Butterflies...

I've had a busy week OK, so please bear with me while I combine several art challenges together. You see, the thing is that I want to do EVERYTHING. I want to take EVERY course, join EVERY art challenge, learn EVERY technique... you get my drift...

So, this piece, by the very miracle of multi-tasking will fit nicely into Inspiration Avenue's 'Butterflies'; The Butterly Effect's 'Quotes' and is rather indicative of the mood over in the Facebook group for Hello Soul. Hello Business.

The quote is by an unknown author. Perhaps it was you or I and we just forgot we said it! I would love to be quoted, to appear on those google searches for 'quotes about creativity' or 'inspirational quotes'. I probably will be now I've typed that...

I can also squeeze this in for a Sunday Sketch and share some WIP. I almost always forget to take any progress shots. I'm usually far too immersed in the creative process.

Laying down the skin tones with oil pastels

Deeper colour and detailing with Prismacolors

Background added. Nearly there!

Words and pictures

"I'm learning to live close to the lives of my friends without ever seeing them. No miles of any measurement can separate your souls from mine."

John Muir

(Best viewed enlarged)

I'll not deny that I've not exactly been friends with this piece all week. It was one of those paintings that started off so well with plenty of promise. But promises were broken, words were had and even little tantrums showed their faces.

It is my entry to Inspiration Avenue's words challenge and I so wanted it to be special. This was opportunity to celebrate in words and picture the friendships I've made both within this group and in the wider world of Blog, for while we never get the chance to sip a coffee or a glass of wine or nibble on a biscuit together, you're still my friends. You're my creative joists holding me up and keeping me going. I can't tell you how much your support means to me.

The idea behind the piece was to illustrate the quote above that really brought to life the nature of these online friendships. We may be scattered across the globe, but oftentimes I think you're standing in the arty mess next to me or reading over my shoulder as the words pour forth.

What you can't see, because they are now hidden beneath so many layers of paint, are photocopies of letters, notes and paper gifts sent to me in the mail by my fellow bloggers. It's a shame that they disappeared but I know they're there, making up the foundation of the painting - a most important role to play.

So, I finally finished it today after hours of work. I think that perhaps it was a little over-ambitious. I mean three faces, two of them 3/4 profile. What was I thinking of? I've struggled with most creative things this week and this was no exception. Each face ended up with so many layers of paint that they are practically 3D and they had more hair colour changes than Lady GaGa!

Still, this will have to do. I wasn't entirely happy with the end result, but as they say... It's the thought that counts!

Mixed media on acrylic paper. Acrylics, inks, pen, prismacolour pencils, collage, stamps, distress ink, sweat and tears....

Hope Quotes

I thought at first that creating something based on the prompt of 'Hope' would be really difficult. Until that is I googled 'hope quotes' and suddenly I was awash with inspiration. I'd like to thank Oscar Wilde, Albert Einstein and Emily Dickenson for their posthumous help this week. Their words transcended the centuries to bring art alive on a rainy August in 2010.

I wonder if anyone will ever quote me? How does one get to be quotable in the first place? What happens if you impart the choicest prose yet no one writes it down for posterity.

I hope that someone captures my words of wisdom... should I ever say any...

Here's Em's, Oscar's and Albie's. I chose to work on Emily's this week, but Oscar is calling too...

"We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.”

Oscar Wilde

“Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.”

Albert Einstein

“Hope is the thing with feathers, that perches in the soul, and sings the tune without words, and never stops at all.”

Emily Dickenson

Mixed media. Acrylic canvas paper, collaged bits and bobs, acrylics, prismacolours, charcoal pencil, glittery sparkles, sequin negatives and ... a dash of hope ...

I thought I'd post a pic of work in progress too.

This, that and the other

I wanted to blog tonight. I was having withdrawal symptoms. I was also having 'can't think of anything to write' syndrome.

In search of inspiration, I grabbed my not-very-well-thumbed copy of the Art Spirit by Robert Henri. It's a series of notes, letters and ramblings about art. The first quote that jumped out at me (err the truth is it was about the fifth - but where's the story in that?) was this:

"Ever since the beginning there have been artists who have found in the simple life about them the wonderful and the beautiful, and through the fact of this inspiration have sensed the way to make the combination of form and colour we know as art."

Well, knock me down with a feather (a big one) if that wasn't just what I was trying to get at in my previous post (if a little less poetically).

While I'm on a ramble - for it seems this is becoming one - let me tell you about a giveaway on another blog... Now the trouble with telling others about this is naturally that it reduces my chances of actually winning. However, I do like this author and I think you will too, so pop along and visit a funny lady from Australia - a big round of applause for... Comic Mummy. (See, told you I would give you a plug if you were a good girl!).

Finally, very excited that my most recent art purchase dropped through t'letterbox today. The Drawing Lab. I'm off to scribble...

This blob may become something... or it may not... I was using up some spare paint on my palette. In the spirit of Robert Henri (and indeed my previous post), I'm seeing primeval predator or just a curious cat. I guess we'll have to wait and see...

The eyes are the window to the soul

You may recognise this eye - it's my profile picture. I don't know why it has never occurred to me to draw it before. The sketch is sitting in front of me now. It seems strange to be staring into your own eye; a part of you that says so much about you, yet you rarely see yourself. When that photo was taken my soul was a little lost. Did I capture that? Can you see into my soul? What else can you see?

This piece, although intended for The Three Muses 'quote or quip' challenge, is also a bit of homework for my Suzi Blu Goddess & Poet portrait class. What a wonderful teacher she is, I could watch and listen all night. Personally I think that all artists should wear feathered hats at least once a day and dance around with parasols. There's something else I adore about Suzi - it's her recording studio aka bedroom. The room is a tip! I can just hear my Mum tutting "you think she'd have tidied up, fancy filming with all that mess..." Don't listen Suzi! I love you just the way you are!!!

I had planned to working some more on this and incorporating the quotation, giving it some colour... but time ran away (through an open window!)

Quoting creativity (2)

In another moment of glorious serendipity I alighted with anticipation upon this week's 'Theme Thursday' challenge to discover that they are thinking along the same lines as yours truly and have chosen 'beautiful words' as their subject for us all to dabble in delight in.

So, for the second time this week, I continue my journey among creative quotation and borrow inspiration from the creative thoughts of others. Today we thank Alan Alda for bringing life and colour to the page.

I willingly leapt into the wilderness for this - a wild and romantic garden overlooked by a brooding medieval castle, whispers of magical creatures and secret pathways to the depths of the imagination. The more I create, the more I do indeed find myself and I'm starting to like what I see.

Much of this work was prompted by my 'artist date' yesterday - just me, my muse and a very magical place - but more on that in another post... (you see it better if you click to enlarge).

(Very) mixed media - scrapbook background, collage, acrylics, photography and photoshop.

Speaking of creativity... I'm planning on signing up for the second of these two journaling supernova classes in September from the Land of Lost Luggage. Very excited!

Quoting creativity

I thought I might have a theme of posts set around the wonderous words of others. We'll start with a short but dramatic statement by Tolstoy (short on name too!)

"Art is infection"

Pretty powerful words there my friends, but what pray does it mean? Should it in fact say 'affliction' as Art does seem to torture the souls of many who pursue its fickle fancy.

Infection it is though and to me this means catching something from the written word or splash of paint on canvas. (Personally, I take the word 'art' to mean any form of creativity.) You walk away with a change to your soul; a little part of you will never be the same again. Think to when you closed the final pages on a life-changing novel - perhaps it was the joy of knowing 'she married him' or that Peter Rabbit escaped the clutches of Mr MacGregor. Or maybe, like me, you stood in front of the Canalettos at the National Gallery utterly mesmerised, imprinting every brush stroke onto your mind's eye to bring out for sustenance and inspiration whenever necessary. It doesn't even have to be the work of a great master. I was drawn to a painting recently under £100 which just winked at me and said "you know we're meant to be together" and sure enough my soul cells were transformed and the longing became owning. She hangs on my lounge wall now. In fact, if I turn my neck to the left I catch a glimpse of her dainty fairy pose.

Similarly I am always drawn to visiting blogs like A Fanciful Twist - in fact, I would go so far as to say there is something rather infectious about her posts and parties. And just how do you get that glittery effect onto your imagery? Do check out the Halloween adventure coming up - see sidebar.

What art has infected you dear readers? Do dispense with the tissues and share your contagion!