Here comes the Bride.......

Well, the day has finally come...almost, my sister is getting married tomorrow!!!!! I cannot wait, it's going to be a day to remember. As mentioned in an earlier post, I have been commissioned to paint two large canvases as an alternative to wedding flowers as a backdrop to them saying their vows...No pressure! Any way, I am pleased to report that they are finally finished! Phew. These have been a real learning curve for me and I have experimented with so many techniques. In particular, I loved the way in which the spray paint created a real glowy effect. It was so quick too. I would like to add that if you are going to use aerosols then think, 'safety first', I say this as I did ensure that I wore the correct type of mask, wore gloves......and then promptly sprayed myself directly in the eye.....whoops! Luckly I miraculously sustained no injuries. So, then I quickly searched out some protective glasses before continuing. I don't think eye-patches are normal bridesmaid attire. I haven't posted for a while, as I've been so busy lately but I have been regularly posting on my Instagram (see links) it's so quick and easy to do so I have taken lots of shots of the work in progess. It's also nice to get feedback off complete strangers from all over the world.

Started a new piece.......

I have such a bad habit of starting work and never finishing it. I just seem to lose motivation for particular pieces but I know this is mostly down to not planning things out first in my sketch book! Something i'm always telling my students off for! It's just I get excited for a new piece and I just can't wait to get started! I'm keen to resolve the issues I had on previous pieces, with new pieces. So it will be interesting to see how far I actually get with this. I think part of the problem is never having enough time to have a good run on a piece...sometimes it takes a good hour or two to get into the artistic groove, if you know what I mean, and then when things are just starting to flow, I realise its gone 11pm and I know I will regret staying up longer when the kids are up and about at the early hours......3.30am this morning with Edward for example!

Doodles, doodles, I love doodles.......

Today I enjoyed myself doodling, inspired by my lighthearted paint splattering doodles yesterday. It's so therapeutic and addictive but I also think it is really helpful at seeing your work from a new direction. After doodling these birds, I'd quite like to study painting and drawing these in more detail by getting some reference material.

Face over stripes = like!

Hand sketched below was drawn in the car on the way to a soft play-centre. Hands are something I want to sketch more regularly as they are so difficult to draw, and as they say, practise makes perfect.....or better at least!

Pirate (WIP)

Pirate (WIP)

 

 

 

 

 

 

I feel as though my work is starting to progress in the right direction and it is definitely becoming less of a struggle. My main problem is just finding enough time to spend on it. I discovered instagram a while ago and was finally able to download the app today without breaking my phone. I took this photo using the instagram camera and it looked quite nice on my phone but now that I see it larger on the computer, it is a bit blurry and the colours aren't as rich as they looked on my phone. I'll have to keep on experimenting. I've still got some bits to work on with this piece, mainly the eye patch and the bubbles, but I am really bad at going back to things once I've worked on them for a day, I find I'm itching to start a new piece instead! There are a couple of exhibitions that I am hoping to submit work to soon so I suppose this is something that I'm going to have to tackle.

Lovin Graphite

Always Remember, Pencil study

Since becoming a mum of two i've had to really consider how much time I have to spend on my artwork. Graphite has become my new best friend again. Simple to use, cheap, quick and effective. Then when they are both in bed I can play around with adding colour to a few.

Always remember (adding colour)

To-To's Dream, development

To-To's Dream (WIP)

I've worked on the face a bit in the last few days and also started to develop the background. Something that I have noticed is that by photographing my work and viewing it on screen, it is easier to make decisions about where to go next with it. The background definitely needs more work and so does the hairline and sides of the face.

To-To's Dream

To-To's Dream

A new WIP. Based again on Esme. This photo shows work in it's very early stages, the first wash has been applied, I worked loosely with this, using acrylic like watercolour. I also thought carefully about the colour palette I wanted to use. This piece explores ideas of children's imaginations. I wonder what Esme will think of all my paintings of her when she's older?

The Haunting

The Haunting

Experimenting with a more loose style. I am quite pleased with this study and particularly pleased that it only took a few hours to create. The left eye is a bit dodgy but I feel, for a quick experiment it's not bad. This was created by painting the face directly onto the background without any under drawing/tracing to follow so if I were to do a finished outcome I would need to find a way of mapping the main elements of the piece out. Esme (my personal art critic) said it looked spooky. It does a bit. I seem to be drawn to quite melancholic faces. I'm not too sure about the colours either but still, I'm trying not to over analysis my art or be too critical, just produce, explore, learn and move on. This way, hopefully I won't become disheartened and hopefully my work will continue to develop. Also did you notice, I've tried to think of a title. It's so hard, well I find it hard, and I think titles are really important. Hopefully my titles will improve too!

No time to practise practice.....

A work in progress, supposedly, however, these days, most of my wip's stay as wip's! Felt inspired to paint at 10pm last night, and did so until 11.30....not good when you then get woken at 5.30 by 6mth old! Lately I'm enjoying getting a glowy iridescent sheen to my portraits and figures...I really do need to see some of these pieces through till the end though! Having started to work using oil on paper again, means I can be less precious over my work and let it naturally evolve. I asked Esme if she thought it looked like her and she replied, "No....I don't have a purple face". Good art critique from a 3 year old if you ask me! On reflection, I think she has a point, and I need to slightly cool down some of the colours used. Lots needs doing to it...hairline and hair in particular. Maybe I'll get the urge to do more tonight, or maybe I'll just have a beer, watch some Saturday night trash t.v. and fall asleep on the sofa....sounds like bliss!

Too beautiful not to draw.....

A couple of days ago I took a photo of Esme and thought that it really captured just how perfect she is, (bias, I know). I think she would make a good Goldilocks, she certainly loves porridge! Anyway, this gave me further inspiration to do some more drawing, which proved tricky as she wanted to sit on my lap whilst I tried my best to see what I was doing. She also felt the need to add to my drawing which was a little frustrating!

Mixed media on paper

So, all in all, I quite like the result, I particularly like the fact it took only around an hour in total, if that. I've managed to keep it nice and loose in style.

The inspiration

Who's afraid of the big bad wolf?

"No, no, no not me!", sings my little girl, who's favorite fairytale character is the big bad wolf! Which has inspired this brief sketch. (the other inspiration was a new set of colour pencils which I was itching to use!) Don't think I'll bother finishing it though, might try it again in a different media/technique, as I think I prefer the simple pencil drawing.

Butterfly....new beginnings

So this is my very first post, which I'm hoping will encourage me to do more art, more often! We'll see. I do have a lot of other things to contend with at the moment, being in my last trimester and having a 2 1/2 year old to entertain. But it's the summer holidays so it's as good a time as any.