Dans Un Jardin

I've been playing with digital download sheets from Paper Whimsy - there are some lovely garden-themed ones.

On this one I added a key made by my clever friend Rosie; I think she used paper clay and a mould. I applied gold paint and wax.
The image of this little girl is from Lisa's Altered Art and the transparency in the corner I made myself. The rest is Paper Whimsy.

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Finally, this is an ATC shrine that I bought from Retro Cafe Art - if you follow the link you'll see it was a flat pack that I glued together. All the paper is Whimsy and I added the quote (it was actually on the picture but a bit too small) which you probably know means my heart belongs in a garden.

I quite like this idea - I may order another one!

Background Papers

Jean at http://bluebirdslivinginthemeadow.blogspot.com/ makes the most wonderful background papers and has just posted a tutorial. So if you want to know how to make something as gorgeous as these have a look here and here. I will definitely be having a go!

Matchbox Challenge

Here are some more pictures of my Da Vinci matchbox which is now showing on the Big Art Adventure blog. I chose to record some of his quotes...the rest are:
'Learning never exhausts the mind. '

'Where the spirit does not work with the hand, there is no art.'

'There are three classes of people: Those who see. Those who see when they are shown. Those who do not see.'

Da Vinci was a scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, painter, sculptor, architect, botanist, musician and writer. Wow... and they say men can't multi-task?

OK Sue - you've persuaded me! I've drawn a shell necklace and applied beeswax to the whole thing. I then gave her a good polish - shame you can't see the shine!!
She's done - time to move on to the next one.

Nereida

I changed her name...Nereida comes from Greek mythology, it means Sea Nymph. I think she's finished, but I'm going to email Suzi and ask if I should add any more. (She's told us we can do that.) I wanted to give her jewellery - but I don't know what. I can't draw shells!


Here are the previous stages.

Before I go I just want to thank everyone for the lovely messages you left me regarding Pebble. You are all so thoughtful and kind.

Love Linda xxx

A Sad Day

Today we had to say goodbye to our beautiful Pebble. She was 20 years old and for the past couple of months her health had been deteriorating. She had arthritis, kidney problems and hadn't eaten for over a week. The vet agreed it was the kindest thing to do. Brian held her but I had to go and sit in the car - I'd already blubbed enough.
I'll miss our conversations...she could say 'ham', 'out' and 'buff' (that meant milk) and she did a great Chewbacca impersonation when she wanted to go in Liz's room.
She had a good life, bless her, I console myself with that.

Cute Award!

Thank you Nancy for this really 'sweet' award! I love it.
You can find Nancy's blog here. The award originates from an artist who I have only just discovered.... Diana Evans. Click on her name and have a look at her lovely artwork.

I'd like to pass it on to a couple of new blogs I have discovered........Sharon at http://magpiesarttreasurechest.blogspot.com (Sharon is a fairly new blogger and her artwork is gorgeous)

and Jean at http://bluebirdslivinginthemeadow.blogspot.com (LOVE her background papers!)

Soul Journal and Marina

These are my latest Soul Journal pages, created as a result of 5 days of prompts from Kathryn.

I scanned press studs to form part of the background, then added incidental items I found around me during the 2 days it took to complete the pages .

Then we were asked to consider what we have recently lost and found.

On the leaf we were asked to write 'I am...' statements about ourselves. This was so difficult!! But I really like these pages; they are very personal to me and I enjoyed doing them.

Here are the first stages of my latest Suzi Blu workshop painting. I think I'll call her Marina - unless I can think of something better (can you?)

Since I took the second photo I've painted the background blue - but I'll show you that tomorrow. Please note...I have actually painted arms!!!!!!!

(PS The colour of the dress should be the same in both - just shows you what a difference lighting makes!)

I've had a busy weekend; we had a big family wedding yesterday at a beautiful country house. I can't show any pictures without asking the bride's permision first so instead I'll show one of my gorgeous DD and DH (and you may spot me in the mirror taking the picture!)

Before I go I just want to thank everyone for the amazing response Rosie and I have had to the new challenge blog.

It means such a lot receive all your comments ....... can't wait to see your shrines!!

Venus

Thanks to those of you who indulged me and had a go at guessing ....... yes, I attempted to draw Botticelli's Venus.

(Click for better view)
Such a gorgeous painting - one of my favourites.
As I try to improve my drawing skills there may be more guessing games!
No groaning, please..........

Any Guesses?

Just a little teaser for you this morning.

This is a very quick sketch I did whilst waiting for the glue to dry on something you will see here tomorrow! I copied a picture that I was using for my project. Can you guess who it is?

OUR NEW BABY!

This Friday Rosie and I are launching our new blog... Rosie and Linda's Awfully Big Art Adventure. We aim to give you lots of variety; fabric art, challenges, tutorials, 3D art, journal pages, ATCs, art dolls......to name but a few!
We hope you'll come and have a look and maybe join in with the fun.
Our aim is to encourage you to try new things and feel good about your art.
For the first week's challenge we have a prize so go and have a look by clicking on the picture or the blog title.
Hope to see you there!

ATC

I finally got round to making an ATC!!

I drew the face on fabric, coloured it with crayons then machine stitched on top.

Fleur

This is my first attempt at painting on wood. Suzi suggests we use birch plywood because it doesn't have much grain.

I have my pile ready! I've decided I'm going to use small pieces; 6"x6" and 12"x6".

This was step one.....draw the face using pencil crayons.Step two.....glue on the dress.Step 3.....stamp and stencil.Step 4.....paint with acrylic mixed with a glaze medium to make it more translucent.Step 5.....paper napkin flowers glued on.

She's not quite finished.....I want to write her name on somewhere and then I'm going to cover it all in beeswax. I'd never drawn or painted people until I started this course so I'm fairly happy with what I've done up to now. I'd like to develop more of my own style in the future - she's a bit too twee for my liking! But that will only come with practice.

PS I will learn to do arms soon.

Soul Journal Permission Slip

I made this page in response to Kathryn's prompts which you can see here. She described how to create the the background, make an envelope, then write a permission slip for ourselves.
It's amazing how it works - I've been playing all morning and eaten half a bar of Galaxy hazelnut choc!!




I was supposed to have visited Rosie for a few days, but unfortunately had to cancel. I have a ghastly cold and no-one wants to come near me. You've had a lucky escape Rosie!

You Are Unique

I think I've lost sight of this somewhat! Thats the problem when you work on something for too long (and that was definitely my mistake).
But it's just a practice one before I start on wood. DH finally tracked down some birch plywood for me - thats what Suzi recommends because it has very little grain. I've also got some beeswax and a quilting iron; now all I need are some Stewart Gill translucent paints. (This painting is much too muddy, I know that.)
Anyway, I had fun...with acrylic paints, glaze medium, stamps, stencils and torn tissue paper.
Any advice or suggestions would be very welcome - I'm just learning!

Love Linda x

Soul Journal Continues

I joined the Soul Journal Yahoo Group yesterday. Kathryn Antyr is now providing prompts for those who want to continue the journey. This page is a result of her first exercise called 'Instant Gratification'!
It was great fun to do..... choose a picture from a magazine that has some meaning for you, choose a title word, draw contour lines and write in them. I splashed on some watercolour (in two colours I would NEVER normally use) and added a few embellishments.
It really was very quick - but satisfying!

Travel Journal