The bag woman.......

I am really enjoying doing image transfers onto the 'bags for life' and am beavering away behind the scenes making presents of them.   I just wish that my own art was good enough for me to transfer it to my own bag!
But it is not - yet - but here is one I created today.

I just love this image

I fell in love with it as soon as I saw the postcard of the oil painting.

Here she is hanging on my shed in the shade

She just 'lights up' in the sunshine though!

If you would like a bag with  your own artwork transferred to it - or a favourite photo - just get in touch via my profile page for more details.

Under the influence!

Yesterday we went on a family visit - and it just so happened that Hels lives in the same county as they do - so we made a detour, and I got to meet her in person as well as deliver the bags.

The crafting 'fraternity' are wonderful - everyone that I have corresponded with or met! And Hels was no different.

It was just a flying visit, but she welcomed me as if I had known her for years - and guess what - I got to see some of her art work.

Well lots of it - and its stunning in real life. It looks wonderful on her blog!   Seeing it in 'real life' and holding it and examining it is a whole different thing.  We keep saying this when we take photos of our work - and it really is true - you just don't get to see the textures, the depth and true colours, the layers of inks, shimmers, crackle paints - the camera just does not pick it up!

It was just a flying visit - en-route - but boy did we cram in a lot - well me asking lots of questions!   It was a real treat and a great perk - and it really lifted me up to come out here today,  to my shed, in the pouring rain, to play.

Among other things Hels showed me some amazing tags - which I can't have a go at yet until I get the stamps and other 'stash' I need to have a go at some of the elements.

But her lovely 'pep' talk inspired me to use some bright colours for a change - I tend to favour 'safe' colours.

I layered on bright inks, stamped with hessian background stamp in the same colour

I over stamped with a vintage script, and part of a border.

The Crafty Indivduals image matched the colour perfectly, and as it is on glossy paper, and I wanted a dreamy look I dulled it down with Gesso.  I also drew some swirls in white to marry the picture to the tag to soften the edges so that it didn't look so 'stuck on'

I finished it off with more overstamping of the script,

more swirls, a border at the bottom and a ribbon to match.

Thank you Hels for giving my 'papercraft' mojo a kick start - it was lovely to meet you, and maybe in the future we can meet up again - and perhaps even do some crafting!

My first commission

I have sold both of my sunflower bags!

I never did get to take a photo in daylight of these!

Ink on my fingers (Hels) left a comment on  my 'Sorry Vincent' post to say that if I did decide to do a sunflower bag - then she would like to buy it!

I made two - so that there was a choice, and Hels wanted them both!

(The crease is just where the handles are tucked inside)

Not only that - but my tutor wants me to make some for fundraising!

I am not sure about that becasue (a) I can't get many more bags and

(b) the requirements are not arty crafty - but a logo to design!
 

I might just make one for my tutor for Christmas if I get time though.

Playing with sunflowers

I have spent a happy afternoon playing with Vincent's sunflowers.

The light has gone now - so  only artificial light so I will have to take photos in daylight - for now here are some close ups of parts of the images transferred onto bags.

One has a yellow background and the other a pale blue.

I actually grew this sort of sunflowers up my allotment this year - they were stunning and I now prefer them to the 'ordinary' ones!

Which do you prefer?

If you click on the photos you can see a close up of the textures.

Off indoors now - its dark..................................

I should have told you Vincent - Sorry

Well I took your advice ladies and just played without a care in the
world at how the finished art work turned out ! I think it fits the Created by Handchallenge this week.

A hessian/canvas shopping bag - and this is how it started

I painted a square-ish border

I then transferred one of Vincent Van Gogh's paintings onto it.

And then I erm, painted over lots of it with mixed acryllics

It was just to make it look more like an oil painting

(Click on photo to enlarge)

But then, in natural light the border looked really 'naff'

So I painted over the border again.

And it ended up like this....

The dark marks are where some drips plopped down off a tree above

But they have dried out now.

I think I need to tone down the Vincent Van Gough nameplate now.

That looks better and the wet 'drip' is now dry

I feel a sunflower coming on Vincent - don't turn in your grave

after all, it's only a shopping bag!

Oops - he surely will be - I spelled his name wrong! The good thing about painting is I can just paint over it and do it again!

Oooops

Oh dear - I have inadvertently rejected a number of your kind comments on my canvas bag post below.  Somehow a couple of spam messages had got through - those not nice ones - and when rejecting them 'it' rejected the rest of the comments.

Huge apologies - and thank you to those who left comments overnight.

Presents.......................

I have been busy making 'thank you' presents - and trying new (to me) experiments.

Now that this has flown to it's destination I can show you.

 

Image transferring!

I wanted to make something different, and original, and it took me quite some time to decide what.

You see this lady is far more talented than I - with years of experience.

I came up with the only solution I could think of.

Take some of my favourite examples of her art from her blog, and turn them into a canvas 'bag for life'.

At least I know that she will never get another like it!

And it will come in useful when she runs her workshops as it is very big and strong.