Ribbon flowers

I came across a lovely company the other week on one of the craft channels - Ribbonbox. They supply products to make your own fabric flowers but they are so simple and so effective that I wanted to give it a go. So I looked out my stash of wire edge ribbon and artificial flower stamens and followed along with the demos. 

The flowers in the photo below are the result. Really nice blossomy flowers, one anemone and one poppy. Bear in mind I did not use Ribbonbox's kits (they come complete with ribbons, stamens, leaves, etc) but they will definitely be added to my crafting wishlist.

The poppy was nice as a little addition to a birthday gift for my sister - a little pencil drawing of Indy.

Afternoon trip

We have been having some fabulous weather here this week. It may turn out to be the best weather of the whole summer - that tends to happen in Scotland. My sister and I took a trip to the local ford yesterday so Indy could enjoy a little splashing time in the river. The scenery was amazing. I live with it every day but it takes those times when I can leave work behind, get out of the house and into the wilds to see it's beauty up close.

 

 

A birthday surprise

It was my sister's birthday in July and my present to her was a creative piece inspired by something she saw on Pinterest. However this one has silhouettes of her late dog, Stanley, and her old guy, Oz. It made her cry. But then I have a habit of giving my sister gifts that make her cry. It has become a bit of a challenge now - find the perfect gift that will create tears. Tears of joy, I hasten to add. I did give her a box of tissues before she opened it though.

It is made from a bamboo chopping board with acrylic paints, hand cut stencils and finished with polyurethane varnish.

Post-Christmas commission pics 1

The next few blog posts will be of some of the commissions I have done recently. It has been lovely to have so many people ask me to paint and draw for them and everyone loved the finished pieces.

Here is the first of the commission pictures. This is Trigger, a black labrador. Graphite drawing, 8x11 inches. Such a sweet guy.

Westie

I was recently asked to draw a gorgeous little west highland white terrier in graphite. It was quite a challenge as I have mainly drawn short haired dogs before. This was just what I needed to stretch my growing pencil skills.

Fun and festive

Yes, we are ALL getting involved with the festivities. Stanley is wearing his reindeer antlers in solidarity with all reindeer. The decorations are all up, the cards I have received are stuck to the doors (though they keep falling off again) and we even have snow. Now all I have to do is finish up my final, family Christmas cards. Hope you are all having a good festive period - no matter what your beliefs.

Socks are not safe!

Look at this angelic face. Butter wouldn't melt. Perhaps even a spot of melancholy?

Now look at this one:

I think he ate the butter along with the sock. For some obscure reason dogs in my family unit like to chew socks. Sam did the same thing as a pup though thankfully that trait died out with his chasing cars and eating gladiolas as he got older. I thought this photo was priceless. Sorry about the picture quality - the glory of mobile phones hasn't developed to include good quality phone pictures.

Greyhound

I have been practicing with my graphite pencils recently. Although I have been using watercolours for twenty years I have often neglected pencil work, using it only as a way of transferring shapes onto blank watercolour paper. However, all of a sudden I have had the urge to draw. This guy is the result of my latest experiments. Greyhounds are often found needing homes after their racing days are over. I hear they make great pets and do not need as much exercise as you might think. So if you think you might like to take one on have a look in your local animal shelter. At the moment there are a lot of cats, dogs and small animals in desperate need of new homes. People cannot afford to keep them due to the financial crisis but they all need a little TLC. Not only that but many animal shelters are in terrible need of support. Their finances are slowly dwindling due to rising costs and more animals needing homes. One of the shelters near me, Arthurshiel Rescue Centre, might have to shut its doors if they cannot get more funding. That would be terribly sad, not only for the volunteers at Arthurshiel but also the animals who need their help, people who have no choice but to try and re-home their pets, the local council who rely on the service and those who want to take on a homeless animal.

Kiesha

This is my latest commissioned drawing. She is Kiesha, a rottweiler but no ordinary one. She was badly abused by her first two owners which is why there is so much white on her. A friend of my sister found her at a dog shelter and took her on, doing a wonderful job of rehabilitating her. Kiesha is a wonderful dog, calm and friendly and a joy to be around. She is also Stanley's mother so if her personality is anything to go by Stanley is from a grand bloodline. She is drawn in graphite pencil with coloured pencil collar.

Heavenly rottweiler and co.

My recent purchase of Inkadinkado's Dog's Life stamps brought a wonderful surprise with it. One of the stamps is a Rottweiler with angel wings. Those who have been reading my blog for a little while will remember that my sister had a Rottie called Stanley. He is wonderful. Like many people I was wary of Rottweilers. I never thought they were the demons they were portrayed by the media but, still, I felt they might be short tempered. As a pup Stanley was nuts. He paid no attention to anyone and bounced around like a rubber ball. However, he had his first birthday last week and has mellowed beautifully. So I was very happy to find a rubber stamp of a Rottie in a packet of rubber stamps that were mainstream. I had to make something so fridge magnets were the order of the day. A scrap of matt board, hand painted paper and black ink made the base. I added detail of the ginger fur with coloured pencil then used copper tape around the edge. A coat or three of Diamond Glaze added gloss and durability. The final step was a bit of magnetic strip and some Pebeo Metallic Touch dots.

As it happened there was also a stamp in the set like my sister's other dog, Oz. Being a silhouette stamp and Oz being black I didn't have to do much. A little flick of a paintbrush with white acrylic gave the dog Oz's trademark white chest flash and some aluminium tape toned in with the blue background.

I wrapped them up in a little handmade white card box, stamped with another Dog's Life stamp and gave them to my sister.

Life in miniature

I have been painting a little more these last few days. For some reason painting flows, then stops, flows, then stops. However, I am about to embark on a large commission so I felt I had to at least pick up a paintbrush and fling a little paint around. Here are two miniatures - one of a puppy watching a butterfly, the other of a badger watching a butterfly.

Technological breakdown

I have been without my computer for the last week and a half. Not fun. The computer repair man seemed to think it was thinks to a malware attack. Now, no one is more careful about what they are doing online than me. I update my internet security software every day, have anti-spyware software that is run regularly and I don't visit sites that might carry something untoward on them. Unfortunately the virus, malware and spyware creators are becoming more sneaky about getting their products into computers. Let's face it - many of the security software packages just aren't up to the job of keeping your PC clean. It is a very sad state of affairs and I can't help but think that the world would be a better place if the brains behind viruses, etc were to put their knowledge to more legitimate use.

Anyway, I did manage to be a little creative - painting, card making, beads and needle felting. I'll post some pics over the next few days. To begin, here is a Zoomie painting of a Golden Retriever pup.

No arty party

So, I have been doing this art course for a few weeks now. How's it going? Slowly. I was so up for this course. It was meant to rejuvenate my desire to paint. However, I knew the first assignment involved drawing non-animal elements and realised that it would be a problem. I was right. I have been struggling to draw some fruit and a plant. And I chose those two items because they were as near natural objects as I could get - the alternatives being spanners and tools, saucepans, a jam jar of pencils or a pile of washing up. To quote Dorothy Parker (I think), 'Oh, what fresh hell is this!!!' I cannot put into words how much I HATE still life. My tutor figures that she can tell alot about an artist's ability by seeing these items in graphite. I'm struggling. It's not that I can't draw them - I am just not inspired to draw them. I can find a million and one things to do instead of sitting down and tackling them. Anyway, enough complaining. The assignment will be done. I'm not having it any other way (that's my stubborn streak talking). On the plus side the final part of the assignment is to draw a really cute labrador from a photo. That is when the fun starts. I have scanned the apples I have drawn and the unfinished pot plant as a way of kicking myself into action. If I put them up here I will feel obliged to keep going with them and not take too long about it. That's the theory anyway.

There has been a distinct lack of pictures on here over the last few entries. So I have added some for your perusal today. My first attempt at an art pin, some pop-ups, mini tags and those ubiquitous inchies.

Paper engineering is my latest obsession. The pop-up ATCs above are actually a design by Rober Sabuda. I just printed it smaller so it would fit on an ATC. Take a look at the link to see lots of projects you can try yourself. http://robertsabuda.com/popmakesimple.asp

A Place to Bark auction

I was sent an e-mail this morning from one of the ladies on an inchie group I am part of. She has contributed some work to a charity auction for Bernie Berlin's A Place to Bark charity and wants to spread the word. The link is:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290166306486
There are some lovely ATCs in the box and the price is climbing steadily. A worthy charity in my view.

Sam - 1992-2007

My Sam died today. I had to call the vet out to put him to sleep. He had been suffering from muscle weakness and arthritis for a long time but things had been getting worse over the last few weeks. He was having such difficulty keeping upright and couldn't get up without help so I grudgingly felt it was time to call it a day. He was almost 15. During all the times I had been kicked in the head by people, through the loss and the loneliness, he was always there. He was the one 'person' who was always glad to see me. It was unconditional love on both our parts. And, yes, he was a 'person'. Even he thought so. He would stand on his back legs and hang over the garden fence waiting for the bus. Then, when it arrived, all the passengers would wave out at him and he would look disdainfully back at them. Once the bus had gone he would jump down and run off, quite content that he had cheered their lives. He was a local celebrity. Truly the best friend I could have had. I wanted to put a few photos on here so others could see my handsome prince - one in his hey day, one where he proves it is indeed a dog's life and one from last week. He will be sorely missed.