playing.

I love playing with paint. Taking a blank fresh sheet of paper, or empty canvas, squeezing the paint from the tubes, and watching as each brushstroke brings me that much closer to the image in my mind. I adore the ephemeral nature of watercolours. I have a stash of acrylics, left from various projects and folk-art classes from my teenage years, but I struggle with them, making them do what I want. Oils have fascinated me for a long time, but I’ve avoided them. I mean, only REAL artists use oils. That’s for serious painters. People who know what they are doing. I went so far as to load up a cart over at Eckersleys, and then chickened out. Why bother spending $150+ when I was just going to be crap at it anyway. If I couldn’t make simple acrylics bend to my will, what hope would I have with oils.

But then we were on holidays, and we went shopping. And out the front of the newsagents, was a table. Art supplies 50%. A little set of oils called my name, the brushes joining in the chorus. I looked at them. I walked by. I came back. They were cheap to begin with, so I knew the quality wasn’t going to be brilliant. But now they were on sale. $1.75 for 16 brushes. $3.50 for 12 paints. What did I have to loose? A $1.50 canvas rounded out my little kit, and I walked out clutching them like the nerdy kid coming from the comic book store on pocket money day. I had oils.

I pondered, and wondered, and the perfect project can to mind. I pulled out a pad of canvas sheets that had been in a birthday present a couple of years back. I set up the children with their easel in the sun, and as they happily painted, I tentatively wiped a small blob of paint on to the plastic plate serving as a palette. Another, and another. I selected a brush, and started mixing, suddenly realising why a palette knife is included on the list of essentials for oil painting. That stuff is hard to mix with a brush! The consistency is so different from watercolours and acrylics. But it worked in my favour as I started laying in the not-quite-mixed colours. The texture and feel of the paint curled around the creative part of my soul, and I was lost. The smell of turps cloying in my nostrils, I stepped back, and started the cycle with the next colour. A new favourite has been found. I have requested art lessons for my birthday. A friend has requested a “LittleWhiteDove” original. I do hope she isn’t counting on using it as part of her super fund…

Today, as much as I would love to paint, it’s Friday, and Friday means admin day, especially since I am working tonight. A last minute invitation to afternoon tea with my grandmother tomorrow sees me scratching my head for a last minute DIY gift. Maybe a pin cushion? Or whip a charm pack or jelly roll into a lap quilt? I got one new fabric design nutted out in it’s basic form yesterday, and have set it aside while I work on the rest of the range, before coming back to flesh it out. I have a custom fabric design that I need to get out and ordered tomorrow. I’m stalking the postie for a bead order to complete a bracelet commission. I had hoped to get started on a collaborative project my mum suggested this morning, but as the day progresses it looks less and less likely. If I can get the commissions out the door, and the binding attached to the star quilt I’ll be happy. The weekend is promising to be busy as always. Soccer, parties, afternoon teas, visiting roadtripping. We’ll be looking for Monday for a break. Or maybe not. Four and a half hours to go. The downhill run starts now. Have an awesome weekend. Let’s do this!

fake it ’til you make it!

I’ve been seeing some very cool Gocco prints around the place, and was particularly inspired by this image. So off I trundled to e.Bay, and spooked myself with some of the prices that the little Gocco machines were going for. Time for the thinking cap, and here’s how it turned out:

 

Not quite as neat, but that will improve as I get better at moderating the paint I use. I quite like the effect I acheived here - and isn’t that what being creative is all about?

 

Happy Tuesday!

Lighthouse

I’ve wantd to have a go at some coloured pencil drawings after seeing a few around the place that looked awesome. So during a recent trip to the beach, I visited a great little art shop, and stocked up. Inspired by the beach, I did this quick little sketch:

 

It’s going to take some time to get used to how the colour comes out on the paper, but I think I’m liking them!

Another attempt at pastels

So I was given a link to a great pastels tutorial, and decided to have a go at a couple of little drawings.

 

My first attempt was a hot-air balloon, inspired by this weeks Iluustration Friday, and the design was inspired by the tutorial:

After seeing the ‘overlapping the frame’ designs in the tutorial, I thought it would be perfect for the balloon design, make it seem as if it were flying across the page. The basket needs a bit more work I think, but I was interrupted by small children waking.

 

And attempt two is pretty much a direct replica of the tutorial. I decided to use the same design so I could compare results and see if I was heading in the right direction. I did change the colours to suit my tastes:

I also didn’t fill in the background, as I felt the deep purple was a strong enough colour to just do a border – I was worried that a full background may have been overwhelming.

 

Now I’m getting the hang of it, I think I’m really starting to like pastels…

Illustration Friday – “Vacant”

The first thing that popped into my mind for this topic was a face wearing a vacant expression, but my abilities (or lack thereof) don’t stretch to faces, particularly those requiring a particular expression, so I grabbed my new watercolours and pulled together this painting/collage/whatever!

Very simplistic, but it was my first go at watercolours. More detail will come with more practice, I hope!

A little bit revealing…

Have I got you intrigued yet? Or scared? Considering I am 38 weeks pregnant, revealing would be scary!

 

However, please uncover you eyes, and try & refrain from running away squealing in horror. I am actually referring to a post I did a week or so ago, where I hinted at a project in progress – remember I showed a sneak peek of “something old”? Well, my something old has been completed:

It’s another bonus crazy log cabin quilt, rescued from my mum. This one was one that I’d started, but failed to finish,at the same time the blocks were pieced for the first craz log cabin quilt I showed. 6 of the blocks for this quilt were completed, with the other three needing a couple of extra strips & then trimming to size. It’s only a small quilt, with the block being 8.5″ finished, so will either be a cot quilt, or a play quilt for the new baby.

 

And I couldn’t resist showing a close-up of some of the lovely fabrics I used:

I prefer the lighter fabrics to the darker, but there’s no point doing a log cabin without contrast!

 

The quilt was also the first time I’d used continuous binding, and I must say, I’m quite thrilled with the results. Previously I’d added binding to oposite sides and then ends, which left me with quite bulky corners. I’m definately doing it continuously from now on! And a huge thanks to Emma, for suggessting the joins be done on the diagional rather than straight – again, less bulk and a lot neater! Thank you!