Early Riser

I've always been an early riser. Being a young mum and housewife filled every minute of those mornings. And later, when I had a regular job, preparing for that consumed my time. Now our children have gone, and my work is irregular I've decided to put my dawn chorus risings to good use and do something for me :-) Something arty. 

Yesterday I painted a face in my journal, (see yesterdays post) that set me up for the day... I felt happy and inspired and peaceful the whole day. 

Today's page ....

A lovely background, painty, stampy and splattery. I added a quote. 

Satisfaction guaranteed :-)

FaceTime

Woke up early this morning thinking of Dina style faces.

It's ages since I painted a face so I went with the feeling and produced "Thinking Girl"

She still needs a little work but I've been distracted by the paint that's all over my PJ's! Oooops. Clean up time. 

Bonjour!

It's been so long since I blogged but I'm just gonna jump straight back in, no explanations, no excuses.....

We're just back from a lovely holiday in France, a secluded place called Poulmarvezen, near Ploerdut.  Complete bliss. A couple of days before we left I received some brand new Dylusions stash, including the custom ink pad, although I could take only limited art supplies due to space (lack of!) this was calling out "take me, take me!"
I inked it up before I left with lime, turquoise and London Blue baby!

Also among my stash were Dy's new skellybob stamps and of course the handbag size journal (LOVE)! I also took my gelatos (for you Gemma Maggs) prismas, a few word stamps, pens - can't forget the pens!

Here's what I made.

A fun page, we saw an elderly gentleman riding to the boulangerie every morning which put this page in mind... Skeleton Queen with wings - riding or flying?

background made with gelatos and the new neon coloured montana pens

I took a few collage elements with me and also found the heart image while we were there  ...it seemed to fit the the skeletal frame 

background made with Dylusions custom ink pad -  c'est magnifique! and stamps

Rough translation of the quote -"It's all I can do is to dance" - almost looks like the 'walk like an Egyptian' dance - except we were in France :-) 

background - again the Dylusions custom ink pad and a few stamps

Like I said, the heart lends itself to this page very nicely I think, it was right there, in a pamphlet, waiting for me to come along and purloin it for my journal needs :-)

I enjoyed creating these pages, they put a big smile on my face and added to the relaxation value of my holiday... along with the sunshine and the wine :-)
Dylusions goodies, gelatos and FABULOUS neon coloured Montana pens, all available at the wonderous treasure trove that is  Art from the Heart. You need to check out those Montana pens - all the colours.... go back to the first pic and check out the background again, spot how those lines make the page pop. I love them! 

Up and Swimming...

My mermaid book is painted and I'm raring to go!

Keeping up to date

I'm feeling quite proud of myself with the amount of blog posts I've managed over the last week!

Not faces this time but here's my April Calendar for Kate's challenge... bright and zingy, trying to chase away the last of the cold winter weather here in the UK.

To get the fabulous background colour I used Dylusions spray inks (the best) and I'm continuing a theme in this years calendar of using Teesha Moore images which I've had for over a year. I kept looking at them and not wanting to use them! Silly, I know! 

Anyhow, they are being put to good use now and getting me in the mood for my upcoming online class with Teesha herself along with Jane Davenport. It starts next Monday and I'm getting excited now..... I'm looking forward the new challenge.

Faces workout

My third face in four days. I've set myself a challenge with these faces. I'm determined to get better so I got up early again and tucked myself away for an hour....
Feeling happier with this one :)

Roll up, roll up......

I am over the moon with myself.... I've booked onto my first online workshop and its with the one and only Teesha Moore in collaboration with Jane Davenport. Mermaid Circus is the name of the workshop so I think I might be in for a wacky treat! 

I'll be posting what I get up to so watch this space!

Meanwhile, I am consolidating what I learned in the physical workshops with Dina Wakley.... another mop up page in my Dylusions journal ....

I drew the oval shape with my Stabilo All pencil, halved the shape vertically and horizontally...

drew eyes, nose and mouth....

I scribbled in some hair and then painted out the whole face in white

Now its time to add the shading, first dark - I used golden's raw umber... looks scary doesn't it? 

....next I painted over with flesh colour..... yesterday I mixed my own (rather unsuccessfully!) but today I found out my Dylusions skintone (sadly no longer available but I live in hope!) I added a little red and raw umber to get a darker colour

.... next I added white to the forehead, cheeks, nose and chin...

 ..... painted with the flesh colour again.....

... its a matter of keep going until you're satisfied with the result.... 

I ran out of time so I've done her a disservice by rushing.... the whites of her eyes are definitely wrong and I think her mouth is too small. But its my learning curve and I'm enjoying it :D

I will add some journaling to the page to help finish it off. Dina style scribble of course!