Art a day - Thursday

Today I didn't get any work done. Last night I had to put my sweet 15 year old cat to sleep. He was such a wonderful companion and I will miss him more than I can say. Today I am feeling too sad to be creative.

Art a day - Wednesday 29.08.07

Today I started making canvases, based on a set made in Somerset Studios. I did my trusty Misty Mawn background first, then stamped on the painted background.

And below I have just placed the bird cut outs on top to give you an idea of where I am going.

I plan on adding bits and pieces to the canvases, like feathers, tags etc...
The article I got the inspiration from is Somerset Studio July August 2007. Natures Bounty by Kristen Robinson page 84.

Art a day - Tuesday 28.08.07

Today I started making vintage Christmas tags. I am hoping to get started early this year! I haven't taken pictures yet but will as soon as they are finished!

Art a day - Monday 27.08.07

Today I spent the whole day soldering the 30 microscope slides I had put together on Sunday. I really enjoyed soldering but the jump rings really tested my pstience!! Don't look too closely. Once I have put the ribbon on, the jump rings won't be as noticeable. It was quite amusing that while I was soldering, my little kitten, Rom, decided to nestle down in front of me. I had to move his tail a few times so it wouldn't singe.

Here he is here, as you can see my workspace is limited enough as it is, without him curled up smack dab in the middle! But I don't have the heart to move him and he is good company.

Here are a few more close ups of the microscope slides. I really love how the charcoal pencil gives the illusion of depth and dimension to the pieces.

Art a Day - Sunday 26.08.07

Today I spent the WHOLE day in my studio, making pieces for microscope slides! I had sooo much fun, I didn't even get changed out of my pyjamas!
The background is my Misty Mawn background, I just loved the shadings of the blues on this background.

Here are some close ups.

Art a day - Saturday 25.08.07

Okay, today was a complete wash out!
After house work, grocery shopping and washing, my day was gone.
Big plans for tomorrow!!

Little Beryl Book - Monday Art

This is the little book I made from techniques I learnt in Beryl Taylors book.

Above is the cover and I have used the Golden Crackle Paste and painted over with Golden Irridesent Bronze Fluid.

And the inside pages. I loved mixing the Golden Fluid Acrylics with the Golden Fluid Irridesents to create a soft shimmery look. I made the paints very watery, as Beryl taught us in the class. Of course its hard to see the effect from this photos, but it is very delicate, similar to Lumiere. The beauty of this is you can add the irridesents to any colour you want. You are not limited to colour ranges.

I only used a very small amount of paint and a drop or two of irridesent. Sometimes I added both the pearl and the gold irridesents to the paint which made an interesting effect.

The pearl tends to lighten the colour of the paint as well as adding a lovely sheen. This was so much fun and very quick to put together once I had created all the pieces. Alot were pieces I had made at the class and others were ones I made the nights following the class.

So, what have you created this week? Post a link in the comments section. I challenge you all to join me in the art a day project. Put a link to work in the comments section and a name will be drawn at random to win a mystery prize!

More artistic Creations

These would be 2 of my 5 favourite creations EVER!!!!

This is my Kaitlin who has just celebrated her 8th birthday, just look at that smile!

And this gorgeous creation is my 10 year old Courtney whos netball team won the Premiership last Saturday.

These are my proudest achievements, all my beautiful girls! How lucky am I????!!!!

Nice Matters Award and Charms

I am very honoured and humbled to have received a Nice Matters Award from Ro Bruhn. Now I need to pick some others to award, but where do you start when there are so many inspiring blogs out there?? Okay, here goes. Debbi Baker is such a kind and thoughtful person and so full of artistic energy and beautiful work, Misty whos work and words never fail to inspire me, Jane, her work and musings always bring a smile to my face, Michelle, Jo annas Art Journal

Evelyn and Marie C. All these ladies inspire me with their art and their kind, thoughtful personalities.

These are the charms I made for the Gypsy Journey swap.
This was my Monday art!! Sorry about the blurry image below, trying to take photos in a hurry!

Art every Day

I set myself a challenge of trying to create a piece of art every day, be it large or small.

It could be sketching in my journal or painting, as long as it is something that takes me away from this keyboard.

I have been very good so far.

Here are a few pieces I made yesterday for the Retreat Yahoo group challenge, A Gypsy Journey.

This first piece is the background for the next image. This was created quite by accident. I was trying a Misty Mawn background technique, but didn't like waht I had made so I added more paint over the top and a bit of molding paste. I need to make 6 more pieces like this now so have to remember what I did!!

I just love these images of Romany Gypsies, this is what I imagine when I think of Gypsies. Aren't their faces so full of character?!

This last piece was done on the Fabric Paper I made from Beryl Taylors article in Cloth Paper Scissors. The image transfer is not clear enough, so on the subsequent pages I will just glue the image down as is. It is of a family of Gypsies standing in front of their wagon.

I will post pictures of the charms I made this afternoon!

Artful Blogging

Just arrived today and I am so inspired to step up my blogging, but not today.
Today I did a bit of blog surfing and found this blog through Michelle Wards. It is so funny, and down to earth, I just had to mention it here.
http://www.hatemailgreetings.com/blog.htm

Oh, I am ordering some of their stuff too, just love it!!

Thankyou Nina

It has been a hectic morning, opening shop, netball, party pickups and getting Samara to and from work.

I arrived at the shop for the afternoon shift feeling exhausted and harried. Surely not in the mood to be creative, so my pieces sit forlornly on the studio tables. I decide to get my daily dose of blogs while sipping a much appreciated cup of coffee. Fitrst stop is Ninas blog, wow, this woman must be phsycic!!(sp?)

If you haven't yet read Ninas blog, go on over and have a read. Nina reminds me to sit back and enjoy the simple pleasures in life. After reading her blog, I wandered outside, the sun is shining... so warm and welcome after days of drizzling rain. The air is cool, but the sun warms my back. The birds are out in force, flitting and twittering their melodious songs. Wonderful. A touch of early Spring!

See the sun shining outside the window? In half an hour it will be streaming through said window, warming the wood of the cabinet and releasing the delicious smell of the oiled timber floors.

So, do as Nina says, go outside or look around you. Enjoy the little things that make our lives truly unique and special!

10 Little Hearts

It is still raining outside..

Just wanted to share with you the little hearts I made today. They still need beading/decorating but I still thought they looked lovely just as they are.

And here is some pieces that I played around with placing on the fabric paper I made on Wednesday night.

Am loving this soooooo much. I have started decorating one of the accordian journals I painted the other day but will save that for another post as I have put crackle paste on it and it takes a few days to 'crackle'.

Well, I am off to start the bigger accordian journal. Did I mention how much I am loving this??!

Misty Rain

Its raining..., a misty rain that clouds the air and coats everything in a spray of moisture. The swish of the cars as they go past on the wet roads, the trickle of water running down the drain pipes...

Droplets hover on bare branches like crystalline snowdrops....

The air is fresh and crisp, like the world has been washed anew...

And here I sit, snug in my nice dry cocoon. It will be a quiet day in the shop, wet days usually are. I have the whole day ahead of me, alone but not lonely. Absorbing my solitude, rare that it is these days, and creating little hearts. I have hauled out the vintage fabrics, needle and thread. This is the life! My life...

A day with Beryl Taylor

Sometimes it is very refreshing to have a change of position, a change of roles. On Tuesday I was so very fortunate to take off my teachers hat and replace it with my student hat! I had the most extreme pleasure in attending a day long workshop with Beryl Taylor. This ladys work is so beautiful to look at and I can't express what a fantastic day I had. Below is a photo of some of the pieces I made in Beryls embellishment class.

In fact I was so inspired I spent alot of yesterday just playing around with some of the techniques I had learnt on Tuesday. Below is some watercolour paper I have painted.

And below are a couple of journals that I have painted and hope to start decorating in the next couple of days.

And these are some more 'bits' I made that are all part of the construction process. I set up an assembly line and got stuck into it last night. Now, when I want to make some embellishments, all the bits are ready to go!

The following 4 photos are the fabric papers that I made last night. This piece has a lovely printed napkin on the top but it is hard to see in the photo.

These two pieces I played around with different colours and applying the paint in different patterns. I used a very watery wash of the Golden fluids.

This last piece is my favourite. While I will use the other pieces to make the embellishments, I think Iwill use this piece as a background.

Unfortunately Blogger is playing up and I had to resize my photos to smaller images in order to load them to the blog. All these pieces are about 14 x 11" insize. It was so great to just get stuck in and slap some paints around and try new things. Beryl is a fantastic teacher, very down to earth and easy to talk to. It was disappointing that it was not better supported by Perth people, but I for one am very grateful for both Dale and Mareene for making the effort to get Beryl here. And I know that all the other girls who shared the class with me on Tuesday (a really great bunch of girls too!), they all thoroughly enjoyed themselves and came awy very inspired and motivated to make more.

Thanks to Jaslyn, who really looked after us and made sure we had everything we need. To those of you who didn't attend, you missed out on an awesome teacher!

Jacky is doing Beryls class tomorrow, so I am sure she will post more photos over the weekend.

Shop remodeling

Whenever we do a craft fair we tend to have a bit of a move around in the shop. A change is as good as a holiday as they say. So here a few photos of the shop and the window displays.

This is one of the front windows, sorry about the glare! And here is another one of the opposite window/

And the same window, but taken from inside the shop.

And this gorgeous cabinet was a gift from the beautiful Sunny. How lucky are we??

And this is a close up of the cabinet.

There have been times when I begin to wonder if we made the right decision in opening the shop. It is very demanding, especially for Jacky. But when I look at these photos, I realise how truly blessed we are to be doing something we truly love and are passionate about, to come to a place that is restful, beautiful and inspiring. To meet some of the most amazing people, way too many to name, but you know who you are! To have the opportunity to run our fantastic retreats and meet the tutors and delegates, all of whom have enriched our lives in ways we could never have foreseen. The beautiful Nina, we just love you so much, Michael, who really is one the most amazing artists and gifted teachers and Judy, what a privilege it has been, to watch your art grow in leaps and bounds to the phenomenal level it is today.

So, no more questioning this decision we have made. We are here for a reason and I for one am going to enjoy every step of this awesome, and often scary journey!