Summer of Colour - end of term report

We've been celebrating colour all summer long over at Kristin's Twinkle Twinkle blog. She has been the most gracious host and showered gifts galore as well as shared her talents and provided an outlet to share ours.

We've made new friends and explored our paint pots, colouring our palettes with rainbow splashes and swirls. And now, like all good things, our journey is at an end. Mine luckily appears to be at the end of a rainbow where I found a pot of gold guarded by a garulous leprachaun.

So now, we meet one last time to showcase our work and thank Kristin. You may spot a bit of theme with mine. I didn't start off intending to just draw girl's faces but they were queuing up to be committed to paper so who was I to argue? I experimented with materials, textures and mediums.

I thought I'd finish with the flourish above. Groovy hair eh? I could have done with those locks when I went to an Austin Powers themed party last week. I had to make do with a Farrah Fawcett wig instead.... (probably best that I don't share those pictures... they were a bit scary what with the hot pants and all....)

And remember readers... Somewhere over the rainbow...

Tangerine dream

When I was young, my Grandmother would always make us mandarin oranges in jelly for dessert. This has no relevance whatsoever to this artwork, but the sweet taste and soft texture began melting in mouth and penetrating my subconscious right through to my fingertips, so there we have it.

Is this girl dreaming in tangerine? For some reason I feel she is in the South of France in a garden by a wall of honeyed stone covered in waves of soft greenery and vine. She sits at an ancient iron table and nurses a glass of wine while soaking up the last of the sunshine as it readies itself to hide away for another day. The gentle chords from a distant guitar remind her of a lost love...

She is a digital amalgamation of two of my paintings - following my girl theme for Summer of Colour where I have tried to do something a little different with every outing. It hasn't been easy and I got rather cross and cranky this week. Then, when all seemed set for disaster, what happens? I end up with two!

I posted this one yesterday for Sunday Sketches, but the colour orange was clearly still on my mind. I rather like her hair! You can read the story about her here.



Do you mind?

I was pushed out of bed this morning (a Sunday no less), by this girl who was begging to be drawn. Seriously, it's Sunday morning and last night I went out on a hen night and drank wine from a glass the size of a small bucket and she wants me to roll out of bed and get all creative.

Ah well actually it wasn't that difficult. I may have drunk more than my usual consumption of the fruit of the vine, but that isn't really that much truth be told... And I really did fancy drawing a girl with a touch of whimsey about her.

So, she took form on a splattered and stamped sketchbook page - more tea employed in the making of this (my boyfriend's 14-year-old daughter thought I was more insane than usual when she caught me flinging hot tea bags around in the name of art).

Yesterday the sun came out which was a somewhat shocking experience. It has been hiding for so long that I forgot that one was required to rub sunscreen in to exposed skin to protect it from sizzling. I'm a little rosy on the shoulders and chest today...

An early entry to Summer of Colour's Orange (I have another one for tomorrow!), and a Sunday Sketch.

Prismacoloured pencils on a background of tea splats and rubber stamping. Digital application of a brush by Kim Klassen with the words.

Purple

I'm all written out this week. My professional writing skills have been stretched to their limits and I confess to being just a touch tired out. So, instead of attempting to write something clever or entertaining, I'm just going to post this for Summer of Colour's purple challenge and then go out for a walk in the sunshine!

Brits among you may recognise her, though I'm not sure it's a terribly good likeness. It's Cat Deeley, taken from an advert for jewellery (except I didn't quite get around to painting the jewellery!).

Tootles.

Devil woman

Seriously she's been a devil this one. Perhaps starting with such a fiery red didn't help, I was clearly asking for trouble. The temper was rising, the tantrums threatening to explode.

Just look at that moody stare; I wouldn't cross her if I were you. I've a feeling her man may well have caused some upset. Did he stray? Did he not quite understand the question "Does my bum look big in this?" Either way, he's in big trouble that's for sure.

I think he should take her dancing - something wild and tempestous with a Latin vibe. A rose between his teeth and a Cuban heel might just take her mind off his misdemeanours. Or maybe he'd be better off with someone a bit less pouty!

She is celebrating Red week at The Summer of Colour.

Acrylic background, charcoal, pastels, a bit more acrylic and a dash of temper thrown in for good measure. Keep your distance!

Brown girl in the (coffee) ring

Show me a motion... Tra la la la la...

For The Summer of Colour we had an unexpected challenge - brown! Eek, reminds me of my school uniform. However, brown is actually very exciting because it allows me to incorporate a spot of staining into my picture. Paper was prepared by flinging hot and wet tea bags at it and then sprinkling with my new favourite coffee Kenco Millicano wholebean instant (from Arabica beans). This left me with an array of choices for names for this lass - Milli perhaps? Rica? Arabica?

Let's go for Rica (pronounced Reek-a) for to be honest she does smell a bit. There's a definite whiff of rich roasted bean about her!

So, once the beverage stain layers had dried, I added a little tissue paper here and there then sketched her in Inktense pencils before bringing all their lushness to life with water and paintbrush.

I'm torn between wondering if she has a 'pox' on her face or it's just an aged vintage feel...

Starting to feel the pressure to keep this portraiture up all summer, but now I've started I must finish. I wonder what colour we're going to have this week?

Mellow Yellow

Soft, silken Primrose, fading timelessly

John Milton

She is Primrose of the Fae, born in the Spring, creature of the soft woodland dwelling in among the mossy roots. We haven't captured her playful spirit here, having disturbed her sleep (so she's a bit cross).

Summer of Colour finds us in yellow this week.

I painted Primrose over a collage that looked like this....

Art recyling...

In the pink

I've been planning a post for weeks to showcase the incredible handmade items I've bought, been gifted and won from the artistic talents in blogland. However, given that it's going to involve a lot of scanning and photography, I keep putting it off.

So, in the spirit of my new 'more efficient and organised' Lisa, I am breaking down the big project into smaller, more manageable tasks, and will throw a mention in here and there as we go along... Keep reading for the first...

I'm  posting today for The Summer of Colour - Pink. It seems I am keeping to my girl theme for this series. They just keep asking to be painted, so who am I to argue?

This one is on wood. Layers of collaged pink papers make up the background. She's painted in acrylics with a topping of fibres, an admission ticket, some mod-roc and a few other things I found skulking around in the bottom of my art box. Whole thing then softened with a coating of beeswax.

The fibres came to my possession on Saturday morning, wrapping a key chain I'd purchased from Cameron of Paint Myself Pretty. A veritable package of delights awaited me on the doormat yesterday. Tags, postcards, stickers... I was bouncing around the kitchen with joy. So much sharing and care is taken to support each other in this community. I just wanted to say thank you to Cameron and to you all.

Look - it's pink!

Without all this support, comments and messages, to say nothing of the inspiration from challenges, I would never have had the confidence to keep growing with my art. This community we have here is truly a wonderful thing.

At the risk of getting all mushy, it's time to move on. Also wanted to share with you a pink photograph. I took it in London earlier this year when I met up with Amelia and some lovely ladies from the Experimental Art Course - which coincidentally starts again today - I'm a returning student :)

Of course, the sky wasn't actually shocking pink, because frankly that would be a bit disturbing - PhotoShop helped there. This piece is a particular favourite of mine. I love the composition and the contrast of colour. If you'd like to see more of my photos from this particular shoot, you can find them on Flickr.

Green lady of Fridays

Friday nights just aren't what they used to be. Long gone are the days where you'd find me in some bar in London's West End using my trick of standing sideways to worm my way to the bar quicker. There was never anywhere to sit, but hey where would be the fun in that? We'd go out, more often than not a gaggle of giggling girls, with the intention to mingle, to meet, dance, make eye contact with the opposite sex... fuelled by an intoxicating mix of alcohol, music and bonhomie.

Friday nights meant letting your metaphorical hair down and celebrating the end of the week with a P A R T Y.

Now, a few more years under my belt, things have I admit slowed down a little (for one thing, I can get drunk on only two glasses of wine... would have been a money saver in the old days I can tell you). Last Friday night, with my son sleeping soundly upstairs, my boyfriend fighting mythical creatures on the PC and his daughter watching movies on the TV - I spent my evening drawing!

Not quite the wild times of the 1990s, but actually just lovely! I spent hours on this girl. She is for the theme of green in the Summer of Colour. I pulled out my leafy shades from my prismacolours, took my virgin extra large sketchbook and just drew and shaded and drew and blended - a labour of love. Then, when she was finished, I scanned her and a luscious green background I've painted (but not actually done anything with) and blended them together in the trendy bar known as PhotoShop. The finishing touches to this fantasy cocktail was a giant grungy brush.

She looks a bit like the Absinthe fairy, don't you think?

OK confession, I did also have a glass of wine while I was creating - funnily enough a brand I remember discovering in some fancy bar back in the day ...

PS: While I've got you here, I must tell you about an event happening this September that I would love to attend (but finances and time won't allow this year). It is Sweet Freedom Retreat - where Wild Women go to create. Sounds incredible - especially since my bloggy friend Kelly Berkey will be there teaching. Ah... since I went on the Do what you Love Retreat, I feel an addiction to these gatherings of like-minded souls coming on. An annual treat perhaps?

Blue girl

Woke up this morning, couldn't get outa bed

Dreams were haunting

Running through my head

Something odd happenin

Somehow I just knew

My skin and hair had turned bright blue...

Da Ding Da Ding

Oh I got me the blues...Don't know what to do

The Summer of Colour just turned bright blue!

Are you sitting comfortably on your porch with your guitar readers? I got me some blues today for Summer of Color (it's OK, she's American, so she spells it funny) by Kristin.

I thought I'd practice some faces. It's more of a challenge than you'd think using the 'wrong' colours. My hand kept reaching for the peaches and pinks. Selecting shades took some thought. Which blue for where? It was fun. Eyes are a little too big, but the problem I have is that I like drawing eyes... so they just naturally want to stand out; they can't help themselves :)

The summer of colour or indeed color

I was only saying this morning that I'm in danger of taking too much on, and here I am telling you about another artistic challenge group I'm joining! But hey, the truth is that art stuff is pure pleasure and when it becomes a chore then something is clearly going very wrong. None of these challenges require that I take part every week (despite my attempts to do so).

So, it was with pleasure that I tell you about the Summer of Colour - or Color as Kristin from Twinkle, Twinkle spells it. Each week we're focusing on one colour which sounds pretty easy to me. Week 1 will be blue - I could doodle with a Bic and still have something to post - though I hope for something a little more creative (and anyway, I think my Bic is black ;).

I can also multi-task. A bit of colour play will be great for my Experimental Art e-Course which starts later this month. I'm taking this for the second time as it was just so fab the first. Places still available if anyone wants to come and play - link  in my sidebar takes you there.

I've found it hard lately to differentiate between colour. Don't worry, I'm not having trouble with my eyesight. It's more down to the fact that every time I grabbed a tube of paint while 'on retreat' I inevitably had rather paint splattered fingers and paint... well it has a habit of transferring itself onto things...

Somewhat spookily, this song just began playing through my headset - I have iTunes on random... It's called Daydream in blue...