Design 21

Foxton Artwork

2011-08-29T11:03:00.000-07:00

I am prepping myself to get all the artwork done for Foxton which is in 3 weeks. I have been anxious that I am not going to have enough artwork for the 2 day event. I am also going to be putting my artwork on www.scrapartjournal.co.uk which will be available for sale. All artwork is original unless otherwise stated.

Digital Mixed Media

2011-07-02T15:04:00.000-07:00

Digital Mixed Media
I created this image by switching between Illustrator, Photoshop and Artrage to achieve this look, I am trying to aim for a more real painted look than a digital one, as I do like the grungy look that is achieved when mixing wet paint.

I am setting myself a target to try and get this right.

I went down to the woods today ........

2011-06-30T15:14:00.000-07:00

My other passion which I don't give enough time to is my photography, being the gypsies that we are, every day we discover a new walk and push our boundaries to discover a new and unexplored walk. This evening was no different as we set off for a walk round the Sandy repeater, nearing the end of our journey we came to a small but deep wood on the edge of a working quarry. So out came the trusty camera and these are just a few of my best images I am sharing:

my tall skinny tree facebook didn't like!

Digital painted folk art faces painted in Photoshop

2011-06-26T23:34:00.000-07:00

As you know we have become gypsies living in a big American RV, so to say that space and weight are big factors when thinking creatively is only just a slight exaggeration. So really for me its become a necessity to find another way of getting my art out of my head.

if I have to be critical then I have to say the hair needs working on with this digital collage.

I am still deeply inspired by wonderful women like Kelly Rae Roberts, Willowing and of course Suzi Blu .

Getting the shading right is crucial to the digital collaged face working

fairy wings, I do so love them

who says hair can't be other colours??

oops! didn't mean for her lips to come out so massive

I have been searching the internet high and low for some digital face painting techniques for either Photoshop or Artrage, sadly they are so far and few between, Youtube has not been forthcoming, its almost like the perfect Photoshop digital folkart painting tutorials that I would love to be able to access are just not there. Which of course leads me to wonder if people like my digital art, would they be prepared to pay for some lessons? I am confident that the Photoshop Element users would not loose either. If I can get enough interest in this then the videos I have already created would be available for downloading.

Gypsy Life

2011-06-18T07:22:00.000-07:00

I love my gypsy lifestyle, I don't miss bricks and mortar at all. Today we are on a gorgeous field, there is nothing like the sound of rain, reminds me of the zinc roofs in Africa that clatter and make one awesome racket. Tomorrow I have a stall down in Berkhampstead. This is my second time back there, this time I feel more organised in terms of having stuff to sell. I realised that you need smalls to cover your table and travel expenses and having cards, and microscope glass pendants as well as craft cd's help cover this initial outlay. Last week we bought a whole load of assorted sized picture frames which I have been filling up with my digital collaged artwork which I am adding to my range of products.

I've managed to achieve this by working both in Artrage and Photoshop making use of both of the features these programs have.

Finally !!! the Penny has dropped

2011-06-15T22:43:00.000-07:00

I hadn't picked up Bamboo tablet in well over a year, and what a shame I just left it in the draw. As we are now full time wanders, space is really a premium so you can imagine my delight at working between Artrage and Photoshop to produce some amazing digital artwork that looks like its been painted. So happy days for me.

Printing it onto the right paper is the key to the final success of the printed images.

An experiment

2011-03-27T12:16:00.000-07:00

I decided to try and make a new piece of art using 3D flowers I made and coloured as well as trying to do something different with her face.

Monmouth Woman's Festival

2011-03-06T23:28:00.000-08:00

I was lucky enough to be able to get a stall at Monmouth Woman's Festival along with some very talented artists. For me this was a first, I've never sold my art before, always giving away to family and friends. What a wonderful experience it was, feed back from everyone who came and had a look at the art was so positive. I shall be busy getting new pieces other. This was my stall over the weekend.

Kelly Rae Roberts inspirational pieces

2011-02-28T08:52:00.000-08:00

I've been on a year long journey with the faces I have created, and the textures I have played with. Along the way I have been inspired by many different artists especially those who's love was mixed media, but one stands out in particular and that is Kelly Rae Roberts, I just love the grunginess of the backgrounds today I put the final touches to my work and for the first time ever I am well and truly proud of where I have landed.

A Whole VIllage

2011-01-26T05:13:00.000-08:00

A whole village hand painted and scanned. These would be ideal for your art journal or scrapbook.

Journal houses

2011-01-25T03:33:00.000-08:00

I painted some houses on paper I had already prepared for one of my journals, I just love how you can see the texture close up and the grungy look is soooooo nice.

Faces

2011-01-24T12:02:00.000-08:00

As you can see I have been busy, I've been trying new faces and overall I am pleased with them, these are well and truly done!

Creating a digital stamp

2011-01-17T00:10:00.000-08:00

How to create a digital stamp from an image

Open an image with strong lines or shapes.
Double click on your Background layer. Click on OK to convert it to Layer 0.
Select Image, Adjustments, Brightness/Contrast. Adjust the sliders Brightness to the left and Contrast to the right, until you have kind of a sharp image.
Now, select Image, Adjustments, Threshold. Your image will look black and white, move the slider that controls the Threshold to adjust it.
From the Toolbox, select the Magic Wand and click on any white area of your image, that would select all the white. Now press the Delete key. Your image will keep the black with a transparent background.
Select Image, Image Size… and resize your image to no more than 4 inches.
Now it’s time to create a brush based on this image. Select Edit, Define Brush Preset..., give it a name and click OK.
Remember to save your Brush by clicking the arrow that is pointing down next to your brush on the Toolbar. Then, click on the double arrows pointing to the right and choose Save Brushes.
You can use this brush or digital stamp as many times as you need it.

Final result

My Dad

2010-12-24T05:57:00.000-08:00

Earlier this week we got some devastating news that our beloved Dad has passed away. Nothing in the world prepares your for this, and I am not prepared. I now have to prepare myself for a flight to Africa - which I am not looking forward to because flying frightens me to death! And in general I do not like funerals so this is more than a double whammy for me. I am trying had hard not to think to much about any of it.

I'm also planning an order of service for my dad which I want to take with so I don't have to try and find a printer there. Now just trying to go through the motions of Christmas.

Creating headers

2010-12-11T13:52:00.000-08:00

With typography fixed firmly in the back of my head, I decided to create my own typed headers. I've learned so much about these letters and the history behind them. Its easy to bang some letters together, its much much harder to fiddle around with the spacing, and I'm not talking about the spacing that our computers automatically use. I'm taking about using InDesign and making sure that you pull some letters closer together and push some further out, the weight of the letter is also important. Anyway enough of the lesson .

Summer

2010-12-06T13:12:00.000-08:00

This is Summer and another mixed media image I have created, she is really nice and brightly coloured. I've been thinking that I would l love to be able to offer a mixed media workshops teaching this wonderful relaxing art. Not sure if anyone would actually like to do this though. She has been created using acrylics, pastel pencils, and collage bits.

Faces

2010-12-06T05:41:00.000-08:00

I am having this urge at the moment to paint, paint, paint, when I was at college I was urged to persue my collage work, but really struggled with this for a long time. Maybe it was burnout, I don't really know, but I just could not get into it. So now I am armed with a small A5 sketch book which is so much easier to have around than a big canvas and of course the piece is done in minutes. This is my master piece, I am so proud of this one. It dawned on me the other day just how connected to art I actually am. I'm doing a two year HND Graphic Designer course and I am hoping that I am going to be able to put my newly learnt skills to good use and market myself a little better than I have been. In the mean time I am carrying on with my passion which is creating collaged faces. Kelly Rae Roberts has truly inspired me.

It's not about faces today

2010-10-04T21:49:00.000-07:00

I decided today was all about scrapbooking and making pages. I nicked one of sister-in-law's photo's of my adorable little niece and take her out of the photo completely and put her somewhere else. This image was really great because she appeared to be focusing down.

I have loads of embellishments and backing papers ( all digital) gleaned from many different sources so I decided to create my own little fantasy place for a gorgeous little princesses.

So here is my gorgeous niece looking into a mysterious pond filled with fairy lights!

Err ummmm

2010-10-03T09:09:00.000-07:00

I am trying really hard to get the blending looking a little more cheerful and bright(as in colour) I am also thinking of offering some painting face workshops in our area where people can come and have some fun, hopefully not just learning how to draw and paint faces, but how to create other things like scrapbooks, journals etc. Hopefully someone out there likes what I do. In the meantime I am going to see if I can get a video uploaded.

This is a big improvement on some of faces I made right at the start of my journey

Circus RollerMan

2010-10-02T08:10:00.000-07:00

I decided to step away from my faces and do a lightly different illustration, I've called this one Circus Roller man, and of course he is purely fantasy and a bit whimsical.

More faces

2010-10-01T08:36:00.000-07:00

I don't think I can stop painting faces, its taken ages for the penny to drop, but at last I can see some progress. This was done using acrylics and finally the skin is starting to look more blended. The background is a pre-printed, I am preparing a collage back ground for my next one.

Digital art

2010-09-16T22:29:00.000-07:00

Some digital art

2010-09-13T13:53:00.000-07:00

Drawing Faces

Firstly I sketched the face making sure that the eyes lined up using a ruler to make sure. I used pastel pencils and a paper with a slight grain to it.

I then started added the dark shadings using dark brown and black. Using flesh, subtle yellow and white to blend the dark shades in, once I had carried on blending until I was satisfied that I had got the skin colour reasonable , I then added the hair working from the dark colours to the top lighter ones. In the end she did not look to bad.

I'm making faces

2010-09-04T14:42:00.000-07:00

I am making faces and thanks to Suzi Blu's the penny has finally dropped! Here I used Suzi's face principals and combined these with All Norah's Art technicolour faces. I coloured these in using pastel pencils and was amazed at how easy it was to blend them, they work so well.

Journals

2010-09-01T13:54:00.000-07:00

My art journals, and some of the pages I have already decorated., sorry I am a woman of few words. I am going to try and make my ramblings longer, to be honest visually things say a lot more. The journals were pretty pricey, but going to a flea market, picking up a lovely hard back between A4 -A5 size should do the trick, don't worry about whats in it this can easily be painted over, interesting words or images left in to add more depth to your page, there is only one limit and that's your imagination Scrapbooking is a wonderful way of not only off your beautiful memories, but a very relaxing and rewarding way of having that all important me time. If you can stick it you can use it, step out your comfort zone and discover your hidden talent.

Faces

2010-09-01T13:38:00.000-07:00

I am mad about faces, and love it even more when I have sketched my face and start adding paint. The final result is un-predictable and exciting.

These two are my technicolor faces and I just love them!

My Scrapbook journal pages

2010-09-01T13:29:00.000-07:00

I love how the effects you get when you combine paper, newspaper, wallpaper, fabrics with paints glues, stamps and inks. On these pages I have used many of the above to create a sort of shabby chic look to my pages which are all one offs. Happy accidents can often to out to be the your best pieces. This is this the front cover to my painted scrapbook journal.

This is the side view with all my hand painted tags for my different headings.

These are just some of the pages from my scrapbook.

Wings - Challenge with ACT's

2010-08-31T22:58:00.000-07:00

Here is my contribution

Some of my favourite things

2010-08-31T14:23:00.000-07:00

If you had to ask me what was my most favourite thing in my artist tool box I would have to say that its my Viva paints. I just love them, I love the colours and the textures and they work so well with my work. I will be showcasing more stuff I have made using this fantastic product. I included the photo of the felt pens because I just love the colours.

When we went to the beach

2010-08-31T14:19:00.000-07:00

When we went to wales I sat on the sand near a pebbled sea barrier, and I was armed, yes I had my camera and oodles of time. The skeleton of crab.

I piled as many pebbles as I could and took these photos before they toppled over, I used the macro(flower) setting on the camera, I was really pleased with how they came out considering they were tiny little stones.

I wouldn't consider my feet attractive at all but honest I couldn' t find anything thing else in close proximity to me lol

But my best surprise was ...............................

the beautiful sunset I managed to capture.

Images from my old blog

2010-08-31T12:39:00.000-07:00

I did a series of 3 pieces for my final art exhibition these were canvas using a wide variety of mixed media, the middle was done in clay and the third were mixed media pieces.

This is my little studio - as you can see on the wall some inspiration from All Norah's Art to help inspire me, it was a bit messy(blush blush).It has got better I promise!

I love textures, and love how painting, gluing, heating stamping and ripping can alter how something originally started out as. Here are some textures and journal pages I played with.

If you see something here and you want to know more about how I did it just drop me a line and I will tell you.

Digital girls

2010-08-31T06:26:00.000-07:00

I've been experimenting and been making some digital girls.

I recently purchased Scrapbook Artist2, mainly for it's editing effects which are so quick and simple, I know as an avid Photoshop user nothing tops it, but no really this is a fantasic program which no designer should be without. My camera is always with me and I take photos at every opportunity I can. I took some photos of some flowers which I was easily able to extract from the background.

This was my starting photo

This was the flowers after I extracted them using DSA2

This was the same image after playing around with some of the effects in DSA2

I then added a few bits just to finish it off.

Challenge 1 - Bird Woman 6 x 4 card

2010-08-30T10:59:00.000-07:00

Bird woman I created this 6x4 card digitally.

Sunday Postcard Challenge - Darkside

2010-08-30T06:27:00.000-07:00

My attempt at creating a darkside.

I'm playing

2010-08-30T01:29:00.000-07:00

Now that college is finished, and the blog that I created for that to tie in with my college projects has now finished, it did leave me with a big gap that has been missing. I was part of a community and I have missed that. Creatively I guess for a few months I felt really burned out. Glad to say it's back, I don't think it ever really leaves us. My passion is faces, I just love them and because I have struggled to hard to "get it right" I have just ploughed along and carried on painting. I wanted to creative something more in line with me for my website and basically have a style unique to me.

I wanted to the faces simple

I love the pained backgrounds, these where done using acrylics which I just love. I did this when we went to Wales, oh what a beautiful place that was.

This was just outside St David's and I wanted to stay behind it was gorgeous.