Tuesday 30 April 2013

Whats on the drawing board

Now I have my own rather large drawing board I really can say it now.  I started off with a couple of practice faces, one better than the other but both totally different.

BUT.. you need to watch closely for improvement as tomorrow I start the course with Andrea Gomoll called FACEcinating faces - I have been really excited about this for a month now, just hoping the silly router of ours stays up.  You can find further information about the course and Andrea on her website here http://andrea-gomoll.de/ 

I have lots of fun doing this.  I also enjoyed the sunshine in my new room (and the heating) but today its too cold in there to do so much, I have the door open to keep the silly router cool and its working much better today, which is great for being on PC and doing this, but too cold to go paint in my new room till dark.  OH has just emailed me back and he is having a think, though seems he wont go with my idea to put it in the fridge then.

Monday 29 April 2013

My Very Own Space - Art Room/Studio

Its all done, and its 'AMAZING' I love it.  The glare on the left is the patio doors that give out rather a lot of light, there is also another window opposite it.  Here is one side of my room, this is my sewing desk really, to the right is a big gap that is for all the canvas's I have to paint on, they are currently living on my landing.  Also is a couple of easel's.  Infront is my best buy, a large A1 size drawing board, also used for painting and journal pages etc.  Today I took delivery of more plastic drawers that sit under my desk for paints, I can slide it out and use the top for pallets.

Here is the other side, note the chest of drawers I was 'meant' to be painting to sell - a wise man here did mention I would need to gloss outdoors, so its still not finished, and I was going to sell it, its now housing paper and journals, so looks like its here to stay - when we get some fine weather and no wind I will take it outside and paint the outside black, varnish the drawers and add the new handles, it should look good then.  My wicker chair was in my old sewing room piled high with fabrics, now its just awaiting a cushion and there for me to sit in the sun.  Drawers on top with card making things inside.  The hairspray is for setting charcoal etc.

I have done some art work today, I think I am improving with my lovely new room.  Also to be starting a new art course on Wednesday I hope to tell you all about.. I say hope as we are experiencing mega line problems here at the moment, BT reckon its our router so we need to wait for a new one that 'hopefully' will be here by Wednesday, but last time took longer, so the internet is very difficult for us right now, we have the line up for 5 mins at a time.... not good for watching art videos.


Sunday 28 April 2013

My wish to have my own space

Here we have a definition of CHAOS.  This is what WAS his office, and about to become my art room/studio.  Seen here in picture it contains half of 'his' stuff and 'some' of mine.
This took us a week to get this far, and the picture was taken on Friday evening after spending a good part of the day furniture removing, we continued till around 9pm, when state of collapse stopped play.

Here it is with most of my art/card making and furniture - hopefully you can tell though just how bright this room is, thats the bit I love.  Ideal for art.  I also purchased a draftsman's board last week, as part of my neck pain was caused by bending over sketch work.

Will I finish this soon?

Not done any art at all for a couple of days as weekends also involve other family commitments, I am now 2 days behind in my art course work, and due to start a new course on Wednesday alongside, this one is to teach me about shading so should be a good one.  Also toying with another I have seen, but going to wait till June for that.

I am now on a quest for a set of drawers for under my art desk for paints, and that can pull out so I can use the top - not such a tall order, but I am having a devil of a job finding some.

Been very excited all week about this and soon be there, my very own space in which to create...

Thursday 18 April 2013

just having arty fun

So much for keeping up with the blog! Its ten days since my last post.  Far too busy having fun.  Above is one of my recent pages from my "30 pages in 90 days" course with Gulfsprite.  I did this one last week to celebrate my birthday, we made the whole page ourselves first, its not collage stuck to a page, all the students are sad as we are just passed half way in the course, we love it so much we dont want it to end.  My birthday was good, the photo shows me opening my 'gelli plate' that I have wanted since January when all my pals in the USA had them, we now cannot get the larger one in the UK which is a shame, and to order from the States would be another £13 in postage and £18 in customs fee's so totally priced out.  But still, a smaller one is better than none at all, and I am having plenty of fun with that.
Also featured in my page was my very special gift from my best friend Julie, who painted a portrait of my dear Alfie, she is very talented.
I was also lucky enough to receive a few extra pennies so I could order some faber castell pencils, here is my first sketch with them I did last night.

I have been having a lot of fun with page 16 of our '30 pages in 90 days' course, its 'fabric paper' I am totally covered in ink and matt medium, and glue gun.  The glue from the glue gun is from something else though, one of my blog buddies 'Suztats' http://suztats.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/fun-with-gun.html was making stencils with the glue gun yesterday, I kept meaning to have a go at that one, so had a go earlier, I think I might need a bit more practice.... but it was fun.

Another reason I havent done much blogging is I was injured, found out my acute shoulder pain has been a trapped nerve, so I finally did some research on how to sort that one out, should (and may well) do a blog post on that one, as learnt some very interesting facts on how to sort out my shoulder without too much expense or delay.  I'm half way there, at least I can spend a bit more time on the PC now than I could.

Hope everyone in the UK has stayed safe after the dreadful winds we have had, one of my neighbours woke to a damaged car today.
Also much love to our friends in Boston after the terrible bomb attack, and to those in Texas from the  explosion there.  So much sadness in the world just now....

Monday 8 April 2013

New Art Journal

Its new Art Journal Day!  My last A5 one has lasted for six months, cant say they have been the happiest of times so glad to finish and start a new.  I have however enjoyed watching my progress from October last year to now - should really have taken a pic of my last page in the old one last night.  For my new art journal I have decorated the front with just collage papers which I am happy with.
I began my first page in a similar fashion, and was a bit stuck on how to start as I wanted a good page to look at for my new beginning, so after the collage I came back to my pc and read some blogs and youtube of some of my favourite artists.  For the collage work I have always loved the designs by  Sandra, so fancied having a bash at her style, its great fun..I am nowhere near as good as her yet but still enjoyed the page, you can find Sandra on her blog here, her latest post also gives a link to her you tube chanel http://sanartydesigns.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/a-leap-of-faithplus-video.html  the rest of my inspiration came from Jessica Sporn who's work I adore, her stencils are pretty cool too, you can see more of Jessica here http://jessicasporn.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/rescuing-art-journal-page.html and here is my page.


Over the weekend I also splashed out on some new pencils, I did not pay anywhere near full price for them I won them on ebay, they are caran d'ache watercolor pencils and are totally amazing.  I was so excited that they had arrived I had to have a quick try of them earlier .....
Yes, I like them!! Need more practice of course as sure they will blend better.  Still hoping to get some faber castell ones too in time.  Its my birthday this week so fingers crossed.  

I am still totally loving my art journal course with Christy, on page 12 now so soon be half way - we are all having such a super time on the course we dont want it to end.  Having said that I have also signed up to Andrea Gomell, who is another fab mixed media artist, that one starts on May 1st so not sure how I am going to have time to do both but you dont need to rush, both courses can be done at your own pace.

I was 'meant' to be babbling on about my new cards in my Etsy shop today - can do that next time, I did actually manage to list a new one today and make a whole set for this week, so will show you those too.

Hope you are all enjoying doing what makes you happy - very important.

Thursday 4 April 2013

Still having collage fun

I think 'Christy' on the 30 pages in 90 days course, just might have created a monster here.  I am having a lot of collage fun and learning a lot about my art in the process.  Not only have I become a collage junkie, I have also discovered a hidden love for coloured pencils.  Looking over my art journal, which is nearly done now after 6 months I have found all the coloured pencil work to be the better art works.  I love painting, but it really does not seem to have the same fondness for me.

I did a lot of research yesterday and found that there is far more to coloured pencil art than I believed.  For a start to do better 'the better the pencil' there is such a thing as an 'artist grade pencil' of which my bestest pal Julie is still working out the lottery numbers so she can purchase us a set each of 'Caran d'ache' you dont want to know how much they cost!!! 
Realistically though, I am hoping for some Faber Castell polychromos for my birthday, or at least some cash towards them.

Meanwhile if you have a few spare coppers you might like to take a look at my shop on Etsy https://www.etsy.com/shop/SimJaTa  with cards, bags, scarves etc which I really need to sell some of to keep me in coloured pencil's and paper.

Speaking of which, I have made 2 new cards this week.. not taken proper pics yet, or listed them in said shop but I did make them, alongside some family birthday cards I needed to sort.

Also have some 'work in progress' of sets of cards to go into the Etsy shop - they are not finished yet, but hopefully will give me an extra push to get them listed in the shop.  All this to help in the grand plan of having something with my own artwork on cards and for sale in time.. but neeeeeeeeeeed pencils for that LOL, and the usual more hours in the day of course.

But first, most important part of day - its coffee time!!!