Creating happiness ... inside and out

The Fearless Four are half way through a project - in December we got together and made some clay things. Some in molds and some free form. Then we continued this month with using them on a canvas - making a highly textured background. Next month we will finish the project by painting the background and adding our clay creations.

In the meantime, I decided to use some of my clay creations (free-formed flower shapes) in a small glass-fronted box frame.

I cut some mountboard to size and painted the background with acrylic paints - including some metallics and interference paint.

I die-cut some metal to form the stems as I wanted it to be 3D.

You may remember the trip I did recently to the British Museum, where I found the inspiration for my flowers' colouring (see here).

The flowers are painted with acrylic paint, including a little interference, and then some gold gilding flakes added to the centre. The actual clay centres are painted gold. Finally I used a high gloss varnish.

I couldn't photograph it in its box frame as the glass created too may reflections, so this is before it went into the frame.

I was out early this morning, a heavy frost and bitter cold, but an absolutely stunning sunrise.

No photograph can capture the beautiful colours - it just made me feel so happy to have seen it.

Recently discovered Debasish Mridha, an American physician, philosopher, poet and author ...

At sunrise,

The blue sky paints herself with gold colours

and joyfully dances to the music of a morning breeze.

Debasish Mridha

Powertex, pattern and perfume

I've still not caught up with everything! Currently in the middle of having some decorating done, so everything has to be moved out and distributed around the house - no wonder I can't find anything! Then there are decisions to make on colour, design and what I'm going to replace ...

Anyway, took time out recently to do a Powertex workshop. Powertex is basically a fabric hardener, but can be used in so many different ways. This was a three hour workshop, and I did remember to take photos along the way, mainly to remind me what I did, and in what order!

First, arrange the pieces on the canvas until happy. Take a photo as a reminder.

I've used some open hessian (or burlap), cotton threads, cardboard, honesty seed heads and a cedar cone.












Next, everything is taken off and some ivory coloured Powertex poured onto the canvas, and spread around with a large palette knife. Working the knife back and forth also creates texture.

Then all the items were coated in Powertex and placed onto the canvas.

The cone was backed with some scrunched up hessian to stabilise it.














Whilst everything is still wet, applied some Powertex Bister (a coloured waterbased spray ink), and then heated with a hair dryer.

The Powertex will crack - the thicker the Powertex the bigger the cracks.

At this point, the canvas should be left to continue to dry naturally, but we had limited time, so I used more heat until most of it was dry.












I made some adjustments by applying more Bister, before moving onto the pigments, a dry powder mixed with the Powertex or a varnish and dry-brushed; I used some blue and copper. I don't think the seed heads worked as they are too delicate, so I tried to highlight them. I liked the cone, but it is in the wrong place!

This was a fun workshop, and as I love doing canvases, I'll be exploring Powertex more in the not too distant future!

Must just mention a recent trip to Hatfield House, where there is the most magnificent wisteria.

View of the original house where Elizabeth I spent her childhood

 Just love the little door - think I might have a go at painting it.

And here is my wisteria - not so magnificent, but the perfume is just as stunning!

It has turned really cold again, so I'm getting impatient for some warm sunshine.

Happy May!

Togetherness: (noun) the pleasant feeling of being united with other people in friendship and understanding

I've been a bit slow with my blogging of late - no excuses, just not enough time. Sometimes I just want to shout STOP EVERYTHING while I catch up!

Anyway, recently the Fearless Four got together for a crafty day. Linda had a pack of 4 box canvases, and Lin provided some hessian ...

To start, I painted the canvas with pearlised paint and set aside.

The main panel is a piece of mountboard that I stamped and embossed first, before adding some texture paste at the bottom. Next, a sprinkling of Brushos, spritzed with water. I coloured the flowers with Inktense pencils (used with water). I then intensified the colour over the paste, and finally used some pearl glaze (a Fresco one made by Paper Artsy).

When dry, the mountboard was layered with the hessian onto the canvas with PVA glue.

And the other masterpieces ...

Linda didn't quite finish.
The mountboard was cut into four after stamping, and there is a bit of decoupage there. Love those flowers.

Lin also didn't finish.
The canvas has some texture paste on it, and I like the matching canvas and mountboard colour.

Monica did some decoupage too, with an effective monochromatic look.















Another enjoyable day.

Love Spring, when my garden is at it's most colourful -

My tree peony, with blooms as big as dinner plates!

And one of my camelia's - so pretty.

















It's going to turn cold again next week, with an arctic blast, which will probably wreck havoc on the flowers, so I'm enjoying them while I can!

It's all about colour ...

On my current art course (Intermediate Watercolour and Mixed Media), we learned about primary colour layering, which I'm finding fascinating.

Instead of mixing, say, a purple in the palette with red and blue, you mix on the paper. So, the first layer would be red, and when that is dry, you paint blue on top. Because watercolour is transparent you still get purple, but it is more vibrant.

Just making various strengths of primary colours and layering them up can create any colour you desire - but on the paper!

The first session involved creating an abstract painting, using primary layering - amazing! The only colours I had in my palette were yellow, red and blue. I also did the outline with India Ink and a dip pen.

We are now working on a landscape using this method, so watch this space!

I had a fabulous time in the Highlands, it was great seeing my friend and going for walks. The air is so clear and the landscape is so beautiful it hurts.

Just a taste -

Eilean Donan Castle on Loch Duich at Dornie, on the way to Skye

Featured in many films, including Highlander.

Bridge over to Skye

The last time I went to Skye on the ferry, as the bridge hadn't been built!

Glen Affric - National Nature Reserve - stunningly beautiful

Glen Affric again


















Back to reality, traffic jams and pollution! but I've got lots of photos for painting inspiration.

Don't look down!

I've now finished my Line and Wash course, which I have really enjoyed, and learnt quite a bit along the way too! Although my watercolour washes are still proving challenging, but I think I'm getting a little better.

Our final project could be any subject and I found a fabulous photo of a pine tree tettering on the edge of a rocky outcrop.

I used acrylic inks with dip pens and twigs, and did most of the tree and rocks first.

Doing the tree first meant I had invested a lot of time and effort, and now ... deep breath ... the watercolour washes. I made up several washes and did some graduated layers.

Right - breath again!

I think it looks a bit oriental ...

... which leads quite neatly to my tree peony (I think they originate in China).

It is in full bloom - I love its big, bold, in-your-face, look-at-me flowers.

Maybe I'll paint it some time!

Darting Diaphanous Delights

The next letter in the Craft Barn's Alpha Dictionary challenge is D, with the added condition of using pink somewhere.

I thought I would do a bit of stamping this time, and I love damselflies and dragonflies so - I found the two stamps I've got, and stamped in Versamark onto some watercolour paper. I then heat embossed in white, to act as a resist.

My Brushos haven't had much use in recent weeks, so time to get those out again too. Lastly, I used one of my favourite Sizzix dies to add a bit of dimension, and then splattered some gold watercolour paint (scrumptious stuff by Schmincke called Aqua Bronze).

I did cut out the definition of dragonfly, but then lost it! Fortunately damselfly begins with the same letter!

I'm also entering the into the current Paper Artsy challenge which features resist.

To end, a little info on the difference between dragonflies and damselflies ...


Dragonfly (suborder Anisoptera)
Wings open at rest
Eyes touching at top of head
Flight strong and purposeful


Damselfly (suborder Zygoptera)
Wings closed at rest
Eyes not touching at top of head
Flight weak and fluttering

Retrospective ...

... posh word for what have I been up to this year?

I've been looking through my past posts, and thought I would do a review of 2015 of my favourite creations and other things! There are links to each original post if you want to know more.

Brushos have featured quite a lot this year, and I still love them, I like the random-ness of sprinkling and spritzing (or vice versa), but they are also very useful as straightforward watercolour paints.

This card featured in January, here.

I posted quite a bit in February, and it is difficult to chose just one, but I've gone with this little canvas (see here), as I really enjoyed combining different materials and paints ...

and I've still got a load of metal off-cuts to use up!

In March I got the Crazy Birds stamps; I don't think I've used a stamp set as much this one.

They appeared for the first time on this card ... (see the original post here).

During the year I've participated in a few online blog challenges, one being the Craft Barn Calendar Challenge, which was really fun, and I did managed to stay the course and complete the 12 months.

To see all the calendar pages go to the final post here.

This is the page for April.

May saw a complete revamp of my craft room (a long time coming!), and I am still completely in love with it; I feel happy just being there - though it is not quite so tidy as when first shown here.

I've tried my hand at a few things over the years, and June saw me don a visor and get up close and personal with some welding equipment!

I love going to art exhibitions, and try to get to the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition each year.

I did a post in July which included details of this year's visit, but also this canvas, which is still a favourite!

August saw the start of a series of art courses, and the first one was all about drawing - great fun, but very intense!

I'm now using what I learnt in my current watercolour course.

This was the final drawing.

September brought the super moon total lunar eclipse, which I thought was awe-inspiring - so I had to include one of my photos in this review!

It's October now, and I had started my second art course all about collage. This was the second exercise - to create an abstract collage. I loved using all the different textures. The full post can be found here.

There is something very pleasing about creating simple, easy Christmas cards (and useful too if you have a load to make!), and this one is from a November session I devised with the craft group I run. He is such a happy chap!

Now we are in December and I had to revisit my favourite collage, which was the final freestyle one I created on the collage course, using only magazine images.



















I discovered Haiku at the end of last year (the Japanese poetry form), and continued to write a few throughout this year. To find them just choose Haiku from the categories list. I've written another one -

Earth's midnight slumbers

Birdsong echoes of sweet hope

Trees whisper - new year

I'm going to finish by thanking all my friends, both on and off line, for making 2015 a good one, and I'll leave you with one of my crazy bird cards - nuff said!

Happy New Year - I hope 2016 brings all you may wish for.

Pumpkin moon

The Craft Barn's Calendar Challenge words for October are orange and pumpkin/fruit.

Thought I would stick with collage, so I found a pumpkin photo and printed several in different sizes.
I then printed out the moon photos I recently took (see here), and added a die-cut of my friendly raven! Then decided to use some black card as the base for dramatic effect!

The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe is rather a long poem - so here is the final verse ...

And the Raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting
On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door;
And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon’s that is dreaming,
And the lamp-light o’er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor;
And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor
                              Shall be lifted—nevermore!

Happy spookiness!

Shooting the moon ...

So ... there I was at 3am this morning, in my dressing gown, in the garden, looking at the moon (as you do!).

Seriously, I did manage to get up at 2.30 am this morning to see the super moon total lunar eclipse. The combination of a super moon with a total lunar eclipse has only happened 5 times since 1900, and the next one is not due until 2033.

It was quite magical, and I wanted to try and get a photo. I only have a compact digital camera, but decided to have a go. I have a tiny patio garden, so was creeping around as I didn't want to alert the neighbours in case they thought I was someone up to no good! To try and lessen camera shake I eventually went for leaning against the fence to steady myself -  right under nextdoor's bedroom window! I did the wrong settings on the camera a couple of times, so the flash went off - oops!

Here are my efforts - not brilliant but -

I took a shot of moonrise earlier in the evening, hanging out the bedroom window, but at least I was able to steady myself on the window frame!

Then, at about 2.30 am I took this shot of the partial eclipse (from the garden).

Finally, at about 3am - this one - very difficult, and the best shot out of 25!


















Inspired me to write another haiku -

Earth reflected red
moon falling into soft white
Fleeting attraction

May flowers always line your path ...

My first project in my new craftroom. and the room is not looking too tidy now - so - getting back to normal then!

This month's Craft Barn Calendar Challenge words for May are magenta and flowers.

I recently bought a silhouette stamp by Donna Downey (Unity Stamps), which I wanted to try, so got the Brushos out.  First a pale wash, then sprinkled Brushos directly onto the stamp, spritzed and stamped.  I also used the Brushos on a dragonfly stamp which is not a silhouette one, but it still worked!

This reminds me of a Japanese watercolour, so I found this Haiku by Issa:

Spring has come

In all simplicity:

A light yellow sky.

I love May time, so to celebrate here are some of my garden flowers ...

Tree peony - such a show-off!

Fragrant Choisya

Divine Wisteria


















I see my garden from my craft room window, and it always makes me happy.