New paintings and regular art updates.
Thank you Facebook for reminding me that I drew this when David Bowie died.
I didn’t realise how much his music meant to me. But he was there throughout my life. I can’t remember all his songs, but some of them really were Wonderful. Now I try to remember the titles I can’t! I’m useless with music, I have a blank spot. But I loved his music anyway.
I decided to try and make a badge from a craft kit that I bought last year off Belinda Latimer Designs to take my mind off things….
An hour later I’ve got a star made of vintage cloth, a couple of buttons and some felt and colourful threads. The kit also comes with a clip to sew on the back so I can wear it. The original patterns are a heart, a butterfly shape and a little bird shape, but I fancied doing a star. The only trouble was the vintage cotton which did fray, but I think I conquered it. Not perfect but relaxing. X
I found this posted onto a friends story on Facebook this morning.
I knew she had been ill and had come home from hospital, but because my friend lived in America it was not as easy to keep in touch.
We had spoken over the Internet early last year. I probably should have called he more often. But life gets in the way. I admired her art. I first met her on the Internet at a website called Sketchfu. The site is long gone, but we discussed art and drew pictures and enjoyed our artistic friendship. We both then joined a site called Muzy, which also closed. But a friendship had been made and stuck.
In later years she posted her art to Instagram. Her work was full of beautiful drawings of women and lovely landscapes. All drawn with soft and thin layers of bright colours.
Now she is gone. I won’t see her art anymore. At least a message was posted telling us she has gone. A friend lost. I mourn her passing.
I went to Etruria Artists today and was asked to draw lions as we were having a little drawing challenge and the group has a lion as a mascot.
I could have looked at a photo but I wanted to see if I could draw a lion from memory. What I ended up with was a lion / bear hybrid I think! I called it bearly a lion.
Colours used were gellato crayons (I think they are called) with metallic shades. They are a bit like lipsticks and can be drawn with, smudged and have water added to them to make them flow. I used a black ink pen to draw the thin lines. It’s a curious big cat.
X
You don’t know what you will get when you play with photos. This was the result after playing with this photo. 
And also playing with the brightness and hues in it….
I like it.
Just a photo of a reflection in a window.
X
I wrote this for the 64 million artists January challenge on Facebook. (I think that’s what it’s called). Each day a different artistic challenge. I’ve only done a few of them, but it’s interesting to dip into.
” Just keeping warm now, It is hard to do for you……….. Little bird in snow.”
🐦
I’m not sure if I’ve got the syllabul count right. Is hard one or two syllabuls?
X
I do like sketching in biro, you can get a good strong line, but by varying the pressure on the pen its good for shading. I have also found that by spraying the biro with hairspray you can sometimes get the ink to blur and bleed. If you are using black or blue biro you get interesting colours flowing from the lines. I guess it depends on the chemicals in both the pen and the hairspray. It might not always work. I have also used hairspray as a fixative for astel and charcoal drawings.
Did you know you can use milk sprayed onto charcoal or pastel as a fixative too? I found an old perfume bottle with an atomiser and used that to spray drawings. They might end up smelling a bit cheesy but it works. You just have to remember to wash out the bottle and spray after use.
My friend runs something called art lunch, which is basically an excuse for artists and creative to get together and meet up over lunch or tea. She provides the venue and some of the food and drink, but we all bring a little contribution to the lunch. It’s a good place to network and catch up. You find out about things you may never have heard of without going to it. If She’s held them in various venues in Stoke-on-Trent and I’m thinking of offering our garden as a venue in the summer.
There were plenty of artists there and I think everyone had an enjoyable time.
X
9 of my favourite images from 2019.
From top left to bottom right…
Dramatic mirrored image of a North Wales beach.
Lion I painted for the local lions charity.
Mural in a downstairs cloakroom. I can still climb!
Easter Island clay head I made at Etruria Artists.
My art stall at a craft fair.
The stray cat that we are looking after who needs rehoming.
Falcon works, two images of the pottery I painted last autumn.
Holding my green man painting and with my vase painting during my exhibition at Spode.
Finally, painting of a window with peeling paint, taken from a photo I took at Spode.
I don’t know when or where I bought this little ink roller, but I think it was probably at a craft shop. The roller is in a little fluorescent green case and is round. It is supplied by black ink and is covered by letters which make an interesting textured pattern. I used it to create faces and a picture of a cat. It’s good to experiment with art.
Mallaband-Brown