Being badgered

The advantage to doing an art course made up of media I have never used before is the fun I have choosing and buying them. I bought two sets of Derwent colour pencils this week and have been trying them out. One set is the Studio line, the other is the Artists soft drawing pencils. Both are nice. The Studio pencils give a wonderful, crisp line, ideal for detailed work. The Artists are soft and waxy but give a nice, bold line and blend beautifully. The badger picture is my first attempt using them together. He is no more than a doodle really. I was just playing with the pencils to see what they could do and he grew out of those experiments. I bought some soft and hard pastels two weeks ago but they scare me. They say that watercolour is hard to control but I cannot seem to get pastels to do what I want them too. I guess that is where the tuition comes in so I will have to wait until I reach that part of the course.

The other pictures are of a couple of birthday cards and some metal tags decorated with alcohol ink and embossing powders.

More pictures

Just couple of piccies I came across. One is a pop-up inchie. It is 2x1 inch when opened. I also made a castle one but I have to decorate it first. The second in a birthday card. The colour looks a bit manic. It isnb't quite as vibrant as it looks. I cannot get the reds to scan well. If I try and adjust the colour in my photo editing programme it looks even worse. The card is actually a nice, rich red instead of manic orange-red.

Embarking on an adventure

Not much to report at the moment. I have spent the last two weeks writing my final assignment for the Leonardo da Vinci course and feeding my neighbour's cats.

Either I am getting particularly fussy as I get older or the standard of courses is slipping with the OU. Kindergarten kids will know more about Leonardo than I do after this course. I am sure there is a wealth of information available on this man but the course just dusted over a whole lot of detail. That makes two Open University short courses that have not hit home for me. Time to try something different. So I signed up for an art course. This course will give me a qualification in Pet Portraiture at the end of it which means I will finally have a piece of paper to qualify my skills. People like to know that the artists they employ have been through art school but I am self taught. It shouldn't negate my skills but it does. Hopefully this will redress the balance a little. The course covers coloured pencil, pastel, acrylic and oil - all of which I have very little experience with. It will be a bit of an adventure for me.

Meantime this is a piece I was trying out using some tiny paper weaving. Those little Medieval birds insisted on being part of the projects.

A little moderation.

Just wanted to let everyone know that I have had to enable moderated comments. If you leave a comment I will have to verify it before it turns up on the page. I am really sorry for the inconvenience but waiting a little extra time saves my blog a lot of trouble. Getting comments that are not really suitable for everyone to view is not what anyone wants. I love to get genuine comments so I hope it won't put anyone off leaving one or two :o)

Horsing around

A couple more papercuts for your delectation. Both horses, both backed on hand painted papers. I should really stop all this 'horsing around' and write a few letters I have been putting off.

Snow, snow, quick, quick, snow.

I have had my first dose of snow for the winter. The snowflakes were so big they looked like white mice falling from the sky. Beautiful. There was a good few inches by the end of the day and more forecast for overnight. Unfortunately rain is forecast for tomorrow afternoon so I don't think there will be enough time to make a snowman.

Along with a picture of my front garden in the snow, I have added one of a card inspired by some downloaded paper patterns from Scrap Girls (www.scrapgirls.com) and my diary for this year. I also made one for my sister (which was much nicer - in blues and greens) but I forgot to scan it before I gave it to her.

In the world of the Golden Compass

As a bit of fun today, and being partial to fantasy movies, polar bears and Daniel Craig, I went to the Golden Compass web site (http://www.goldencompassmovie.com). On surfing around I came across a quiz to find my very own daemon - just like in the film. I don't usually have much time for these kinds of quiz but I did it anyway, just for fun. I liked the questions posed and found the results really interesting. On answering the questions Daemon Inachus was declared to be my daemon. Now, I'm not the biggest spider fan in the world (although I do use a jar to catch the ones that come into the house and put them back outside) but the description of my personality was spot on. It says I am modest, solitary, flexible, softly spoken and spontaneous. At least that's how I see myself. Maybe others would tell you different. I'm certainly spontaneous when buying books, as Amazon has just found out - I've been spending my Christmas money.

Wearables

I tried my hand at altering another photo. With all that wonderful frost I have plenty of photos of gravestones that I want to use. The one here was produced by using a 50%bleach/50% water mixture. I dipped the whole photo into it until I liked the colours them rinsed it in clean water with a splash of vinegar. I added some peel off stickers, coloured the gravestone with marker pen, sanded heavily and added some silver embossing powder. I still have difficulty letting rip with photos. I'm not sure what constitutes a 'good' altered photo.

I have also added some photos of a scarf and tie that I have been playing with. My Dad asks me to make him a Christmas tie each year. This one is covered in huskies and has been very popular with Dad's customers. I have had two requests for these ties. The scarf uses Color Washes but I am not convinced of their value for money or usefulness. The colours are too pale once washed and dried. I have used different kinds of fabric paints in the past, and while I like the effect of spraying on silk, I find Colour Washes too expensive and wasteful. I use plain copier paper to mop up the left over ink once I finish painting the scarf.

Winter wonderland

We have had the most amazing frost over the last few days. I haven't seen frost like this in years. I'm living in a winter wonderland. The last few days I have been going out with my camera to photograph the icy conditions. It's wonderful. Unfortunately my pipes have frozen today and I have no water.

'Tis the season to be jolly

I've been making Christmas cards and ATCs this week. I have a few swaps coming up so I'm getting in early. One of the swaps involves using painted backgrounds, wrapped pipe cleaners and fabric beads. Another is inspired by the art of Piet Mondrian. The most fun I had this week was helping my sister make a pair of Christmas earrings. We had a great laugh. Although she claims not to be artistic she is more creative than she gives herself credit for. The teddy earrings were inspired by the bear beads on Tina T's Polymer Clay blog. I have added a few other random ATCs to my photos too.