The eyes see

I decided that 2010 would be the year when I would learn how to draw and paint proper portraits and figures. I would like to use less and less ready images and more and more my own figures in my artwork. But of course you have to start small. I found this brilliant face drawing class by Monica Zuniga at the hands and heart Ning site http://handsandheart.ning.com/
Monica takes you really through it step by step. Here are my first efforts at drawing realistic eyes. Unfortunately the scans have come out pretty badly...

Mixed Media Monday "Wings"

I have not been able to blog for ages, nor did I have time to create art much... work was just too busy, also I had a friend to stay. But things are slowly getting back to normal and I decided to use some of the themes on challenge blogs as art journal prompts. The theme at MMM is wings, and as I seem to be right into angels at the moment,that was easy. I also wanted to use one of the images of William Bouguereau. I got a whole Lunagirl CD full of them. I love his paintings and I know I will use them again and again. Angel and girl don't really go together in style, so I tried to tie it together with the colours I used....

The Three Muses "Angels of Friendship"

My journal page today is about friendship and is dedicated to you dear friends who come and visit my blog. Your kind words and encouragement mean a lot to me. Visiting your blogs gives me daily inspiration and as I was working in my journal today I felt so grateful for all the wonderful contacts I have made in blogland.
When I noticed that the theme at "The Three Muses" was Angels this week I felt really happy. All of my blogfriends are like angels to me:0)

A rather melancholy day

Today was the day that my oldest son left again after having been home for two weeks over the Christmas period. This page was the result of me working through my feelings about it....

Another page

Managed to complete another page today. I know I will not be able to keep this up when I go back to work next week, but it's great fun, while it lasts. For anyone who has not started on a journalling journey yet, I highly, highly recommend it!!!

New Art Journal

Here is the first double spread of my new Moleskine Artjournal, one of my very best Christmas presents. Its is lovely to work in.

The Three Muses "Something old something new"

I decided to show two of my journal pages, one in "new" one in "old" style.
Recently I have been feeling I should do some actual painting rather than just collage and stamping and so I made myself create faces and portraits in different styles. You can see a few more of htese in the post below. If I am really honest though I have to say I enjoy both the process and the result of my "old" style better.

More Art Journal pages

Here are some more of my recent pages

Art Journal pages

I was lucky enough to receive a beautiful Moleskine art journal as one of my Christmas gifts. I can't wait to start on it but have resolved to finish the pages in my old journal first, so I have been busy creating new pages in that. Here are a few samples:

HAPPY CHRISTMAS

A very happy Christmas to you all!
Thank you for visiting my blog and for all your lovely comments. They mean a lot to me.

Two Christmas four by fours

Spent the evening making two similar four by fours out of some previously created fabric paper. They are pretty much the same just in different colour ways. They are intended for two crafty friends. Now the question is, which one will get which colour...

The Three Muses "Bottles and Jars"

"Bottles and Jars" is the theme at the three muses this week. I altered this little jar.

Gothic Arches "Regal Ladies"

The theme at GA is "Regal Ladies". I called this arch "Summer Queen" in honour of my friends in the Southern Hemisphere where it is now summer.

Vintage Round Box

I made this box for my sister in law who is expecting a baby on boxing day. I am going to fill it with pampering goodies for her. This because so often all the attention goes to the new baby, but I reckond it would be nice to give her something just for her

The Three Muses "Fun and Games"

Have been so busy making Christmas cards etc that I have hardly blogged at all, but tonight I thought I should do something.
The theme at The Three Muses is Fun and Games. I made a tag. It went through the cuttlebug, was sprayed with various colours glimmermist. Then some gesso was added and finally an image of Itkupilli. The cheeky look on te girl's face suggested fun and games to me...

Calendar pages

Decided to make my own 2010 desktop calendar. Here are some of the pages, further pages can be found on my Flickr photostream. I am putting this in for the Three Muses' Challenge where the theme is time.

Gothic Arches "Stars"

The theme at Gothic Arches is stars this week.The faux metal look on the the frame of my arch was created using a technique described in the December issue of the UK publication "Craft Stamper". It is metallic card, embossed with the help of a cuttlebug folder and then painted with a dark colour of acrylic paint which is rubbed into the relief created in the embossing process. Before drying most of it is then rubbed off to create the look of old metal.

The Three Muses "In your dreams"

The theme at the Three Muses is Dreams. I'm afraid to say with about 70 Christmas cards to make, I decided to cmbine this one with a Christmas card. I've called it "Dreaming of Snow". I do dream of snow as I love the white stillnes and serenity a soft layer brings on a crisp winter morning. Here in Scotland we don't get many of these. Winter usually means damp, cold, soggy rain, but hey, here's hoping...

Gothic Arches "Tickets"

Here is my Ticket to Fairyland arch

Gothic Arches "Leighton"

The theme at Gohic Arches is to use an image from a painting by Lord Frederic Leighton.
I had so much fun with this challenge. I chose one of his images,(thanks for the link Nancy!) worked on it in photoshop then printed it and integrated it into a collage using lace, tissue paper and various Stewart Gill paints.

I recently discovered a brilliant way to construct a gothic arch in pretty much any size. All you need is a compass and some (very basic) knowledge of geometry. If you are interested, just email me and I will send you instructions.