Painting, Creating And Stitching!

Last week I managed a few sketches and a painting in my sketch book.

I seem to have a fixation with dramatic skies, perhaps it's because our skies are very flat and grey at the moment.

The painting did start out as painting paper for a work shop I 'm going on next Saturday week.

It's a mixed media work shop and I have a huge list of things I need to take!

I have also been invited to take part in an altered book group local to me.

This, I might add is all new to me and I am hoping the work shop will help me in some of the processes you have to use.

We have nine members in the group and each has a book with which they pass on after they have decorated two pages in mixed media.

Each person has a different theme and at the end you will have nine different interpretations of your chosen subject in your book.

My chosen subject is The 1920's, I decorate the cover and first page and then it gets passed to the next person on the list.....I hope you get the idea.

At the end we meet for lunch ( looking forward to that bit) and get our books back, which will be sometime in November.... so should have time to fit it in, fingers crossed.

We hope then to have the books displayed in an exhibition.

I have been playing with ideas for my front cover by drawing my 1920's lady in thread, still lots of experimenting to do.

I will be adding some hand stitching to the front of her dress, I think, I have started with the loop for detached button hole.

Leaf tree is another tree brooch I made in the week, which I will add to my etsy shop....soon

Now I must thank Maria of http://creativebumblebee.blogspot.com/ for two awards and also Leigh http://leighshepherd.blogspot.com/ for another. Thank you so much!

Thanks so much for taking the time to visit my blog.

Bye for now.x

Inspired By Landscape

Close up of foreground

Close up of sky

Oil Pastel Sketch

I have managed to list one of my paintings in etsy today for the first time.Here

This painting on paper is a combination of acrylic and oil pastel.

In shades of blue, green and purple.

Looking to the distance, a view from my imagination.

I think I may have to stitch this too, I keep seeing it in thread!

The oil pastel sketch is the magnolia tree in our garden.

It was bitter cold outside, the snow had started to fall as I gazed out the window.

The colours, I think, reflect the freezing temperature.

You will also find other items I have listed on etsy today, post cards and a few small brooches.

The sun today has been very welcome, although according to our weather short lived.

I hope you have a great weekend.x

Snow Brooch And Sketches

Hello,

I thought you may like to see a few sketches I made at the weekend and a new tree brooch, listed on etsy today.

It was bitterly cold here, perfect for staying indoors and stitching.

I did venture out on Saturday, to a work shop at the Embroiderers guild in Leamington Spa.

We experimented with transfer dyes, painting and stenciling, then ironing the dyes from the paper on to different types of synthetic fabrics including fine nets and lace.

It was a very interesting day and I came home with lots of samples, of which I still need to photograph.

Today we had a little more snow but it has not been quite as cold, and it looks like we are over the worst of it here.

Hope you have a good week.x

Time To Paint

We thought the snow was going to skirt us by, but on Wednesday morning it was quiet, sounds muffled by the blanket of snow.

The next excitement was finding out school was closed, the children's and the school I work at.

So we were out early to the local park, wrapped up, like a pass the parcel , including me with three pairs of woolly socks!

Here is our Snowman playing football , the goalie otherwise known as "Snowlie".

Can you spot the snowball?

I can tell you, it took quite a lot of throwing to get that shot!

The afternoon was spent trying to get warm again and drying hat, scarves & gloves which were strewn over all the radiators in the house!

I wanted to make the most of this bonus day at home so I got my paints out and painted this landscape from ideas in my sketchbook.

I hope your having a good week and keeping warm.

Colour Stitching

After playing with colours in my sketch book, oil pastels are great for this, I love the intense colours I can get, I moved on to my threads and fibers.

Working this time on a smaller scale 8cm x 11cm , I used mainly hand stitching.

I thought I would try selling some smaller art pictures on etsy and a few original sketches along side my brooches.

My larger pieces, I have to save for an exhibition in the coming year.

I'm not very efficient at listing items to sell, I seem to be very slow, so for this New Year I'm going to try and be more organized.

I think I say that every year!

Creative Threads

I had every intention of blogging more this week but every time I tried to upload photo's the children beat me to it for various reasons, mainly home work but also UTube and Facebook!

At this time of year it's difficult to be motivated when it's cold and dark, which is why I could quite happily hibernate.

Alternatively I just want to curl up with a good book or watch a feel good film.

Then I start feeling restless like I should be doing something like...cleaning, except I decide to go through my sketch books trying to find inspiration for a new project.

I had some sketches of a statue I did back in the summer and this became my starting point for my thread mask.

A face sculptured in thread, following the contours of the features like a map, the face becomes just a different type of landscape.

I also found time to do some work in my sketch book, just scribbling lots of small pictures, playing with different patterns and colours with oil pastels.

I'm hoping these will keep me busy with my threads well into the New Year!

P.S I have spent most of the afternoon watching feel good films and yes the house is a mess.

A Winters Day

Hi,

I just wanted to wish you a very Merry Christmas, anyone who has ever had time to view my blog and of course for any comments, which are much appreciated.

We have managed to escape the worst of the snow here in the Midlands, just a light dusting, but it is still very cold and icy.

This morning we took our dog for a walk across the white frosted fields.

I found so much inspiration for my art work, this field with long grass frosted in wave shapes, the patterns in the headgrow and the pale colours in the sky.

Now I just need the time to sketch !