In the Arms of Love

I've been working on some new creations using the techniques I learnt at Squam with Sarah Ahearn Bellemare.

This is my first painting and I learnt a lot from the experience which translated means that there are a lot of 'mistakes' and errors but this also means it was a great success too. 

I was going to write the words "In the arms of love" on the painting but remembered too late and now I don't feel as if I have room.  But I love this photograph of my nanna and I when I was about 2 -3 years old, so I'll be making another.

"In The Arms of Love",  Mixed Media on Canvas Panel, 20cm x 20cm, 8" x8"

I used the photo transfer technique, stencilled tissue paper, doilly paper, handmade paper, acrylic paint, soft pastels, Stabilo Aquarellable pencil and gel medium.

I really need to get my mojo on and make more of these as they can be quite challenging and fun too.

Wednesday Workshop

Yesterday was week 3 of a worskshop with mixed media artist Neil Elliott at a local Youth Centre.  We are working on an underwater theme and there are some very creative and inspiring people in our class.


I put on an undercoat of paint yesterday.

This is how it looked previously after gluing on tissue paper, towel, bathrug and paper stuffing (that red stuff):

Whilst waiting for the paint to dry I worked on these two Kimberley paintings that I created over summer.  Neil suggested lightening the sky and darkening the foreground and adding more layers of paint.

I didn't have my Golden Fluid Acrylics with me yesterday so I think I will give them both another layer of paint using the glossy Goldens.

Here are some before and after shots:

And here's another I was working on:

Six Thoughts on Saturday

1.  Sunsets - we've had some stunning sunsets this past week as we've had a few clouds that give gorgeous colour.

2. Mixed media art class - on Wednesdays with local artist Neil Elliott.  We are working on an underwater scene and here's my painting now.

3.  Art Journalling - I've started art journalling  for fun and experimentation and to play with some of the goodies I've bought.  I have been watching a lot of art journal videos and I don't have and am unable to get in Australia some of the products being used.  So the challenge is to use the tools I do have and in that way I can make the pages mine. I used to think art journalling was a waste of time because I couldn't sell the end product but this can be liberating and it means you can look at another person art journal and use it for inspiration.

This page was inspired by Donna Downey's Inspiration Wednesday journal from Feb 6th, 2013. 

These pages are the beginnings of pages that were inspired by France Papillon's When Was The Last Time journal.  France's page starts with gluing a printed tissue paper which I didn't have so I covered my pre-painted page with sewing pattern.  More to come in the future.

4. Foxes - this morning I saw a fox in our backyard and a few weeks ago at a friend's house we saw one there too.

5. Postage Stamps - I ordered through Ebay some postage stamps to use for art journalling and I'm looking for someone who lives overseas who would like to swap some American or European stamps for some Australian stamps by weight or number.  Please leave a message in the comment section if you are interested, thank you.

6. Confetti Tree with stencilled background - here it is finished:

Here are the progress photos I have shown previously:

If Wishes Were Fishes

'If wishes were fishes, then the seas would be full' is the poem from which my latest painting gets it's title.

 

If Wishes Were Fishes, Acrylic on Canvas, 76cm x 101cm, 30" x 40"

Some close up pics:

Some evolution pics:

 I've been thinking about painting fish for a couple of months now.  In early December my husband bought me a silver ring for our 25th Wedding Anniversary.

And next week I start back with Neil Elliott for mixed media classes and our theme is an underwater scene - so I've been gathering photos from my brother-in-law and sister-in-law of their underwater adventures in Indonesia.  I've also been watching a lot of Donna Downey Inspiration Wednesday videos and she had this hexagonal stencil which gave me the idea for hexagonal fish.

Last weekend I watched Flora Bowley's latest video and was so inspired by her (it's nearly 2 years since I went to her workshop at Nanga in the bush south of Perth) that I grabbed the largest canvas I had (it was one for Neil's class so I need to go buy another...) and went out in the garden so I could paint freely, with lots of spraying and looseness as possible (my kitchen floor is covered in tiny spots of paint spray oops...).  I should have done more dripping before packing up my garden studio but it was getting too warm and my brain was fried.

I've had the most amazing fun painting my fishy painting and thank you so much to everyone on Instagram and Facebook for your likes and comments too.  I hope to make some more fishy paintings soon.

Hope you're having a fun arty weekend too.