DISTRESSED COLLAGE ELEMENTS - GRAPHICS FAIRY I subscribe to the Graphics Fairy Premium Membership site and recently watched a video by one of their designers. He used some of their printable collage strips to make into an unusual little album, and distressed the images by sticking teabags on top. The effect was brilliant…
A VERY SPECIAL GIFT FOR THE ANNIVERSARY OF OUR MEETING Today is the thirty-ninth anniversary of the day my hubby and I first met. To celebrate, he has given me a very special gift. "The Quiver" - an ancient book His original plan was to buy me another book with an unusual cover…
ONLINE ART COURSE - COMPLETING THE FIGURES MODULE As always, the final project of the module was the self-directed challenge. Phil, our teacher, reckons that we have learnt enough in the previous three projects to go it alone and put what we have learnt into practice without him holding our hands. This time…
WATERCOLOUR PAINTING - MY FIRST ATTEMPT AT NEGATIVE STENCILLING While I have done negative stencilling on various mixed media projects, I have not attempted it with watercolour painting until now. I am working on a collection of negative watercolour paintings and thought that some negative stencilling would complement the theme. Eventually all these…
INK PEN DRAWING - FISH IN THE SEAWEED Today I completed another drawing in my small Rhodia drawing book. I love this little book with its black padded hard cover and elastic to keep it closed, and its beautifully smooth cream coloured pages. When I first got it, the combination of black and…
ONLINE ART COURSE - A GROUP OF CYCLISTS IN PASTEL PENCIL Warming to pastel pencils After completing my recent nude figure study in pastel pencils, I found myself definitely warming to the medium. I've had good success with it, but didn't really want to pursue it. This was mostly because the pencils are…
TENDRILS, ROOTS AND SEEDS - ABSTRACT INK DRAWINGS The coloured version The other day I felt like doing a bit of ink pen drawing, and got my small sketchbook out. I recently saw someone on YouTub showing her sketchbook which had plenty of delightful doodles in it, some of which were coloured. My…
SKY'S THE LIMIT Some time ago we upgraded our Sky broadband to high speed fibre, and somehow got a new package on the TV contract. This involved a couple of bundles we weren't watching. We were spending too much on something we weren't even using. Decision time! Time went on and life got…
ONLINE ART COURSE - FIGURES MODULE - NUDE FIGURE Moving rapidly on in this current module, with only two further modules remaining in the course. How time flies... For this project, Phil chose a tasteful nude for us to work on. He said it was actually very difficult to find one on his…
NEGATIVE WATERCOLOURS - FIG LEAVES Not strictly speaking fig leaves - this tree in our garden doesn't produce figs, and we have been told it is something else (a false fig perhaps?) but it's close enough for our purposes. Here is the reference photo. I am not a huge fan of all-green English…
