Homework

I'm amazed at how much my life has been changed by my art and how influenced and helped by the online tribe I belong to. I'm awake early on a Sunday and diligently doing my Suzi Blu Siren class homework - sketching out some mermaids and familiarising myself with drawing a body and a tail! It's an absolute pleasure just playing with pencils and trying to form a 'realistic' shape. Neither sketch is perfect, but that doesn't matter - it's all the fun of experimenting and sharing those results with your friends online. It's all part of the journey... (gosh, I'm starting to sound like someone on a talent show...).

Mermaid 1 was based on a picture of a lady I found sitting clutching her knees in a magazine. She was in a bath and clearly dreaming of being a siren of the sea, so I indulged her in her fantasy. I thought a rear view might be an easy one to try (but it wasn't!). Adding a tail instead of legs was also 'interesting' and I ran out of paper as you can see, but I loved the idea of the mermaid looking out to see and dreaming... Perhaps she is dreaming of being a lady seated in a bath clutching her knees?

Ha! After posting, I realised she's missing something vital - her other arm!

Mermie 2 was proper Suzi homework based on her instruction. The interesting colour scheme leaked through from the other side of the page where I've been experimenting in background techniques! I think this creature may be a little wide on the hips. Perhaps she's been indulging in one too many oysters... I think the trick here is clearly to get your tail length in proportion, too short and she'll look stumpy and have trouble swimming away from sharks.

I think I should mention here that this is an Irish freshwater mermaid. Of course, you can't actually hear the music where you are, but I can. She's playing Riverdance and perfecting her Mermie moves...

Naturally, as it is Sunday and these are Sketches, I am posting them over on Sophia's site where you can swim along and take a look at what the other participants are creating with their pencils and pens...

Suzi Sketches

Yes, it's another girl face - just call me a stuck record. But hey, I like drawing girlie faces and this was part of my homework for my Suzi mermaid class. As soon as they appear on screen from the scanner I always seem to spot bits I want to change - more intense shading required this time.

I know what you're thinking though. She doesn't look much like a mermaid. She appears to be missing vital body components like, well, a body for a start. And her colouring seems a little too lifelike. Well, this is just face sketching practice. We move onto scales and seashades next... Can't wait!

When my son likes one of my girls he tends to kiss them. He's romantically advanced for his six years. If I mention the name of his current classroom love, he comes over all wistful looking, pops his head on one side and sighs as if awestruck by her beauty and charm. Fortunately his love is requited. I have a little love note she wrote him to keep for posterity. She writes that she loves him and he is her best 'frend'. It's so sweet and adorable.

I'm posting this for Sunday Sketches. Do feel free to pop along and join in. I finished last week's and posted if you wanted to see.

Splish

Mermaid class begins today at Suzi Blu. I'm very excited. To celebrate (and contain my excitement while the first video downloads), I thought I'd have a bit of practice with bodies for Sunday Sketches. Most mermaids I draw only have top halves, so it's time to 'tell a tail'.

I own a beautiful book by Stephanie Pui-Mun Law called Dreamscapes. She teaches how to draw and paint watercolour fairies, angels and... yes... mermaids! I definitely need to practice bodies more. I'm rather hooked on magical and mythical creatures right now but they get most cross when I don't do them justice. There's a lady coming up tomorrow from a nursery rhyme... she was not happy with her hands. One looks like a claw and the other as if it's been mashed! I've had nothing but complaints all afternoon - so much so that she completely forgot about the eight-legged creature dangling down dangerously close to her shoulder.

I must also apologise for my less-than-helpful writing yesterday on my Hope piece. The work-in-progress I posted was in fact for that actual painting. First collage layer and initial sketch. Sorry for confusion! If you enlarge the finished piece you might be able to spot this layer!

Cupcakes and things

A busy week but I'm still smiling which is surely a good thing and therefore worthy of a Happy Friday post. And why not I say, why not?

Happy taste buds (not so happy waistline)

I've just eaten my fourth of these cupcakes. Not in one go, I hasten to add although I did eat three yesterday. What can I say? There were there... They were tasty... They called to me... Hosted an employee event at work and these were part of the refreshments. My excuses for consuming three in the space of a few short hours was a) naturally it was essential that I tested then to make sure they were suitable for general consumption; and b) there was a great deal of manual labour involved with lugging chairs, tables, bottles, glasses and general bits and pieces, so clearly I worke them off!

***

Happy mail

Earlier in the week I answered the door to the postie to find a neat little package all for me! I was so lucky to win a giveaway on Claire Barone's Curious Emporium blog. This cute little bunny girl and a fancy brooch. You must check out her artwork which is adorable. Hers is one of those blogs I recently stumbled upon (but haven't a clue how I found her!), but now make regular visits. She has an Etsy shop too.

***

Happy art

Although the back end of this week has been a little dry in terms of artistic output, last weekend certainly made up for it and the warm feelings of so much productivity persist! Here's another fairy! She was the sketchbook try out for what eventually became my Butterfly girl.

Now, I've written before about how so often I'll find mermaids appearing on the page when they were never intended, well from next week they can splash their way into my art as often as they desire for I shall be partaking of Suzi Blu's Sirens course. Week one will see us working on colour matching. My pencils are itching to get started. My bank balance is crying (for some new paint seemed entirely necessary). Watch this space for scales, tails and mermaid wails!

Happy Creativity

I have been so creative this week. I have become surgically attached to my coloured pencils and sketch book. I can't get enough. I work hard all day only to come alive at dusk when the graphite scrapes across the paper and faces appear to me from the white pages urging me to listen to their stories.

The last year has been the most creatively prolific of my life. I'm like a woman possessed. I am not sure that I have ever been so dedicated to a cause or maybe the word should be 'addicted'. Is it a high I am experiencing? A rush of endorphins dancing through my veins into my creative soul? Whatever, I love it. It makes me happy and gives me such a giddy rush.

It's a shame I didn't feel like this while studying art for A Level back in my youth. Why did I allow the bare minimum to be enough? Where was my passion then? My drive, my fire? Was it the lack of inspiration from my teachers, or was inspiration missing?

Well, let's take those as two questions.

1. My art teachers were pretty rubbish. This week Suzi Blu has been teaching me. No contest. The woman is my hero.

2. Inspiration. Again. No contest. How lucky the youth of today are to have an entire world at their fingertips. I can reach out from everyone from the great Masters to new arty friends I met through blogging in seconds. I can type a simple keyword and be bombarded with colours, textures and dreamscapes. It is the most incredible thing and I love it as I love my new friends and this wonderful tribe of creatives I have become a part of.

This is my Friday Happy post for the Happy Book Group. Yesterday, our tribal leader Jamie wrote an interesting piece on how even little nibbles on the creative delicacies can be so good for our souls. It had me leaping around in my seat with agreement. Now I am off to paint some more. For now, I'll you with a work in progress, a finished mermaid (prompted by so many positive comments on my original post last week and originally inspired by artistic blog hopping) and a little sketching experimentation...

Have a wonderful weekend.

Great minds...

... think alike. The Universe works in mysterious ways.

Yesterday I emailed a bloggie friend who runs her own creative business (and she also set up the Inspiration Avenue Etsy Group), to see if she would like me to interview her for my blog. I already have some great questions in mind. This would be my second venture into 'chat show' territory and I felt a regular slot coming on, maybe once a month interviewing an artist who inspires me. I rather enjoyed the last one I did with Amelia Critchlow and feel like I could hone my skills in this area. After all, now Jonathan Ross is leaving the BBC there is a vacancy open for a Friday night talk show host (one has to think big!).

So, there I was planning on writing a blog post this evening outlining my plans. But first, I thought a quick ramble through Bloglandia might be in order. Cup of tea on the side and the thinnest slice of Battenburg cake crumbling between my fingers, I set off.

First stop of the blog bus was the Wish Studio. I hopped off here for visit and what do I find? Why the delightful Carmen Torbus inviting me to answer questions in a mini interview format... (I should point out at this juncture that it was not me specifically she had in mind, you are indeed all invited to join in. Pop along and check it out.)

So, we start with the tables turned and yours truly being interviewed. It was very comfy in the Wish Studio. They had a pink sofa covered with fluffy cushions. I was served frosted cup cakes on dainty china plates and had a foot massage while I answered the questions...

And how about you? Are you sitting comfortably? Well, then we'll begin... Over to you Carmen...

Carmen: You’ve got some amazing things happening and I can’t wait to hear more about it! Can you tell us a little about yourself and the inspiration behind what you do?

Lisa: Well Carmen, life is pretty good if a little hectic. I took the plunge to become a self-employed communications consultant last year and I'm incredibly busy with that side of my life. However, I don't talk about that so much online. I tend to reserve my blog for another part of me. Lisa the artist. The one who dreams of running her own creative business. The one who has a Muse who visits her most evenings and helps her put pen to paper, paint to canvas and make a huge mess of her house.


Carmen: We’re dying to know, what inspires you more than anything else in the whole world?
Lisa: Gosh what a hard question! Other artists I suppose. And, I know it sounds really corny, but the online friends I have made through my blog. Taking part in the art challenges and being surrounded by a worldwide group of like minded creatives has opened up so much to me. I rediscovered my art about a year ago and it was like finding the key to a secret cave full of treasure that I'd lost many years ago. Since that day I've had extra copies of the key cut and hidden them all around, so I can be sure I'll never get locked out again!



Carmen: What is your big dream? Yes, the BIG one! The really, super big, pee your pants when make it happen dream. The one you feel a wee bit nervous saying out loud. Yep, that one!
Lisa: OK, now I feel all shy.... You see the thing is.... the thing is.... I'd really like to be a proper artist and have an exhibition of my work somewhere really posh. I'd like to sell out on opening night. I'd like to be invited to write a book about creativity. Oh yeah, and guess what I also admitted last week in the comments forum of Kelly Rae's course? I said I wanted to write for the Wish Studio!!


Carmen: Tell us how you’re going to feel when you make it happen!
Lisa: I'll be tipsy - because there will be champagne. I'll be stuffed on canapes. I'll feel floaty because I'll be wearing some delightful designer creation that would make Angelina, Nicole et al jealous. I'll be full of confidence, laughing, joking and bouncing up and down with excitement. I'll try not to pee in my pants though, because that would be just plain embarassing...


Carmen: What would you do if you knew you couldn’t fail and fear didn’t exist?
Lisa: Invent fear and failure. I think we all need a little fear to give us an edge. Where would the excitement be if you always succeeded? How could we possibly get that adrenalin rush from living close to the edge? Life would be far too dull. I suspect we'd end up doing nothing.

Carmen: What’s next for you?
Lisa: Tidy my bedroom. Make sandwiches for tomorrow... Hmmm.... I think just catch up a bit on myself. Everything is racing along so fast. Ask me that again in a few months.


Carmen: What are you working on right now that you could use some support and encouragement on?
Lisa: I like to keep busy (as I alluded to in the last question). Right now I'm taking part in Kelly Rae's Flying Lessons e-course and Suzi Blu's Piety & Passion (though the latter is on the back burner as I've got all summer to enjoy that one). I'm writing some imaginative copy for a friend's jewellery business. I've got an idea for a book mailaround (more on that soon). I'm reading Women who run with Wolves and was also wondering if perhaps I could find, or set up an online book group to work through it with me (any takers?). And, I've just realised I've done no preparation for Vanessa's Mad Hatter's Tea Party at a Fanciful Twist... Any words of general encouragement most welcome!

Carmen: What advice, tips, resources, and overall good-to-know information would you offer someone just starting out with regards to finding passion & inspiration and digging in?
LisaVisit all these wonderful blogs out there. The Wish Studio is a good start and then just follow links from blog to blog. Take part in online art challenges and indulge yourself in your creative dreams. Life is not a rehersal. There's no time like the present.

Just do it. Do it for yourself. You don't have to show anyone the output of your creativity and inspiration if you don't want to. If you never start, you'll certainly never finish. Sitting around thinking about it is a waste of good time. In fact, why are you still reading this? Go live your dream!


Carmen: Is there anything else you’d like to share?
Lisa: Plenty! Keep reading this blog to find out what!! Especially my upcoming interview series. (See now I've said I'll do it, I have to... stealth tactics to make my get on with it!)

Also, a BIG THANK YOU to everyone who has been a part of my creative journey, visited my blog and left encouraging comments.


Carmen: Where can we find you online and what is the best way to connect with you?
Lisa: Right here on this blog. I have a website for my consultancy business, Linked In & Facebook and keep meaning to start a Twitter account, but this blog is like my second home where I'm most comfortable. I'm hanging about most days, so just pop in for a coffee whenever you feel like it. Grab a paintbrush and create with me. At the moment you are in danger of being force fed holiday snaps, but I promise I'll put them away soon. Oh yes, and excuse the mess... I just find it hard to create and keep a tidy house.

Images: a few random shots from holiday - not a beach in sight in these ones!

Who would have thought it?

I used to hate drawing faces; avoided at all costs... But thanks to Suzi Blu and her amazing courses I am completely hooked. Yesterday, I wanted to knock out a quick sketch for Sophia's Sunday Sketches. All I could think to draw was a face! And once I got started, it didn't really stay 'sketch' for long. I can't help myself... graphite is just so boring... I just love layering up the colours and having large eyes suddenly appear from the paper to stare at you. What is this little lady thinking I wonder? Well, one for thing for certain is that she is PROUD to be GINGER! Oh yes, she loves her big mop of orange hair, she wouldn't have it any other way. Look at the way everyone stares when she walks in the room. She's like an irridescent light show. What you can't see is the stunning dress she's wearing in the coolest turquoise with layer upon layer of fabric fluttering in the breeze her dance makes as she moves across the room...

I love how a good quality shot or scan can be magnified in photoshop. You can really see just how many colours went into making this face - creams, peaches, pinks, greens, blues, yellows and of course rather a lot of orange. That's what I love about my faces. I'm not trying to make them real, just colouring their personalities. The enlargement also helps spot the areas for improvement next time - the slightly off centre pupil needs a bit more care, as does the squishy iris. The thing I find about art though, is that is half the fun. I mean Oh no! Do I really have to do another piece of art? What hardship!!

Now, all this talk of lessons leads me nicely onto my next point. I'm sure you all have wonderful creative tips to share - whether watercolours, writing, wrapping presents or a wonderful wasabi recipe! Inspiration Avenue are hosting a fun blog party on the weekend of May 1st/2nd where all the partygoers are asked not to bring a bottle or even a present. No, you just bring yourself and a tutorial to share. All the info you need is here. Do come along; it will be tremendous fun and we pretty much guarantee that you'll definitely learn something!

Soothing comfort... Sunday sketching...

I've been like a brittle, coiled spring all day. Wound up beyond my normal calm exterior, tetchy, short-tempered. Remember the pimple on the chin on Thursday? Well, let's just put two and two together, throw in a bloated belly and a few aches here and there and we all know my problem!

I told my boyfriend (who for his own safety is now in his own home) that I might try sketching tonight as a calming mechanism. I was also keen to join in with the Sunday Sketching gang hosted by Sophia; a perfect prompt for a bit of art. My Muse was sulking so I enlisted Suzi Blu to inspire and watched the first of my new online videos for the 3/4 face portrait. Well, it's as if she knew, bless her little cotton socks. She sketched and chatted and extolled the soothing virtues of sketching... She loves how it calms her down before bedtime.... Oh yes, me too! I think I shall have fun practising for this class.

I do actually feel much better. I may go to bed now while I retain this mood of serenity and hope for gentle dreams.

Goodnight!

Mothers' Day

I spent several hours labouring over a card for my Mum the other evening. I'd watched a Suzi Blu lesson and got stuck in with my mixed media to create a Goddess. I liked the result and proudly took it to my boyfriend's to show him before presenting to my Mum... I left it at his house, along with the rest of my overnight bag and contents - including hairdryer, something I had forgotten about until dripping after the shower this morning. Sometimes I wonder if I lost some memory cells somewhere along the way. I must have had to climb over the bag to get out of the door. What is wrong with me?

Anyway, luckily for Mum I had scanned it in for 'posterity' and so she gets her very own blog post instead (and the real card a few days late - sorry!).

Happy Mother's Day Mum - love you and thank you for EVERYTHING!

While we are the subject. I am of course a Mother myself. I am also a smug Mumma too laden as I am with goodies all weekend. I got chocolates from my boyfriend's daughter - which I also left at his house. DON'T EAT THEM MR...

Yesterday we took a trip to the shops where I was required to wait patiently on a bench while boyfriend and children went a-buying. A notebook to treasure from Paperchase and a pretty pink bracelet from my son. Thank you!

Then this morning, it was breakfast in bed made by my son. I was a little nervous when he ran downstairs with that intention in mind and he was gone a LONG time. I could hear him chatting away to himself while creating a culinary masterpiece. Finally I was presented with a bowl of Shreddies - bless his little cotton socks. He wants to cook lunch too. Fish fingers, chips and peas... Trouble is I am already cooking lunch for my Mum - something a little more exotic. Perhaps he can cook me dinner tomorrow.

So Mums of the World. Whether it is Mother's Day in your country today or not. Have a wonderful day and enjoy lots of love and hugs.

Bad Hare Day

A bit of a cop out going on here. Well, you see, I just know I'm not going to have enough time to create my purple entry for Inspiration Avenue this week without putting myself under undue pressure so I'm showing you a couple of purple pieces I made earlier!

The first is also rather topical since I am indeed suffering a severe case of the bad hair day. I actually looked better with bed hair this morning than I did after shampoo, conditioner, 'styling' and product had all attacked my mop. My hair has never been a tame puss cat, more like a Tasmanian devil I think. Fine; straight; brown. A cause of much distress to my mother over the years. As a child she'd torture me with rollers and granny-style hairdryers before parties - you know the kind, they look like you're wearing a bucket on your bonce. I grew up believing not that blondes had more fun, but that you needed to look like Shirley Temple to be popular (love you really Mum!).

So, we have a purple homage to the bad hair day. This was painted as a preliminary sketch for .... drum roll...... my commissioned piece! Look at me... A proper artist or what? I rather foolishly forgot to capture the final work in digital technivision but you get the gist.

Below we have a piece entitled simply 'Sister's birthday card'. The small blue flower in the middle is from my ephemera stash and I created the painting around it with acrylics and ink. I was rather chuffed when she framed it and gave it pride of place on the bedroom wall.

The Swan Princess

This feels like a proper grown up painting. Yet again I was inspired by The Three Muses - which as their name suggests is naturally their intention. Create something around the theme of 'birds of a feather' they suggest...

For the next few weeks at least, most artistic output also has to double as homework and practice for my Suzi Blu portrait class, so it seemed both natural and sensible to combine the two. We all know that fair maidens have a strange tendency to turn into swans on occasion - or is it the other way around - so the idea was hatched!

My Princess belongs to the swans. One day I'll tell you her story, but I'm afraid the effort to create her this week has been something of a tiring affair since I don't usually start until bedtime. It's a busy week, but painting helps me relax so is a welcome finish to the day! I struggled with her face. I wanted a darkness around her eyes reminiscent of the swan but at the same time don't want her to look like the undead... A touch of immortality without the festering zombie flesh was the general idea. And let's not talk about her nose... Anyone know a good plastic surgeon?

I've also decided she needs a tiara, but the sparkly Princess headwear shop was closed tonight, so she'll have to wait another day or so.

I probably should have taken the photo in daylight (too big for scanner). Her dress is much more purple than you can see in this image and the shading on the swan a pale blue rather then grey!

Mixed media on acrylic paper. Coloured pencil, acrylics and some sparkly bits.

Pure of heart

Can I let you into a little secret? I so enjoyed painting this! Regular readers will know I have become a member of the Suzi Blu art class cult and I worship at the Goddess & Poet shrine. I even dreamt about her the other night - that will teach me to watch her course videos just before I go to bed! This is my second painting which I created especially for the Inspiration Avenue 'Pure' challenge. Does she look suitably saintly? She started life as a graphite pencil sketch, my brand new prisma-colour pencils gave her face tone and colour then the acrylics came out. And, because I can never leave well alone, the collage sneaked in too. The windswept Princess below was my first - a double page journal spread, same materials as above with some stamping and stencils. Hope the colours turn out OK, they were too big for the scanner.

Portrait painting is such a new thing for me, but I feel so drawn in (excuse the pun!). I want to practice, practice, practice and get really good at this. Constructive criticism appreciated :)

The eyes are the window to the soul

You may recognise this eye - it's my profile picture. I don't know why it has never occurred to me to draw it before. The sketch is sitting in front of me now. It seems strange to be staring into your own eye; a part of you that says so much about you, yet you rarely see yourself. When that photo was taken my soul was a little lost. Did I capture that? Can you see into my soul? What else can you see?

This piece, although intended for The Three Muses 'quote or quip' challenge, is also a bit of homework for my Suzi Blu Goddess & Poet portrait class. What a wonderful teacher she is, I could watch and listen all night. Personally I think that all artists should wear feathered hats at least once a day and dance around with parasols. There's something else I adore about Suzi - it's her recording studio aka bedroom. The room is a tip! I can just hear my Mum tutting "you think she'd have tidied up, fancy filming with all that mess..." Don't listen Suzi! I love you just the way you are!!!

I had planned to working some more on this and incorporating the quotation, giving it some colour... but time ran away (through an open window!)

Unravelling the Mystique

This is the other eye of the painting I did for 'something in the air' at The Three Muses this week. I had a little more fun in Photoshop for the Inspiration Avenue Mystique challenge - you need to look really closely... I had huge plans for a whole series of mysterious paintings this week, but then I happened upon a rather nifty little art course which has swallowed all my attention.

It is Suzi Blu's Goddess & Poetry course which takes a little of the 'mystique' out of portrait painting. After nearly 40 years it looks like I am finally learning how to draw a nose! What fun! It was always noses that put me off faces, but since my artistic rediscovery last year I have been 'drawn' more and more to this subject matter.

Regulars of my blog will know that I have become a big fan of 'colouring in' faces. Copies of Vogue have been gesso-ed and models' perfect complexions given make-overs. Then I learnt the transfer technique and there was no stopping me. Occasionally, with a sudden burst of confidence, I have created my own, freehand, with varying degrees of success (you only get to see the half-decent ones!).

I want to do more... The course is wonderful, Suzi is a great teacher and lovely and wacky - wearing mad hats and waving parasols about mid-lesson. So far I'm just on pencil sketches... next comes all that lovely colour! Can't wait!

Watch this space...