Portrait inspired by Frida Kahlo

This is a picture that I have had milling over in my mind since I saw an image of Frida that inspired me.

I began on a 20"x16" sheet of paper for acrylics, taped to my drawing board and sketched the figure.
I chose some collage papers by Marlene Meijer-van Niekirk and tore up pieces and added them to the dress and parts of the headdress.

Using PaperArtsy acrylic paints I painted over parts of the dress and added loose brushstrokes to the headdress.
I did some printing over the dress with Black Archival ink to tone it down as it was competing with the headdress. Also, a fair amount of scribbling with a Black Fudeball pen. Like scribbling!
Lots of adjustments took place with the face until I was reasonably happy.
Always room for improvement but I need to remember that it is all a learning process and I am not trying to achieve a photographic representation!

PA Baked Texture Challenge

Over on the PaperArtsy blog the current challenge is "Baked Textures"

I have thoroughly enjoyed following the designer ideas and have loved them all. 

I have played with Seth Apter's Baked Textures before, but when Alison Bomber used them to press her stamps into, I had to have a play.

I took a standard sized playing card and gessoed away the background and glued some sepia tissue which has letters and numbers on it.

I glued some musical notes across the middle and a Paper Doll and aged them with Tim Holtz Distress Collage Medium in Vintage.

I rubbed an embossing pad along the edges of the card and dipped it into Seth's Patina Oxide and heat embossed. 

Using Alison Bomber's stamp set, EAB03, I stamped into reheated powders with Distress ink Pad Picket fence. 

The sentiment that I chose was "Without music, life would be a mistake."

I finished with a little extra stamping randomly in Black Archival Ink.

So, I am entering this into the PaperArtsy challenge.

Girl with sculpted hair

Having been influenced recently by the very talented artist Emma Petitt, I embarked upon my third portrait using her ideas.

I mostly use reference when I draw a face, unlike Emma and found a girl in a Sunday Supplement.
I began by prepping my background and drawing the girl with Derwent charcoal pencils.

The picture is quite large, 20"x16".
I used PaperArtsy Fresco chalk paints throughout. Also PA Grungepaste .
As you can see, there are some collaged additions too.

The next stage really scared me, as I had never painted dark skin tones before.
It got worse before it got better, and I did wrestle with the paints before I was happy.
I actually used a metallic paint on parts of the skin.....Copper!
I finished off with lots of drippage and some treasure gold on the numbers and around the frame of the picture.
I saw lots of bits that I would have liked to improve, but, I love her now!

Mint, Sage, Claret and Gold.

Over on the PaperArtsy blog right now is the challenge entitled Mint, Sage, Claret and Gold.
I have almost resisted the temptation to sing the well known song about herbs, substituting the words for this title!
I loved Darcy's intro piece with all the colourful stimulation, and have really enjoyed all of the contributions from the PaperArtsy blog team.
I was particularly enchanted by the book cover by Anneke de Clerck. I got out my gelli plates and had a play.
I used the recommended PaperArtsy fresco chalk paints, except that I substituted Gold for White Fire!
I created an A4 master board of background shapes as Anneke showed us, and used Emma Godfrey stamps from EEG14 to add greater depth. I stamped the flowers using some of the paints an also in Black Archival ink.
As we have the first dull day in ages, my colours don't really sing, but, in real life they do.
I love this technique that Anneke used and can see great potential for more master boards, and, am I allowed to use the "C" word........yes? Christmas cards!

Therefore, I am entering my work into the PaperArtsy challenge.

First Life Drawing in 51 years!

Last night I attended a Life Drawing Class in Chesterfield. I stumbled upon the advert for it by accident on Facebook.
It is something that I last had a go at in 1967, so, maybe it was time to have another go.

The class was run by John King who has a studio in Chesterfield and used to be a lecturer at the local art college.
I liked his relaxed approach and he immediately made me feel welcome.
I had managed to work myself up into a headachey state but felt very positive.
He began by introducing us to some artists work and suggested that, if we wished, we could try to work in their style.

Our first task was using Graphite sticks, to sketch very quickly, four poses on one large page. This was right up my street as I work quickly and I didn't have time to worry about my work. Think that they were 2min sketches.

Then two more quick sketches.

Next, using a small piece of charcoal on its side, 2 more quick pieces.

Then, the lights were turned off and John lit a huge spotlight and asked us to concentrate on just where the light fell onto the model and try not to draw outlines. Really liked this. 2 more quick sketches using White Charcoal.

This one, with the same idea was a 10 minute sketch.

Next, we had a small piece of card to print with and some black ink. These took about 10 minutes.

And finally, using the ink and card we drew the model and then, with the spotlight we added the light.
All interesting stuff. I shall be back for more next month, I loved it!

Treasure Box

The topic over on the PaperArtsy blog is "Enshrined", and there were some wonderful examples on the introduction by Darcy.
Their design team have come up with some wonderfully inspirational ideas this past 2 weeks as well.

So, I decided to create a box of treasures for my darling Rosebud, our 5 year old granddaughter.

I began by painting the box with fresco paint French Roast. the top was crackled with paste and then painted with assorted fresco blues. The sides I wrote messages and sea songs for Rose and then stamped and painted to create a collage effect.

I painted the letters with fresco blues and rubbed Treasure Gold into them and also around the edges of the box.

Inside, I lined the box with velvet.

The shells have been painted with blue fresco paints , and the patterns highlighted with Treasure Gold.

I added more treasure to the box, seaglass, small shells and some seaweed.
Rose came across it by accident yesterday and was enchanted by the contents and thrilled that the "Treasure" was for her.
The wonderment of young children is something that should be held onto by us all into our older years.
So, here is my entry for the PA challenge, enshrined.

Paper Dolls, Brave Wings.

Having some fun with my second entry into the PaperArtsy blog challenge which is Paper Dolls.

I had this notion that if I could find a nest, then some paper dolls could be at home in there. Maybe influenced by all the bird activity in the garden at the moment.

I used some TH collage paper for my background and rubbed an assortment of neutral coloured paints onto it with my fingers.

I used an assortment of fabulous oldies from PaperArtsy Hot Picks..HP1005, HP1506 and HP1601.

The girls are from TH paper dolls Christmas, which I painted over with clear gesso to enable me to paint over them to brighten them up.

Very Tongue-In-Cheek, this one, but great fun to create.

My second entry into the PA challenge.

Paper Dolls French Kiss.

The challenge on the PaperArtsy blog is currently "Paper Dolls". There has been lots of fabulous inspiration from the team.

In the intro, Darcy talked about the kind of paper dolls that girls of a certain age used to make outfits for. Jofy made a wardrobe of clothes in her post which made me want to create my own page. 

This set of stamps that I have chosen reminds me of my paper dollies so I decided to join in.

This is one of those pages where you just go where the mood takes you. No preconceived ideas, just playing.

I began with a washi tape background, used some distress inks in a distress wrinkle free way and stamped with Black and Red archival. Lots of stamping and I used the PaperArtsy stencil by Scrapcosy which has all the months on and is so handy!

Eventually I built up a story in my mind of this young French Girl, but don't want to retell as you may draw your own conclusions.

Suffice to say that she is not comfortable with her life choices and wishes the months to whisk by!

It was a bit tricky to work in this thick tome as you can see. I am almost at the end of it. It is a recycled book from Oxfam with wonderfully thick pages.

I am entering this in the PaperArtsy challenge.

New Lynne Moncrieff stamps and stencils

I was fortunate enough last week to buy some wonderful new stamps and stencils from Lynne Moncrieff''s" Thats crafty" range.
I have a small handmade book which is just perfect for playing with this gorgeous array of images and affirmations.

Lots of Distress inks, Infusions, crackle, Grungepaste, vintage lace, teabags, calico, embossing and drippage. Had a ball and can carry on playing forever.

Vintage Neutrals.

I have been sidelined recently by an amazing free online course called Sketchbook Revival.  There have been some amazing lessons on there from about 20 different artists.
I try to do something in my sketchbook everyday and yesterday I did a double page spread of my Prima watercolour paint tins.

The one on this page is a little set that I bought from PaperArtsy on their final trip to Ally Pally....sob!

Because they are largely neutrals, I thought that I could enter it into the Vintage Neutrals PaperArtsy challenge.
At the bottom of the page, I created a very quick watercolour of one of the flower borders in my garden. It was a blissfully peaceful exercise.

Kraft card project.

Loving the challenge over on the PaperArtsy blog which is Kraft card. Had every intention to join in....where has the 2 weeks gone? then Darcy reminded us and here I am......last minute entry.

On my kraft card I stamped some PaperArtsy mini stamps and printed some patterns using Coffee Archival ink. I bubble wrap printed some white circles and also used the white paint to add texture to my various corrugated cards. I added some treasure Gold Onyxite also and distressed the edges with Black Soot Distress inks.
I added some sepia tissue which I bought from PA at Ally Pally recently.
Arranged my bits and bobs and stitched around the edges.
Enjoyed this, so, thanks for the reminder Darcybobs!

Garden Party

I haven't joined in much of anything recently, so, needed to get back into things with the latest PaperArtsy Challenge which is "Bunting".
So, in one of my small journals, I began by creating an Oxide background and stamped some of my favourite Jofy stamps.
Some colouring in with oxides and Posca Pens, a little sparkle with Stickles and lots of spattering.
My bunting was from some paper stash and string.
A quick play and very enjoyable. Nice to get some old stamps out.

Whimsical Garden Fairy

I do like the whimsical style, but it is not my go to. However, when I saw that the latest PaperArtsy Challenge was Whimsy, I felt compelled to enter.

I have been following Tamara Laporte on Lifebook, recommended by Chris Cresswell, and found her video about The Garden Fairy fascinating. She includes so much detail and, unlike me, takes her time. 

So, inspired by Tamara, here is my garden fairy. The words, Love, Hope and Peace are secreted around the picture. I have used a variety of PaperArtsy fresco paints for my background.

This took me a couple of days, which is very rare for me.

So, am entering this into the PA Challenge. 

Quick watercolour entry

I just looked on the PaperArtsy blog and was surprised that the watercolour challenge was to finish in 52 minutes. So, I rushed around and quickly produced my entry!
First, I found a sunset picture to copy.

I watercoloured a background to look like a sunset. Because the image was on my computer screen,I had to stand up in front of it and quickly get the paint down! What a loon!

I quickly drew some trees in black, using a paintbrush, found that it was a bit fat and used a smaller one and scribbled some branches with a Black Fudeball Pen.

I darkened the foreground and used a fab Alison Bomber stamp which looks wonky but isn't, it was just all a rush!

Entering this into the PaperArtsy challenge!

Tiny Oil Pastel Portraits

A couple of weeks ago, inspired by an online course "Studying the Masters", I ordered some Sennelier Oil Pastels.
They are deliciously creamy and I needed to play with them straight away.
So, in my tiny 4"x4" pink pig sketch book, I tried my hand at portraiture.
I began by drawing myself, through the mirror, using the pastels and so that I wasn't too precious about it, I worked on top of some printing that was waiting to be finished. Was quite pleased.

Next, from a photo, I created an image of my Granddaughter Rose.

Then my son Richard.

And finally, my crafting friend Deborah!

I was pleasantly surprised at my efforts and need to do more! 

Taken me ages to get around to blogging them! 

Joseph Roulin

The second of my studies about Vincent was his oil painting of his friend Joseph Roulin. This is his painting above.

A scary project to try as there is so much detail and so much to go wrong.

Under the guidance of Jeanne Oliver I had a go, and was surprisingly pleased with my efforts. 

I began by making a sketch in charcoal.

Next, I white gessoed over the whole thing and then added some umber acrylic paint both on Joseph and for the background.

Next the green background and touches here and there.

Worked on the face and beard and began to create the wallpaper.

And my finished piece. I have learned loads about mixing his colours and layering for depth. Enjoying a great course and I am going to do more work inspired by Vincent.