Colour is my Obsession - for This Thursday Challenge

This challenge has taken me way out of my comfort zone. I've gone bright, I've gone bold - and maybe a bit bonkers!

I drew on my experience of running a pre-school playgroup over 34 years ago - and loved messing around with paint with the little ones - so I guess I regressed to that of a three year old when I got out the brightest colours and played.


So think flower fairies, gingerbread houses, fairy cakes, and sunny days.


Mix them all together with some sparkles, fairy dust, lots of texture and tutus - and here you have it..................



My obsession with colour.

My thanks go to Paula who not only gave me the little piece of jigsaw puzzle you can see in a previous post below. But also a template for a house and a bird. (I drew around the template and added the chimney - take a look at her blog for the most fantastic cards - and Paula really does have a 'eye' for colours.

You're an Angel

I have a very dear 'forum' friend and was delighted to have her as a this month's Mystery Friend on Zuzu's forum

I have had a couple of angels for ages, and just waiting for the right opportunity to alter one.

And it finally arrived.

It is really hard to photograph shiny things.

Basically she was painted all over in Gesso, then in metallic colours. She was left to dry naturally between coats of paint - over night usually.

I added layers of fusible film, embossing, gold leaf, bronze leaf, - you name I used it. Red pearl paint for her heart - all of which where bubbled up many times with a heat gun to get really thick texture - including the heart.

The hair was given several shades of pale gold paint, and the face had a number of coats of paint until I got the right shade of angelic flesh that I wanted - and then painted on her face and heart shape mouth.

She is made of metal - even her wings - I added a loop of gold thread so that she could be hung up somewhere or it could just be removed to be as she is.

I decided not to add a halo!

Alter this? You must be joking!

When my friend Paula paid me a visit a couple of weeks ago - apart from giving me a demo on how to colour cardstock with ink pads, she also gave me this 'to have a go at altering'.



Thanks Paula its lovely - erm how am I going to live up to her challenge?


Well I have done a few puzzle pieces - but never one like this! Ecky thump, I thought, I feel a headache coming on.

It sat and looked at me - and yesterday I decided to just relax and play and have fun and see what happens.

I sit in my studio/shed and daydream looking out of the window a lot - at my chickens, the garden, the weather - and for some unknown reason I started thinking about the jungle and a pioneering explorer in the Victorian era, collecting all sorts of artifacts.

And pictured the discovery outside a ruined stone building of an old rucksack - covered in mould and near a skeleton.

A rummage inside revealed a note book of his adventure and bits of pieces of his collection. This is what I came up with.


It was very challenging technically to do actually.

The stamp is a faux 'field' postcard so fits in with the Tag You're It Challenge

So it fitted in nicely with my daydream. The testing bit was to cover the shiny patterned surface of the original card -


and to stamp and paint and distress the tag to match up with the outside cover exactly (beginners luck methinks), and without making it too thick to slide in and out! It's a little piece of art in its own right.


At last I am finally realising that 'art' should be fun, not hard work - and not to be taken too seriously by the likes of me who is just discovering this wonderful hobby.


So I played with Guesso, paints,texture paste, inks, chalks, pastels,embossing powders, metallic pens, ink pads, and two stamps

It was fun, fun, fun!

Thank you Paula - for a great challenge - and the chance to daydream and play without any pressure.

Bowdacious

I popped over to Ribbon Oasis and was blown away by their stock of hundreds of ribbons and accessories - so many things which I had never seen before.

You should see the work on their gallery too - just what I needed to kick start me on my Christmas present projects!

From there I went to This Thursday where the challenge for this week is Bowdacious - Ribbons and Bows.

This got me daydreaming of days gone by when the women knew how to be feminine and used lots of ribbons and bows



Amongst my collection of vintage photo images I came across this lady - she was rather faded and pale so I printed her onto paper and then painted her with water colours - and now she looks fabulous.

I mounted her onto thick card and using texture paste - and did just that - added a bit of texture - with embossing powders, paint, inks, and blue/silver/grey leafed metals.

Close up of a small part of the textured border.




A 'gal' can never have too many ribbons or bows, so I added the ribbon roses mounted onto a little pink bow and photographed her on strips turquoise ribbon.

Does she fit the title do you think?

Bowdacious

That is the title of This Thursday's challenge and I have had some fun with this today.

I have re-discovered my vintage collection of images and photos.

This image I have coloured with water colour pencils with the aim to make it look like a dress designer's sketch.

I added some different samples of satin ribbon at the bottom - so you can choose a colour variation if you want it made up! (Joke).

Karine Ardault's Amazing Blog

I have just stumbled on the most amazing blog by Karine.

She takes stunning photos - they just blow me away!

This month she is having a blog giveaway.

Why not go and check out Karine Ardault's blog.

Once you have visited you will want to return time and time again - I'm hooked!

Jigsaw Puzzle Piece Swap - By the Sea

I received a little wooden jigsaw piece in the post for a swap. Sadly it was snapped in half right across the middle.

But I repaired it and decorated it with metallic acrylic paints, texture paste, embossing powders and tiny little shells I got from dismantling a charity shop necklace.

Here is a close up - with a tiny vintage image of a bathing beauty!

It looks all shimmery in wet with the naked eye but I can't quite capture that in the photos.


The back and sides have been painted metallic blue too - and the back has had waves painted on it.