egg cup and spoon to the box base. It was a little difficult to get a decent picture but this is pretty much the best of the bunch!

Kilt Pin

It's so long since I posted anything on here! On Wednesday I decided to have a break from funeral arrangements and have some arty time at my friend, Becky's. I made this kilt pin for a swap I'm in on a Yahoo group. It was good to distract myself for a few hours and I enjoyed making it.