My photo
Bumblebee fanatic & wildlife lover living in, & taking inspiration from, the beautiful North East of England. I am accompanied on my journey through time & space by my special bloke, gorgeous girl, 3 daft cats, 5 fish & visiting, very shy, hedgehog.

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Busy, busy, busy...dream a little dream

After a short enforced break, I have come back to my artwork with a new lease of life and have several new pieces to post as soon as I can confirm that the recipients have them. As usual each piece has taken on a life of its own - I am beginning to wonder whether its me creating art or whether the art is using me !
As you can see from my little workspace - I have been extremely busy ✏
 At last my head is starting to buzz with ideas again and I have left the darkness behind. Hopefully the muse will give me time to put these ideas on paper before they fly away into the ether - at the moment there are so many ideas as I lie down to go to sleep that I am in a fantastical wonderland. ♥★♥
Keep an eye out for future posts - you may see some of my little visitors and inspirations ...if you are lucky!

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Polecat - Mixed Media

Here's a piece that I have been fighting with over the last few days. Its one of those that whatever I do I am just not happy with - a rework may be on the cards.

I have been extremely lucky to see some of these little chaps near to my home, usually running at one heck of a lick in the opposite direction - that being said it still gives me an an absolute thrill.

Anyway this is my first polecat piece worked initially in mixed media and then finished in photoshop when I was beginning to lose the will to live. I am hoping that my next piece will not be such a struggle. ;)


Tuesday, May 11, 2010

A Garden Visitor - Blackbird

I have been working on a mixed media painting of a blackbird who has taken to visiting me in my back garden. He and his mate come most days to feed on the offerings that I put out for the neighbourhood birds. When I am working in the garden he sits in the tree and watches me until I retreat into the house before flying off to get his girl and tell her that the coast is clear if she fancies some dinner.

The piece (one of the British Wildlife Series)  is worked in a number of different media - including inks, watercolours & acrylics. It is finished in a satin varnish.

I love watching the birds and other wildlife in the garden - the painting is a natural extension of this and I thoroughly enjoyed working it.

Prints are being prepared and will soon be available via etsy.

Tuesday, May 04, 2010

Horoscope & Squirrel - ATC latest

I have received word that Roxanne @ Willowing & friends has recieved the ATCs that I send her for the April swap so I can post the details of the cards I made for her.
The theme for April was Horoscope and AN Other. As Roxanne's starsign is cancer I worked my design around this, looking through archived images of the earliest images of the representation of 'the crab'.
My design was worked in mixed media - pen & ink, watercolour, gouche and acrylic. It was finished by coating in acrylic pearlescent ink and then finally in acrylic varnish. This gave the card a shimmer effect and blended in sharp edges.

ATC 1 - Horoscope

For the second card I decided to create a painting of a squirrel - I have no idea why (I guess I just enjoy painting animals). This was initially going to be an inked sketch - however I started working with some vivid gouache colours and decided that I liked the effect of a heavy application of a combination of gouache and acrylics. The work was completed by some more delicate brush work which took the place of ink (as ink can sometimes be particularly difficult to apply effectively over acrylic paint). To complete the card a couple of coats of satin varnish were applied to add a sheen and protect the paint.

 ATC 2 - Squirrel