Art Elements theme challenge reveal - Octopus.

This month's Art Elements theme was set by Claire and was Octopus.  Not a subject I was overly familiar with and I struggled...alot!  I have nothing 'concrete' or finished or even started really but I did spend a few evenings doodling and as octopus was on my mind here is a few of the doodles and experiments.  I am sure that everyone else who participated in the challenge will have been far more productive and can show something rather spectacular.. or should that be tentacular? which according the Urban Dictionary means something of many parts which is difficult to manage!  I rather like that word...tentacular...  

So first up was Sharky Malone, actually he was last up and as such I got distracted so I never finished 'colouring' him in - as has been my way just lately my muse is being quite elusive, or is that my staying power for finishing anything!  So Sharky Malone is a shark, obviously and I had this fleeting thought of how Sharky would capture his dinner if he was devious, why of course he would build himself an Octopus Theme Park and fill it with stolen pirate treasure to attract the youngsters.... 

If you can't see the 'story poem' I wrote all over the page here it is...

A plan was hatched by Sharky Malone

Who pretended that he was still at home

But, down at the park, just left of the shell

Was Sharky Malone, disguised very well.

'Come closer little fish, there's treasure to see

Don't be afraid of little old me.....'

I brought some peg doll 'things' the blank wooden wotsits (all technical terms) recently and had this idea I would do a peg doll octopus - I have endless doodles of that but nothing came of it!  I also came across some ply wood (I think) door hanging thingies and as I have Arteza watercolour pens AND Posca pens I decided to see if they would work together on the wood.  They do!  fancy that!  I need to varnish this but I ran out of spray varnish so need to buy some more, then I will hang this on my bathroom door, my kids might have grown up but I think I am regressing!  

Close up of the Octopus door hanging thingie...  I was thinking of costumes for some reason, I think I had been in my wardrobe and spied my dragon onesie - for winter you understand ;)  - and wondered if you could get an octopus one.. I bet you can! 

Just a random doodle in water colour pencil with the same pencil used dry on the top.  

...and another doodle in the sketchbook this time using my lovely Faber Castell Polychromos pencils, oh how they glow with colour and so gorgeous to use...  I like layers and some evenings are just made for sitting and layering....  

That is all from me this month for the challenge.  It isn't very much or very complete.  I doodle a lot!  I can't keep still!  But I thought I would show that although I don't have anything particular I still was thinking of the challenge.  I am looking forward to seeing finished pieces from those that have taken part as I have seen a few 'in progress' photos on Instagram and am intrigued....

Cat

Evie and Beth

Hope

Karen

Kathy

Melissa

Michelle

Rozantia

Sarajo

Tammy

Art Elements Team:

Cathy

Claire

Jenny

Laney

Lindsay

Marsha

Art Elements Fairy Challenge reveal.

September's Art Element challenge was set by Caroline of Blueberribeads and she choose 'Fairies' as the theme.

I grew up with The Flower Fairies and the delightful drawings of Cicely M Barker.  I also love the work of Brian Froud and Alan Lee.  There are so many artists out there who specialize in art works of fae, Jasmine Beckett-Griffith, Amy Brown, Linda Ravenscroft as well as less modern artists, Edmund Dulac and of course the Cottingley Fairies by Elsie Wight and her cousin Frances Griffiths, these of course caught the imagination of none other than Sir Arthur Conan Doyle who weaved a tale so believable that the public were divided as to whether or not fairies did exist.

Once the challenge was set I started to doodle and let my imagination loose, using stories from my childhood to guide me in my fairy quest.  Of all the fairies from the stories of my youth they were mainly in human form.  The Flower Fairies, Victoria Plum  and others.  But my muse doesn't really work with people.  My illustrative doodle above came about after a lovely walk with my dogs watching as Autumn takes over from Summer and the fruits of the hedgerows and orchards swell and colour the landscape.  I may have had a glass of something cold whilst doodling, even fairies like a tipple ..right? 

I researched a bit for animal fairies and was sadly disappointed in their lack.  They are there of course but writers of stories tend to humanize their fae.  I decided to change that!  I also discovered that the words 'fairy' and 'faerie' are a little different in interpretation.  

“Fairy” is a word that has been derived from Latin word “fatum,” which can mean “fate.” “Faerie” is a word that has been derived from Gaelic “fear shidhe,” which means “’man of the shee.”

Read more: Difference Between Fairy and Faerie | Difference Between http://www.differencebetween.net/language/words-language/difference-between-fairy-and-faerie/#ixzz5SOPa9eN4

So I doodled a little more and soon a scene emerged in my sketchbook. 

I decided to have an animal fairy, after all fairy are small 'folk' and in my world (art) animals are dominant.  After doodling some more in my sketchbook, my little scene developed and then to make it 'real'.

I have been exploring (read that as looking and drooling at lots of very talented artists on the web!) paper diaormas.  I really want to experiment much more than I have been doing.  I found in my cupboard a green 'thing' that was given to me by a member of the team (Niky Sayers).  She found it last Christmas and liked it so brought a few of them and gave them to the members of the team who met up in London back in January.  Suddenly I saw this green 'thing' as a mound in my world.  A few little glass toadstools, some paper grass, a wooden plinth and some trees - which in hindsight I would have done differently - with some of my own hand made gold watercolour paint and some 'found' acorns on a beautiful Autumn day walk with my dogs completed my vision... oh and a sprinkling of fairy dust (glitter), completed the look.

I got rather attached to my little mouse and decided to create her in glass too, then she got a name and now my sketchbook is full of little mice hoola hooping, running, playing and having wings! 

Thanks to Caroline for setting the challenge.  I nearly gave up as I really wasn't feeling the 'human' fairy but I am glad I stuck with the muse because I think Esme might go on to be a staple character in my stories and illustrations.

Others who have joined in on this month's themed challenge are below, I hope you enjoy reading their magical journeys this month. 

 Vic

Divya

Alysen 

Kathy 

Tammy 

Kimberly 

Hope 

Alison 

Cat 

Sarah 

Art Elements Team

Jen 

Jenny  

Niky 

Laney 

Claire 

Cathy 

Marsha 

Caroline 

Art Element Tidepool Theme Reveal Blog Challenge

Last month Lesley from the Art Elements team posted the challenge of Tidepool and today, 31st May is the reveal.  (click on the link to read the original blog post).  

May has been a busy month for me as I am getting ready for the Flame Off  which is a glass fair in Uttoexter.  I am both exhibiting and teaching a small class of 12 on Saturday 2nd June getting people hooked on the art of whimsy beads in glass making.  My little cat Gordy has been recovering from last months set back so I have been spending a lot of time with him getting him active and 'fattened' back up. We have had lots of lovely sunshine which has been great for getting Gordy into the garden but not so great for glass bead making as it has been too hot by 11 in the morning to light the torch and cook in the studio.

I was however inspired by the theme of Tidepools.  I remember as a little girl we lived in Cornwall near the beach and I loved walking on the sand after a good storm - I do love a good storm.  The waves would be crashing to the ground splattering foam and sea weed across the beach.  The smell of salt and fish, of damp sand and mildewy rocks that are seeing the sunlight after the dark of the storm, assaulted your nose.  The skies would be coloured in pink and purple with fading grey on the horizon and the tidepools, or rock pools as we call them here in the UK would be teeming with life.  You could see starfish, anemone, sea weeds in all shapes and colours, small fish and limpets that had been trapped as the sea receded.

These memories sent me into the studio very early in the morning to create glass fish, in my style...  

 ..and every good tide pool has to have a shark.. right!

I had fun creating my tide pool fish in glass, obviously they are not your normal visitors to these little rock pools nestled by the cliffs here in the UK but you just never know they might just live there if you look hard enough.

On a rummage through my cupboards of art supplies and beads I came across this beautiful cabochon by Jenny , one of the members of the team, she had gifted me this piece when I first joined the team.  I love the colours and the swirls, it just reminds me of water and Pisces.  I am a Piscean.  So using it as my muse I painted some goldfish (I am still learning my watercolours but loving the journey, I am finding painting so restful and relaxing... which after years of hating them and being so frustrated by my efforts I am finding using them something of an enigma!  

This finished doodle illustration is not perfect, far from it and the fish are not as whimsy as I imagined nor are they realistic enough to pass scrutiny in the art circle BUT I rather like it!  I love the colours and of course the 'doing' was something that gave me much pleasure.  I stuck this on the front cover of my new sketchbook so I get to touch it and see it every day. 

As with the 'sketchbook' piece I have found I am quite taken with creating mixed media flat illustrative work at the moment.  I like creating levels of depth and combining cut out pieces to give a more 3D but yet still flat look.  The other thing I have found is that when creating a 'full sized' finished piece of work I get easily bored and distracted.  This is quite a revelation for me as I have never really understood or 'been into' mixed media pieces but I have found, I think through creating small glass sculpture animal beads and then dreaming up silly stories for them, that that is my niche.  Small but lots of it!  

I have been reading a lot of fantasy stories on my Kindle - another move from the norm for me.  It wasn't until my ....ahem...  40s ....that I realized I love these stories of magic and folklore, before I read widely but it was biographies and classics like Little Women, Where Angels Fear to Tread as well as more modern works like The Colour Purple,  and the likes of Joanne Harris, Lollipop Shoes and Chocolat.. but I digress...

My latest, reading, passion has been for stories of Selkies and the sea which has set my imagination off for this challenge.  

I wondered what you would see if you gazed into a rock pool and there amongst the star fish and the shells was a Selkie in seal form.....

I used very rough watercolour paper for the 'base' or background, tinted in shades of yellow ochre, light violet for shadows and maybe a touch of grey.  On this I painted star fish, shells, rocks and sea weed as well as the Selkie himself.  I cut these out and arranged them how I wanted using a raised mount to give me depth.  On the mount I put my person looking in and some more shells and rocks.  I wanted to give the illusion of ripples on the water, another level and for this I used some clear film cut into ripply shapes.  I rather like the over all effect and have plans to create more like this.  This way I can indulge in my love of quick, immediate and 'movement' in designs, small pieces and link them all together.

I hope you will hop around the other blogs that took part in this themed challenge and I will try and do the same over the weekend, although as this weekend I will be melting glass in Uttoexter I suspect it will be early next week before I am able to do that.

Guests

Raven

Kelly 

Cat

Kathy 

Tammy 

Alyson

Elaine 

Mischelle 

Deborah  

Anita 

Jill

Shirlee

Sarajo 

AE Team Members:

Caroline

Cathy

Claire

Jen 

Laney 

Lesley 

Marsha 

Niky

Sue

Lindsay
Jenny Davies-Reazor 

Art Elements Horse Challenge Reveal

It is the Horse Challenge reveal for Art Elements, set by Jenny   (click on the link for the original blog post).  This is a LONG blog post and very photo  heavy as I am lucky enough to host two wonderfully talented Facebook friends, Raven from Raven Craft Creations and Paulette Scott from 'across the pond' on my blog who wanted to take part in this challenge but didn't have a blog of their own.  Please grab a beverage of choice and see their wonderful creations.

You have to read through mine first ;) 

Horses don't really feature in my muse, I love to see them from a distance but I am a little afraid of an animal so big and powerful.  I have a wonderful friend who has horses and she brought one round to my garden a few years ago and let me have a go...

This was a few years ago... 2012!  That is Tanya and the bum you can see is Jazz who came with her.  Tanya was very patient with me she knew she had a complete novice and as you can see I was terrified!  All I kept saying was 'where are the brakes!'.  It is a long way to fall when you are looking down from up there, but I did love the experience and probably would try again.. maybe... in the garden...  possibly...

My month this month has been chaotic.  Gordy, my little cat, has been very very poorly and we nearly lost him but all is well now, except we have a few more grey hairs and worry lines but with my energy completely taken with caring for him and general life stuff I didn't create anything complete, but I did dabble.

I found a photo on Pinterest of a lovely horse with a rider and decided to have a go at a unicorn.  I drew the one on the left one Sunday afternoon.  I was tired, the weather was rubbish and I had a lovely time sat doodling.  I couldn't quite put my finger on what was wrong with it but I carried on regardless.  I showed my husband, who was on his way to work a night shift and he took one look at it and said 'the horn is in the wrong place and it isn't very you, other than that it is ok'.  That put me in a bad mood so on my own I sat and watched a re-run of Speed 2 and sulked!  Then I looked at the drawing again and thought 'he is right.  So I doodled another (not shown).  This one was similar but the horn was moved up.  I showed the husband the next day and he said 'it is better but it just isn't right'.  I tried to tell him unicorns are not real and it is an illustration doodle but something nagged at me.  My third attempt (right) I put away the reference photo and just used my imagination, I work better that way.  I giggled my way through this doodle and when finished I showed the husband.  'That is it' he exclaimed 'that is your style.  It looks gormless'. 

I had to admit he was right!

I did a few horses in glass too, a unicorn - horn in the correct place and a horse and rider.  I might not have completed something 'finished' for this project, although the beads are finished in their own right (and off to new homes ;) ) but I was hoping to do something more but time and life got in the way.

Now I get the pleasure of introducing my first guest for this challenge, Raven from Raven Craft Creations. You can find all the links to visit Raven on Facebook and Etsy beneath her challenge piece, which is amazing!! 

Hello. Yes, my real name is Raven and I am a yarntisan.

I live in the small town of Ligonier here in western Pennsylvania, USA! I have ALWAYS loved to work creatively, however my original medium was food!! I went to Johnson & Wales University in RI and earned my degree in Culinary Arts. I worked in restaurants in Rhode Island, Massachusetts and PA before moving out to Aspen, Colorado right after graduation. Learning to ski (and by that I mean “snowplow”) became a must to say the least! I moved back to PA after one ski season and continued working crazy hours and ALL holidays in restaurants, private clubs and catering companies for the next ten years.

Then, chronic illness caused me to “retire” and go on disability in 2009 at the ripe old age of 30!!

THIS is when the true passion in my story really began. I taught myself to crochet and express my creativity in a way that I could do even on the “not so great” days. It is my outlet, my meditation and my JOY! I love working with quality fibers (none of the scratchy cheap yarn for THIS yarn snob) and making a wide range of products that are functional, artistic or just make people smile. I make everything from clothing to photo props to household decor to one of my favorites, amigurumi toys! I prefer to follow other designer’s amazing patterns so that I can skip all that heavy lifting and just PLAY with my yarn. I get to do what I love every day, work in my pajamas and watch movies and listen to books while on the clock!!! I have a shop on Etsy, a page on Facebook and sell in a local book and gift store in town called Second Chapter Books.

Pattern credit for the sea horse is by Patchwork Moose on Etsy.

Custom orders are always a blast and I love to see where our imagination can take us.

www.facebook.com/ravenscraft.cintron

www.etsy.com/shop/RavensCraftCreations

ravenscraft.cintron@yahoo.com

My second guest is the lovely Paulette Scott and I am lucky enough to own one of her AMAZING dragons... over to Paulette...

I have been a toymaker and seamstress for almost 40 years now. And have been making my own patterns for around 25 of those years.

I wanted to try to see I'd I still had the ability to make a pattern for a new toy..It took almost the entire month to get this little guy made...

I drew the pattern out and thought (wrongly) that I could just jump in and make a unicorn...nope.. I cut out the first one out of satin and, well let's just say it did not look much like a unicorn..( it looked more like a horse that hadn't eaten for over a month.. bad, very bad) made the pattern larger and still, no.. just no...

Next I made the pattern a bit larger through the belly, and made the head smaller...maybe it was the fabric that was the problem, so, I tried velvet, those of you that sew know this was the dumbest thing I could have done....big head and skinny body and legs and when I tried to stuff it....if I wanted something out of a horror movie maybe...nope...

Shrink the head and make the body larger but using up the last of the velvet scraps... oh God help me, I am, upset!?!..Nope didn't work and this one learns to fly across the room...4 tries 4 fails...was my ability to make a pattern lost to age??? One more and if this one fails I give up...

Pull a half yard of fleece out of the scrap box. I cut out the pattern I have adjusted (again) it is looking better... I see it out and it looks a bit skinny but will keep the fingers crossed and stuff it. This one is looking good!! So I sew the ears, horn and eyes on. YES!!!HE IS WORKING!!

Next is the mane and tail, even better!! This guy is going to work!!

Well through the tears and the laughter I found this challenging and almost gave up, but after 4 failures number 5 turned out the way I was hoping it would...Thank You Laney for encouraging me!!

You can find Paulette on Facebook if you want to send her a message.

For even more entries into this challenge please click on the links below

The guest participants are:

Alysen

Anita

Beth

Catherine

Jill

Paulette

Raven 

Sarajo

Tammy

AE Team Members: 

Caroline 

Claire

Jen  

Laney 

Lesley 

Marsha 

Niky 

Sue