Pssssstttt.....Do you wanna know a secret??

You must promise not to tell... but it is VERY exciting news........

Have you heard of a shop called That Craft Place?  If you haven't (where have you been??) I linked it... so go look......  It is Fab-U-Lous......  they have a page on Facebook which is where I got to know Lisa and Danny, and give them lots of money every month, and they are the nicest people you could hope to meet.......
They also have an Etsy shop for Digi's and a Challenge Blog.  Really.. go look... they have some amazing stuff.. for crafters and arters...... they are great......

Anyhoo... why the big write up for them... well....

I MADE THE DT!!!!!!!

Oh My Everything!!!!!!!  I have known for a week, but wasn't allowed to tell....... and I haven't stopped bouncing!!!!  I am soooo soooo thrilled!!!  I am all of a dither.. so excited.. Yayyyyyyyyy!!!!




Look.. I have a badge and everything.. it is official!!

The blog has some of the loveliest peeps I know on it.. a really smashing bunch and so much talent.... I am a little nervous at my arty throw-togethers being up there with them... but they picked me so I must be doing something right! :-)

I can't wait to get started..... the next challenge for the blog is 30th March (they run every two weeks) and there is oooodles of inspiration on their Facebook Natter and Chatter page........   Come join the fun!

I am off to bounce a bit more.....cos I can........ :-)


In other news....... Marcel (said in a French Accent) my mini manikin, has been busy painting down by the river.........

Have a fantabilous Sunday... the sun is shining and there is Creating to be Created......
See you all very soon. xxxxxx

Trying out new stuff.......

Hello!!
Been playing over the weekend with my new pens.... Graph'its, and the results are in.....  I LOVE THEM......

After selling my pro-markers cos they didn't like Mixed Media very much..... and after talking to loads of people, I went for a skin-tone set of the Graph'its as I was promised they were fully capable of Mixed Media work...... and they are!!!

I was also very excited by this Full Moons lesson in Moonshine, Effy produced such an amazing painting, I couldn't wait to have a go.. and she was using markers as the base.. so I was all set!

I only have the one set of markers (at the moment... I have my eye on many more!!!) but I only needed the skin colours for this painting.. so off I set and got at it... and I love the results... fabulous pens.. totally fabulous!

In the absence of a rainbow full of colours with the Graph'its... I used my Giotto markers for her hair, and Derwent Aquatones for the background.......

I also finished this over the weekend..... I think I like it... :-)

Lots of exciting things are occurring right now... (but more about then after I have gotten through tomorrow, when I am having a tooth brutally ripped out... LOL.. well.. I will be asleep, but right now I am panicking!)  So watch this space...... Plus I am about to start The Artists Way, a 12 week course from the book of the same name by Julia Cameron.. I have had a flick through and it looks  great.. but very personal... so not sure how much will get blogged about...... I might have to start a separate tab for it all.... then you can choose to read or ignore!

Right....  Off for my final meal.... roast chicken and all the trimmings.. making it a good 'un in case I expire from sheer fright tomorrow! LOL  If I make it... see you all soon....
Mwah! x

Totally in the style of.....

other artists! :-)

Good Morning Bloggers..... what a glorious weekend (well it was here!) Beautifully warm and sunny... I even put a sleeveless t'shirt on, and then sat and felt half nekkid all day without my normal three jumpers! LOL  Very chilly school run this morning, but the sun is out and looking like it might be another nice day.......  Yayyyyyy.. everything is so much nicer when the sun is beaming at you!

Couple of pictures for you today........  a bit of a step out of my box and comfort zone, but had lots of fun.

On Wednesday evening, my local art group had a demo, so I invited my mum along and off we went......Great evening... one of the demo-ers was a local artist called Ian Smith... and I fell in love with his style.....   he painted with acrylics and  didn't put any guidelines on the canvas at all.. just very loosely painted straight on, and then put all the ink and outlines in after depending on where the picture told him to put them... it was amazing!

I rushed home and got all excited and the following morning I had to play!

Now I am useless at thinking up stuff to paint (well I am if it wants to be easily recognizable!!) ... so I grabbed my book Trace and Paint Watercolour, and turned to a lovely picture by Terry Harrison of a door in a wall......  that seemed a nice starting point for this technique..... so with the picture to one side and a tray full of acrylic and loads of water... I started slapping paint around.........  when it was dry (Friday! LOL) I used a split lolly stick and some indian ink to put in all the detail.....  Lolly sticks are interesting to draw with... they go where they want! LOL  For my first try, I am not displeased at all!  Fine art it is not... but I will be using this method again!

 

 

Then... in one of those wonderful moments of total co-incidence......  I had a phone call from my mum Friday night, saying her art group had a demo Saturday afternoon... did I want to go?  Errm.. yes!  And you will never guess who the demo-er was.........

Terry Harrison!!!

Oh WOW!

So along I went and that was fabulous too......  very very talented painter.. and so funny.. learned so much in between the giggles!   Got home full of enthusiasm, grabbed his book again and this time I did it according to the rules..... Traced the picture and painted it "properly"

That was..... difficult! I am not one for rules etc.. but I had great fun playing.  Again it is not fine art, but for another first attempt I am not displeased with this one either.......

Both techniques were a real learning curve... both very enjoyable, but I have to confess I found the watercolour scene much more challenging than the acrylic door..... the freeness of that style is much more my "thing"

Right.. off to get a much needed wake up coffee.. then I am going to grab a canvas and try and think of something original to paint...... Yayyyyyy!

Toodles! :-) xxxxx

March Challenge....

at The Cupboard Trilogy Blog....... and a little story for you all.....

This months theme is "Mother"  Which if I still made cards would be nice and easy.. but I don't.. so it wasn't as simple as I first thought....

I decided to make a Journal spread in my Goddess Journal... about the Ultimate Mother of all... Mother Earth...

I based my idea on a painting I did in Moonshine last month with the Fabulous Effy.... where we all painted a Wolf Moon, with a Goddess embracing a full moon and a  wolf howling.....  I loved that lesson so much, it was an obvious Brain_jump to doing Mother Earth embracing the world....

I sketched her out holding a heart, and with her hair in the rough shape of a heart to keep the love theme going with her, and then because I am beyond useless at Geography, I googled to get rough placements of all the countries....

Well, You will never guess what I found...........

The pencil sketch to your left is the idea I had... the colour image on the right is one I found on the web and comes from a blog called Hope On Earth.

Now I am telling you all this, because I belong to a group on FB called Stamp out Stamp Theft... and there are sadly far to many cases of an image being blatantly used by someone else and passed off as their own work....  some of it is appalling in the amount of copying done.. and then sold as original.....
So I wanted to explain what happened here, as I would hate for anyone to stumble across the image as I did and assume I lifted the idea..... Which I didn't, but I could see how somebody would think I did.....

I had a chat with the girls in the group, and we decided to go ahead with my blog post and to explain the whole thing as an example of how ideas do occur to more than one person! :-)

So... my finished journal page.... I used my favourite technique of Gesso, Watercolour, Gesso and lots of pencil work... I wanted her to look fairly distressed and grungy as a mini statement from a personal soapbox of mine about the amount of abuse the earth is getting on a daily basis, yet Mother Earth is still holding on to us and loving us despite all we as society do to destroy her.....  That is true Mothers Love.....

The poem I wrote around the edge is taken from Earth Medicine by Jamie Sams and is a fabulous book full of poems, sayings and rituals for all phases of the moon in a year following the teachings of the Native Americans......  I adore this book!

Right...enough waffle..... here is my page..... and see you all soon xxxxx

“Spark of inspiration,

Light my spirit’s fire,

Let the joy of creation

Be my heart’s desire.

Let me flow with the music,

Let me dance my dreams alive,

Let me sing my deepest feelings,

Until the whole world thrives.

Exploding into expression,

My joy takes many forms,

Leaving the tears and sadness

For the warmth of tender arms.

Hold me, sweet Earth mother,

Soft against your breast,

That I may share the ecstasy

Of my creation’s best.”