Cat on Canvas

I painted this with acrylic paints on a canvas. The background was created with various stamps, mainly hand made and I used some found items as stamps.

Primitive Doll

When I got together with a friend the other week we decided we needed a new project  and decided on the theme 'stuffed'. I had an old cardigan waiting to be used for something and decided on making this 'primitive doll with it. I was inspired by the work seen inside the Prims magazine - art inspired by a bygone era. My little chap was hand stitched together with some dyed thread I'd had hanging around for ages too. He's more for looking at than for touching as he is quite delicate - because of my stitching and the frayed edges of knitting.

Pink

It has been a while since I did something for the 'Take a Word' challenge, but I couldn't resist the word for next week - PINK. A few years ago I went through a spell of really not liking the colour much at all, but I'm back to liking it again. The flowers were drawn on a tablet and I used some of my art for the background.

I recently completed a whole mixed media book in pink and if you missed it the whole book can be seen here.

China and Dolls

Two pages from my tall sketchbook.

Above, collage -a torn page from a book about China, and a found image. I used brusho inks, metallic and other pastels.

Below, another drawing from the 'culture' project. I used 2 card cut outs of 'Russian dolls' and used them both for each figure, one inside the other. Pen liner and aquamarkers.

Leaves and Honesty

The sketchbook challenge - Into the woods.

Background paper - oil pastels, wax crayons, metallic crayons, caran d'ache water soluble crayons, brusho inks.

Layered envelopes with real plants [painted] trapped under the envelope window, stitching.

I have some honesty plants in my garden and I thought this particular specimen looked more colourful than normal, the seed pods are tinged with pink.

TAST 73 and Fly Stitch

Take a stitch Tuesday - Portuguese stem stitch - this is the green line on the right, looks a bit messy. I used it to stitch the lace to the background fabric along with  running stitch and French knots. The background fabric is gingham and the lace was part of a net curtain which I dyed and cut out.

The embroidery below is not for TAST but we have done this stitch on a previous occasion. After stitching the same stitch  in lots of different shades and thickness of threads I sewed on lots of different kinds of beads. A close up is below and you can also click on the image to see even more. The splatter background fabric was made using transfer paper.

Digital Photos and the Birds

The other day I blogged about a mixed media picture I had done for the sketchbook challenge - Into the woods. I uploaded it to my galaxy note tablet and changed the colours and also put on a flock of birds. The bird was created on the tablet a while ago.

I have also been messing about with a photo that I took through the car window of an interesting sky, although it didn't look so interesting on the photo. I used the pixlr-o-matic app for the effects.

Handmade Colour Books

The hand made colour themed mixed media art books completed so far.

Blue

Red

Purple

Pink

Gold/Metallics

Monochrome

Green

Into the Woods

The Sketchbook Challenge - Into the woods.

above - collaged page from book, collaged leaves - these are real leaves but painted, I used them for leaf printing with last year. The white lacy areas were made with a roll of decorative tape - I stuck it down, painted over it with brusho inks then removed the tape.

I used more of the decorative tape to act as a resist for this picture too. The tape was from the £ shop - 3 for a £1, it leaves the paper very sticky after removing it but I find that sprinkling a little talc over it eliminates the problem. The tree was made from book pages, overlapped and stuck together. I painted over the tree before sticking down to background.

This was the picture after sticking the tree to the background. I then applied various crayons - wax, metallic. I painted over the whole page with black brusho.

Trees - Mixed Media

Inspired by the challenge set by the sketchbook challenge - Into the woods.

I used recycled envelopes for the tree branches and bits of ripped up envelope and wrapping paper confined under the window of an envelope. To colour I used Brusho inks and wax crayons.

Another photo of this page and the window area looks blank.

I collaged a page from a vintage book into the sketchbook [this is a long sketchbook- 16" x 7.5"].

I drew the trees with wax crayons and then over painted with Brusho inks.

Click on the images to see a closer view of the texture

I went to Washington Old Hall [UK] last week with my friends, I liked the view of the hall behind these plants [I'm not sure what the plants are]

Tree Sketches

The sketchbook challenge - the theme this month is 'into the woods'.

I was thinking it was tree, hence the lone trees.

These were all created on a samsung galaxy note 10.1 and sketchbook pro.

Collaged Flower

The flower was made from recycled envelopes and wrapping paper. I've also used aquamarkers and a liner pen.

TAST 70,72 Embroidery

Take a stitch Tuesday 70 - crested chain stitch.

I've used some vintage gingham and dyed laces. Attached to the vintage suspender is a scrap of yellow vintage fabric and lace attached with a French knot. The patch of gingham is attached with running stitch and there are more French knots on the yellow trim.

I didn't do tast 71 this time but I have done it before, see here. 

Take a stitch Tuesday 72 - wrapped coral stitch.

I was having a spot of bother with this to start with, I kept putting the thread the wrong way round. I've disguised it with French knots [with long stalks] in the yellow thread. Vintage fabric and dyed laces.

This one was not for tast but for the pastel book. The background fabric is handpainted/stamped. Four different dyed laces with running stitches on the narrow yellow lace in two colours. French knots. The buttons were created with art work and clear buttons.

Sketchbook 36, the first few pages

I started this book in May [8.5"x 6"], I used stencils for the shapes, they were in a children's book I got from Wilkinson's, a book full of stencils, cheap too.

I bought some Letraset Aquamarkers a couple of months ago and I got some more for a birthday present in May. This shows all the colours I have now. One end of the marker is thick and the other not as thick.

I've still not decided whether I like them or not, they're supposed to work like watercolours but they don't for me. Perhaps I need more practice.

Mixed media- wax crayons, watercolour, found image of tiger, letraset numbers.

I used the aquamarkers for this picture, the flower on the left is a real one.