paintings prints and stuff

Birthday card made using Derwent's new watercolour paper - gouache, Artbars and oil pastel A quick bunch of imaginary flowers for the birthday of my eldest daughter this weekend. I'm a bit late posting it so Mr Postman please be quick. I used the A4 paper and simply folded it - wrote the message in copper oil pastel inside and played with these flowers on the outside.

Playing with ideas for a card competition - This is madame when she was young, playing in a waste paper basket.   I'm looking at the photo part of the competition as the artwork side is very very simplistic and graphic and not 'me'. The font needs playing with and making more interesting I know - that's just to get the idea down. Captions aren't easy!   any thoughts?

We had a new arrival over Christmas :>) My daughter had a little girl - after a scare with possible swine flu and a second emergency Caesarian. I haven't been down to see her yet but hope to get down as soon as possible

This was the final version of one of my cards. Below are links to those who designed their own and left links in the comments for me: Maree had the lovely idea of raising money for an animal charity with one of her card designs. Jeanette did this lovely and very different card Billie wondered what would happen if Santa's cat, who was scared of heights, hitched a ride :>) and then designed another funny one - how many Persian cats have I seen with faces like that! Gesa produced this elegantly minimalist card Sarah produced this lovely Advent Calendar that opens a new window each day and a Winter Solstice card Ronell produced this delicate arrangement Maggie made a 3D celebration! A creative and inventive lot I'm sure you'll agree Katherine did an interesting round up of free online art cards from various galleries and don't forget the fun snowflake cutting programme for the child in you at Christmas :>) if you made your own card and I haven't listed you, j...

card layout for printing on paper What happens if at 7am you realise you've forgotten to organise cards for your class (who are lovely so not what I'd want!) - I like to give them one I've designed but I hadn't yet done it - and today was the last class of term and we were going out for Christmas lunch afterwards. 8>O Publisher to the rescue :>) I used on of the Sam illustrations and as I had no card left, printed it on paper and folded it twice. It worked ok :>) Folded and signed as they came off the printer and done in time :>) You can use word but it's not quite so easy to get the spacings right - it's really easy with Publisher. You can see the blue guidelines I set - these don't print. I am so disorganised at the moment and juggling so many things. Juggling is not one of my talents. Hospital visiting ends today though with the patient getting parole - I'm off to collect him in a couple of hours. That should take some of the ...

old Christmas card design, Vivien Blackburn Christmas Card Challenge I thought it might be time for a new challenge? Do you design your own Christmas cards? or fancy doing it for the first time? If so, please post a link to your design in the comments as you design them, and I'll do a round up of your designs and a link to your blog at the beginning of December :>) - you've got lots of time. I usually design a card for me to print out each year but also do separate hand made ones for painting friends and family. There is something special about cards from friends who have created their own. Tips and ideas: 160gsm card will go through most printers and is strong enough to stand up. Collage is great for personalised cards as it's quick and the simplicity can have a real impact and a contemporary edge. Watercolour paper is of course perfect for those wanting to use w'col. Doodle ideas in a sketchbook or scraps of paper and then work out the best and simplest ways ...

Happy Birthday Sam! One year old :>) - it doesn't seem a year since my daughter was rushed into hospital for an emergency caesarian .... but it is. And Sam is now a delightful active .... errrm very active one year old :>) Sorry about the lack of recent posts but we are going through a really bad time at the moment and I'll get back on track as soon as possible.

The Christmas card design for this year - digital image from mixed media sources Vivien Blackburn You can't see it very well here - but that is a star shining through the trees. I decided I'd better get a move on with the Christmas cards as I've hardly even thought about Christmas yet apart from a few presents bought online ....... and a few things bought for me while I was searching! oooops - I was supposed to be searching for presents for others I'm still doing horribly long hours - yesterday involved leaving home at 7.30am and getting home at 10pm - teaching morning, afternoon and evening. :( and I'd rather be painting. Do you make your own cards? for everyone? just for family and close friends? originals or prints of your own designs/work?

I made a few more cards this afternoon - it's a grey rainy day and I think it crept into the colour choices and weather I was showing in them! I do like moody light at the coast though :) these are some of the ones I did yesterday. .

Night beach, collage all images copyright Vivien Blackburn I'm showing paintings at an Art and Crafts fair in a few weeks and I thought I'd do some cards - most people can't afford the paintings but they can buy cards if they like. I'll do some with prints of my paintings but I thought it would be interesting to do some small abstract collages with fabric, hand made papers, gold tissue and painted papers. Then I scanned them and played a bit more :>) so some will be printed in their new coats. This is a variation in Photoshop on the collage above. This one looks better IRL because some of the fabrics have a metallic sheen, it didn't scan very well - none of the collages did :>( These were done from memories of the beach in recent paintings. This is collaged from fragments of an overworked painting - at least it was useful for something! and below is a variation on it in Photoshop. and another collage with fragments of the same painting. For the collaged card...