I almost forget how to post!!!

If there is anybody out there still looking in on this blog - HELLO :0))))

I've been busy in lots of ways and blogging has not been top of the list lately but I am happy to say that i have FINALLY finished my City & Guilds Creative Sketchbook course with Linda Kemshall and I can definitely recommend it to anyone wishing to develop their skills. I am now pursuing another course (real life this time!!) and hope to be able to show some images of that work in the coming weeks and its on embroidered textiles so a little different from where I started out on this blog.

In the meantime, here are some piccies of my sketchbook assessment.

This was based on a heritage building in the town of Carlingford.

bits 'n pieces

Hey folks - the weather here has been fantastic some days and its hard to be creative when the sun is shining. I have a few images of sunshine, some jewellery which I made at a workshop and some paintings on canvas board with moulding paste - love this stuff. I've lots of more work started as always but should complete some more fairly soon.

I took a half day off work last week and went for a short drive to a small village called Carlingford. It is a beautiful village and across the lough you can see the beautiful Mourne Mountains.

More WIP

I dont even know why I am adding these but I have many works that are started and never get finished. They will be ........................................... someday - but not just yet, I have lots more work to start on lol.

These are 2 of 5 pieces I made while at a silk papermaking workshop last week with Tunde Toth. It was a great day and lots was learned, I just need to give up the day job to be able to complete all my creations. These are not complete by any means but just a trial of what they could be.

I'm also doing some work for Fibre in Form online workshops so hopefully I will have some work from those experiments soon. :0))))

Textile Hanging (WIP)

This is very much a work in progress at present but its a good start. Not really good to practice a vermicilli stitch on somehting so big but so far I'm liking it. I was very lucky meet a lovely and talented textile artist at Art in Action last week (Ester Kiley) and she kindly gave me a full demo and instructions on how to finish this off properly. So watch this space...... probably months down the line from now lol. I have a few more paintings complete which I will get loaded up here soon too.

more textures

I know I mentioned textiles were on the menu but I got very distracted with polyfilla, not recommended really, molding paste has a completley different texture and is a lot more durable but I like how this turned out all the same. This is a 10 x 8" canvas board, covered in polyfilla adn then Goldens fluid acrylics and gloss medium to finish. Not sure how to frame this though but I will look at it for a while and see how it goes. Its hard to capture the true colours as the bottom is more deep violet than what you see but TFL..

Textured Surfaces

How many times can you over paint a painting :0))) - I did this as part of my 'homework' for my City & Guilds but have stripped it back and repainted it, stripped it back again and again and I still cant stop. I like the overall layout but just can't seem to get the top panel painted the way I picture it in my mind........ This is a plywood box panel measuring 24"x20" , covered in molding paste and then painted with various acrylics and oil sticks. Its a work in progress as yet. I'm sure you will see it resurface again soon with some additions to it. TFL..

Textile surfaces are swimming in my mind at the moment so maybe some will gather momentum over the next week or so as I have a few workshops lined up and I will be inspired again. Watch this space..

monoprinting

As part of my City & Guilds course I had to complete some monoprints, have you tried this? It is totally addictive and works equally as well on fabric as well as paper. I can't tell you how many pieces I created as they were completely all over the floor but these are some of my favs.

some jewellery

I had to make a necklace to match a dress for going out over the weekend and made a few while I was at it. The silver pieces on these are from a previous class and necklace which I took apart, My fav is the black and white stones, no idea what they are called but I like them anyway.

Paintings reworked

I am never happy with a painting I complete and tend to rework them several times before I am sort of content with them. So..............., I now have a diptych which I am fairly happy with :0)). There is a bit of a glare from the light but they are fairly large to get a decent photo of atm. I have shown you a photo of them at the begining with their first and second coats of paint and then the finished pieces. They are polyfilla on mdf board with natural jute embedded for the trees. If you click on the top image you get a better idea of the texture.

Stop the Clock!!

Where is time going and why is it going so fast (I'm obviously getting very old lol) Here is a card I made for Jo's birthday recently keeping the theme going from my recent class showing the paint distress technique. Its quite addictive when you start as you never know what the end result will be. TFL.

TGIF

Hey folks - I had just told myself I needed a craft break as I am on overload with too many things going on - it lasted all of 5 minutes lol......... I popped over to Jo Capper-Sandon's blog and she is guest artist this week for TGIF and I was inspired. The theme is secret garden - not sure about this piece being a secret garden but its my interpretation to it. Why not pop over and have a look at some of the fabulous creations.

Easter Party - Are you free ????

Hey girls - Annamarie from The Scrapbook Store and Elaine have organised another great party where you can scrapbook, make cards, shop, take some classes and generally have a fun filled day in Dublin on 18th April. They have very kindly asked me to teach a class and I thought I would show you some photos of whats in store for you.

I am going to teach the distressed paint technique which was recently published in the Stampers Sampler and create a fabulous sketchbook/journal with your finished design. I have lots and lots of little 8 fold inserts which I use for quotes and notes or basic sketches for my artwork and have made these into handy journals to fit in my handbag. I would love to see you there and hope you will join in and have fun with lots of like minded folk.

Annamarie is taking bookings through her shop or you can log onto the forum for some further info.

Hope to see you all there :0)

Here are some samples of the completed journal covers :

And here are some piccies of inserts which I had done last year with coffee stained pages and some added stitching to make pockets etc (my fav)

For Katie Scarlet - Edited to add the hummingbird flourish stamp shown below left here is from here:

http://www.katzelkraft.fr/rubber+stamps/animals/birds/birds+ktz41-01?language=en

I will post you required list of supplies on the forum over the coming days.

Fallen

I have to tell you about Creative Textures which are video online classes and they are all about,well, its all in the name lol, creative textures.... They are video recorded classes for you to do whenever if ever you choose. They are given by 2 wonderful artists who are informative and fun to watch, they also share a lot of secrets on the forum and interact with all who wish to take part. There is no time limit or commitment to these classes. Here is a picture I did after watching several of the videos, they are so inspiring I have several more ready to finish. I had initially painted this various colours of oranges and reds but although they were 'my colours' they were too much for this. I'm finally happy with it, it has been overpainted so many times that I should just varnish it now so I can't put any more layers on it lol. Hope you like it :0)))

Creative Weekend

Hi folks

Back again with another bag - I know I promised I wouldn't but they are kinda addictive lol. Audrey came to stay the weekend and we played non stop with fabrics, wire, silk paper, procion dyes etc etc. We enjoyed every moment learning from each other and topped it off with a nice walk on the beach thrown in for good measure. Here are some piccies I promised.......

Its springtime

Hi folks, the sun is shining and there are blue skies here at the moment. I hope wherever you are that the sunshine lifts your mood like it has mine. I thought I might show you a few of the things that I made over the past week. I do keep busy almost daily as I do my City and Guilds with Linda Kemshall but I sometimes like to dabble into other things just for me too. I made a bag last weekend and some jewellery for a night out and also took part in a workshop yesterday and made another one (I seem to have made a lot of bags when I think of it, must dig out the rest of them). I have also shown a paper collage which I did as part of my C&G coursework, I had fun doing this using tissue paper, paint and oil pastels. Thanks for dropping by and leaving your comments.