all for me !!!!!

wonderful yummy cakes...a lovely early christmas gift for me! and they are so pretty too...

forest horse

forest horse
Originally uploaded by paintistworks

a little experiment with tunnel books , and a sound track thay came with my computer :-)
I really enjoyed making this tiny piece 3' x 2", and will try another for sure, but it could get a little bit twee.....I am not really trying for cute, but it always ends up that way.

my grandmother

My mother has sent me some scans of old photos of my Nan....how young she looks....

bench

I went sketching today and sat on a bench....this lady must have had a sense of humour, and been much loved....

oil pastels ! yuck

I really do struggle with oil pastels....and today I look even more like a mad woman than I usually do .......

9b pencil

filthy soft pencil.....but I enjoy the blacks

cheap crayons

todays portrait done withcheap watercolour crayons.....i quite like the texture, sort of waxy

watercolour

might as well show the grey hair as well......

this was done on very thick very absorbent watercolour paper, hard to get what I wanted, but very kind to the wrinkles......made everything softer :-)

self portrait project

I have ,over the years resisted the urge (!) to post photos /drawings etc of myself on the internet, vanity only vanity has made me think like this, and the fear that people make judgements based on apperance, but I have been impressed and inspired by some of the daily portrait groups I have seen on flickr. I am not going to do a daily portrait, I can't even pretend that I can keep something like that going....but I am going to do some more portrait work, mine and others ( if I can get the models)

Fame at last!

My middle son has been featured in Amatuer Photographer magazine ( August issue )

Proud mother here :-)

A great day at the castle

I have been drawing at Tattershall castle in Lincolnshire today...there was an exhibition called 'The house of bling' where six artists did installations in and around the castle. It was also sunny enough to get a bit of drawing done :-)

Sunshine !

Oh how I like the sunny days, but the heat I can't get on with....I wilt and sulk, seek out the shadows and walk on the shady side of the street......but I love the sunlight, the bright colours, the way people smile and say hello.... Today I got out my shady hat and took a photo of myself because I liked the shadow patterns.....and the fact that I am obscured a little too ;-p

new sketching tool

I saw this idea on an art programme about 10 years ago, and have always wanted to try it.

The idea is to put things in the box ( I am guessing a square box ( my favourite format ) for a square canvas etc...) and then to use the filled box to draw from, this works best for abstract starting points I think, but at the moment the horse still is hanging around, and my need to paint it is still strong, so into the box he has gone. I have taken photos as a record, but I think painting directly in front of it will be better.... and the pink will have to be ignored......or maybe not I will have to see how it takes me :-)

inspiration

some lovely jewellery bought for me by my husband...I am very lucky :-)

and two screen shots of a wonderful beautiful film Ashik Kerib an Armenian film made in 1988....visualy stunning and I found it very inspirational.....

midsummer

I went up to yorkshire for the weekend and stayed in Staithes, seagulls all have their chicks and sit around on the roofs.....the noise is incredible in the evening when the gulls ( the partners to the ones sitting with the chicks) return home after feeding all day........oh and the mess!!! my lovely cream tea had to be abandoned as a direct 'hit' was scored onto my plate !

enjoying their holiday

 well one of them was, poor Dido wasn't. I trod on her foot.....sooooo much blood! she had to go to vet for an anasthetic and a removal of a claw :-( sort of limited our walking holiday a bit, but i got some drawing done which was great :-) and she has fully recovered now, but still giving me 'looks' which means extra treats....guilt is a terrible thing...

another photo from my holiday.....the walls are made from rocks piled to keep sheep safe, and in this valley there were an enourmous number of them, I just couldnt get high enough to take a good shot ( other than climb a mountain which I wasn't going to do ;-p )

a very quick sketch done in the lake district, I always seemed to be holding the dogs on the lead while I was drawing, it was really hard to capture the light as it changed minute by minute......very enjoyable, i will have to do it again sometime soon

yet more 'rubbish' !

I have been on holiday to the Lakedistrict, and while walking around I found a really nice junk / antique shop, and I saw this! it was really quite a good price ( mostly because its falling to bits) ......I am not sure why Mary is holding the baby Jesus up to the girl holding the dove, but whatever the reason, I love it :-)

Ok, afer a little research i have come to the conclusion that this is a memento mori piece, and that someone has lost a daughter and this is to memorialise her....now I love it even more...

polaboid

Untitled-1
Originally uploaded by paintistworks

I was given some old polaroid film to play with, we knew the photos would not be of the highest quality, I really like the bad effects you can get with polaroid...............

I am in a dark place at the moment, a lovely friend has died from cervical cancer, 2 years after her '3 months' death sentence, I thought / hoped she had beaten it..........then another lovely lady tells me she has breast cancer, she is strong, has many friends, and as she says "she is not dead yet!" so I feel so guilty including her in this wave of grief I am feeling, but I do.

I would love for a break in the gloom that is weighing me down, but the sensation of a storm brewing is getting stronger, and I can not shake it off

stretching out in the sun

stretching out in the sun
Originally uploaded by paintistworks

I have some canvas that i have saved for years. i always used to make my own stretchers when I was doing very large ( 6' x 8' ) paintings, and it was always cheaper to buy canvas and stretch them myself. But over the years i have found that I can't store many of my large works and have painted on increasingly smaller canvases, which is depressing as i really enjoy getting down to a big painting, all the marks i can make, really involving myself in the surface. Today i decided that I will use the canvas, it just sits there in the studio reproaching me.........so I have stretched a batch and will prime them later. i love the priming of canvases, all that pure white surface, pristine, full of promise.......even the sound it makes......yep i should get a life :-)

horse and wolf

horse and wolf
Originally uploaded by paintistworks

this piece is / was my favourite one from a week of painting.....The sun was shining, I felt full of energy and things just seemed to flow. But this week it is as if I have been emptied, and I am struggling with two more canvases, really labouring over them, but nothing good is happening. What a strange thing this creative urge is..............

A wonderful gift

Something amazing came through the post for me today! An act of generosity and beauty. I am so thrilled to have got this little doll from Yoda, I can't begin to say how touched I am, and so happy :-) The details are so perfect, her clothing , her eyes.....everything...sigh :-))

Thank you Yoda, as you can see she is making friends already, and I have decided to call her Tilda. 

Yoda's flickr name, one of my favourite actresses, and a great film / book made her name so obvious to me, I hope Yoda approves .

I have been desperate to make a book, and this current project is satisfying that need but...............I have started to get too precious over it, and its feeling a bit stiff and boring.

 However, it looked so beautiful in the sunlight while I was working on it I am happy just taking photos and thinking about the next pages to work on :-)

moleskine movie

moleskine movie
Originally uploaded by paintistworks

I'm not sure if this video will play, but I will give it a go.....

continuing with the drawing a day of my amaryllis, it was pretty boring while it just kept growing taller, but now it has bloomed, it changes hour by hour. so much more exciting to draw, I would recommend it :-)

latest moleskine

a tarot card theme, which was fun.

off with their heads

two more of my additions to moleskines for the exchange group 42, I am really getting through these quite fast at the moment, but I think I will wait for a couple of weeks before I post them, there is supposed to be a month between each addition!  I had fun doing these.

 Elvias theme is ' Farmyard animals' and Amys theme 'Red', so I did the playing cards painting white roses red from Alice in wonderland.