October 14, 2009 – 3:17 pm
I have a chronic need to start from scratch. I try to fight it, but inevitably end up succumbing to the urge. Take the twelve weeks holiday art making journey, which I embarked upon earlier in the month. I started making a Halloween banner, but couldn’t possibly use anything ready made—oh no. Instead, I had [...]
October 7, 2009 – 2:54 pm
It’s raining outside and, for the first time in weeks, it feels really autumnal. If truth be told, I fancy some pear and chocolate crumble, and damn the diet I always want to go on (but never really do).
Perhaps this is why I felt compelled to put some pears in this paper?
I just couldn’t [...]
When I was little, I had a pencil virtually glued to my hand. I made ‘art’ every day, several times a day, Even though I was no great talent, there was nothing I enjoyed as much as drawing, except reading.
Growing up, I fell in love with the written word, and, while I kept busy with [...]
After the collage for my son’s teacher, I managed to complete one for the classroom assistant. I must admit I liked the first one better, but school is about to finish and I was running out of time. Nothing like a looming deadline to make you accept your work for what it is!
Phew, what a week this has been. So much to do, so little time. Lots of work, lots of children to take care of, travelling, and the odd little extra thrown in.I am glad I survived it. Anyway, I did manage to squeeze in some collageing—I made a little end of the year present for [...]
OK, I clearly needed to get that collage out of my system, because after I finished it, I managed to work happily on the background paper. The giveaway package is not complete yet, but I am posting a sneak preview of a corner of the background paper to whet your appetite.
In the end, I opted to cut out the faces and collage them onto something else. I really wanted to incorporate the lovely green grass that came with the original picture, but it just didn’t work with the blue-green background I had created and the fruit imagery I wanted to use.
I gave the collage to [...]
OK, I just couldn’t leave it alone. When I started experimenting with tags for a painted tag swap a while ago, I made a little tag that I wasn’t happy with. It wasn’t a big deal since it was just an experiment, but it bugged me.
I went on to make the tags for the swap, [...]
After last week’s proof, here is the real deal—one of the tags that made it into the swap.
I used a different technique for this one. Basically, I painted the background, then painted another sheet of watercolour paper in a single wash of two colours (to obtain this bluish cream hue). Once dry, I drew [...]
Niccolo is just starting to understand the passing of time beyond his immediate experience. He now ‘gets’ that the Romans lived much earlier than his beloved knights, for example, and the Egyptians earlier still. To help him, I have decided to give him a Book of Centuries.
The Book of Centuries is a learning tool created [...]
