Painting the Universe

I completed my A-Levels quite a few years ago now, it's actually over a decade!
I had kept my old canvas stored away all these years, always wanting to reuse them in some way.

So here is my dirty secret...I did terribly at A Level art, which sounds ridiculous now as all I ever do is be creative.

Below you can see my first 'recycled' canvas.  It felt great painting lots of black paint all over my A Level work, sort of liberating even after all these years.

This is the painting hanging on my bedroom wall.  It's actually really hard to photograph.  It seems much better in real.  I tried flicking some glow in the dark paint on to the canvas which didn't seem to work very well.  This might of been because I purchased the really cheap stuff from amazon.  I don't know, but it just doesn't really show up at all. 

Finger print Wedding Tree

I drew this for a friends wedding. During the wedding, rather than have a guest book, all the guest will leave a finger print on a tree branch.
It will look great once it's filled with finger prints.  I got ink pads with different shades of green for variety.
Dolly

work in progress

Baboon

Last summer my husband and I visited Berlin.  While we were there we went to the Berlin Zoo.
When we got home I painted this baboon from a photo a took.
I actually drew this a few months ago, but forgot I done it.
Here it is let me know what you think.
Dolly.

The photo I took and a photo of work in progress

Vintage Photography - Soho Myna

I brought this camera on ebay for £12.  I've had film cameras in the past as I was growing up, but I was really interested in using a camera with the bellows front.  This one is a 'All Distance' Soho Myna and dates from the late 1920s to early 1930s.  The camera is all metal and takes 120 film.  I purchased my film from Retro Film Supplies and had them developed using this website http://www.rollfilmprocessing.co.uk/  Their website is easy to navigate and would highly recommend using them. 

Once I received the film I had a trip over to the Isle of Wight and took these photos...

Although the camera didn't really focus very well on faces, I think they turned out quite well.

Sandown Pier

Sandown

Cowes

Ventnor

Ventnor 2

Newport

Fairies at Shankin

Shipwreck Museum

Cowes

Game of Thrones - Arya Stark

The new series of Game of Thrones is coming up.  As I was watching the last series to refresh my memory, I decided to paint one of the characters.
I find it incredibly difficult to capture watercolour. The first is taken with a camera the second is a scan.  

 I've used sticky backed plastic to mark out the house stark emblem.  I stipple watercolour with a stiff brush, in hindsight I went too far and went much darker then a originally wanted.  

Guinea Pigs

I've been away for some time now, I moved house so it took a while to find everything.  I spent ages thinking "where did I put that paintbrush" etc. You would've thought that all art stuff would be in one box, but no it just doesn't work out that way.
I was lacking inspiration, so I put a call out on facebook to start me off.

There is a painting of two little guinea pigs called Sylvia and Olive.

 I always get asked how I do the background on paintings like this one.  It's actually really easy.  I draw my sketch on to some clear sticky plastic.  I usually use a light box for this and remember to do it in reverse as you will be drawing on the paper side of the sticky plastic, so you have to draw back to front.  Then with a stiff brush I stipple watercolour paint around the masked out area.  I build the colours starting with lighter shade ending with darker.

Then it is fully dry I peel the plastic off revealing the clear paper to draw onto.

 I don't think my guinea approved me drawing other guineas.

I chose a font and used my light box to draw the lettering onto the drawing.

Harry Potter Jewellery Box

I made this Harry Potter inspired jewellery box for my *soontobe Sister-in-law .  She loves Harry Potter and I'd thought about doing something like this for sometime.
She was happy to receive a 'made gift' for Christmas and I was excited to be creating something different.  

Here you can see on the lid I painted the silhouettes of each character.  

Can you see the freckles on Ron and Harry's scar? 

To make it I brought a wooden treasure box from my local art shop. I photocopied random pages from the Harry Potter books, ensuring I captured familiar words for example peoples names, place names or the words like 'death eater' or 'invisibility cloak'.

Using a mix of water and PVA glue I ripped and pasted the paper all over the box, using a stiff brush. (It doesn't look like it in the photo, but...) I took the advice from the owner of the art shop and I did this while the clasp of the box was closed.  It meant that when it was finished the words will line up perfectly.  

Once dried I use a scalpel to cut the box open again. Remember always cut away from you. :-) 

I freehand painted the figures on the lid, practising on a piece of tracing paper.  

On the tracing paper draw around the box, cut this shape out and fold it in half.  This will help you find the middle when your drawing on the lid. 

Let me know what you think -- Dolly --