Welcome to the Blog
Thank you for visiting! Here you'll find some posts about starting my creative business, art ideas and inspiration, as well as some simple art activities to try with children.
28
Dec
2024
Boscastle
We spent a lovely few days of the Christmas hols in Cornwall with some friends and took the opportunity to visit Boscastle. Even on a grey and slightly drizzly day, this coastal village was still incredibly pretty and a great source of inspiration.
I particularly loved the textures of the cliff walls and the contrast of these to the foliage surrounding them. The rock here has so many colours and was so interesting to explore. My children were captivated by the water running down the rock and summed it up beautifully, saying it looked like the walls were crying.
There were lots of lovely little shops and galleries to look round and I also had the most amazing hot chocolate and scones at the Bridge House Tea Rooms. The staff here were lovely and so good with the children's random requests.
We had a slightly scary and very slippery walk to the cliff edge but the views were amazing! A picturesque Cornish village that is well worth a trip to see.
19
Dec
2024
Collage Creations
After collecting some interesting papers, such as old sewing patterns, music sheets and book pages, I decided to let my inner child out and go mad creating different collage papers.
I also tested out some new stencils and tools such as catalyst wedges and kebab skewers. I mainly used acrylic paints and inks but also tried out some alcohol inks too. These worked less well than the acrylics.
After allowing the papers to dry, I played around with different arrangements and stuck it all down using Liquitex matte medium. It was the first time I've used this medium and was really pleased with the results. Next steps will be to add further layers using paints and inks.
23
Nov
2024
Composition Explorations
This week I have been experimenting with different styles of composition and in particular looking at the rule of thirds, which is used a lot by photographers.
I chose a limited colour palette and roughly marked out each piece. I wanted to work really small to start with before choosing my favourites to upscale so cut my paper to approx. 15x15cm.
Some pieces felt more balanced than others and adding in a few details with Derwent Inktense pencils and Caran D'Ache Neocolour II pastels helped to add focal points. There are definitely some promising starts that I'm looking forward to exploring further!
16
Nov
2024
Collage Papers - Gel Plate Printing
I have been having sooo much fun with a new buy - a gel plate! Having seen these being used loads on Pinterest and Instagram, I've been dying to have a go.
After conducting lots of research into the best paints and substrates to use, I decided to trial some inexpensive Daler Rowney Graduate acrylic paints with regular cartridge paper, baking parchment and some Canson Imagine mixed media paper.
Some collage papers came out really well but I encountered some difficulties with multiple layers and when using thinner papers. I think they needed longer to dry before peeling the print!
I loved creating different textures using objects from around the house and in my garden. My favourites were bubble wrap, coniferous leaves and a metal straw. I am really looking forward to trying some different papers!
2
Nov
2024
Fairy Glade
During our holiday in the New Forest, we came across, in my daughter's words, 'a fairy glade'. The autumn light coming through the trees gave the perfect magical feeling to this part of the forest and sparked her imagination.
We found so many interesting shapes and textures that needed to be explored and captured.
26
Oct
2024
Fungi Forest Walk
We were invited by a friend to a woodland fungi walk with experts from the Hampshire Fungus Recording Group. After a safety briefing about careful touching and not picking the fungi, we explored the forest and were about to ask questions about all the different fungi. For our future scientist daughter, who always has a million questions about everything, this was a dream come true and the experts showed endless patience with her 6 year old enthusiasm.
From an art perspective the sources of inspiration were endless, from colour palettes to shape and pattern, this autumnal woodland experience was amazing. And completely free!
Watch this space for some fungi inspired abstracts coming soon!
Safety warning - please do not touch, pick or eat fungi without expert guidance as some varieties can be poisonous.
30
Sept
2024
Eden Project
Some photos from our fun day out at the Eden Project. So many interesting plants from around the world and the children loved the playground area!
I have already started some watercolour studies of my favourite plants from the day. Keep an eye out on Instagram!
18
Sept
2024
Hapa Zome
For my daughter's home learning task we went for a walk along the Caine Hill locks in Devizes. We collected a sample of local flora and fauna to bring home.
We then had a go at some Hapa Zome by laying the foliage into a pattern on the fabric before folding it in half. Then it was time to get hammering! We found that short sharp strokes worked the best. Finally we unfolded and peeled off the leaves and flowers before leaving each piece to dry.
Should be a lovely background for some textiles art!
26
Aug
2024
North York Moors
We had a wonderful summer holiday in Yorkshire, a place I have always wanted to visit. York was an amazing city to visit with so much history and interesting architecture. However, for me, one of the highlights was our venturing over the North York Moors.
We were amazed by the sudden change from rolling hills and farmland to this rugged and windswept wilderness. The heather was in full bloom, adding vibrant pops of colour and even on an overcast, blustery day the moors were so inspiring. We managed a short walk to the Rosedale iron kilns, although it was a little tricky for our 3 year to walk too far as the wind speed really picked up quickly on the moors!
For any artist looking for colour palette and textural inspiration, I cannot recommend this beautiful landscape enough!
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