Third week of sketches - almost there!

Well,  I'm still managing to keep up my sketching challenge - and thank you  all for you lovely comments and support, which are very welcome and appreciated.  In the spirit of my journal  I kept it local and meaning full to me,  and it's another mixed bag again this week.

Day 18: Dusk/sunset. This is the lovely old Edwardian lighthouse just down the road! Watercolour

Day 19: A self portrait!  Okay this was scar , no, terrifying,. But I did it! Graphite and coloured pencil.

Day 20: Something made with chocolate. Slurp! Watercolour

 Day 21: Tools! Well, I had to choose these didn't I! Noodlers flex pen/Lexington Grey ink and watercolour.

Day 22: An historic building -  Kings Weston House of course! Noodlers flex pen/Lexington Grey ink, watercolour, and water soluble graphite.

Day 23: A machine - again, I had to try and draw my lovely old Singer! Noodlers flex pen/Lexington Grey ink and watercolour.

Day 24: A barn or shed. This is the lovely C13th century Tithe Barn at Frocester in Gloucestershire, just down the road from my old home. Watercolour.

 

Just one more week to go. I'm determined to keep  sketching daily after the challenge is complete!

More sketches...

Thank you lovely peeps for all your supportive comments.I've had an up and down week with some horrible headaches,  but I have managed to keep sketching between times.  Quite a mixed bunch this week! I'm trying out different styles, media and new things - trying to find 'My'style.

Day 5: A bridge  This is the famous Clifton Suspension bridge.

 Day 6: Seeds or pods

Day 7: Your rendition of a C19th painting.

Day 8: A Fancy Teapot ( don't have one so made this up quickly).

Day 9:  Coins or banknotes. Could not get inspired by that, so here is Smaug's cousin with this golden hoard of coins!

 

Day 10: A medicinal plant

 

I am also doing a second  january challenge ( as often as I can!) hosted on Facebook by the very talented  Ruthie Redden ! Ruthie  also blogs at Five Precious Things  

Here are a couple of those posts:  I combined a teacup /mug and fruit!

 

And something beginning with J - one of our garden jackdaws!

 

 It's great practice and fun trying these different ways of working. x

January Sketches

Welcome to the New Year!

I am deliberately doing things differently with this new blog, and I'd like to kick off by telling you  about the 31 Sketches in January Challenge which I'm participating in,  set up by my friend - and very talented artist, Palma Rea. You can find out about it here at her blog 'A Creative Journey' - and do join us if you are a sketcher.

 Today's prompt is 'Draw something you can't bear to throw away, but should!' So I was out in the garden this morning - drawing this poor old wooden hand fork, which  gets left outside and is on its last legs, but is so handy!

I've been doing a bit of sketching over the break too, and also catching up with my homework for Liz Steel's Sketching Now Foundations  Class, which I treated myself to at the end of last year. It's excellent - lots of well thought out content,  tips and demonstrations. Liz is a very thorough and conscientious teacher and I'm really enjoying the challenge. My ambition is to loosen up and get quicker and more spontaneous - and it's really working. I'm finishing things in well under half the time I used to spend :)  It's also made me feel a lot more confident about sharing, so here are a couple of birds  I did to remind us Spring is just around the corner! x

Painted and Embroidered bookmarks

I've been playing around with more ways to link drawing/painting and embroidery, and I've made some bookmarks with the resulting samples. In my stash I found some old linens and silks - so I've been mixing it up with homespun calico - and it's been fun.

These are all made/backed with silk, and finished with vintage wooden beads for weight. I used Valdani variegated threads - because I find them beautiful to work with.

These are my favourites.  Painted on calico with inks and embellished with stitch.

This Harry Potter themed one was a special gift for my very dear friend, and great supporter, Wayne - who is a huge fan of HP! 

Blog Hop

I’ve been tagged in a round the world blog hop by Rachel of  the excellent VirtuoSew Adventures .
Thank you so much Rachel for giving me the opportunity to  take part, and here's my take on the hop! 

What am you working on?  

I'm developing a way to uniquely link both my art and hand embroidery. I've kept sketchbooks for years, and am revisiting themes and ideas. I've become very interested in documenting life through my sketchbooks, and found a whole new art community, including the Urban Sketchers. Using your sketchbook as a life journal, drawing the world and events around you really appeals to me. For me that's normally something related to the natural world.

How does your work differ from others of its genre? 

 

 I've always had an overactive imagination!   I've always invented characters and writing about them, and this eventually found a way into doll making.  I love detail, (probably too much for someone who longs to loosen and simplify) and I'm interested in the process of how I can make something work. 

I call myself a textile artist,  but I wonder if that's really a misnomer?

 'Jack of all trades - master of none',  is more appropriate I think.
It's only in the last 2 years, since giving up the day job, that I've realised I've never gave much thought to developing my own style. So I'm concentrating on that now and just seeing what happens. There's certainly a simplification in my work of late -  finally I no longer feel I have to  'prove myself' by mastering complex techniques any more.

 The good thing about being a Jack of all trades is that you can revisit media and techniques and apply them in new and different ways, and no longer follow the 'rules', which is so liberating!

     

Why do you create what you do? 

Blimey! I can't imagine not creating. At age 4 I was given a little embroidery kit for Christmas. That was it!  I drew pictures, stitched and designed tiny felt toys.  Creating is like eating and sleeping. If I'm not drawing, embroidering or doing something creative I get tetchy and miserable. Certainly at difficult times in my life, being able to draw and make things has kept me sane.  I'm a great believe in the power of creativity to support and improve our health and well being.  

Making something out of nothing has always had great appeal for me, and even more so our concern for the environment  grows even stronger. I know I have far too many media at my disposal now, and I'm striving to strip back even more, which is not always easy!

 

     

How does your creative process work?
I have far too many ideas and not enough time and resources - or hands! I'm frequently inspired walking in the woods and marshland, and constantly jotting down notes,scribbles and sketches. I also take lots of photographs. Then I go home and do something completely different! 

When I have an idea I often tend to do a rough draft and then start work. If I'm designing a character I usually cut as I go - and then work out the pieces afterwards! This does make life interesting if I then need to create a pattern afterwards!  I  learned to work this way through having very little time when I was working in my career, and creativity was my luxury (or, this could just be my excuse for having a butterfly approach, and being incredibly impatient!)

    

I hope  you haven't got bored  with my ramblings as I'd like to point you on to some wonderfully talented - and extremely lovely, people.  I'm tagging two bloggers across the pond;

Tammie at  Spirithelpers takes the most stunning photographs of the natural world in the stunning State of Montana USA, plus adding beautiful words to go with them. They inspire and delight me! She also has another charming and whimsical art blog,  Beauty Flows

Deb is a self taught folk artist in British Columbia and creates all kinds of wonderful things with paper, fabric and paint at Paxton Valley Folk Arts.  She's ingenious and fun  -and amazes me with how prolific she is!