ArtConch

Transformation

2012-01-19T07:39:00.000-08:00

Through my grieving healing proccess using my sketchbook I tried out another face and was thinking about how I would find a hairstlye for her. Now I was thinking to myself what should I do with her hair. When the very next thing that happened to me was the voice of a very close friend came to me and said use butterflies. (the muse doess find us) Now I said to lynns voice yeah I love that idea because its kinda how Im feeling at the moment, all my negative thinking is positively transforming into well being and good thoughs. Each butterfly represents each negative thought transforming so beautifully. Now I though about how much Willowing healing courses are doing for me and wrote Art Saves on the left-side of the page.
And thought about how much it does as I drew more butterflies around the lettering and then crystalised my feelings of feeling "lifted from the shadows" the music by the lighthouse family that I was listening to at that moment too. The other little messages I put around the piece of art was "grief can transform" and "Loving yourself heals" and "fly little caged bird"

This Sunday's Artist of the Week

2012-01-15T10:22:00.000-08:00

Ive just watched this video of Ady Almanza tangling one of her doll paintings. Its using tombow markers I really love Ady's work and hope you will too.

Once you have enjoyed this dont forget to head over to her website and give her some love. Find Ady at Dolls Dreams

Artist of the Week - Peggy En Couleur

2012-01-08T13:45:00.000-08:00

Im starting a new feature on my blog, every sunday I will share with you an artist that I really enjoy.

Ive just watched this Peggy En Couleur make her love fairy in mixed media and want to share her with you all.

Once you have enjoyed this dont forget to head over to her website and give her some love. Find Peggy at the Bliss Factory Blogspot

Healing Exercise for WOW week 1

2012-01-08T08:05:00.000-08:00

We had to write a love letter to ourselves as a healing exercise for World of Whimsy week one.
I found this made me think a lot about more than just our art critic! Anyways here is mine and I want to share it with you all, its especially for those of you who are finding it difficult too. I hope it helps you to discover your own love letters.

Pencil Sketching

2012-01-07T07:51:00.000-08:00

Last night I was sketching more and developed a sad girl with her head on a pillow from my imagination. I am trying to explore more story telling and get more in touch with my own feelings.

I also worked on another little whimsy face in my sketchbook. I was practising my shading and a windswept hairstyle.

Sorrowful

2012-01-07T07:45:00.000-08:00

This is a sketch Im playing with and developing, hopefully into a painting. I was connecting to my feelings of loneliness in this sketch. I am beginning to explore my deeper feelings and starting to express them in my art in a healing way. I did this in pencil and ink. I kept her arms/hands deformed deliberately to symbolise my own emotional state, and that we are all universally imperfect.

Week 1 of WOW

2012-01-07T07:38:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I started to go through the videos and pdfs for week one of the world of whimsy on Willowing. I thought about what Tam says about other elements and telling a story. I did her in pen and ink. Im so enjoying working totally out of my imagination and feeling my way around drawings now. I feel like a kid again, playing, which is wonderful. I did week one in my sketchbook. I still have to do the healing exercise about writing a letter to myself, this part I find hardest.

Enter the Dragon

2012-01-06T09:54:00.000-08:00

I took part in the monthly Art Challenge - January at Willowing yesterday. Its all about dragons this month. Ive never drawn a dragon before so I went to Dragoart to find some basic kiddies dragons to follow step by step. Then once I had the basic baby dragon I added my whimsy girl holding him and decided to celebrate chinese new year for 2012 as it is the year of the dragon. I also found a chinese new year blessing /lettering and put that on too. I had tons of fun playing with this one.

Its got a kinda East meets West feel to as Ive mashed up styles in it lol

Tangling & Whimsy

2012-01-05T07:47:00.000-08:00

Yesterday my friends little girl, Naimh came over to learn how to draw some tangles and a whimsy girl. We had such fun together. When she went home I played some more myself and came up with this tangle and whimsy girl in my A5 sketchbook. Such fun!

Trying an Elf Painting

2012-01-04T16:08:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I worked on an Elf painting in my sketchbook. I wanted to do something with a quote from "game of thrones" by George Martin. The quote is "Fear cuts deeper than swords". I thought how apt that quote is and when we try something new the fear of the unknown can hold us back or even paralyse us sometimes.

Anyway I finished the Elf and worked on the lettering but it wasnt going as well as I was hoping, so I took the Elf into paintshop pro and doctored the lettering there till I was happier. It is just a sketch to hold my ideas. I might do something with this later on, but I will need to work on ears lol

Life Book has begun

2012-01-03T04:46:00.000-08:00

Woohoo Lifebook at Willowing is up and running. I am so looking forward to this course and have just completed my first journal spread. Tam's teaching is excellent, so well explained. I stuck closely to the videos as I havent done much journalling before. I hope I can spread my wings a little more next time. I was just so excited to get started on my goddess. We had to connect to all the positive inner qualities we have and see them as our goddess superpowers. We had to integrate our portrait into our backgrounds with the lettering. It was such fun to play with. I know Im going to have a great time on LB this coming year. Here she is....

She was produced on 15 x 11 hot pressed watercolour paper. We had to add a half page fold to the edge of the paper and use scrapping paper to hold the fold in place. We had to use stamps and brayering in the background. Her face and hair is done using watercolour pencils, graphite and acrylic. The lettering is applied using a blue sharpie pen.

Last Day of 2011 - Happy New Year 2012

2011-12-31T08:49:00.000-08:00

Wow doesnt time fly past! It seems no time at all since last new year. I want to wish all of my friends and family a very happy, healthy, prosperous & creative New Year! I hope 2012 brings all of you joy and happiness.

I'm in the process of updating my blog today to include all of my digital artwork from 2007 - 2009. I think it might take more than one evening to do this lol. It includes all of my digital animation, digital signature tags and digital paintings and design.

Going through all of this artwork brings back so many happy memories of when I belonged to the forum PSS (paintshop stop). It is now known as Psp-Family but I dont get much time to play there anymore as I'm exploring tradtional and mixed media art at the moment. If anyone fancies learning to use paintshop pro or photoshop I can highly recommend you visit Psp-Family, as its a very friendly community.

Inspired by Willowing

2011-12-31T05:18:00.000-08:00

After reading all the pdf''s and watching the videos for the FF course. I was inspired to paint a girl with her teddy bear using mixed media. I used a torn map in the background and texture paste for the mountain and gems in the sky to simulate sparkling stars. The rest of the painting was done using watercolour crayons mixed with acrylic paints and graphite pencils to enhance shading. It was the first time I had used a watercolour board and the first time I had produced a full coloured 3/4 portrait. I had so much fun with this, that I knew I was going to have such a great time on the Fabulous Faces coursework.

Week 6 of Fabulous Faces

2011-12-31T05:02:00.000-08:00

Last week of the Fabulous Faces Course. Its been a blast. Ive still tons to learn but I've really enjoyed the journey on this course. This final piece was done on hot pressed watercolour paper. Its the first time Ive use this surface, I did enjoy the smooth quality of it for the portrait tones. I used torn book pages in the background, lots of stamps and brayering to add to the texture. In the dark strands of her hair, I added more texture with tissue paper. We had to integrate our portraits with other elements and some lettering/quote. We also had to try something different with her hair, hence the tissue paper. I used die cuts for the word magical. I used stadelier felt pens to draw in the flowers and leaves and other lettering.

Week 5 of Fabulous Faces

2011-12-30T04:39:00.000-08:00

I was playing with my graphitint and coloursoft pencils on some rough watercolour paper to do week 5 homework for fabulous faces. We had to practice the 3/4 face and add other elements to tell a story. We also had to limit the use of our palette. I enjoyed doing this one and found using a limited palette a challenge but very interesting.

Tangling some more

2011-12-29T10:41:00.000-08:00

I had another play last night and tried out the blender pen with my promarkers. I think I need lots more practise but I'm having a blast and quite happy with the results.

Tangled Profile

2011-12-28T14:40:00.000-08:00

Tonight I was playing with my tangle book and my promarkers and decided to try a tangled profile. This was so much fun. Its wonderful how the pattern just keeps growing as you get into it and it becomes ever so intricate in places. I just lost about four hours on this one. I love how tangling transports you to another place and makes you so chilled out.

Tangle Time

2011-12-28T09:17:00.000-08:00

Ive been practising my tangle patterns in colour. I got some lovely new promarkers from Santa. They are so lovely to use. I had fun creating this tangle garden. Zentangling is so relaxing, you find yourself getting lost in the patterns.

Practising Some More

2011-12-23T09:37:00.000-08:00

I practised another profile for Fabulous Faces in my sketchbook. I hope to get around to painting this sketch soon too.

I got a lovely new Zentangle book for Christmas, yeah I opened it up early lol. I spent a couple of happy relaxing hours last night doodling whilst watching/listening to the tv and came up with this doodled garden.

Week 3 of Mythical Magical Creatures

2011-12-23T09:32:00.000-08:00

This is such a fabulous inspiring class. Im learning so much about me and my art. We had to do a journal promt about Mucha, his style and what kind of angel you connect to. I connected to an angel of Compassion as we all need lots of that. I had such fun exploring Mucha's decorative style and playing with some colour ideas and with my angel.

Week 4 of Fabulous Faces

2011-12-21T13:33:00.000-08:00

Studied the profile portrait for this weeks lesson for fabulous faces on Willowing. It was fun. I need to do more of these.

Peace, Love & Hope

2011-12-21T07:14:00.000-08:00

I had fun doing the monthly art challenge on Willowing. We had to do something whimsical. This is how I got on. I used watercolour, acrylic and gel pens on this one. Wishing all of my friends, peace, love and hope this christmas. Have a great one everyone.

Week 3 of Fabulous Faces

2011-12-17T06:08:00.000-08:00

I enjoyed doing this 3/4 portrait. I played with a new hairstyle and had my first shot at doing braids. I'm loving this course at Willowing

Week 2 of Fabulous Faces

2011-12-14T14:32:00.000-08:00

I was having a hard time with this portrait as the sketchbook page didnt appreciate all the watercolour I was putting on it. The page deteriorated so badly around the eye area as I shaded some more and ripped through, so I had to reinforce it with a piece of card on the back. The eyes looked so awful, so I decided to go with what was happening and see if I could salvage something from the piece. I added the mask to hide all the mistakes and played with some gel pens till I was happier with the result.

I kept thinking of what Tam teaches us.....its not the destination thats important but rather the journey itself.
That seemed to shut up my inner critic LOL

Hair study & Week One of Fabulous Faces

2011-12-12T05:31:00.001-08:00

I played with some sketching pencils yesterday and was exploring hair texture and style. Here is how the sketch turned out.

Time Theme

2011-12-10T09:35:00.000-08:00

We are all starting to think about the summer exhibition for the LAA and what we are going to produce for it. The theme is Time this year.
I gave it a lot of thought and came up with and idea to do the four seasons using my mixed media girls. I did a sketch in my journal to play with the idea I had in my head and try out a few mixed media techniques.

This would be my winter girl with snow falling infront of her. She is made out of torn book pages and there is a map in the background all torn up to give texture to the snow. Her coat is book pages, with gel pens simulating a checked pattern on her coat. Using brayer love again, it picks up all the snow textures for the background.

I will post more of my themed sketches for the exhibition as I produce them.

What Ive been doing at LAA lately

2011-12-10T09:30:00.000-08:00

Every Tuesday I go to the local art club (Livingston Art Association). We have been exploring pastels. So I worked from a photograph of my little dog Eddy and produced a portrait of him

The Magic of Klimt

2011-12-10T09:26:00.000-08:00

Ive worked on this painting for the last 3 days, following on from the journal promt studying Klimt's decorative style. Based on Klimts' gold period and Tams wonderful lessons on Magical Mythical Creatures at Willowing.

This is the largest canvas Ive ever worked on. I can tell you it was a scary process. The white fright got me as I sketched out the outlines LOL
Once I settled into it I had a great time, but each stage needed a coffee break and a chance to psych myself up for the next part. I found collaging on this scale amazing fun. Doodling the way Klimt does was such fun too. She is my Venus. I connected to her because she symbolises love and peace and is one of my ruling planets as Im taurean. I so enjoyed the journey with this painting. Working with the texture paste and metallic paints was exciting too.

Finished Paintings Over the last Fortnight

2011-12-10T09:16:00.000-08:00

I worked on a whimsy painting, after watching all of the videos and reading the pdf for the Whimsy course on Willowing. My friend is due her new baby soon, actually it was due on the 30th of November, but still she hasnt had her. Anyway I decided it would be nice to celebrate their new addition by doing a whimsy family portrait. The painting is on canvas. The background is made up using torn strips from a map, adding a watercolour wash, and then brayering over the background in white. I used collage on some of the clothing, mums dress and dads t-shirt. There is book pages in the sky, and gems on the flowers. There is even a sticker heart on the wee girls t-shirt.

Next I worked on Catherines Painting of her and the polar bear, completed this one on Tuesday this week. I gave it to her on Wednesday and she was so delighted with it. This girl is painted on a plywood board. The background is made up of torn book pages, watercolour washed, stamps of music and a cat, since Catherine loves her music and cats. Then it was brayered with a light blue to pick up all the cracks of the torn pages. I just love that brayered textured look. Her jersey is collaged and painted. The choice of collage makes it look like a wollen pullover when you see it close up. The curtains are blue tissue paper, and the polka dots are put on using a cotton bud dipped into white acrylic The rest of the painting was done using acrylics and watercolours and my favourite pitt pens for her hair details. The stars are star gems in the sky. Catherine particuarly loved them. It was great to see this painting go from the sketch to the final piece, it really transformed as it went. It was so exciting as I didnt even know how it would work out.

Sketchbook Stuff

2011-12-10T09:00:00.000-08:00

Been working out lots in my sketchbooks. I was studying Modigliani's style and found his portraits really interesting. I was inspired to try out his elongation of the portrait and the way he paints eyes.

This sketch was done using pentel watercolour oil pastels and finished off with little stars in the sky.

Im so enjoying exploring portaiture in lots of differnt styles and the courses at Willowing are helping me to work out what I like and dont like. The Fabulous Faces course had me working out the 3/4 portrait and a teddy bear. I love working from my imagination now and finding it hones your skills as you work out where the light falls and what would happen etc.
I did these two sketches of my beanie girl and a teddy bear a couple of weeks ago. Once I done these I was inspired to do a full mixed media painting on watercolour board.
Here is the beanie girl and the teddy sketches.

I kept working in my sketchbook, trying to age a portrait and have another go at the 3/4 portrait varying the hairstyles.

For the other classes Im taking at willowing I worked more in my sketchbook
and tried out a girl for the mythical magical creatures class. She is done in pastel. It was fun playing with the face shapes and the hairstyle.

Staying with the Mythical Magical Creatures classes, I started to work on lessons one and two, painting and collaging a goddess. First off you had to do a journal promt about connecting to your goddess and the words empowerment and sensuality. We are studying Klimt, so it was suggested that you try out all his decorative styles in your journal too. I found out that I would need to learn to draw hands better and that I would need to workout what pens would work best on acrylic and collage papers.
Here is how I got on with the journal promt, the hands drawings and the page of what pens work best on what.

Last week I worked on a sketch for my friends wee girl, she wanted a girl in blue holding her polar bear for her bedroom wall.

Almost Finished my Board Book

2011-12-10T08:34:00.000-08:00

I did some more work on my wee board book for the Art, Heart & Healing Course. I did this around October time. Working on the front cover and the celebration pages.

Hectic Summer & Autumn

2011-12-10T08:19:00.000-08:00

Ive not been posting much lately, life was hectic throughout the summer and most of autumn.
I also pulled a muscle in my left shoulder and it trapped a nerve, so couldnt do any art for 10 weeks.
At the end of October I found time again to get back into my art. I signed up for Lifebook at Willowing and became a Rainbow Child, taking another 3 of her courses. Lifebook is going to be very exciting. Its going to be fun being part of Willowing for an entire year. Tam is such a good teacher.

The other 3 courses Im working through and trying to finish before Lifebook starts in January are; The World of Whimsy, Mythical Magical Creatures and Fabulous Faces.
I spent most of November just watching all videos and reading the course materials. To join in the fun click below.

Digital Dreams - Summer 2011

2011-07-15T10:34:00.000-07:00

Throughout the summer I took the digital dreams class on Willowing.
I didnt finish the entire course as I became ill but I did manage most of it. So here follows what I managed to complete. I highly recommend this course if you wish to learn how to use Photoshop. I intend to finish this course this coming year.

Week One Homework - getting used to photoshop interface and tools

Week Two Homework - making our first pdfs and using the cloning tools and brushes

Week Three Homework - Adding layers and lettering

Week Four Homework - drawing whisical creatures and shading a portrait

Just one more lesson to finish week 5 where we are to paint a girl and a mixed layered background with text ...watch this space ....

What I've been working on in May

2011-05-22T13:23:00.000-07:00

Ive been doing a lot of different stuff this month. I joined Willowing and have signed up for Tam's free course in Art, Heart and Healing. (This is a four week course and is so brilliant, I highly recommend it).
I'm also taking the Portraits & Petite Dolls course with Suziblu. These courses are self-guided, so its great that I've plenty time to do them. I've watched all the videos and it is very interesting and I know its taking my art in new directions as is Tam's course.
At the LAA (Livingston Art Association) I've been learning to work from my sketchbook and I've just finished my first canvas inspired by one of my sketches. This was a fun progression to watch.

The above was a scanned copy of the canvas when the background was done so I could play with a few ideas. The drawing of the tree, birds and leaves were first drawn out in glue and then the background was layered using a brayer. The brayering made the glue very unstable so before the canvas dried, I peeled it off and it acted like a resist, leaving an outline of my drawing which I took as a happy accident.
I was trying for a relief effect but worked with what I got instead. Once I had the copy I started to play with collage pieces for the birds and ink ideas for the tree and leaves. I do like some of the outcomes in this painting but decided when I went for it on the canvas for real, to keep exploring and trying out new things.

The Canvas developed. It is called 3 Little Birds, Singing Don't Worry. I kept the Thorntons foil sweet wrappers for the birds and did some pen work in the wings and leaves, then decided to use an SNP party political newspaper for the tree. I kept thinking of what the birds message was (as the entire canvas was inspired by the song 3 little birds by Bob Marley). I liked the idea of playing with the contrast of current politics against the message of the song. Especially since universally our economies are in turmoil.

The above two paintings are from an altered book I'm making in Tam's Art, Heart & Healing Course.
The board book is fun and challenging to do. These were the work for Week Two of the course.
The background for the Dear Little Chelle spread was brayered and then the photos & lettering was printed and then every piece was integrated into the page.
The Friendship & Love was given a watercolour washed background and then the little whimsy dolls were drawn and painted on watercolour paper, cut out and then their dresses and the tree was collaged.
I found lots of little flower embellishments from card making scrap kits and played around with these till I was happy with the layout, finally finishing it off with some stamped lettering.

Following Suzi's portrait class I decided to try out a portrait spread in my sketchbook. I also played around with some collage pieces for the background and some words from a very old newspaper I had lying around. I had a lot of fun making this sketchbook spread.

My Sketchbook for April 2011

2011-04-29T10:31:00.000-07:00

This is the work I've been doing in my sketchbook this month

& for the first week of March.

I now need to challenge myself again for the month of May!

2nd Petite Doll

2011-04-28T08:41:00.000-07:00

Just finished my second doll. I had used my derwent watercolour pencils on the first one yesterday and thought better of it today, just in case they get wet. So I dug out my old berol karisma pencils and used them instead. I'd forgotten how creamy and smooth the karismas are. Its such a pity they don't make them anymore too, so I think I'll be sad when Ive used these ones up. I'm thinking of investing in a set of prismacolours (used to be berol); their portrait set looks lovely.
Note to self: I must stop buying art materials and use the ones I have LOL

Petite Dolls

2011-04-27T13:56:00.000-07:00

I joined Suziblu's group last week so I could learn how to do lovely folk art dolls for using with mixed media backgrounds for my sketchbooks and journals hobby.

I'm having great fun with them and have managed to get through the first two weeks of videos and course work so far. I'm now waiting supplies from amazon so I can learn to beeswax and do a little pyrography with the dolls.

Its good to get my teeth back into my art. I set myself a challenge for the entire month of April - to do at least one sketchbook/journal page per day for the entire month. Only 2 more days to go and I need a new challenge for May, apart from learning to do my folk art dollies. I have a few ideas for this.

I need to take photos of my sketchbook and upload them for the month of April. Which I intend to do at the end of this month.

Anyhoo! Here is a couple of sketches from my petite dolls course work.

Border Terrier - Pip

2010-10-31T13:20:00.000-07:00

This painting was done on Bockingford Watercolour Tinted paper, 300lb with a NOT surface. I used Derwent Watercolour Pencils and Pentel Waterbrushes to render it. It is (14 inches by 10 inches)

This is my friend Doreens pet and I am gifting it to her.

You Can Draw Anything by Mark Linley

2010-10-31T13:14:00.000-07:00

I found this little gem of a book in my art book collection, so I read it over the weekend, and have started to do the exercises. I had underrated this book, shame on me!

I completed the first two exercises today, using fine liner black pens and cheap copier paper. Intending to follow through on this book so it will increase my observational, pen and ink skills.

Fig6 Simple Shading

Fig8 Advanced Shading

More Digital Art - Feb - March 2008

2008-02-15T15:17:00.000-08:00

I took advanced paintshop pro classes in the spring of 2008 and the following work is the results from these classes. We learned lots about vector art, brushes, cloning, cleaning up images, drawing and brush painting, uses scripts, using layers and a little animation.

Digital Painting & Manipulation - 2008

2008-02-15T08:52:00.000-08:00

The following digital paintings were made using paintshop pro during 2008.

The following pieces are

photographs manipulated to look like paintings

Here is a Before and After Manipulation using Two Photographs

Animation Tags - September 2007

2007-09-15T05:50:00.000-07:00

I love digital animation. These were all done using paintshop pro & animation shop, following tutorials from the site of Madlassgrin in 2007.

Signature Tags - August 2007

2007-08-15T07:11:00.000-07:00

The following digital tags were made following tutorials on Madlassgrin site. I used paintshop pro to make them. If you google signature tag or paintshop pro tutorials you can find tons to practise with.

Signature Tags - Feb - Sept 2007

2007-02-15T07:28:00.000-08:00

I made the following tags using paintshop pro and using various tutorials from around the web and was part of a superb tagging community called PSS in 2007. I took paintshop pro classes there and it was a blast. The forum also hosted many daily challenges and these digital tags result from them.

More Animations from 2007

2007-02-15T06:18:00.000-08:00

The following animations were from various tag tutorials from various sites. If you google animation tag tutorials you will find plenty to practice on. These were done from February through to July 2007. These were made using paintshop pro and animation shop.