#InkTober 4th 2017

Well I did say yesterday that I’d be hard pushed to not, at some point, break open a coloured ink during InkTober this year  … and I didn’t last even a quarter of the month.  How dreadful am I?

There are gazillions of the InkTober Artists around the globe all pushing their black ink pens loyally and here I am being the bad girl.  Oooooohhh  but it’s so delicious to be bad sometimes!  😉

And .. I’m not really bad.  Not really … for I still used ink.  I used Brown Ink instead of black, and I used it straight from the bottle.  A proper glass bottle too!

Aw anyhoo, enough of my bad … let’s crack on and talk about todays inky offering…

This drawing (with some painting) was inspired by a handmade card which I made for Beverly of More Ink Please,  – no the name of her blog isn’t made up for InkTober, that really is the name of her blog. Ha!  I sent her the card just over a week ago, and she emailed me to tell me that it had arrived. YAY!  I’ll blog the card probably tomorrow as I have to re-size the photo’s still, but for today I’m sharing my offering for the 4th day of InkTober2017, which was inspired, as I said, by the card I made for Beverly.

Autumn is a much-loved season by me, so it made sense that I would have to do some sort of nod to Autumn, and here is the inking I created…

#InkTober2017 day 4

I started with the acorns on branches, on the upper left corner, and pencilled in where I wanted them to be before using ink straight from the bottle and a fine paint brush to ink up both the branches and the cups and acorns themselves.  The ink used is called Chronicle Acrylic Dip Pen Ink, in Sepia.  (I’ve had this bottle of never ending ink for years, and I’m not even sure they still make it).  I also used a Kuretake Zig Memory System Ink Pen in black, (size 005) to give some dark shadows to places where they would normally fall.  Those two things were the only colours and items used to make the acorn branches.

#InkTober2017 day 4

The Autumn leaf wreath was first drawn out lightly in pencil, then lightly again using a Zig Memory System Pigment Ink Pen, in Chocolate.  I then used Kuretake Gansai Watercolour Paints to add Autumnal colours to the leaves.  I added the twisted vine to the ‘wreath’ using the same Chronicle Ink I’d used on the Acorn branches, and also added some twisted tumbling vines too.

Using the Zig Memory System Ink Pen in chocolate, I added the ‘Autumn’ word, and that’s all there was to it!

It was quite quick to make, the majority of the time seemed to be waiting for parts to dry before moving on.

I’ve told myself that I have to be a good girl for a few days now and not dip my brushes or pens into the blue ink.  So … fingers crossed…. I might be able to do it without falling off the wagon.  (to borrow a phrase from somewhere else.  lol)

Autumn has really arrived to the South of England.  It’s so heart stoppingly pretty here right now.  Green is beautiful .. but ohhh.. the yellows, reds and oranges,  those stunning sunburst shades that only nature can summon up from her paint-box … those colours just make me want to lie down in those leaves and do the snow angel thing.  So yummy!

Hot meals have come back onto the menu, and my soft pashmina type scarves have come out and are enjoying the odd outing now and again.

Did you know …. that today, in 1883, it was the first run of the  Orient Express.?  Well, you do now!  You can go and impress someone with your new-found knowledge and watch them as they try to work out why you’re so amazing!!  You’re welcome.  😀

Have a wonderful rest of your day!  And … when you get there … Sleep well, for tomorrow you will be gifted with another 24 hours (if you’re lucky enough) and you can join the rest of us as we do it all again … with some differences.

Sending squidges, from me in my corner to you in yours.

 

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Goosey Gander ~ an ATC/ACEO – painted for World Watercolour Month

There are films that I watched as a child which obviously nestled their way into my heart and made a home there.  Or … perhaps it was some of the characters from the film(s) which had nestled into my heart….

I sat at my desk, paintbrush in hand and waited for inspiration.  I’d been singing inside my head for a couple of hours the song from Aritistocats – the one where they sing over and over  “Every body, every body, every body wants to be a cat” – as Thomas O’Malley’s friends (all cats) all play the instruments and sing the Jazz song.

Ok… you’re singing it now.  sorry about that.

Well … there are two characters in The Aristocats which are my most favourite – Amelia and Abigail Gabble.  The two faaaabulous Geese, who have a particular walk, and a particular piece of music which accompanies that walk.

I knew what I needed to paint …  but I had a choice.  Paint the Goose which I had pictured in my mind … or  go and look for a photo of Amelia and Abigail so that I could be reminded of how they actually looked.

Somehow looking for a photo felt like cheating, so I was going to have to remember what they looked like from memory.

I knew there was something fancy about them, and I guessed at a big ol’ ribbon tied around their necks….  like this . . .

‘Goosey Gander’.  An ATC / ACEO Painted for #WorldWatercolorMonth

But I found out that they didn’t have ribbons tied around their necks ….  they had their bonnets tied around their heads!  Aw bummer.  I’d already painted the goose with a ribbon by this time… ahh, I decided that I’d keep it exactly as it was.  So I did.

For those of you who’ve forgotten the Miss Abigails and Miss Amelia’s walk …  I’ve been to YouTube and collected a video …  You don’t have to watch this all the way through … you’ll get the ‘walk’ within seconds.

… I apologise if you’re now going to humming that tune for the rest of the day.  But hey .. if I’ve got to suffer, then you can come and join me! lol  😀

If you want to see that walk from the back I have another offering…  but I have a tale to tell before you watch it:-

Mr. Cobs recently painted our decking – which looks fabulous and I’m thrilled with it.  The cats were kept off it while it was drying.  However – Miss Maisie (neurotic at the best of times) took a dislike to the decking paint and to show her utter contempt, she developed a special walk, which I christened  ‘The Decking Walk‘ – – a walk which is a seriously odd thing to watch and funny in the extreme!  She pulls this wild face look – ears back, eyes the size of saucers and she crosses the decking to get into the house as if she’s trying to lift up her back paws and only walk on her two front paws.

Sadly … she cannot do the  required two feet walk.  So the resulting walk is bally hysterical!!!  Seriously so.

I knew that I knew this walk from somewhere but just couldn’t place it … however in trying to find the video of the ‘Goose Walk’ by Amelia and Abigail,  I suddenly had this LIGHTBULB moment inside my brain as I watched the beginning of this video…. – Watch the little white female kitten doing the walk …  THAT’S how Miss Maisie walks over the decking …. even though the decking has been dry for SEVERAL weeks.  She still feels the need to do  ‘The Decking Walk‘ …  so please watch and enjoy.  (again … you don’t have to watch the whole video … just a bit of it.)…

 

I ask myself alllll the time,  “why me?“.   Why do I get all these funny animals?  All of them are ‘broken’, like plants on the ‘hospital table’ at the garden centre.  No one else wants them so muggins here takes them home and loves them.

Anyhoo ...  back to Goosey Gander.  She’s a little ATC in size – so  2.5inches by 3.5inches and painted all in watercolours.

I took photographs in different lighting to try and get a decent photograph which captured the colours.  This photograph was taken with light flooding in from the window.    #WorldWatercolorMonth

This photograph was taken with the flash on.  #WorldWatercolorMonth

… and this photo was taken with the desk lamps turned on and shone on it.  #WorldWatercolorMonth

You can see the difference it makes to the colours, and to the way the light plays on the the painting, kind of picking out details that you could ignore in other photos.

Ack … let’s not get into a photography lesson eh?  LOL.

Thank you so much for coming and sharing a coffee with me.

Wishing you a very happy Tuesday  edit to change it to : Wednesday.  (It’s a good job that the fabulous  Tom Merriman  is awake, commenting on blogs, and wished me a Happy Wednesday. I was convinced that it was Tuesday today!).  May the hours pass peacefully and may you find some smiles hidden within the moments during your day.

Have a truly blessed day my friends.  ~

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Snail Mail ~ an ATC/ACEO – painted for World Watercolour Month

Happy Tuesday!  As you can see I’m attempting to continue with the World Watercolour Month Challenge, and todays offering is done with a big nod to the fun aspect of doing this challenge.

Can you work out why I’ve titled this little,  two and a half inches  by  three and a half inches,  ATC/ACEO  ‘Snail Mail‘?

Here …  take another look…

‘Snail Mail’.  An ATC / ACEO Painted for  #WorldWatercolorMonth

…  worked it out yet?  I’m sure you have but just in case there’s someone who’s still half asleep and not got their brain up and running yet …  That thing on the side of the snail … is a Postage Stamp.  It’s even got a teeny tiny painting of the Queens head on it, and she’s wearing a crown!

So … it’s a snail, which looks like it’s going to be posted somewhere because of the postage stamp …  so it’s  +Snail  +  Mail  =  Snail Mail!   😀

You’ll never guess what I did though.  Do you remember that I painted a Rooster (Rodney) a few days ago … but painted him just a little too big for the mounts I like to use around ATC’s/ACEO’s?   Well … I did it again …  take a look…

#WorldWatercolorMonth

See …  didn’t I tell you I’d do it again!   I’ve cut his BTM off!  How on earth is he going to leave that magical fairy trail behind him now?!  Did you know that a snail leaves that Shimmering Fairy Trail so that he can find his way home again?  It’s his personal SatNav.  Snails had SatNavs loooong before they were thought of for us!

Nooooo  don’t be so gullible  ….  that’s a pile of pooh.  I made that up so don’t go round repeating that as a ‘fact’ – because the whole world will believe it!  (Actually … that could be really funny.  The whole world believing that a snail has its own SatNav!  LOL  The more I think about that the funnier it gets! LOL …  I’m actually sat here typing this and giggling my head off!  Ahhh I do love funny!).

I get so ‘into’ what I’m doing when I’m painting, – especially so when I’ve only got a little bit of time to do something in, –  and all the plans and pencil guidelines all disappear into thin air and I go crazy with the paint!  tsk tsk.  Maybe it’s the paint fumes?  Those watercolours ….  they must give off paint fumes.  That’s what it is.  It’s not me being a dope.  I’m obviously high on watercolour paint fumes!

(and if you believe that,  you’ll believe that I can knit jelly! –   ‘Jello’ for our USA friends).

Anyhoo…  I painted a snail.   Watercolour paper + paint + brushes + water!    And that,  as they say,  is all there was to it!

Wishing you a Tip Top Tuesday!  May you have a truly happy day, and may you share your smile with others.  How about paying someone a compliment today?  It can be a ‘You always look so great!’.  Or …  ‘Your hair looks lovely.’  Or …  ‘I really like your car.  It suits you.  Great choice!’  Or …  anything.  Like someone’s shoes.  Tell someone how much you admire their dedication.  Tell someone they look brilliant in *that* colour!  Like someones perfume.

Anything …  You know what you feel comfortable with.  If you just aren’t into giving compliments, then make someone a surprise cup of coffee or tea.  Or buy the section you work on at work a pack of biscuits for afternoon tea.   Just make someone smile! 

From me …. to you …  I think you’re amazing.  You come and visit me nearly every time I post something and I adore seeing you.  So from me, to you,  a BIG…

… THANK YOU!

I really appreciate you coming and relish having you as a blogging friend.  Sending much love and squidges,  from me in my corner, to you in yours.  Have a truly blessed day.

I’m a LITTLE Teapot! 3rd ATC/ACEO painted for World Watercolour Month

And she is!  LITTLE, I mean.  The Teapot is a LITTLE teapot.  Painted on 140lb watercolour paper cut to just  2.5″x 3.5″,  and using watercolour paints

This is an ATC/ACEO hand painted for World Watercolour Month – which runs for all of July.  (you can find out more about this, here:-  Doodlewash<— click – and it will open up in a new page for you).

Painting a watercolour for World Watercolour Month doesn’t mean you have to paint on such a small size as I’ve done here.  You can join in and paint in any size you feel like and on anything you’d like to.  So if you want to paint the empty cereal pack, then go ahead!  But do test your water colours on the medium you’d like to use, to ensure that the effect you get is the one you want.

I chose to paint ATC‘s (Artist Trading Card)/ACEO‘s (Art Card Originals and Editions) just for the extra challenge, and because I rather enjoy creating on a small-scale.

The only ‘rule’ for painting or creating an ATC or an ACEO is the size must be no bigger or smaller 2.5″x 3.5″ inches.

Because I know that when you’re sitting on your side of the screen it can be difficult to imagine the size of an ATC I thought I’d take a couple of photos which would give you a rough idea about how small an ATC actually is.  This first photograph shows the painted Teapot next to a regular sized pen….

Shown next to an ordinary, regular sized pen so that you can see the actual size of the little painting.

…and this next photo shows the card next to a regular sized ‘business card’…

shown along with a ‘business card’  for size.

This is my 3rd hand painted ATC/ACEO  for  World Watercolour Month –  if you’ve missed the first two you can find them here—> ATC’s & ACEO’s  – You can scroll down the page when it loads, to find even more!

If you fancy having a ‘go’ at painting a watercolour, or two, you can buy a box of watercolours, (here in the UK)  at ‘The Works’ –  who sell a box of Boldmere watercolours  – 12 tubes of different colours, in a box, for just £3.00.  They also sell brushes, watercolour paper, watercolour pencils,  and other various arty items. Outside the UK I’m afraid I’m of no help as I don’t have knowledge of your art supplies stores.

Well, today (Tuesday) has been a beautiful day – not too hot, but warm, with a gentle suggestion of breeze.  And, as the sun shone, we were at Little Cobs School Sports Day!  I had such a good time watching him running, and joining in with all the races – from the bean bag on top of your head race – and the ‘Up and Under’ race – throwing the javelin (a long foam tube with ‘flights’ at one end — no one could get injured by these javelins!) – to the final race of running from one end to the other of the little field.

Having Cerebral Palsy, we knew Little Cobs wasn’t going to be the fastest runner, but he was most certainly the most ‘tried and succeeded, in a joyful manner‘  winner!

We’d never been to school Sports day before.  It was a joy to see how many people (mummies and daddies) knew Little Cobs by name, and when they spoke his name it was always spoken with a warm affection.  And… even when he came last in some races, all the mummies and daddies hung about at the finish line and cheered him on and clapped loudly for him when he finally finished.  So heartwarming, and I was so, so thankful to them.  Such beautiful people.

Today has been a total joy and a day of making memories with our fabulous Grandson.  When we had a picnic on the field (along with all the other parents and grandparents and their little ones),  he was so full of happy bubbles that he wuffed his picnic lunch down and joined some other children in his class, doing the running races all over again – only this time,  ‘free-style’.  I worried that there’d be a collision – but thankfully they managed to avoid each other really well!  LOL.

May your own day today be a good one.  May the sun shine warmly upon you, and may someone smile in such a way that you feel the warmth behind it.

Be a blessing in someone elses life.  Make them an unexpected cup of tea/coffee.  Give someone a card just to say ‘Hello’ and make them smile.  Write a little message on a post it note and stick it to their computer/desk/mug!   Thank someone properly.  Go the extra mile and make someone feel that they matter.  Just make someone feel like they count.

Your smile might be the only good thing they’ve had to smile about all day.  Be a blessing.

Thank you so much for coming.  I love to see you here.

Have a truly blessed day.  Squidges from me here in my corner, to you there in yours.

Hand painting Christmas …

Bless me bloggers for I have sinned ...  I didn’t show you the Christmas Cards I created and sent to my neighbours last Christmas.  [hangs head in shame]. But I’m here and able to post them now.  (Wouldn’t post them earlier in the year because it felt almost obscene to post about Christmas too soon.)

Made with a little help from a kit bought for me as a gift, from:  Folk It,  which contained all the colours of paints which I needed, (and I only already owned the one colour (white)), so I was happy to have the kit just to get everything there in one place.  If you haven’t painted before, or even if you have and need a little encouragement for whatever reason, I would thoroughly recommend their kits to you.  They don’t just come with the paints and a couple of brushes, (and a dotting tool), but they come with everything you need to make at least one project, or in the case of the cards – you would normally get around 4 or 5 really good quality cards & envelopes, a little booklet which helps you, plus it comes with a CD Rom that you simply put into your computer (in that little draw which you use to hold your coffee cup  – just joking.  I don’t do that.  At least .. not for a few months now. lol), and you watch as the delightful lady on-screen as she not only tells you what to do, but demonstrates IN REAL TIME as she teaches you – so you can watch, pause, paint, and then move on (but I’d recommend watching the CD Rom all the way through first … don’t run before you can walk, eh?)

Aw anyway .. you want to look at the piccies … so without further ado ….

Angels, stars and snowflakes.  With the addition of an ‘angel feather’

All of the cards you see here, have that central panel with the painting on it – which is a piece of mount board, already cut to size for you.  But, you only get a certain amount in the kits which will help you to make the projects in the kit itself, however, you can purchase more of these cut to size mount boards from them directly (pack of 25 for £5.00).  I recommend their ready cut mount boards because I know how difficult mount board can be to cut.  (oh boy do I know!).  So if you can buy it ready cut then it removes the struggle.

Another Angel card, this time with an embossed background.

Mistletoe …  PUCKER UP PETAL and brace yourself, I’m coming for a smacker!   … Good grief!! Cor  …  you can run faster than I thought you could just by looking at you!

Ok … you might have got away that time … but . .  here I come again  ….  [flicks the light switch and everything goes black]  ..  you’re not getting away that quick this time kiddo!

A snowflake … on a chalky blue background.  The painted snowflake was sprinkled with very fine glitter before the paint dried, so that snowflake twinkles merrily when the light catches it.

Another snowflake … only slightly different from the last.  I think I must have had a glass of wine too many when I took this photograph because it’s drunk and leaning!  LOL

Now I did a snowflake on black... but I should have taken more care as I slightly wandered off the straight and narrow, but I kept it anyway and was so glad that I did because at the last moment I realised I’d forgotten a card for the Postman!  So I quickly mounted the black backed snowflake onto a card and ran it past Mr. Cobs who said … “It’s fine!  Stop worrying!”  … so I tucked an ‘internationtionally accepted gift card‘  (i.e. [in this case] money) into the card and sealed it just in time before the postman arrived…..

Can you see where I wandered off the path of good and true?  Look down in the bottom left corner as you’re looking at the card right now.  It doesn’t end in the corner.  [sigh] … But, in crafting,  just as in life …  It’s the mistakes we make which teach us the things we need to learn.  …  Because this was for the Postman, I stamped a postal franking image on the envelope. lol.

To mix it up a bit, I turned the mount boards so that I was painting on the diamond rather than the square and this time it was a wreath.  Once the painting was dry I added a little satin bow in a deep vintage colour red.  (The berries are paint … not stickles).

And we end where we began … on a wreath, this time a thicker, fuller wreath, mounted on a square of mirror card in deep blue, which I punch around the edges of with a little hand punch.

Better late than never  …  those were the Christmas cards I posted to my neighbours last Christmas.  What am I going to make for them this Christmas?  Well,  right now I haven’t got the foggiest notion, but as soon as I’ve decide and have made some, I’ll share them with you!.

Happy Monday all.  The start of an all new, shiny, fresh out of the box, week.  Enjoy it.  Make a memory happen today.  One that your mind reminds you to remember.  Remember *that* moment.  A moment in time is just a moment in time … unless you remember it.  And then, it becomes a very special moment.  A magical moment.  A memory.

So … when you go to bed at the end of today ... just as you lay down to go to sleep … inside your head, remember something which happened during the day which either made you smile, laugh, or even something which was just an enjoyable moment in time.  A few seconds even.  Then remember what it was that made that moment a memory for you.  What special thing was it?   Fix that memory to the wall of your brain.  Put it up there on a memory post it note and pin it there with a pin, to make sure that it doesn’t fall down.  Now look around at all the other post it notes inside your head.  All your memories or moments.  Coooo … there are a lot.  Have a look at them as you drift off into sleep.

Sending big squidges from my corner to yours where you’re sitting right now.

Have a blessed day, my friend

Happy Birthday Mr.Cobs!

Making ANYTHING for Mr. Cobs has always been a logistical nightmare. He’s got a sixth sense when something is going on which relates to him.  A cake.  A meal.  A gift.  A plan. A surprise,  etc etc.   But making a card for him probably the worst because he pops in and out of the Craft Room  all the time.  He comes to bring me a surprise ice cream from the ice cream man.  To bring me a coffee.  To collect empty coffee cups.  To look for the dog, or one of our cats.  He’ll come bearing any packages which might have arrived for me, or even to tell me something funny which he’s read in the newspaper, heard on the radio, seen, or thought of.

I love him dropping in.  Except .. when I’m trying to make him a card.  I rarely make cards for him as I find it just too difficult to work on one in secret.  But I managed this time, Yay!

In my panic about him creeping up behind me, (always a nightmare at anytime)  I forgot to take photographs of each step, but I did remember at around the ‘quarter into it’ mark, so at least have one ‘in the middle making photo’  to share :

It’s meant to represent his shed.  A total mess, and no rhyme or reason to it … but he seems to know what’s there, and I guess that’s all that matters.  (Doesn’t stop me from wanting to get in there and label everything and put them all in some sort of understandable order though! lol).

Anyhoo …

The card was made using Card-io Stamps, –  and the notes saying ‘Happy Birthday’ were made on the computer (I wanted to use a particular font, in the right size – so stamps wouldn’t do it … but stamps could be used),  liquid pearls (for the drips of paint and the paint drips on the pots) and  Anita’s 3D Clear Gloss.  The stamp pads I used were by Memento and Papermania,  dye ink pads.

Each of the little pinned notes were first curled up a little at the bottom, then glued to the card front.  The two different types of bulldog clips were then stamped into place – in oder to ‘anchor’ the notes to the wriggly (hand drawn) string which stretches across the card – again these bulldog clips are Card-io Stamps. And the cupboard (with opening doors!) was again made using Cardio Stamps, and a bit of careful cutting with a scalpel and metal rule.

And that’s all there was to it!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MR. COBS!  (erm ….  how old will you be next year, sweetheart? [snigger])

Happy Saturday all.   ~

 

A ‘Ewes and I’ get together.

I had so much fun making the Brush Art (‘Art Work’) (link will open in another tab)   which I made last week and couldn’t wait to make another,  and,  as luck would have it …  when looking for something else in his shed, Mr. Cobs found a pasting brush which he’d never used and asked me if I wanted it for anything.  DID I EVER!

I couldn’t wait to get to work on it.  I already had a plan, and I knew exactly what I wanted to do.  I had some tiny wee sheep knocking about my craft room,  and an urge to play with paints.  That pasting brush didn’t have to wait long.  Within a few hours the brush handle had been sanded (thank you Mr. Cobs) and I was getting my paints out.   Although it took me a few days to actually complete (drying time/setting time/working time etc etc)  I love the end result.

I’ve taken a couple of photos so that you can get a better idea of it from each side….

The hedging at either end of the field – I made by needle felting, using wool tops from my felting stash.   I needle felted the hedging,  the tree tops  and the ‘babbling brook’ running between the bottom of the field and top of the bristles on the brush.

The ‘babbling brook’ is more loosely needle felted, in three blue colours of wool tops – so that I could get that ‘look’ of  moving water.

I’m having so much fun with the making of these brushes.  I realised, while making this one, why I was enjoying myself so much.  I LOVE miniature.  I’ve always like to make and work with miniature things.  Things with detail.  I haven’t really been able to since we moved house, as there was still so much of my ‘stuff’ packed in boxes or just not enough room to get everything out and find a place for it.  But it’s slowly coming together and that’s brilliant.

Would you believe it ... I already have a plan for making another one!  Aw .. I’ll try not to bombard you with them … but when it comes to crafty fun – a gals gotta do what a gals gotta do.   🙂

So anyway ….

It’s Monday again.  Someone stole one of my days over the weekend.  It went from Saturday to Monday.  Somewhere along the way I’ve lost Sunday.  If you find it, let me know will you, and I’ll go and pick it up and bring it back.

Did you do anything fun over the weekend?  Go anywhere?  Make anything?

Do tell,  share,  confess your sins.  YES.. CONFESS!   Aww  – now this could be good  . . .

• Step inside this wee box and confess all your sins.
  • Have you spent too much money on craft items?
  • Have you coveted your neighbours ass  nooo that really doesn’t sound good in today’s world.  Try again  ….
  • Coveted your neighbours servant?  Nah, no one has servants now. (do they?)
  • Have you coveted anything belonging to your neighbour?

Or is there perhaps something more juicy,  pressing down upon you which you wish to confess?  It will be just between you and me (and a select handful of other bloggers,  who have all be sworn to secrecy), and we will naturally all forgive you for eating those toffee sweets;  buying yourself something  clothing related and hiding it at the back of your wardrobe; (an old friend would do this very thing.   When she eventually got the item of clothing out to wear,  her husband would comment on it and ask if the thing was new, and she would always say:  “I’ve had this for ages!  See,  you never take any notice!”).

Well anyway ... while you’re plucking up the courage to confess,  I shall say… that’s me done and dusted.  I really enjoyed making this bit of artwork and so hope you like too.  Please let me know what you think.  You know how I love to chat.  🙂

It’s lovely to see you here.  Would you like another coffee?  Biscuits?  Toast?

Sending oodles of squidges from my corner to yours . . .

 

 

 

 

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Mini Men working + Art = “Art Work”

I’ve had this project in my mind for months and months.  Well,  I say  ‘this project’ …  it wasn’t necessarily THIS project, more an idea for a project of this sort which came to me when sitting in my craftroom one day.  Dearest one, Mr. Cobs, had left a used paintbrush in my craftroom, on a bit of paper.  He’d been painting the tongue and groove wainscoting in the bathroom a fabulous shade of blue and this paintbrush signalled the end of the project.  I picked up the brush and admired it.  I loved the blue – so seaside looking.  Very  what I call ‘Martha Stewart blue’ – only a little lighter.

I looked at that paintbrush for what seemed like ages,  and felt an idea forming in my brain.  Ooooh… I liked it!  But . . .  I didn’t actually do anything about it.  Every now and again I’d turn the idea over inside my head but never actually begin it.  That was until last week, when suddenly everything came together.  It was like:  The moon was in the seventh house, and Jupiter aligned with Mars, then peace will guide the planets and love will steer the stars!  The idea exploded and I decided that this weekend (just gone) I was going to make it happen.

The colours in this photograph are, I would say, pretty true to what the colours are in real life

I’d had the little men for months, just waiting for me to get my act together, and I did, and it’s now here.  I’ve given it a name….  ‘Art Work’.  The reason is in the title.  The men are at work, and the whole thing is a piece of my art so:  Art plus Work = Art Work.  🙂

I used the flash on the camera for this photo so the colours aren’t quite so ‘true’

So that you can see it from slightly different angles I’ve taken a few photos which kind of look like they’re the same … but they’re not.  I moved the camera each time so that you could get a ‘feel’ for the depth of the piece, and also how the colours work their way up the brush.

 

You might not believe this but this brush actually began life over the weekend as a brand new 2″ wide brush.

The fabulous men are, for me,  what makes this ‘come alive’.  One man has a hammer and is making holes in the metal part of the brush – cheeky monkey!  The man in the middle is trying to drill through the surface on which they’re all standing – how dare he try to wreck my art piece!  And finally … the man on the left (as you look at the photos) is trying to peep into the hole which he’s standing by.  I think he’s the one that tickles me the most.  You can actually see how he’s leaning in and shielding his eyes while he peeps.  He looks like he’s a little scared to put his head too close in case something pops out of that hole and bites him!  Eeeek!

taken using the flash on the camera and lit by bright lamps either side of the Art Work – hence the dazzling brightness (sorry about that)

I loved making this and can’t wait to make more.    Me thinks a trip to the local DIY store is on the list, to buy paint brushes! 

Mr. Cobs and I came up with lots of fun ideas for many other Works of  (paint brush) Arts, and we had quite a giggle together doing so.  I don’t think it will be long before I’m back with another bit of this style of art.

Well, that’s my bit of Show and Tell for this Mondays session at school.  What about you?  What have you been up to this weekend, my friends?  Been anywhere?  Done anything which made you happy?

Whatever you did ….  I hope your weekend was peaceful and up-lifting, and that you feel re-charged and ready to take on whatever this new week presents you with.  May you have a wonderful week, and if it’s not,  you tell me and then you and I shall form a very small gang and beat the ‘you know what’ out of whatever it is which has caused you strife.  We may be small but we be MIGHTY!

Sending you love, from my corner to yours,

 

 

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Childrens Paints aren’t just for children! ~ A Sunset in miniature ~

Created using ‘children’s’ paints
A Sunset in a miniature scale of 2.5″x3.5″
ATC / ACEO Art.

Years (and years) ago I bought a plastic pallet of watercolour paints which were in the ‘children’s crafting’ section of The Works (a cheap book/stationery etc store in the UK).  The colours were so lusciously pretty – not the normal bright primary ones you usually find for children,  but they seemed kind of waxy.  More like melted wax crayons – but in heavenly colours.

I bought them because:

• a) they were really cheap at £1.49   –  so if they turned out to be rubbish I wouldn’t break my heart,   …  and 
• b) they were pretty –  I thought it was worth giving them a try .

Look at how, by changing the mount from the olive-green to this deep blue mount, it changes the colours in painting.
Different colours in the painting step forward to be noticed.

I put them away and totally forgot about them until I came to pack up my belongings when I sold my house and bought a new one.  I’ve just yesterday came across them again so I thought I’d give them a go and see what they were like.

They’re BEAUTIFUL!  They’re very much like Twinkling H2O’s.  They’re translucent but have a depth of colour, and they’re incredibly twinkly – but in a sort of pearlescent way – not twinkly in a cheap glittery way.

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star(s), how I wonder what you are …
I didn’t paint those stars – the stars suddenly showed up when I painted!

I took 14 different photographs trying to capture the twinkly pearlescent effect of the paint.  This one ↑  (above) was the best of the bunch.

Sunset in miniature 2.5″ x 3.5″ – this time with a white mount.
See how suddenly the colours are so much deeper and darker?

It feels like all my life since I last painted.  It was something I used to do almost daily, without fail. 

I have a neurological condition which has got very much worse over the last few years and holding things can be something of a challenge as I can’t always ‘feel’ the thing in my fingers, and, more often than not, my fingers / whole hand, will suddenly let go of whatever I’m holding.   I don’t let go – my hand and fingers have an involuntary spasm and kind of ‘twitch’ open,  and because of that, whatever I’m holding ends up on the floor.

It can make life  . . .  ‘interesting’.  

Hope you like the twinkling Sunset ATC/ACEO.

Have a brilliant Monday all.  

Remember to look for the good stuff in your day. 😉