About Art

Art is the product or process of deliberately arranging symbolic elements in a way that influences and affects the senses, emotions, and/or intellect. It encompasses a diverse range of human activities, creations, and modes of expression, including music, literature, film, photography, sculpture and paintings.

Definition found in Wikipedia

What a mouthful eh? Enough to put you off picking up a paintbrush for life! What is Art? Gosh, I can't answer that!

What I do know is, that when I produce what I consider 'Art' is when I can throw myself completely into what I'm creating; when I am pulled into the piece and lost in a magical maze; when I create for me and am moved by what I create. I think that if we do this with our passion, be it music, sculpture, painting, writing or making intriguing layers in PhotoShop - then it's Art! It's drilling down to the soul and letting all that's in there gush out and be free.

Here's some art that poured from my well today. I think it captures some of the magic of the beautiful city of Valencia. It opens the door on the sunshine, the passion. This piece is all about really looking at what's right in front of you and seeing the story. What do you see?

Made from two photos taken in Valencia this weekend and a grungy mask from Shadowhouse Creations. For Mixed Media Monday - Art.

Buttons

I've collected buttons as long as I've collected clothes. With every purchase I diligently remove the little plastic ziplock bag and place the spare buttons with all the others in the plastic purse I keep with my (very small) sewing kit. Sometimes I even sew buttons back on, but not very often. Did I mention before that sewing brings me out in some sort of allergic reaction.

So, hoarder that I am, I now have quite a collection. Most of the clothes that they would be spares for have long since made their way to new homes. It's a good job I kept them though, because otherwise what on earth would I have made for the MMM challenge 'buttons'?

Dipping into my other piles of accumulated potential art supplies (what my Mother would call rubbish) I found a length of tough wire, my home-made paper beads and some silvery spacers all tangled up with gorgeous pink raffia...

Behold my heart - a celebration of clutter love!

What do you hoarde?

Plumrose

My wonderfully supportive friend Sharon sent me this beautiful key chain explaining that 'since I have seem to have a foot in many worlds, it would be sure to hold the keys for taking me wherever I wished'. A treasure indeed! It twinkles its spells at me daily. "Believe" it whispers and I close my eyes and wrinkle my nose until I'm whisked off on adventures with the elves and the fairies.

One place I often stop to visit on these travels is Sharon's enhanting Plumrose Lane to meet the creative sprite who dwells in its hidden nooks. We've been working together on weaving some words for her creative business and, of course, she created my new blog template. You really should visit. Come, take my hand and follow me through the whispering mists and take a deep breath of the intoxicating magic... Maybe we'll meet Plumrose herself...

Many ingredients whirled in the air as I waved my paintbrush over this piece - collaged papers, fragments of stories, musical mystery, coloured pencils (prisma and inktense), alcohol inks, rubber stamped script and a new purchase - modelling paste which gave that wild tangled texture to her hair.

This creation serves many purposes. First and foremost it is a thank you to Sharon - I wanted to capture something of the magical spirit of Plumrose Lane for her. I'd also like to enter it into a couple of challenges.

Mixed Media Monday - for trying something new - my modelling paste! What fun this is - although it does take hours to dry... Next think on the shopping list is that crackle stuff...

The Three Muses - the printed word. Well, it seems to be my trademark to include some collaged old book in my paintings so this was an easy one - plus I have my gorgeous old script stamp adding its poetry. There was actually a touch more old book in this painting but I'm afraid it disappeared under layers of paint and paste.

Phoenix

She's rising from the ashes of her old life, casting off the shackles. She's ready to take on the world.

Phoenix represents a part of me. I'm reaching back into missed opportunities from my youth and taking a new artistic direction. It's time to take more risks, to tread where the timid fear and grab more of life. It's time to believe in what I can achieve (note, I actually wrote 'might' there first then resolutely deleted such a negative word). When I'm painting I feel so euphoric - an emotional rising!

This piece really gives definition to the term mixed media! She began as a sketch on cartridge paper - just a face. She took form with prisma colours then was cut out and glued onto some prepared tougher acrylic paper. In the meantime, I made my collage texture sheet brayering colour onto some watercolour paper then cutting up the result into 'feathers' which formed her headdress and gown. Black pastel gave some depth, then I glazed and painted her face, added some inktense, more prisma colours and just kept playing!

She is for Mixed Media Monday - 'warm it up'. This is the textured sheet I made to cut up for feathers.

Moonlight Sonata

The creation process for this piece drove my poor boyfriend slightly nutty. I insisted on playing Moonlight Sonata on repeat while I painted - and she took a while...


Still, personally I think she was worth it. In fact, I would go so far as to say that she is a current favourite of mine (she looks much sharper in real life, the scan has dulled her a bit). I had already started her when I read the MMM prompt for 'cool colours' so she was perfect.


I used old sheet music for her background. I just wanted to paint in these dark yet intensely rich blues. I've treated myself to proper grown up paint and boy am I smitten! What depth of colour; I want to dive in and run my hands through it. Golden's Phalo blue (green shade) is my new best friend.


Now, don't you think she needs some story? Who is the raven-haired maiden whose beauty is lit by moonlight? There's certainly something mystical about her. Is she entirely human or does the fae world hold influence and history in her story? Is she a siren, emerging from the watery deeps? I think perhaps she is... If only we could see the rest of the picture...

She saw red...

My first thought for a creation for the MMM challenge 'seeing red' was a flamenco dancer in crimson frilled skirt, but I confess that sounded a bit too tricky. So, I took myself off down a slightly more literal translation. Red eyes have been glaring at me from movie billboards all summer, so I thought I'd pursue the gothic vampire route.

Poor Virginia. She was a Southern Belle at the peak of her beauty when one fateful night her sparkling blue eyes were turned by the deep penetrating stare of a handsome stranger. As the music billowing from the ballroom of her family's mansion carried her and her dark-haired seducer further and further from the safety of others, Virginia was lost in the magic of the moment. She felt love for the first time and gave her trust most foolishly to the one with the silken words... trust that ran away with the blood down her neck as the sharp teeth made first contact.

She roams the grounds still, looking for the one who made her who she is and seeking her revenge. She's a lost, tormented soul, but don't be fooled by her frailty and be tempted to help, for she's also... very hungry...

An experiment in the dark side. Does she look deadly but with a certain fragility? Not sure! Her eyes are too big, nose the wrong angle and her hair looks like she's wearing a wonky wig - perhaps it is, after all she's several centuries old... you should see the state of her dress around the seams...

Maybe next time I'll stick with the flamenco dancer!

Acrylic on acrylic paper. I used just three colours - crimson, titanium white & mars black.

PS - I'm having a giveaway

PPS - Found another challenge site that is just calling for Virginia to pop by.... Spooky Mondays! A mixed media site, you're welcome to post about anything from decorations to costumes, art and crafts, recipes and stories about Halloween or anything spooky in between...

A little embellishment of the story

Sometimes a story is only worth telling with a little... embellishment!

Take the other morning for example. I was about to step in the shower when I noticed a dark shadow on the back of the shower curtain. However my arm was already in motion flicking it back in order to step inside before my mind reacted with the message that something wasn't quite right.

The menacing shape fell into the bath with a thump and two angry eyes stared back at me, cruel teeth bared and fangs dripped with sticky poison.

Eight legs began hammering against the side of the bath intent on reaching my by now cowering form. Too terrified to move I croaked and stammered the dreaded noun... sssss ppppp ider.....

It was huge, I'm telling you... HUGE! I ran downstairs and grabbed the largest beaker I could find and summoned every ounce of bravery I own (and I borrowed some from my son too) and tentatively reached over the edge of the bath before slamming it over the hideous creature.

Trapped in the plastic, I could see its desperate attempts at escape and, worse, hear the rasping and scraping from its legs against the side. I took a piece of card and slid it under then oh so carefully carried my dangerous prisoner to the far end of the garden and threw it as far from me as I could before high-tailing it back in the house and hoping that some hungry bird might hop past intent on an spidery snack.

Phew, what an adventure!

Having shared this story with work colleagues, a friend sent me this YouTube link. Now I'm not going to embed it here because I don't want the thing anywhere near me. If you lean towards arachnaphobia I strongly suggest you avoid watching... I should confess that my spider was smaller than this... Though it was still HUGE!

My entry for this week's Mixed Media Monday challenge with the theme 'embellish'. An embellished tale inspired by my brush with danger! Ink sketch over a torn old piece of scrapbook paper stuck in my sketchbook and painted with acrylics, a few stamps added plus the words and, of course, a few embellisments! My writing in my art could seriously do with some help, so I've signed up for this class - Handlettering techniques on Get it Scrapped. My scruffy handwriting is what puts me off art journaling. Here's hoping some new skills rub off.

Old loves

Multi tasking today. Combining Sunday Sketches with working through The Drawing Lab (inspired from nature) and Mixed Media Monday where the prompt was to return to 'an old art love'.

Behold image 1 - sketch of flower

Until about 18 months ago, if I got my paints out it would inevitably be to paint something from nature - and as accurately as possible. This was copied from a beautiful photograph sent to me by Faerwillow - I won a giveaway of her photos. If you visit her site, you may just spot this one! She also sent me the most adorable Guardian Faerie to keep me safe. On the subject of giveaways - I think I shall have one of my own to celebrate reaching 200 followers... 8 to go!

I wasn't overly impressed by my sketch, so returned to my second old love... watercolours to see if I could improve things a bit.

Behold image 2 - watercolour washes

Hmm, I think I prefer acrylics, so much more forgiving. Now I return to my Drawing Lab lesson and consult additional media.

Behold image 3 - mixed media

The application of Inktense pencils, water and black & white ink pens as well as abstraction. Happier now, but clearly need more practice!

A little ball, a lot of fun

My cat loves a game of catch. She will play with these little balls for hours batting them too and fro across the carpet and miaowing very loudly at me to join in. I throw them for her to catch in her paws and chase around the room. We have several of these balls. They get lost very quickly so every so often we have to pull out the furniture and rescue half a dozen or so under sofas, beds and sideboards.

I wanted to paint this photograph I took for the Mixed Media Monday 'play things' challenge but ran out of time, so here's a little digital play instead.

I'm off to find cat and ball...

Blue

I don't know why, but I find painting girls' hair a traditional shade a dreadful bore. Give me green, pink or blue any day! Perhaps I secretly harbour a desire for technicoloured locks.


This is another in the series of cards I'm creating. Mixed media background with lots of texture, then coloured pencil face on top. I've done about 6 or 7 of these now; I find them rather therapeutic and love how the background gives you such interesting colours and textures for the face.


This one for Mixed Media Monday's blue theme. I'd made the background with the navy accents on all that lush orange and knew it was just crying out for a blue-eyed, blue-haired girl.

Recurring mermaids

If there's a theme that's recurring frequently in my work (this week's prompt at MMM) it has to be mermaids, and what's most interesting about these sea sirens is that most times they are never what I intended to create. They just sort of appear, rather like their mythical counterparts.

Take this purple creature. I was sitting on a balcony facing the sea last week watching the sun set and searching for a little artistic inspiration. I began by loosely copying a fabric pattern from a magazine but it lacked interest. However, I had planned for this and so with a swish of water rubbed in with fingers, the watersoluble wax pastels began to lift from the page and form little pools of colour. A squish of the pages together left and a delightfully soft mix of deep sea colour that just called out to be... well... mermaid... I drew her in with coloured pencils.

Other mermaids have grown from the page unexpectedly too. One began life as an angel, but she kept getting her wings wet. Another's dress took on such a scaled effect that she slithered off the page into the water before I could catch her. And a third simply wasn't happy until I'd painted out her legs and dripped diamond and pearl drops into her beautiful mane.

Of course, one shouldn't restrict ourselves to the female of the species. Here's a rather handsome merman I made last week too!

I feel pretty...

... said Mona as she surveyed her new look in the mirror. It was about time she had injected a bit of colour into her life, and the new eyes her plastic surgeon had suggested were a welcome relief from looking so moody for the past 500 years or so. Sometimes it's a tough life being an icon of art history.

Mona and I have been having fun together all weekend. She's more of my art experimentation from my new course which I have to confess I am enjoying immensely. I played with paper and glue, threw in a bit of doodling and collaged to my heart's content.

She's also the perfect entry to Mixed Media Monday's 'I feel pretty' theme. Don't you agree it was time that Mona had a makeover?

Hello Dolly! Hello Dolly!

This is Dolly the Sheep. I drew her for Sunday Sketches then she cloned herself for Mixed Media Monday - how very convenient for a busy weekend!

I'm not sure what I feel about cloning. I wonder how the world would cope with two of me for example, though it would of course solve that age-old woman problem of how to be in more than one place at the same time or having two pairs of hands.

Speaking of doubles... I met my twin nieces for the first time today. Ahhhh, I am sooooo broody. They are absolutely gorgeous twin bundles of loveliness. Photos tomorrow....

Eggstatic

We all know what a proper little scamp that Easter Bunny is... hiding eggs all over the garden and house in the unlikeliest of places. Sometimes they are so hard to find that they don't turn up for months (though that is rather a lovely treat to find come August!).

This year we are ahead of old floppy ears. Yes, we have our very own trick up our sleeve, for look what dances in our cherry tree! Pretty little eggs swing in the breeze just out of his reach. How he will hop and waggle his whiskers as he leaps about trying to catch our eggs.


We will tell him to blame Mixed Media Monday for their egg challenge. It proved a family effort this week as boyfriend drilled holes and blew out yokes with the help of a small assistant. Mummy and small assistant decorated. Mummy got cross trying to tie knots around tiny pieces of cocktail stick, so boyfriend stepped in. Small assistant broke one while sticking... but we'll him allow him one breakage!

Not everything is black and white

An intriguing play with this week's theme at Mixed Media Monday - not everything is black and white. Quite. Let's face it, life rarely is - there are always so many hidden agendas, particularly in the world of fiction and drama.

I've been reading the third in the Twilight series this week where for our poor heroine, life's twists and turns keep the poor lass in a state of permanent confusion where nothing is even close to black and white. If it's not a vampire declaring undying love then its a besotted werewolf. What a state of affairs to find yourself - and that's without all the maniacs trying to kill her.

Anyway, Bella and 'friends' inspired me this week. I thought it would be fun to create a soulful face and then take away that innocence with a drop or two of blood and some disturbing eye contact...

She began as a pencil sketch, then I gave her a bit more form with some acrylics mixed with glazing medium (so you could still see the pencil). I decided to scan her in before transforming her to a creature of the dark side. Well, dear readers, this is where something strange and mysterious happened. For look what happened when my simple black and white portrait went through the scanner... I don't know about you, but I'm sleeping with a ready supply of garlic tonight...

***

I loved the idea of creating a black and white piece with a tiny splash of significant colour. This is a fabulous theme and one I may continue exploring over the coming weeks. It is quite a challenge to reign in my love of colour!

If you were 'enchanted' by my entry last week and would love to own it as well as contribute to charity, well you can. It is currently up for auction on the Inspiration Avenue Etsy team blog together with a gallery of other treasures. All money raised is for Angel Faces, a charity that supports young girls with burns and facial disfigurements. If you have a moment do pop along and have a look at all the pretty things.

A song of enchantment

A Song of Enchantment by Walter de la Mare

A song of Enchantment I sang me there,

In a green-green wood, by waters fair,

Just as the words came up to me

I sang it under the wild wood tree.

Widdershins turned I, singing it low,

Watching the wild birds come and go;

No cloud in the deep dark blue to be seen

Under the thick-thatched branches green.

Twilight came: silence came:

The planet of Evening's silver flame;

By darkening paths I wandered through

Thickets trembling with drops of dew.

But the music is lost and the words are gone

Of the song I sang as I sat alone,

Ages and ages have fallen on me -

On the wood and the pool and the elder tree.

My entry for Mixed Media Monday's Enchantment theme. I was inspired by this beautiful poem which I think does most of my talking for me today!

The photo of my piece looks a bit flat which is a shame because this really does have some depth of colour and texture to it. The more observant among you may recognise this enchanted nymph for she graced my blog just a week ago in a more reflective mood.

She was a part of a painting that didn't quite turn out as expected, but seeing as I think she has a bit of my Muse in her, she wasn't going to take that laying down. No siree, as I contemplated what I would paint for this, a red haired beauty with green eyes came to mind. Something nagged at the back of my mind and I remembered I had left her abandoned and unfinished.

The wonders of acrylics - so forgiving, you can just paint over your mistakes! I also used a bit of collage at the bottom and I'm sure you can spot the fibres. The flower on the left was a print out of a photograph of mine, the bird and flowers on the bottom right are gift wrap - though they have both been so heavily painted over that they bear little resemblance to the original!

My Muse was happy with the result. She's very vain and likes to be seen out as much as possible!

It's Mardi Gras - let's party...

Pack away your winter clothes and blues and come with me to New Orleans - I've ordered us the house special at Pat O'Brien's in the French Quarter and we've a spot by the window reserved to view the parades.

Yes, it's Mardis Gras here and we banish the cold with a warm and spicy celebration of music, food and culture. A heady cocktail of vision, finery and a thumping creole beat will knock the winter socks off you here readers. Let your hair down, pull on some feathers and enjoy...

You know what, I think I should start making some serious plans to visit some of the gastronomic places of my dreams... Maybe it's because I'm cooking in between typing, but I can't stop thinking about creole spices, jambalaya and gumbo...

Perhaps I should dance in my feathers to take my mind off it...

My entry to Mixed Media Monday - Mardi Gras.

Acrylics, coloured pencils, fibres, sparkly stick-ons and a dash of wild creole imagination.

Love's layers

There are many layers to every love story. It takes a wise soul to see through to what lies within...

My entry for Mixed Media Monday's 'Romance' theme. Open to your interpretation.

Mixed media journal page. Acrylics, coloured pencils, stencilling, stamping.... then I had a little play in Photoshop...

What was she thinking?

A little bit of digital fun for Mixed Media Monday. It is gratifying to see that icons of style didn't always get it right. Perhaps Uncle Basil was forced to wear Coco's little black dress in a cross-dressing up jape! I'm sure it was all jolly good fun anyway!

I found the picture in Vogue, transferred the image to an acrylic background then played in Photoshop. I doubt she would approve.

Taking Flight

I so wanted to paint tonight. Something was in the air and as I hadn't managed to rustle up something for the Mixed Media Monday 'wings' challenge, that flighty subject seemed the very thing to wet my paintbrush.

Yet how I pondered... how I stretched and searched for the lift onto the thermals of inspiration. Then the words 'taking flight' fluttered past and I knew... I would like to say thank you to Ms Kelly Rae Roberts for her truly uplifting book - Taking Flight - and her delightful blog where she shares her insights into her creative soul. Kelly is one of those people who proves that YOU CAN DO IT! After years as a social worker and without formal training, Kelly is now a successful artist and writer with her creations reproduced as prints and stationery across the world. She had a dream. She went after it. She caught it and netted the rewards.

I've taken informal lessons from many artists these last six months or so and the experience and techniques lovingly shared by Kelly in her book have given me not just endless fun and inspiration but have also given flight to my creativity. So for this challenge I wanted to create a little something with a nod to Kelly but still very much my own.

After my foray into portrait painting last week I couldn't resist another go. This canvas block started life as a completely different picture which never quite lived up to expectation. Layers of acrylics, transfers and collage have been painted over leaving an intriguing background. I painted the girl who represents me (though she was never meant to look like me!) and made her wings from words because, for me, my words and art go hand in hand. I added some collaged hearts and got grubby with pastels and detailed with caran d'ache. I was pleased with the result. I feel like I've come a long way since I last posted a Kelly-inspired creation which I felt was far too much an inferior copy of her work rather than something of my own.

I think I like painting portraits!