Mixed Media Monday - Open

The theme this week is "What You Loved Doing in 2008" well as someone still very new to working in mixed media, what I loved doing was experimenting, learning and doing new things and so I am entering this little jewellery box made for the girlfriend of one of my nephews. It is my first altered wooden box and started life as a plain wood box, I painted it pink - she is a very pink girl - then added tissue paper stamped also in pink to the sides, the top is stamped with melted pearl utee and pearls and my first experiment with some fusible film in the top left corner. The whole was then covered in Stewart Gill Galactica paint for sparkle. The inside of the lid is painted and stamped and the inner lined with velvet. It is her Christmas present but she has not seen t yet so hope she likes it.

Mixed Media Monday - Gold

I love making clocks and this is a gift for a friend for Christmas. The background is gold acrylic paint with Stewart Gill Alchemy resistance paint over the top and cling film wrinkled. You can't really see the lovely two tone shimmer the resistance paint produces on the photo unfortunately.

Sunday Postcard Art - Bright Colours

This was blogged a couple of weeks ago as it is a piece I made to go in an exhibition of 6 x 4 pieces but it;s lovely bold red meant it fit this weeks SPA. The background is acrylics done in layers with music and image transfers.

Saturday Workout - Sparying & SPA - Fairies

This piece was blogged in my last entry but I am putting it separately again here as for SaWo. The background is made from Sticky Fingers spray inks with stamping and embossing. I love working with spray inks and watercolours as it is possible to get lovely pooling of colour. The image is from Digital Collage Sheets

Pieces for an Exhibition

My DH works in an arts organisation and heard about an open exhibition, all work would be accepted in any medium but it had to be 4 x 6 inches and there was a charge of £10 per four entries. DH who is a photographer decided to put 4 photos in and talked me into putting some work in as well.

I did 9 pieces for us to select none or more from and in the end he has talked me into putting 8 in, one fell by the wayside simply because it is on unstretched canvas so flops a bit. Some are re-working of other pieces some are new. I am feeling very nervous abut it all as I am so new to working in mixed media of any sort and this feels like a VERY BIG THING to do but I decided I would only learn and get better if I forced myself to do things that scare me, so I'm considering it a learning experience. Anyway here are the pieces, though at this point I only actually feel I like 1 of them. .

Mixed Media Monday - Ornamental Christmas

Gillian has set us this festive challenge. My entry started life this morning as a vase, I wanted something that could would be a table centre piece and therefore be seen from all sides. After masking off three squares, tamping and embossing flourishes in gold and attaching acetates in the three blank areas we have a tea light / candle holder.

Gothic Arches - Silhouette

This charming chap is Byron courtesy of the very generous Trudi. The background is tree stamps from Elusive Images, Grasses from Crafty Individuals and Birds from Lavinia coloured with dye inks.

Sunday Postcard Art - Hats

A re-take on the magic trick of pulling a rabbit from a hat, this is of course the divine Jessica Rabbit from the movie "Who framed Roger Rabbit". The background was made using a variety of Sticky Fingers summer spray and lustre inks, images are googled.

TGIF - Hats and SAWO - Thread Technique

I have wanted to do both these challenges for ages but never get the time so I decided to make a piece that would fit for both challenges, so here I have my young lady in a hat posing against thread technique background made with a variety of spray inks. Don't you just love how ridiculous is the hat that she is wearing, it is almost as big as her, I suspect she would topple over if she tried walking in it!

Mixed Media Monday - Body Parts

I believe that often the whole is more than the sum of the individual parts, and this is rarely more true than in people, yet often it is only the individual parts that are considered. Henry Ford who pioneered assembly line production is reputed to have asked why it was that when all he wanted were the hands did they have to be attached to whole man. So I have taken some parts - an eye, a neck, a back, a face and a foot (well shoe to be precise) and arranged them to a cube. I have used a variety of acrylic paints and texture gell, done a gell transfer of the music onto the cube and the "body parts" ( I begin to feel like a pathologist!)are on acetate making them less than the whole.

Gothic Arches - Buttons

This is my piece for Buttons. The background is collage which has had gesso wiped over and stamped. The image of the three children balancing on the plank. or is it a seesaw, is from my collection, but aren't they sweet stacked up like that! .

SaWo - Altered Paper

Last weekend I attended a canvas workshop with lovely Lynn Robinson-Hunter. During the workshop we used the exercise of picking a piece of paper at random from a cup each with a different technique to use on the canvas. I wanted to try out the full range of Stewart Gill paints so started with those and having decided this would form part of the birthday present fro my DH I added image and text from a magazine, liquid ink splatter, stencilling with distress inks and paints, all sorts of inks and textures and I coloured some lace to attach and complete the canvas at home. I managed to sneak it into the house but when I came to work on it next day there was no lace, I found it 3 days later caught on a shrub in the garden, it must have come off en route from the car. Of course 3 days of rain meant it was no longer coloured so out came the Ecolines and along with some crackle glaze, a good soak of Iridescent Gold Glimmer ink, a re-application of stencilling where the glimmer had dissolved it (!) and attachment of some hardware meant I was complete. It was Richard's birthday on Friday and he loved it and had it hung in his study before breakfast.

I am entering it for SaWo because magazine paper has been added, distressed and altered in the process.

So many thanks to Lynn, the other wonderful women who were at the workshop and Rosie who set the Blue and Purple piece for Mixed Media Monday a few weeks back I can see canvasses becoming a habit!

By the way Glenda Waterworth of Elusive Images, whose blog gets a mention in this month's Craft Stamper, has a wonderful background paper freebie for download on her blog.

Mixed Media Monday - the colours of Autumn

In our part of the UK the period where we get the reds and golds of leaves is very short, in fact a flurry of snow and freezing temperatures last week have pretty well ripped any leaves from the trees now. This year we seemed to go from Summer to Winter via a one week of Autumn. The clocks have gone back by an hour as well so it gets dark now around 4.30 pm and dusk is a sort of bruised blue, hence my colours of Autumn for this petal pot . The colouring is using Distress inks and the tree stamps are by Elusive Images. The leaves dangling from the top are shrink plastic.

Craftaway Sunday - Stripes

For the theme of stripes I have a little vintage girl in her dress with blue stripes.

Gothic Arches - Vintage Children

I loved these little girls playing in their petticoats and reminded me of stories my mother told me that when she was a kid and they were quite poor and only had their school clothes, church clothes and one or two other outfits so if it was warm enough i.e. not raining or snowing they, as in her, her sisters and the other kids in the neighbourhood, would play outside in their petticoats to keep their other clothes clean and safe! I can't see that being acceptable these days. The background is acrylics and crackle the image is my own.

Sunday Postcard Art - Movies

Having recently had one set of friends return from a trip to India to visit family and another set just return having been back to visit where she was born but left over 50 years ago, I felt the urge to use Bollywood as my subject. The background has been heat embossed and painted with shades of Ecoline inks ad the images are courtesy of Google!

Mixed Media Monday - Lock and Key

What makes me curious is what the locks and keys are keeping out or for that matter keeping in.



One day the god Mercury asked Epimetheus and his wife Pandora to look after a box for him while he travelled, but under no circumstances to open it. Pandora was very curious about the contents of the box but she had promised Mercury she would never open it. Pandora could not stop gazing at the box. All she could think about was its contents. She began to imagine that it contained beautiful gowns or exquisite jewellery, or even money! One day Pandora's curiosity got the better of her and she grabbed the box and took the key, fitted it carefully into the lock and turned it. But to her surprise instead of gold or treasure the box was full of terrible evils and out of the box poured disease, misery and death. Pandora screamed and slammed the lid shut. Pandora could still hear a voice calling to her from the box, pleading with her to be let out so she opened the lid once more. All that remained in the box was Hope and Pandora released Hope into the world.



The shadow box has been decorated with spray inks over masks and lace. The image is from Inka.

Sunday Postcard Art - Trick or Treat and Gothic Arches - Wee Witches

A joint entry for both challenges this week (short of time) The little witch featured here is Minnie one of our dogs, what she lacks in stature she more than makes up for in personality. My DH has nicknamed her The Dark Princess. When she is growling protectively over a bit of paper I may have dropped or chewing a new rubber stamp she is tricky to deal with, and when she is cuddled on your lap she is a real treat. The other night he wondered aloud what she would look like in a Witches hat, so I decided to find out! Te background is Distress inks, the images are a mix of Lisa's Altered Art and Digital Collage Visions and of course DH's photo of little Minnie.

Mixed Media Monday - Things that go bump in the night!

Late on the third day of the dig at Benwadii Hyderabad the archaeologists were ecstatic when they had unexpectedly broken through into an unknown tomb to find it containing a highly elaborate and undamaged sarcophagus. Seeing the decorations they believed they had found the tomb of a royal king or queen and were keen to examine it further but due to the lateness of the hour and the darkness, work had been halted till the next day.



Now, as the archaeologists sleep in their tents excited at the prospect of what they will find the next day little do they realise that the decorations of the sarcophagus do not denote royalty , but the garish markings are in fact are a dire warning that the occupant is Minnityrannius, a dark and cursed creature, she had lured men, some say more than 100, to their deaths with her great beauty and ripped their hearts from their still beating chests with her own hands Only the great Priest Paddiwofalotus had eventually been able to overpower her and bind her for eternity to her grave, hiding the tomb deep beneath the sands of the desert and marking the Sarcophagus so all who saw it would know of the danger. But alas stories are forgotten so these poor archaeologists and their tribesmen assistants had no idea what they had found. So as the moon rises and the camp settles there are stirrings of bandages fluttering as the mummy of Minnityrannius rises to wreak her terrible revenge, things will definitely being going bump in this night!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This started life as a chocolate tin in the shape of a Russian doll but opening lengthwise and it just screamed MUMMY to me.

Craftaway Sunday - Butterflies

There are several terms for a group of butterflies including "Swarm", "Rabble", "Flight" and my favourite "Kaleidoscope". So here is a little altered box that some eyelets came in (see photo below)which now holds a princess reflecting on her kaleidoscope of butterflies.

Gothic Arches - Paper Patchwork

I have used two papers both with subtle colour and patterning for my patchwork which is stamped with white embossing powder and has a lovely little birdy from Retro Cafe Art

Sunday Postcard Art - Marie Antoinette

Well if it's Mandy's Birthday and the theme is Marie Antoinette we just have to have cake! Well in fairness any excuse for cake will do for me!. The background is acrylics with gesso stamping and Marie's lovely cakey dress has been stickled for even extra sparkly cakey loveliness. Happy Birthday Mandy!

Tag from Mary-Beth

I received this gorgeous Tag from Mary-Beth as part of her celebration of her blogaversary. Thank you Mary-Beth, it is gorgeous.

Blog Awards for all my Visitors

A huge thank you goes out to Fannie for presenting me with these two wonderful awards. I could not possibly pass them on to just a few people as everyone who has visited my blog and commented feel like friends and have opened up a wealth of stunning blogs to visit and divine work to appreciate. So, I would like to share them with all my visitors, your comments are fantastic and it is wonderful to receive such supportive and frequently humorous responses to my work. Please copy and paste into your blogs with my heartfelt thanks.

Mixed Media Monday Blue and Purple

This is to be the cover of a little 6 x 6 book for a friend's daughter for Christmas. I love blues and purples for Christmas colours and this girl is of an age where she is no longer a little girl but not yet really grown up and I thought these colours with Christmas angels would work well for her. The background is faux leather technique and there is a blue angel transfer in the bottom left hand corner which is hard to see in this scan, as well as the angels in the frame.

Sunday Postcard Art - Men

My background sort of evolved as I went along. It started as a piece of canvas with layers of gesso, newspaper (car advertisements of course for men) and gel medium. The blocks, a kind of homage to Mondrian, are coloured with Tinkerbella inks which, being acrylic show the brush strokes form the layer below which I like, and black embossing. The transfer is in fact Gene Kelly as Pierrot from one of the dance vignettes in the movie Circus in which the Gene Kelly Pierrot longs for the beautiful dancer from the circus who is in love with an acrobat, leaving Pierrot in great pain and anguish and I really liked that contrast of stark form to the background and soft pain of the image it sort of seemed to reflect the contradiction many men face where they are expected to be "strong" and not "emotional" in the way in which they engage with the world.

Gothic Arches - Haute Couture

This sort of brought out all the things about high fashion I don't like, the money, the often ridiculous clothes and the super skinny models ad this little poppet just sort of sums it all up I think! I wanted a background that was rich and textured and had sheen so I went for Stewart Gill paints (colourise and Alchemy)with a couple of selections of glitter strewn over. No pretty girls this week!

Craftaway Sunday - Autumn

After all the reds and golds of Autumn I have selected the bruised blue and purple of Autumn dusk and night time when the leaves have fallen but the winter not yet arrived. This is my ATC, background is distressed ink, the stamp is Tuscan Roe and the moon is painted with Encore Metallic silver ink.

World Mental Health Day

Friday 10 October is World Mental Health Day. This is a significant day in our household calendar as my DH works for AIM (Artists in Mind) who support artists experiencing acute and enduring mental health problems, providing studio spaces, mentoring by practising artists and professional support and development as well as initiating and managing creative projects in prisons, secure hospitals, forensic units and in the community. The work of the organisation was inspired by the "Living Museum" at the Creedmoor Psychiatric Centre in New York. If you have a moment to spare do check out the AIM website or the Living Museum Art Center

Good mental health to you all

Mixed Media Monday - Opposites

My entry is a double sided hanging plaque. On one side we have the Good Girl, who is well groomed, obeys her parents, reads and sews quietly and takes an interest in world affairs



and on the other side is the Bad Girl who likes boys and drinking gin and smoking and staying out late!



Educated in a Convent School I have always had a fascination with Bad Girls, and indeed a fairly misspent youth being one! I think I shall hang her on my workroom door, Good Girl on good days and Bad Girl on those hormonal days so as to give DH a warning to tread carefully and feed me chocolate! The girls are made from collage materials, the edges are sealed with silver UTEE and the hangar is made from fresh water pearls I have had for a while thinking I would make some jewellery except I don't know how!

Gothic Arches - Turquoise

I was drawn to making a faux batik background for this using Patina Glimmer ink over an Elusive Images stamp for the turquoise with a photo transfer. Thoughts of turquoise and Egypt or Mexico were running through my head then I spotted this image in my collection and I was reminded of that terrible old joke Q: what's a Grecian urn? A: about 1 dollar an hour! Sorry for bad joke.

Craftaway Sunday - Swirls and Flourishes

I have a real fondness for this image of the little girl snuggled up to the large dog, they look so peaceful and relaxed and I thought well already done one piece with dogs might as well make it two! This will be the birthday card for a friend of mine's little girl who will be 9. I was present at her birth and I feel very connected to her.

Sunday Postcard Art - Zetti

Well gosh but I do hate to write things by hand, I don't even journal on scrapbook pages and I don't keep a journal of any description. But if you are looking at a theme called Zetti inspired by Teesha Moore then it was time to grasp the journalling thing by the throat and give it a go, but I still don't like to see my writing on things, hey ho. I do like the colours in this though, the background are spayed watercolours and the dogs are "the artists own!"

MMM - Harmony and Craftaway Sunday - Birds

This lovely lady was inspired by a Hiauku by Sourav Rcy which goes "Call of melody fills the ambience of earth a Bird's harmony" and so of course she is for both Mixed Media Monday Harmony and Craftaway Sunday Birds. The background is water colours sprayed onto watercolour paper and she is a composite of stamps by Elusive Images and bits of collage material, the piece is about 12 inch by 18 inch. My husband is at his pottery class so I have had to photograph it myself, rather badly I'm afraid!

Gothic Arches - Open

This week the theme is open, choose what you want, well this was torture how to select from all the things I would like to do so I asked my husband to give me a theme and he came up with theatre. I guess I ended up more Music Hall / Vaudeville than pure theatre, but this lady looks like she would be very entertaining and I have no idea what she plans with that sword! My background is embossing with Ecoline painting, the image has been painted with water colours.

Sunday Postcard Art - Autumn

In a way this is a joint effort with my husband in that last year ww had a lovely Autumn where the trees really did that turning red and yellow thing and he took lots of photos of trees and skies. I have paper pieced the foreground from the tree photos and grass and the sky is one of his skies. The stamp is by Elusive Images and is a special edition for Guild members.