Christmas card fun with a dash of pain.

Every year I have a mad panic

right at Christmas time

as I haven't made any cards

and usually I beg Little Miss to make

cards for me.

She is really clever with stamps 

and design and she is only 12.

This year I was determined to make 

at least a few cards myself.

Now you can forget stamping

as I couldn't stamp the side of a barn,

so I decided to do some

quick

 (yeah right)

water colour cards.

I started with some thin

(that was my first mistake)

smooth

(that was my second mistake)

water colour paper and cut

it to size for cards.

 Then drew some baubles

and used the gloopy stuff

to create quick patterns on them.

 

I wet the paper and had fun

blobbing dots of colour into

the background.

My teacher has taught me that

although I love bright colour,

I need to have some muddy

colour in there to make the colour pop.

Hence the darker background.

I painted the baubles

and she was right

the dull colour made the baubles pop.

This is before the gloop was rubbed off and

   

this was after rubbing it off.

I still need to paint in the 

little rings but getting there.

The paper started to curl 

not long after this shot and that

was the trouble, then this

 

 the paint had gone under and

all over the other side.

Plus it won't stand up 

as the paper is too thin.

So, cards take two.

I got out my good paper 

and drew up lots of just the fronts.

I will paint them up

and then cut and stick them

to proper cards.

This paper is much thicker and

has a rougher texture.

The only trouble is that this

surface doesn't keep the crisp

clean colours.

 

 They aren't too bad here

but they have dulled off a lot now.

 

I'll keep playing and hope they 

will turn out okay.

If not it's back to 

Little Miss! 

 

Birdie fun for WOYWW

Here is my desk

 

I have started on Christmas ideas

for cards and I'm reading a book

(well trying anyway)

on colours with paint.

 I'm toying with the idea of Egbert

with a Christmas pud

and if I get some time I'll paint some cards

and send them.

I noticed something on my desk today and 

it made me laugh.

My friend sent me a calendar from England

and I noticed the November page

was a couple skating in the snow.

Somehow it looks a little odd next to my window.

 It's hot and we haven't had any rain to speak of

for ages. The fountain is empty, so is my water tank

and the grass is all but dead.  Then there's 

a picture of these two all dressed up in their winter

woolies!!

I was a silly moo today,

yeah I know, what's new,

but today my silliness was fortuitous.

You see, I forgot my reading glasses

when I went to my painting class

this morning.  I had my distance glasses

but they are so distant that anything

within a few feet is a blur.

Luckily I can plop my distance glasses up on my head

and see something really close with just my eyes

but only for a short time.

I use my reading glasses for anything

that is a few feet or closer.

This can be quite a pain when you need

to move in and out as I have to keep swapping eyes.

I did try the hanging them on a cord around the neck trick

but I almost strangled myself too many times

and even the optometrist said don't bother 

trying to use the graduated glasses

(she knows me well).

Sorry, I digress,

I had to finish my Lorikeet painting today

and it was sweeping colour glaze.

It seems I'm better at this when I can't see a thing

than when I can see.

I remembered to take photos this time,

they are on my phone so apologies

for the bad shots.

 The glaze is still wet and there is a lot of shine

in the photo but the colours

are bright and wonderful in real life.

I've already started on my next one

There's only one lorikeet in this one

but you can see that can't you ;)

That's my desk for this week,

when I get the painting home

I might do a post with photos

of all the stages

if anyone is interested.

No why don't you hop on over to

Julia's Stamping Ground

and see all the other desks

around the world

this hot and dry

Wednesday.

 

 

Buntingly beautiful desk for WOYWW

Normally I would show

you a picture of my painting

right here in this spot

but yes, there is just a blank bit

because stupid here

forgot to take a photo 

of the painting and it's

still at class drying (doh)!!

Today I have something far better

 than a silly old painting,

I have BUNTING.

Not just any old ordinary bunting

but 

Lunch Lady Jan bunting,

 now that's special.

 Isn't it gorgeous!

I love the little Christmas puddings.

It came all wrapped up in the gold paper

with the Christmas ribbon

and a beautiful card.

How lucky am I???

 

I still have all the usual junk on my desk,

assorted brushes, paints and

of course my favourite

dalek pencils.

You can even see the bird I started painting

probably months ago,

I'll finish it eventually (cough, cough).

For art class last week

we were supposed to spend 15 minutes 

a day drawing our hand

in different positions

and life is too busy around here

so I only got to do one drawing.

It's not great but very handy

(sorry, I couldn't help myself).

 

Just so you don't think I'm special,

I'm a leftie, that's how I can draw a right 

hand and yes my nails are that ratty,

must file them when I get some time.

Just to finish off, here's the other

side of my room

 

I have tried hard to keep it tidy

but the mess up fairies keep

coming in the night.

That's my desk for the week,

now why don't you hop over to

Julia's desk at Stamping Ground

and see heaps of other desks

around the world

this glorious WOYWW.

Thanks again Lunch Lady Jan.

 

 

Swooshing paint for WOYWW

Boy have I had fun this week.

I painted my birds eyes, beaks

and feet. 

I couldn't see the birds feet in the photo

so I used the next best thing,

a live model

 and here he is.

My Charlie was very obliging and held

his little tootsies up everytime I needed them.

He wasn't too sure about the large birds

behind him.

I'm really pleased with how the

feet and

 faces turned out.

Here's the overall this morning

before class.

Thanks for your help with the comments

on red blobs in the background

I took them on board and 

didn't go with them.

Next came the glazing in class,

boy that was fun and scary

all at once.

 I had to leave my canvas at class

as the glaze was still wet

so these pictures were taken on my 

phone camera.

The fact you are about to see these

pictures is a miracle in itself.

I spent ages and lots of swearing,

tongue poking and yelling

but I managed to get the pictures from 

my phone to the computer.

Then it took me an hour to find where

the pictures were on the computer

but finally here they are..

This doubles as a picture of my desk,

it's at class but I forgot to take a photo

of the one at home before I actually 

cleaned it up, yep, I actually

cleaned up a bit.

I can't show a photo of a tidy desk,

that would ruin my reputation!!

The phone doesn't capture

the colours well, it's 

really bright and wonderful.

I still have more glazing to go.

My teacher said I need to do a purple layer

and I want to fix up the big wing,

it looks a bit too blobby.

 All in all I'm liking this more

and more.

Well, that's my sorta desk

for this week.

 Hop on over to 

Julia's Stamping Ground

and see other desks 

around the world

this wednesday.

P.S:  I hope all in the UK and Europe are okay after that

nasty looking storm this week.

 

 

Birds are appearing for WOYWW

I've been busy, busy

but not with art,

hence no post last week.

I have done a little in class 

and today, so here is my progress so far.

You may remember my splodges

from a few weeks ago,

here they are.

Now don't tell me you still can't see the two lorikeets,

you really should get your glasses checked!!

Okay, for those of you who are not versed in 

the art of splodges, here are the painted

versions.

 Of course they are still in the very early stages.

I'm working on the eyes, beaks and feet

at the moment.  

The paint is very loose, so that when I

glaze over the birds the colour will fill

in between the painted bits

and hopefully give it a three dimensional 

look, fingers are crossed!

This photo will give you an idea of the size

 of the canvas, it's 30" x 36", so not small. 

My desk is the usual mess

with bits plonked everywhere.

I honestly don't know how I manage

 to find the paint some days.

 

 

These are the faces so far,

I'm still tweeking them but happy 

how they are turning out.

One bird is has just taken off and the other

is hanging onto a branch,

which I still haven't painted,

and is about to fly off.

I'm thinking of glazing bright red into

the background to represent

bottle brush flowers but I'm not sure if that

will detract from the birds.

Anyone have any suggestions???

Well, I'd better fly

(excuse the pun), you know the drill,

dinner to make, animals kids to feed,

plus the pets.

Now you've seen mine why not

hop on over to 

Julia's Stamping Ground 

and see all the other desks around the world

this workdesk wednesday.

 

 

 

Back to normal abnormal for WOYWW

I was awol last week 

as I hurt my back.

Now it would be great if I could say that I 

pulled a muscle while

swinging from a chandelier in

in my bedroom 

but unfortunately

it was rather more boring than that.

I sat in my car and twisted around to get something

from the back seat and pulled a muscle,

yawn, how boring is that.

I think I'll go with the chandelier story

makes life sound much more exciting :)

I couldn't move on tuesday and wednesday

and my rotten family made me 

wander around Ikea all day thursday.

I got even, I bought lots of goodies.

My desk is also a bore this week,

still that rotten fish painting.

Here's my desk this week.

I have very gloopy glaze in the white pots.

I wasn't happy with the white reflections on the water

so I took to it with a wet cloth and rubbed it all off,

only trouble was, half the underpainting came off as well.

So I had to repaint half of it and today I reglazed

the green and white.

I'm still not happy with it

but I'm sick of the site of it,

so it's been unceremoniously

dumped sideways up on the wall to dry.

 

I just hope the pond water doesn't drip on my floor!!

Now I look at it, the darn thing looks

better from this angle,

I could call it fish swimming up hill.

Well, I hope things will be more exciting next week

as I've been playing with the birds in class,

of course I forgot my camera, so no photo.

Next week I'll take a photo

and possibly I'll do some drawing,

I feel the need, the need to scribble.

If you're still awake,

sorry it was boring this week,

hop on over to Julia's

Stamping Ground

and find some exciting things

on desks around the world

this wednesday.

 

 

Having one of those weeks.

I'm having one of those weeks!

This will be short and sweet 

as I've put my back out,

gee, I must be getting old (eeek!!).

Sitting here in agonotitis (that's nutter talk for pain!)

No art done this week,

I hope normal service will be resumed next week!!

Well, that's as normal as I can be,

which isn't all that normal really,

so maybe I should just say,

I will be posting abnormally next week.

Wow, I'm not even on pain killers

and I sound more spaced out than normal!

You never know, I might do some art on thursday 

and post about it, but then maybe not.

Okay, okay, I'm going now.

So I'll post when I can

hopefully with some art to show.

Bummer, I can't put on my 'Egbert writing' picture

as I'm on the laptop and not my computer

 and it hurts to get up,

so you'll have to tune in for the next post

 to see Egbert.

This just isn't my day!