Poppies in Autumn and flying kites by the Mersey

Had fun finishing a painting today. This one is called Poppies in Autumn and is inspired by my love of seed heads and the lovely red colours of the virigina creeper in my garden. I have painted the background then mounted some perspex on the front with some poppies I have drawn.

It has been a glorious hot day today so we all went to the Estuary to fly the kites my sons had made in school. I have been playing around with one true media.com which lets you make little movies for free from some of your photos so click here to watch my youtube little video.

First inside pages of altered book

Made a start on altering the pages of my altered book using inks, paints and pastels

I love this method of making all the pages grungy and very old looking... what you do is rip the edges of the pages and ink them then paint with gesso and pull them apart when nearly dry and it makes instant layered worn out looking pages like the ones in the photo all ready for more layers

Violet

Thought I would just make a quick ATC today and mount it on a card. Havent really been in the mood to do anything arty lately as my mum in law is still in hospital recovering from a stroke so have been thinking about her a lot lately. Noticed that the challenge over at Think Monday Think ATC is violet and Crazy Amigos is the letter R...so be sure to check out these challlenges too.

children of the damned plexi shrine and a little video!

For week 3 of Gary Reef's plexified we had to make a tower. This tower is named after the film based upon one of my fav John Wyndham novels The Midwich Cuckoos. It was really difficult to photograph so I have uploaded a little video to vimeo where you can hear my lovely Liverpudlian accent! so click here to watch it!

vintage altered book

I have started working on an altered book. The book was originally about kings and queens and it was being thrown out at the library! I have painted and inked the cover and cut out a frame. I have added a floating perspex layer over the face and a transparent butterfly. Just love these prima flowers which I have added some old buttons to. Going to ink and gesso the pages next..I have already ripped most of the pages out and there are some lovely images on them..probably going to add tags, fav quotes, pictures in it etc...The theme over at Crazy Amigos is squares this week so be sure to check out all the other entries too..

Autumn

Another plexi piece featuring perspex, wire ,beads, rusty cogs, paint, inks, collage etc. Really enjoying working with this new material to me. Have just noticed that the challenge over at Three Muses is autumn so be sure to check out all the other entries too...have a good weekend everyone.

Time for yourself

Continuing with my experimental adventures with plexiglass/perspex. I was looking at some art by Robert Rauschenberg called reservoir where he used lots of junk and clocks to make a collage piece. I found an old clock and wanted to incorporate it into a plexi piece with lots of layers..the hardest part of this was getting the clock to work and fit! I enjoyed drilling and playing around with nuts and bolts so that the perspex appears suspended...having great fun experimenting having time for myself after the long summer holidays...

Live a colourful life

Managed to meet up with my friend Linda today and her little craft group so joined in with the papercrafting and made some colourful ATCs.

I am taking part in a page embellishment swap over at UK Stampers so have just finished mine which I am going to post to Effie..her chosen colours were lime green and turquoise. I didnt have any papers in these colours so I have used some chinese newspapers glued to card and painted over them then added further texture with some stamping plus a little bit of bling.

True Passion

another experiment with plexiglass/perspex which is hanging on my art shed. Used lots of layers on this one with stamped mountboard, transparency, paints, alcohol inks, brads, wires etc etc. I really enjoyed using my knife, hacksaw and drill to construct lots of layers...so whatever you do in life make sure its with True Passion is the message behind this piece..have a good weekend everyone

Plenty more fish in the sea

I love working with new materials so signed up for the plexified course run by Gary Reef as I had never worked with plexiglass/perspex before (for any info you require on working with plexiglass/perspex be sure to check out Gary Reef). I managed to cut the perspex successfully after a bit of trial and error. I have drawn a fish and used paints for the background. Little collaged dictionary words read "plenty more fish in the sea" and to add to the rustic sea theme I have added shells, driftwood and old rusty cogs..really enjoyed working with this new material so expect to see lots more of my experiments with plexiglass/perspex this month. I might put this piece in my Etsy store soon depending on interest in it...dont know yet! I have noticed the challenge at alter it monthly involves twigs so be sure to check out the other entires and especially Pats who is a friend of mine!

back to school and a little bit of nostalgia

Two of my sons were back to school this morning. My eldest starts secondary school next monday so we went to pick up his new uniform today..he hasnt stopped wearing it! Had a little bit of time to make a quick ATC...the theme over at Think Monday Think ATC is nostalgia so be sure to check out all the other entries too. This ATC features scraps of paper, an old napkin from a friend, feather, little flowers and some stitching. I quite like mounting ATCs onto cards as then I can use up all my stacks of paper scraps.

Its comments like the following that really make me happy..you just dont know how your little paper creations affect people...thanks Nancy B!

"This really takes me back to my childhood as my Grandmother always used Cashmere Bouquet soap. My Grandmother died when I was 7 years old but it was like I could smell that scent again when I saw your ATC. Thanks for the memories."

Truly Madly Deeply tags

Just made these quick tags using paint, pastels, newspaper images etc. The challenge this week is newspaper at Three Muses so be sure to check out the other entries too....Have a good weekend the sun is shining here at last so going to make the most of it!