Countdown is progressing ... to the Autumn Fair!

Here's a little peek at what I've been working on for the past few days ...

A bag made from my very own pattern - very pleased with myself!

Pictures I've been painting for my stall - the green pic with a heart is for the silent auction

I apologize to everyone who's lost touch with me for the past month - I have been SO focussed on the Autumn Fair that's happening this Sunday that everything else has almost ceased to exist for me!  (Just ask the rest of the family!)  Only 4 days to go, then my life can return to relative normality ... bliss ... never imagined I would yearn to be 'normal' ... :)

Making tacky - non-tacky ...

This a sneak peek of part of a present I've been working on for my sister.  It looks great now, but I have had a technical problem to overcome.  I don't know if it's the humidity or what, but the gel medium I use regularly without mishap has been misbehaving and wouldn't dry properly.  It would have been too tacky to pack up, and would have probably become stuck to packaging en route to its new home in the UK.  So I've been trying to come up with solutions and of course the simplest was the best.  Simply mix some PVA glue with a little water, and paint over the tacky surface.  Et voila, dry, non-sticky surfaces!  Thank goodness, I was beginning to panic!

This is my day so far.

Mess.  Paint.  Glue.  Sparkles.   Creating.  Perfect!

An evening with U2

"Do you believe in fairy tales?"  Such as being at a concert at one of the most amazing rock bands in the world?  Yes I do!

We've just returned from the U2 concert in Perth.  Awesome doesn't even halfway describe it!!  This picture is by my guest artist for this post and was painted on the t-shirt I was wearing to the event.  Thank you HB.  I am a very proud mother. xx
The atmosphere was electric, the stage show mesmerizing, the music loud and unforgettable. I particularly liked the guitars - always one of my favourite instruments although I haven't got a clue how to play.  I have my dad to blame thank for that - he was always listening to guitar music and I think my love for the intrument came from there.  Thanks dad!

Oh well, back to the real world in the morning, great to escape it for a couple of hours - ...

Create for Life Cafepress Shop open for business!

A sneak peek of my designs - there are 4 to choose from at present!

OK - so I didn't get round to taking the photos of my bags and apron for my 'made-it' shop, but I have managed to upload some designs to my Cafepress shop, so go on over and have a look.  Cafepress offers lots of designs which can be printed onto items of your choice from mugs to clocks, t-shirts to water bottles.  You could get stuck on there for hours!!  (Make sure you visit my shop first though!!)

tiny post

I've been working on my dastardly plans to take the arty world by storm - you can view some of my artwork at Deviant Art - look for 'artycrone'.  It's quite a confidence booster when other people add your art to their favourites.  Some of the pictures have been used already for this blog; I'm also intending to put newer paintings up as they appear!

It's been a bleak few days for me this week.  Although I have strategies for dealing with my depression, it still manages to creep up on me occasionally.  Got a couple of good ideas for artworks from the experience though.  Inspiration is everywhere.

Fly away ...

Well, this post has taken a teeny bit longer than anticipated to get on the screen! I was about to start when my dad skyped me, so we had a good yarn and caught up with news. Very lovely. Didn't really delay the post that much though in that I had intended to do this one yesterday, but got very tired and went to bed early - ahh! Anyway, better late than never.

This is my attempt at painting fabric which will then be used to make bags. I've got one on my mind at the moment, also in my art journal that is going to showcase my travels around the world - I've got badges and patches from when I was a little girl in Devon to some collected more recently on my travels. Today I was even designing the bag I'm going to embellish so tomorrow will entail making up the bag in some calico to see if it's workable. Original creativity at last!

Technical details: I've used my normal acrylic but mixed it with textile medium (Jo Sonja do a good one)and painted onto calico. After letting it dry for 24 hours, the fabric needs to be ironed to set the medium and away you go. I applied the paint with a small foam roller - inspired by my house painting a couple of weeks ago. The white splatter marks were accidental in that they were due to the white acrylic being rather old and stodgy, which didn't allow it to mix properly with the blue, rather the white blobs got squished by the roller and made the amazing, unexpected cloudy effect I was seeking. Don't you just love it when you find something you've forgotten about, at just the right time? The red flight lines are made using some fabric paints I was given by a friend ages ago and I'd not used them before. They come in a tube but are used like a big biro - they're by Hobbytex, I'm not even sure if you can get them anymore, but probably worth Googling! I borrowed my son's sponge stampers to create the plane shapes. Can't wait to see what I go on to create - it's still a surprise to me - I love that about creating, I often don't know what I'll get until I get it! Magic ...

Sneak peek ...

The beginning ...


A tiny part of my new banner - I may even print this pic off and stick it to my fridge as a reminder!

I was absolutely determined to finish off my banner for my new look blog before my 40th birthday and I managed it - yay! In between washing up and putting away the shopping! Due to time restraints I went with the creative flow rather than thinking too much about the end result, the result being that I was really pleased with the final creation. The time passed quickly too. Sometimes we think too much and muck things up - it is better to go with intuition and follow your heart at times.

It's my last day of being 39. Feeling quite peaceful about it all really; the past year has been quite hard at times, and I've had to face a few personal demons which is always scary, but I survived and do feel a lot better for tackling my 'midlife issues' (when what I really wanted to do was run screaming in the opposite direction!) Thank you to my support team of family and friends who helped me get this far, you're all superb and I love you heaps! The journey has been so much more fun with you for company. xxxxxxxxxxxx

Creating for Christmas

A little pictorial clue as to what I've been creating today. I love working with red and orange - such energetic colours! Look at that sunshine on the chair - a beautifully light day! I'm busy trying to finish Christmas presents so that I can post them. This really is the silly season ...

A Day Creating in the Sun ...

Quite pleased with my sign letting everyone know what Creative Seeds was up to!

Our 'communal artwork' - we had great ideas for this, but kept forgetting to ask people to add to it as we were so busy having fun! Thank you to those people who did add to it - we love it!

Our table - a hive of creativity!

Some of the works by our fantastic creative teenagers.

Experimenting with a photo of the small canvasses Linda and I have painted on previous occasions. They all look stunning laid side by side. We have a vision for these paintings ...

Here are a few photos of our very creative day at the Zig Zag Festival yesterday. I think I'm still recovering - it was soooo hot, in the low thirties I think, which is really hot for me! We were in the youth area, right by the youth music stand, so at times I was reminded of my nightclubbing days when we had to shout in each other's ears to make ourselves heard! Try talking to people about the meaning of colours with loud rock music going on - "well, yes, you'll find that blue is a very peaceful colour ..." It did make us chuckle! Actually, the bands were excellent and we were blown away by one group called 'Convict X' who are all still in primary school, writing their own songs and music and sounding very much like rock stars of the future. Good on you!

In knots!

This is the detail of the Celtic knots I'm painting on a big canvas which I did post about some weeks ago now. It's not my usual colours so I came a bit unstuck and out of my comfort zone, so I left the picture standing against the wall where I could see it until inspiration hit. In the end it wasn't inspiration but necessity that made me put the canvas up on my easel and begin painting again - the canvas has been standing at the top of a small set of steps, and unbeknownst to me somebody had been running up said steps and using the canvas as a braking board! Therefore, I've decided I'd better finish the picture and get it up on the wall where it will be safe ...

It was really hard to know what to tackle first, but when I found a tube of gold oxide my dilemma was over! Orange is one of my favourite colours to paint with, consequently I felt at ease to paint, and the colour goes well with the brown earth colour that it blends into on the Celtic knot ribbons. The paints I'm using are Jo Sonja's artist's colours. It's a slow process but I haven't given up - the finished piece will eventually be shown here!

Zero tolerance for technology (yesterday that is!)

Obviously today technology is my friend again. My husband made the PC much better and today it's working!

Yesterday though, I took a break and painted for the day. It's a move away from my usual people on a smaller canvas - this canvas is about 100cm x 80 cm, and is a commission for our room by my husband. I'm using colours I don't usually paint with, I'm a bright colours girl and this is in neutral earthy tones - I'm more used to wearing them than painting with them. But it will do me good to have a change. As you can see from the photos I've drawn a band of Celtic knots down the left side of the canvas, and on the right hand side are two swirls, a very loose interpretation of the New Zealand koru. I suppose it's a painting to symbolize the two sides of my life on the two different 'sides' of the world.

On a technical note, the koru are made of thick jute twine which I glued onto the canvas then covered with tissue paper soaked with PVA glue - you can move the tissue around slightly with the glue brush to give interesting texture and it also helps to hold the jute onto the canvas. I will paint over it in acrylic paints when I'm happy with the texture and layout. A few years ago I took a book out from the library, I think it was called 'The Celtic Knot Workbook' and it taught a wonderful method of drawing Celtic knots using a grid method. You simply plot points, join them up and them draw the 'ribbons' along these lines. At first it really feels as if the whole thing is not going to work, but as long as you remember that the ribbons go alternatively under then over the ribbons it intersects with you can't go far wrong. It's very meditative as after a few minutes you just slip into it and the only awareness is of the progression of the ribbon. It takes patience and practice but it really is worth a try. I'm still working out of my exercise book that I practised the lessons in, but one day I hope to draw some knots freehand.

I'll post pictures of the work as it progresses because I think it's always interesting to document your work and also to share the process with people. I'm sure all artists would tackle the same project in completely different ways.

It was very restful painting. I've been concentrating on items to make for a craft stall and neglected my painting which is my first love. I need to do more! Still, all creativity is great to me and I'm really enjoying this plethora of artistic activity!