Inspired by the sea..

Quick journal page inspired by the sea the journalling reads "may your life be filled with laughter"

I have been tidying up and rearranging all the furniture and found loads of items that I forgot about! I altered a frame using some blue paint and what we found on the beach last week..I am going to put a photo of my son when he caught a huge cod in Norway last year

Little bird hanging using a shell and turquoise sent to me by Lois from the States. Click photos for better view..this was quite difficult to photograph as it kept turning in the wind. The little shells and the faux pearls look lovely on it hanging in the window.

Hope the weather is nice and warm for you this week..I am making the most of it here! Over at Alter it Monthly the them is sirens, mermaids and the deep so be sure to take a look at all the other entries too.

Queen of hearts

Over at the Milliande art site Palma is hosting another altered matchbox swap with the theme of queen. So I thought why not the queen of hearts..used beads, bottletops and metal diecuts on these with a little glass inchie pendant in them.

Lovely start to the summer holidays..

Havent got much art done lately as have been having lovely days out with my sons.

We had a lovely day at Sefton Park


Bandstand which looks like a Chinese pagoda



The magical Fairy Glen such a lovely tranquil place

Hoylake beach - we couldnt make sandcastles there which was a shame because of oil pollution as all the sand was black underneath the top

Yesterday we went over to Hilbre Island..it only took us half an hour to walk there from the beach

The rocks there reminded me of Arizona


View at the back of the island..we were looking out for dolphins and seals but didnt spot any today. Hope the sun is shining where you are..we have to make the most before it rains again!!

thoughts and prayers for Norway

Let us all spend a moment or two sending prayers to all those poor people affected by yesterdays shooting and bombing in Norway.

Edge of Glory

Havent done a journal page for awhile so thought I would do one inspired by my fav song at the moment..edge of glory by lady gaga. Just listen to this version....forget all the image surrounding her and just listen to that voice...wow!

Seascape

I have been in an experimental phase lately and I think the heavy rain has influenced a lot of my work with all the colours. This one is a heavily textured canvas called Seascape..it has bandages, coffee, eggshells, pistachio shells on it all encased in pva! and then painted over. Dont know if its finished yet though..


This one is called Leap of Life and I have used altered magazine brassoed pages for the background which were then ripped and covered with gesso, paints and inks..quite like all the textures on this one

reading to escape the rain

I am so glad that we went camping a couple of weeks ago as this weekend there has been non stop rain which is good for all my plants I suppose!


Here is a quick sketch I have done called reading to escape the rain!

Just been playing around with the photo editor on the LMM site and how cool does this look!




Mother Earth please forgive them for they know not what they do

Over at the milliande site I have joined in with the mother earth ATC swap so here is the ATC I made for that which will be heading to Australia soon where I bet its nice and sunny. The ATC features an earth and nuclear bomb image and I wanted to get the message across of how we need to save the world by recycling etc and look after our planet..the crown and wings are cut from tin and corrugated cardboard and I have used an old cereal box for the ATCs that I have made.

Unn the Deepminded

I have been watching a tv programme about the Icelandic sagas and have been reading one called The Laxdaela saga which is the fascinating tale of a woman named Unn the deepminded...what an excellent description for a strong woman character. I have downloaded it and am reading it through wattpad which I highly recommend for your mobile as its free! Back to my piece I have stamped a lovely scrollswork image onto tissue then sewed this onto various fabric scraps including dyed bandage, dyed dryer sheets etc. I have been playing around with textures hence the twig, old button and lace..the background is off an old rusty umbrella which I found. Be sure to check out the scrollswork site as its closing down soon and now everything is 80% off. Over at UK Stampers there is a vintage choice competition so have entered this piece into that and which ends today.

Fatsia canvas

Had another go at making a textured canvas..this one is hanging in my greenhouse along with the huge tomato plants. It has paint, foil, bitumen, crayons, pastels ..everything thrown at it and is for the gary reef site Loving Mixed Media...check out the link to the right. For those of you who have asked how to use bitumen foil technique you can look up Gary Reef videos on Youtube.

Mother Earth please forgive them for they know not what they do..

Did a 10 minute sketch this morning and have played around with it digitally using serif DSA 2. The title of this post is from one of my fav songs by Ozzy Osbourne called Revelation (Mother Earth) with some great lyrics. Have a good weekend everyone whatever the weather..its still heavy rain here so not camping this weekend!

Woods canvas

Over at gary reefs loving mixed media site he has a jungle challenge on at the moment.I had a go today on an old canvas I had in the shed..very pleased with the results think I am going to make some more! Click on the orange link to take you to the site to learn how to make one of these.

Below are the layers that I started with lots of bright colours and textures and dont forget to always have your journal to hand to use up all that spare paint!


some amazing art arrived this week..isnt this altered eye matchbox by Mary fantastic she also sent me some great diecuts and a chapter from an old book about old Liverpool


and another gorgeous matchbox from Lois which contained an exquisite turquoise stone


some lovely bluebird ATCs from sharon brown and monika aleksandrowicz from the milliande site



Our first sunflower emerged this week..we have had strange weather really hot sun then heavy rain and just an hour ago hailstones!!

If your not living on the edge your taking up too much room

Over at the summer of colour the challenge this week is pink so here is my page using lots of layered transparencies, paint, pastels and gu chocolate packaging!



Have just returned from a couple of days camping in snowdonia north wales..we had such a fantastic time and the weather was brilliant.