Procrastination

It's a terrible beast - it pulls me around the house performing tasks that really could wait; it sticks me in front of Facebook reading 7 ways get rid of a mobile phone in a horror movie and finding out what animal I was in a previous life. It makes me cups of coffee and feeds me biscuits and has me watching the wind shake the branches outside and wondering if it's worth hanging the washing outside.

And then, when I finally start on my submission, the old enemy makes itself known. It whispers into my ear that I'm not good enough, my story is of no interest and I'm wasting my time. I fight back as best I can but it retaliates with a bombardment of other ideas that might be better.

Will I ever be published in a Stampington magazine? Well, not without submitting something first that's for sure!

I'm thinking of sending a selection of these in. What do you think?

Night bloom

I had an urge to paint - a pulling from my soul. PAINT, PAINT, PAINT it shouted and screamed at me as I lay in bed swamped under a blanket of insomnia and with a head fugged with a cold virus.

And I tried, I really did. But the hours ticked away, the day job beckoned and the days drifted...

And then, finally last night I got paintbrush to paper and it all flooded out. Nothing profound or earth shattering but a creation of sorts. Buds became flowers and seeds grew to bloom - a meadow of floral sunshine danced across the page.

And then, for the first time in days I finally banished the night time demons that had been keeping me awake. I slept long and deep. Coincidence?

Next time I listen to my Muse - she clearly knows best!

This piece I'm sharing here was one of my favourites from last night's prolific spree. Blobs on a page that I'd used to mop up a surplus of paint from another piece grew into a painting in their own right and the title (which just jumped out at me) particularly appropriate!

The Midnight Garden

Soft secrets whisper through the grass

as the night creatures stir

dreams fly from a hidden lair

And the seeds of tomorrow are sown

There must be something about January for its chill and drear seems to inspire me to dream of seasons past and to come - the warm kind - and to paint flowers. This time last year I called my 'Poppy Period' and it seems we have come full circle with the seeds of last winter bearing fruit again!

There are paintings in various stages of completion drying all over the lounge floor and calling me back. This one came from a messy experiment. It started life as an abstract watercolour butterfly, then I tried my new stencil and played with some spray inks. It was all set to become a piece of scrap when suddenly I saw the poppy heads stirring in the night as the fairies brushed past their stems...

Sharing with Sunday Sketches.

And Summer's lease...

 

If you read my previous post you would know that the colour of this British summer is grey. I tried blaming the Aussies for stealing the sun, but apparently they are not guilty of said crime. Thank goodness for Kristin and her Summer of Colour. She's got us squeezing our tubes and spraying more than sun-tan lotion.

This week it's citron and turquoise - I threw in a bit of Shakespeare too...

Been quite a few weeks what with holidays then the chaos of being back at work, immersing my evenings in a new course (Making Art that Sells) and.... and this is a big AND....

I SAID THIS IS A BIG AND

I have been having a bit of a clear out. Yes Mum, you'll be back just in time to read this and no doubt weep with joy. I am slowly working my way through the clutter and realising that the recording of the Top 40 I taped off the radio back in 1985 (that I haven't listened to since, well, 1985) can probably go in the bin... It feels like a total sacrilege (I loved that Strawberry Switchblade song ... in 1985...), but needs must.

I require more space around me. My cats are getting nervous that I'll be using them to test theories, but fear not little fur balls I would never swing you!). Likewise, I will never use the Holly Hobby notepaper I have been hanging onto for 30 years and nor do I need quite so many photographs of rainy scenes from the Lake District. That mystery tool that lives in the shed can go to scrap metal recycling bin and it is time for William's baby clothes to find a new owner.

It already feels pretty liberating. Well, it did until today when I had to move most of the contents of the lounge into the kitchen in order to have the carpet cleaned. There is now an assault course between me and the fridge, although that's probably not such a bad thing!

Spring Showers

Crash Bang Wallop - it's May!

Spring has finally arrived as a green haze wraps itself over the shrubbery.

This mixed media piece was inspired by April showers but finished on a sunny May evening with a crisp and cold Chablis running through my veins to welcome in the season.

Now that I've finished with my romp through the A to Z of blog posts, it's nice to catch up with a few artistic challenges. This one's for the Artists' Playroom as we explore spring showers and flowers.

Dripping onto the page is a mixture of inks, acrylics, oil pastels, coloured pencil, acrylic pen and rain!

An unusual vase

I was doing my homework. Not only is it a bit late - it's not even what was asked... But hey, this is the world of art and nobody really minds (I hope!).

These funky flowers were supposed to be in a vase, but Tahiti here wanted to carry them around with her all day so she stuck them in her hair and weaved a dress from the vines and blooms then danced around singing hippy songs and hugging trees (carefully, so as not to crush the petals).

I'm taking another class... Yeah, what can I say, I am a total art class junkie. This one is the Brave Girls Art School.

She started as a doodle but then I just kept going. The coloured pencils started taking an interest and before I knew it I had a whole sheet of paper covered in bright shades. She pretties up my mood. I like her.

It's nearly Sunday, so I'm going to post for Sunday Sketches.

Mint-choc echinacea

Yes, I know, I was flumoxed by the title too. I mean I've heard some flavour and ingredient combinations before that had me baffled, but this one was a real mystery!

In a bold departure, it appears that Lisa Wright has decided to use her mint-choc background (created especially for The Summer of Ice Cream Colours), as a stage setting for flowers. With not a face or eye in sight, this appears to be a throwback to her early painting days when she believed that the only things she was capable of painting were petals and bunnies in smocks and sailor suits.

Will this set a new trend? Are all those macro shots of Corfu blooms about to be immortalised onto canvas with paint and pastel? I guess we'll just have to wait and see...

Here's one I prepared earlier...

I can't believe that a whole week has gone by so quickly. I missed my usual Friday party hangout last week owing to being a gadabout gal in Madrid (well... you know... someone has to go!). And now, here we are again looking at the backside of another week.

I am a little torn tonight. My fingers are itching to wax lyrical about all I learned today at the Be the Brand event in London, but the link up between brain and fingers has gone on strike in protest at forced labour (it just wants to sleep... or watch trashy TV).

It's taken me an age just to type this, so perhaps I'll listen to my body for once and just post up this picture for the party and then slip off. I'm not sure I even have the energy to describe it in my usual 'flowery' detail (still managing to squeeze out the dodgy puns though!). Painted this about two weeks ago, but only just getting around to posting. Enlarge - if you want to read something into the petals!

Mixed media - acrylics, collaged book pages, crackle medium - all painted over the top of an old painting I'd got bored of.

Flower maidens

 We've awoken to Christmas card scenes the last few mornings - just as the snow had melted, it has been replaced by the most incredible frosts. Silken spider threads have become ropes of ice and tiny, delicate whiskers of white grow out of every twig and leaf. It really is nature at her most creative and makes the frozen fingers and car scraping worthwhile just to see it!

I played with these frosty fushias giving them back some warmth with a few maidens. The ladies are from a collage sheet I bought on Etsy. A bit of a floral dance for my friends The Three Muses.

Wouldn't you love to watch a freeze-framed film (pun intended!) of how these ice whiskers form?

Autumn approaches

It's the first of September - already there's a nip in the air and spiders are out to catch me with their silken threads. I've missed my friends at the Three Muses so was most desperate to join in this week with their nature challenge.

I've made some digital art with lots of layers, filters and a touch of magic. The file is high res, so if you would like to download it as a background to your own creations then do feel free. The flower photography was my own, the rust texture over the top came free from Night Fate Stock (sorry, I can't find the link).

Don't you think that autumn's colours are compensation for the ending of summer?

Old loves

Multi tasking today. Combining Sunday Sketches with working through The Drawing Lab (inspired from nature) and Mixed Media Monday where the prompt was to return to 'an old art love'.

Behold image 1 - sketch of flower

Until about 18 months ago, if I got my paints out it would inevitably be to paint something from nature - and as accurately as possible. This was copied from a beautiful photograph sent to me by Faerwillow - I won a giveaway of her photos. If you visit her site, you may just spot this one! She also sent me the most adorable Guardian Faerie to keep me safe. On the subject of giveaways - I think I shall have one of my own to celebrate reaching 200 followers... 8 to go!

I wasn't overly impressed by my sketch, so returned to my second old love... watercolours to see if I could improve things a bit.

Behold image 2 - watercolour washes

Hmm, I think I prefer acrylics, so much more forgiving. Now I return to my Drawing Lab lesson and consult additional media.

Behold image 3 - mixed media

The application of Inktense pencils, water and black & white ink pens as well as abstraction. Happier now, but clearly need more practice!

Everything in the garden

How beautiful water droplets are, decorating the garden with glimmering jewels. I took this photograph with the intention of playing with it in Photoshop, but somehow in this case I don't think that you can really improve on nature. These are are real colours on this little beauty that just opened itself to the sunshine this morning. And, despite this being and English country garden in the summertime, those glimmering droplets were not rain but hosepipe jewels. For tis most hot here today my friends and my poor little garden babies were very thirsty.

I'm rather proud of this photo. What do you think? I may try to paint it, but not sure how to capture those bubbles. How do you paint bubbles? Any advice?

My entry for Inspiration Avenue's Garden challenge this week.