Hearts and flowers

Alongside the Craft Barn's Alpha Dictionary Challenge is a random challenge, and the current one is hearts (but not red ones).

This is a card I came up with for a session with the craft group I run - a collaged heart.

I drew a heart on a double-sided sticky sheet. Cut that out, then peeled one covering off and started to stick paper shapes onto it - not worrying about any overhangs at this point - leaving gaps between all the pieces. Once the heart shape is covered I sprinkled some gold embossing on the still sticky gaps and heated it. I then trimmed all the overhangs, peeled off the back covering, and stuck it onto the card. I outlined the edge with a black pen.

Another version is to use micro beads in the gaps.

Had a fab day out yeterday at Kew Gardens, specifically to see the Orchids Festival, which this year celebrates Brazil. Perfect day, brilliant blue sky and sunshine - very cold, but I had my thermal socks and furry boots on!

Got some great photos to use as references for my watercolour practice.

Here are a few -

The orchids were spectacular ...

And the colours ,,,

The columns of orchids were stunning ...

Carnival ...

These were my favourites ...

Then we spent another couple of hours walking round the rest of Kew, and I got some more potential painting subjects. Including the Japanese garden.

And finally - seagulls sunbathing on the ice!

Flitter ... flutter ...

The next letter in the Craft Barn's Alpha Dictionary Challenge is F - with a little twist of the addition of a heart somewhere.

A lot of Fs went through my mind, and reading the dictionary is quite enlightening - but eventually  I plumped for flitter.

I decided to use the whole dictionary page this time, which covered most of my 10 x 8 sheet. I also also used another page to produce a couple of die-cuts.

Stamps used - one of my favourite's from Designs by Ryn - the humming bird; and some floral and foliage stamps (another 2 Fs) from Unity Stamps and Paperartsy.

I used my Windsor & Newton pigment markers to do some colouring, and added a little heart. Did you know the humming bird's heart beats at more than 1000 times a minute. They also flap their wings at around 50 times a second!

I was inspired to write another haiku -

Little bird flitters
Drenched nectar flower beckons
Creates winged rainbow

Also entering into this Month's Craft Stamper Magazine challenge which is all about using background text.

Lady sings the blues ...

I wasn't going to write this post, but bin my latest watercolour exercise, which was an optional bit of homework. But I can only learn from my mistakes, nothing is perfect the first time (usually!), and a problem shared  ...

This extra piece of homework involved drawing a face, then painting it in one colour, in layers, to build up to five tonal values.

First mistake - I decided to use Cobalt Blue - and then discovered it is very grainy paint (some watercolours can be quite granular), but having spent a couple of hours drawing the face with all the tonal contour lines, I had to stick with that colour.

I also chose to do it in A3, and the paper I used was quite rough, so being grainy paint, it settled very quickly into all the dimples!

Granular paint + quite a rough watercolour paper = help!

Anyway, I persevered and finished it. I think she looks pretty upset about the whole thing - I know how she feels!

Another problem I encountered is lines within my washes - today, in class, I found out my synthetic brushes would be better swopped with real hair ones, which hold more water and release it slower onto the paper.

So, I've now ordered some (very expensive) new brushes!

Maybe when I've recovered from this little misadventure I'll repeat the exercise with a smoother paper and a non-grainy colour - with my new brushes!

Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.
Albert Einstein

What's your view?

I've finished my first watercolour landscape, which was spread over a couple of classes, with additional time at home!

This exercise was all about colour and distance, using a limited palette. Either a traditional palette of Ultramarine, Burnt Sienna and Yellow Ochre, or a modern palette which uses Indian Yellow instead of Yellow Ochre.

I decided to go for the traditional palette, which I have to say I struggled with; but I did learn that not all Yellow Ochres are the same - the one I was using had quite a lot of red in it!

We were provide with an outline drawing we had to copy onto watercolour paper; this is a very simplistic landscape, incorporating lots of distant trees and hills - but I'd quite like that view out of my window!

Our first sky was all about distant rain - we've had quite a lot of that recently!

Here it is finished - I think my mid distance trees look like they have had a camouflage net thrown over them - apart from that I'm quite pleased at my first attempt!

I also decided to do a smaller version in the modern palette, just to see the difference. This paper was torn off an A4 pad, so it had some glue on the edges. I did this one quite quickly, but you can see the greens are much fresher.

I've learned a lot about colour mixing (particular greens), and also that painting trees is very difficult!

This week we moved onto tertiary colours (colours that contain every primary colour in different proportions), using complementary colour pairs. A way to get subdued colours, or greys and browns. I finished this chart at home yesterday - 66 squares in all!

Now I've got to do an outline townscape in prepartion for the next class, when we will be using tertiary colours.

Then it's half term - phew! I need some time to catch up on stuff - like housework! At least the dust is reaching a level when its worth doing!

Snowdrops and crocuses are out - happy February!

Don't quote me!

The next letter in the Craft Barn Alpha Dictionary Challenge is Q.

My first thought was Quotation! I have a book of quotations which I have compiled over the years, and I found one which I thought was quite appropriate.

The background is brayered acrylic ink, with a little paint through an alphabet stencil. I finished off with a border stamp, using Archival ink - thank you Craftyfield: I remembered which ink to use on paint!

I also ... erroneously ... thought my Designs by Ryn stamp (from the Fiddlehead stamp set) looked like a quotation mark, but of course - one is upside down!

So - a quotation about quotation.

And here is another one from A A Milne:

"A quotation is a handy thing to have about, saving one the trouble of thinking for oneself, always a laborious business."

And while I am on quotations - here is another erroneous one! (by G M Jackson)

"Every time we prove a positive, we simultaneously prove an infinite number of negatives. Therefore, it is erroneous to declare that we can't prove a negative."

I think that is enough!

When friends get together ... expect some master pieces!

It was the Fearless Four's first get together of the year, and we decided to something not requiring too much brain power! Masterboards are always useful things to do, as you get a load of backgrounds, or die-cutting material, without too much effort - but a lot of play!

So - masterboards it was, some A3 in size and some 12 x 12. Here is the state of the room when we broke for lunch! Masterboards spread all over! I must admit our production rate fell rapidly after lunch!

I managed to do three 12 x 12 pieces.

The first one consists of brayered acrylic paint and I used some things from my mark making box - sequin waste, credit card, bottle caps, cotton bud and a bit of splatter from a toothbrush!

The second is another brayered paint background, which I then knocked back with a dilute white wash.

Followed by some stamping in Archival ink and white paint.

My final piece - another brayered background with a white wash,  and more stamping.

So, 3 pieces ready to make some cards!
















And the others?

Lin did three A3 pieces using brayer, sponges and stamps.

Linda finished two A3 pieces and started a third one. Using brayer, mark making, and stamps.

Monica was the most prolific of all - finishing four pieces. Again using a brayer with some mark making and stamps.










Good friends, good lunch, good time!

Is there still life after art?

I finished my extra piece of watercolour homework - doing another still life using just a pair of complementary colours. This time I chose blue and orange.

Found this one just as difficult - my saucers are rubbish! I'm not particularly a still life fan, but I can appreciate it is a good subject for watercolour exercises. I have to admit I got a little bored, so experimented with using clingfilm on parts of the background. I'd like to explore that further!

I found this great quote from Jarod Kintz:

"I watched a bowl of fruit on the table remain motionless.
Just another example of life imitating art."

We are now half way through our first landscape, one more session is meant to finish it - though I have a feeling it will need finishing at home!

Happiness is seeing the days get longer!

And is there still honey for tea?

The post title is the last line from the poem "The Old Vicarage, Grantchester" by Rupert Brooke.

This year's Craft Barn Challenge is an Alpha/Dictionary one, with a new letter every two weeks. I didn't take part the last time they did this in 2013, so this is a new one for me! The first letter is B. Any format is OK but you must include the word and dictionary definition.

I have an old dictionary I use for collage etc., and I will be sticking to my favourite format of a 10 x 8 sheet (I like having the option of using different card/paper as the base), which will end up in a journal book.

B - had to be bee, as I am a bit obsessive about bees (I got a bee brooch for my birthday, and some bee earrings for Christmas!).

Using a piece of acrylic paper, I covered it in acrylic paint. After all the watercolouring I've been doing of late it was good to get the acrylic paint out again!

Then a few quick strokes to create some flowers, followed by my favourite bee stamps (by Stampotique). I've had trouble in the past stamping onto acrylic paint, and I sure I've been told numerous times how to get round this - but I forget! Anyway, the ink sank a bit into the paint so I used a liner pen to accentuate.

PS: I don't know if this affects any of my followers, but here is an announcement made on Blogger Buzz, which I have copied from another blog:

In 2011, we announced the retirement of Google Friend Connect for all non-Blogger sites. We made an exception for Blogger to give readers an easy way to follow blogs using a variety of accounts. Yet over time, we’ve seen that most people sign into Friend Connect with a Google Account. So, in an effort to streamline, in the next few weeks we’ll be making some changes that will eventually require readers to have a Google Account to sign into Friend Connect and follow blogs.

As part of this plan, starting the week of January 11, we’ll remove the ability for people with Twitter, Yahoo, Orkut or other OpenId providers to sign in to Google Friend Connect and follow blogs. At the same time, we’ll remove non-Google Account profiles so you may see a decrease in your blog follower count.

We encourage you to tell affected readers (perhaps via a blog post), that if they use a non-Google Account to follow your blog, they need to sign up for a Google Account, and re-follow your blog. With a Google Account, they’ll get blogs added to their Reading List, making it easier for them to see the latest posts and activity of the blogs they follow.

We know how important followers are to all bloggers, but we believe this change will improve the experience for both you and your readers.

Posted by Michael Goddard, Software Engineer

Aha!

When I completed last year's Craft Barn calendar challenge I was a little stumped as to how to bind my calendar so I could have it on show in my craft room. Here is a reminder of my pages - if you want to know more about how each page was done, just pick Craft Barn 2015 Calendar Challenge from the categories list.

Then I had a light bulb moment! I have this hard -cover ring bound book that I used for the 2014 Craft Barn quotes challenge.  It was only half full!

By the way - I used some sprays and flicked a lot of paint to create my universe look!















So I also stuck in my calendar pages - and now I can just stand it up - tent like - each month ...sorted!

You can see it is raining (again) when I took this picture, but I think we may be getting a little colder and brighter next week - more in keeping with my calendar!

Tea? - just add water!

Before the holidays I had completed 3 classes of my current watercolour course, when we concentrated on complementary colours, i.e. opposites on the colour wheel - blue and orange, purple and yellow, and red and green, and the way each pair of colours show each other off to best advantage - more intense and brighter.

To explore these colour pairings, we had to draw a still life of white objects (from photographs provided), and paint them using just one pair of complementary colours. I have now finished my piece; and I decided on purple and yellow. We were also encouraged to include other media - I chose coloured pencils this time, though I haven't used much pencil.

I'm now in the middle of another one, using blue and orange this time - to try and learn from my mistakes with this one!

Many artists use complementary colour pairings, and it can become a bit addictive to spot them!

Time for tea I think ...