Waiting

A long time ago I bought a box of 6"x6" canvases and promptly forgot about them as other stuff got in the way. Well, I found them again a week or two ago and realised it's been ages since I worked on canvas. 

Paper or board is often an easier option for the sort of heavily textured and layered pieces I like to make now because it doesn't have that natural give to it that a stretched canvas does and I find it easier to print or stamp or collage on. So a challenge for myself here, to see what I can do!

New Video - A Series of Postcards

Finally, I managed to get a new video filmed and edited. I'm working on a series of small postcard sized pieces here. I find that working on several pieces at the same time is helpful for quieting the inner critic and allows me to work more quickly and intuitively so it's something I like to do regularly if I can. Hope you enjoy the video!

Be Happy Here

Just finished another video, this time it's a walk through one of my journals followed by a process piece as I make this page. You might be surprised by how it looked to start with when you see where it finished up, but that's part of the fun of creation. I often don't know where things are going until they get there, and that's ok once I let go of any preconceptions I might have and let things just happen!

Coming Up Roses

We are having a very patchy summer so far with more cold winds and dreary days than sunny ones. But despite that my beautiful Abraham Derby rose is in bloom and looking perfect with its huge pink and apricot flowers and fresh tea rose fragrance. I have a pot of pelargonium Apple Blossom nestled next to it which is the perfect complement with its pale pink and white flower heads. Lovely!

Neon Psycho-delia

A strange confluence of things going on here. I'm still battling with labyrinthitis which is affecting my balance quite badly and making me dizzy-woozy so I haven't got a lot of new stuff to show you. The doc gave me medication for it which helps but hasn't got rid of it. 

However, when I got round to reading the leaflet that comes with the pills I discovered that as well as being a treatment for seasickness and inner ear problems they're also an anti-psychotic used to treat schizophrenia and anxiety! Now I have suffered from anxiety for many years but not, as far as I'm aware, schizophrenia. So maybe if they don't fix my ears they'll stop the panic attacks huh?

Anyway, I digress slightly. I got meself a cool new stencil from Crafters' Workshop. Reminds me somewhat of a Bridget Riley painting. I tried it out on top of a background of neon pink and orange combined with some chalky lilac and baby pink craft paints. I think I'm on a mission to make things which once looked at will burn themselves onto your retinas in perpetuity!

I partnered it with a little tag which has a somewhat quieter feel and uses the negative imprint of the stencil, this time in distress inks. And bees - love this little bee stamp and I think the whole thing fairly buzzes so it seems quite appropriate.

Things I Almost Need

I'm sure I've explained this before but some of my sisters-in-artiness and I have this habit of being drawn to art supplies which we feel just have to be purchased because we 'almost need them'. So, I was in the art store the other day and, as always, perusing the paint aisles when what should I see but tubes of fluorescent acrylic paint! 

Normally I wouldn't go for such a thing, imagining these could only really be useful for posters or other in-yer-face kind of advertising projects, but I felt like a bit of experimenting so I picked up a fluorescent pink and orange and took them home with me. And you know what, it was a good call. They add a nice punch of unexpected traffic stopping colour on this tag and I'll be experimenting further to see what else I can do with them!

In The Background

Working in my journal trying to make something that would 'pop'! Think I succeeded.

Look at all these fun brushes I picked up for just over £1. They were in the children's art and craft section at the home and garden store. Well worth checking out!

October Colours

I love this time of year, especially for the wonderful colours. Here's another journal page trying to capture it all.

Journalling

I recently started working in my journal again, trying some new stuff out. My fave find recently has been a white Hybrid gel pen which actually seems to work over other media - I do not have a good track record with white pens but am enjoying this one so far!

Stormy Weather

Yesterday was one of those autumn days where the weather can't make its mind up. There are some glorious colours in the foliage and the light was filtering through storm clouds which gave way to bright sunlight occasionally, so I took the camera when I went out with Sam for his afternoon walk and photographed the neighbourhood.

Seeing Red

I only realised today that I seem to be a bit obssessed with red lately, or more precisely those lovely autumnal shades of raspberry, plum and blackberry. Everything I've made over the last week or two has been red, just look!

A Little Pick-Me-Up

I realised the other day that what's missing in my winter (emotional and literal) landscape is colour. I don't do grey, which is kind of hard at this time of year, so as an escape route I've been painting with all the most saturated colours I can manage to find.

There now, that's better.