Beads, beads and more beads

Where is the time going? Mid-February already! I don't know about you but it just seems to be zooming past. However, I have managed to get a few more sets of beads made with more on the way. Here are some pictures of the most recent sets listed in Etsy, some in smaller, more affordable mini bags so you can have something original to add to your craft projects but in smaller quantities.

2 Cute!

2 Cute Rubber Stamps is hosting a Valentine's challenge at the moment. The idea is to use one of the wonderful 2 Cute images to make a Valentine's theme creation. I love the animal images and was recently the happy recipient of two free images. So I had to make two cards, both shown below. If you want to take part, and there is a lovely prize of a $15 give certificate for the 2 Cute Etsy store, just get yourself a 2 Cute image and give it a go. You can even use one of the freebie images on the 2 Cute blog.

Challenge Gillian - December

So, this is my final entry for my year long challenge. There were times when I thought I would never manage to get to the end of the year but I did and I think it managed to get me back into the process of regular painting. That is a relief as I had really fallen away from sitting down in front of the blank page and getting on with things. Over the year I have tried new paper and brushes, new methods and techniques, new mediums and styles and had a real blast along side some trying times. Who would have thought that one year could bring so many new things in the sphere of my art.

So December's paintings consist of a very handsome rottweiler called Hugo whom I met on Facebook.


Some sketches of one of the robins who visits the garden regularly and dances around my feet when I have food to hand out. One thing I learnt from this was that I shouldn't use printer paper to sketch on if I am going to use watercolour to colour it. You can see the wrinkles formed by the water on the image.


A pencil drawing of an oyster catcher. They are a wading bird but they have discovered that farmland has as much to offer as the shoreline and are frequently seen in the field across the road from the house in the summer.

And finally, some winter sheep inspired by my trips into town during the very snowy weather.


I hope you have enjoyed seeing my progress over the year. I have enjoyed sharing my art and the supportive comments I have received. Thank you all very much. I hope you will stay tuned though as this year I will be posting plenty more art and crafts and am toying with the idea of some giveaways and demos.

JANUARY SALE

Yes, it's that time again. I have slashed prices in my Etsy store on many items, from beads, to art. Looking for a bargain? Then pop along and see if anything catches your eye. I have new ideas for my store for the coming year, with new products to make and sell so keep your eyes peeled. In the meantime, many of the items that I have put in my sale will not be renewed once the listing expires. Time for new things. Who knows what the coming year will bring but I hope that all you you will have a happy and prosperous 2011.

Christmas countdown

With just a short time left until Christmas day I thought I should post my pics from Tim Holtz' 12 Tags of Christmas before it's next Christmas. As for many people who play along, there was a lot of improvising from hand cutting my own shapes instead of using dies to creating my own vintage paper from copyright free images. But the fun is in the playing along with hundreds, if not thousands, of people all over the world. After all, the gift of giving comes in a million different guises and you can't get better than that during the holiday season. Wishing all my readers a wonderful festive season.

Challenge Gillian - November

The finish line is in sight now. One more month of drawings to do and I will have completed my challenge for the year. Phew! It's has been a slog. Although I enjoy painting and drawing very much, when you put yourself in the position of having to produce new works without a brief it is exhausting. never knew how much life got in the way either. So much pops up when you least suspect it. The question is whether I will do it again next year. There is a new blog that has been started to encourage people to use their sketchbooks more. You can find out more about The Sketchbook Challenge here but participants basically follow a theme in their sketchbooks for a month and they have the option to post their work in a Flickr album. It's not just for fine art though. Anyone who wants to have a sketchbook, even if it is just for doodles, can take part.

Anyway, last month's paintings were done in a flurry of activity. I was trying to produce work for the exhibition but due to heavy snow I couldn't get to the drop off and had to withdraw. I was very disappointed as it means more exposure and usually money in my bank account. Still, at least I got some painting time in. The first is my neighbour's cat enjoying the scenery through a Gothic window. He looks nice and cozy.


Then we have the nuthatch that comes to visit my garden.


The snail visits too.


And finally a little snowy cottage - just because it was so snowy here. This was actually taken for a painting exercise in a book but I changed it a little.


So, one more month to go. I already have a picture of a rottweiler to work on and I suspect snowy paintings might figure strongly too if the weather reports are anything to go by.

Catch up

I hadn't realised that it had been so long since I posted anything to my blog. With 20 inches of snow to deal with over the last two weeks I guess things got away from me - again.

So what's been happening? Well, lots of Christmas card making so I have added some photos of them here. Then I signed up for an online class with Carla Sonheim. It has been brilliant fun. We are making journals and purses from fabric scraps and I have re-discovered my love of my sewing machine. If you want to find out more you can read about it here. There will be a second presentation of the class in the New Year and I can heartily recommend it. So far I have made two scrap journals and am in the process of making my scrap purse. The final lesson arrived yesterday so pictures of the purse will follow soon but here are a couple of pics of my journals. I have adjusted Carla's instructions just a little when it came to binding them. I used a binding technique using cotton perle thread and beads instead of stitching the page in. That way I can add new pages later if I want to.











I also mastered basic crochet. Now, this has been an issue for me for a long time. I learned to knit when I was little but never really took to it. Crochet, however, was a mysterious hobby. One hook and magnificent forms could be created. Could I figure out how to crochet? Nope! The illustrations in books were always useless but by chance I came across a tip from someone who crochets - the internet. This will sound very obvious to most of us. I use the internet to research nearly everything but it never occurred to me that it would be of any more help than the books I had used. Wrong! I had forgotten we are in the age of video classes. NexStitch is a crochet site that had a number of videos for beginner and it revolutionised the way people learn crochet. Me included. So far I have just played around but I have embarked on what I hope will be a scarf. The plan is to have grey ends that will be embellished and a coloured central panel. So far it is slow going. I might be 60 before I get this finished but I am having fun learning new techniques.


And marbling! I bought a couple of bottles of a marbling paint by Marabu called Easy marble and it actually works! In the past I have bought all the alum, size and inks and produced the ultimate in ugliness. So it was a lovely surprise when this stuff actually worked. It is a solvent based ink that floats on water (if you are using something smaller than A5 paper or wallpaper paste if it's bigger than that. So far I only have the blue and yellow so my colour will be limited but I feel a shopping spree coming on next week.


And, of course, there has been Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of Christmas and I have been taking part but I will post the photos of those later.

Other than that, there has been little drawing going on. I had an essay to write for my mythology course which took me longer than I expected. The snow meant much snow shovelling and Christmas shopping has been keeping me away from more productive work. But I hope you have enjoyed this catch up on my creativity. My Challenge Gillian images will be up soon too.

Pure silk

These are two of my silk scarves that I have recently started to make and sell in my Etsy store. I am always looking for new crafts to try and the silk scarves are the latest. I have to say they are great fun to make, if a little time consuming to steam set the silk dyes. But what great gifts they make. I have already sold one of the husky scarves and have a couple of commissions for more. The fox scarf is stamped using a hand carved rubber stamp that I made a couple of years ago and never used. The beauty of it is that the foxes are discretely placed on the fabric so they look like they are merging into the fabric - just like a real fox merging with the undergrowth. It's like a puzzle - you have to search for the foxes among the colours. If you want to see more pictures of them you can find them in my Etsy store.

Much to do

This is the time of year when we all have loads of things to do so what better way to remind oneself about those important little (and large) jobs than with a 'To do' list. I saw some on Etsy for sale but thought how easy it would be to make one for myself. So I made this page using the Gimp image processing programme and printed out a few sheets. It has lines for writing what needs to be done and a separate line for ticking off the jobs. It certainly serves it's purpose so I thought I would share it with anyone else who wanted to use it. You can find a PDF of four printable sheets on one page here or you can use the single sheet jpeg image below in your own desktop publishing software (just click on it to open it full size, right click then click 'Save as' or Save image as'). You can use it for personal use or make it into a small pad of 'To do' sheets, clip them together with a fancy paper clip and give it to a friend or relative who needs a helping hand. Please don't sell them though. Each sheet is designed to be A6 in size (approximately 6x4 inches) so four sheets will fit on a standard sheet of printing paper and it is very handy to slip in a handbag or to sit by the phone.



If you have any trouble downloading the PDF then do drop me a line at gsmcmurray(at)ukonline.co.uk and I'll send it to you by e-mail.

Challenge Gillian - October

Last month I actually managed to do four watercolour paintings. I even surprised myself. This coming month I have to have three pieces done for a winter exhibition so I know that I will manage to get next month's quota done too. Looks like things are looking up in the inspiration department too. This month I took a look at other things I like to paint - like architecture - instead of just animals. The window here is taken from an Irish church though the view from it just from my imagination.


The penguin is a bit of fun. I was trying out my new paint brushes and decided a penguin was a simple subject for testing out the shading capacity of them. Of course, the one I drew had it's head down and I wondered what it was looking at. Was it saying to itself, 'I really must polish my shoes'? Then I remembered that it is getting close to Christmas so it must have been looking at a gift. I think he's saying, 'Who left this present for me?'


Insects intrigue me. Their design is amazing and they are really tiny works of art in their own right. Of course a ladybird is the ultimate in British summertime insects. Everyone seems to love them.


And finally, as it's autumn, I had to draw a pumpkin. This one is listed in my Etsy store and is called Hide and Seek. I just thought that the mouse looked like it was hiding from the damselfly during a game. So now it is onwards to come up with some ideas for the exhibition. Considering the hand in is on the 25th November I'd better get my skates on.