Road Trip

I am back from a fabulous weekend at the North of England Woodworking & Power Tools Show in Harrogate working with the lovely Lynn Courteney promoting Jo Sonjas Acrylic Paints & Mediums. With a total attendance over the weekend of over 8,500 people, we had a brilliant time showing off the paints and all the different effects you can achieve. We met some wonderful people and were looked after admirably by Margaret who catered to our every need.

I must confess that I'm enjoying a much quieter day today .... ;)

Here are some pics for you to enjoy ... Lynn and I enjoying a peaceful moment, some gorgeous carved rocking horses (right up my street!!) and Lynn doing her stuff with the lovely customers.

Thanks Harrogate, it was awesome fun :)

Off the Radar ...

Hi All

I'm afraid to say that I've been 'missing in action' for a while as unfortunately my non-arty life has been busy and distracted me from my artiness!!!  The major impact has been some long overdue painting (sadly the decorating kind...) which required me to sacrifice my studio space ... *deep sigh*. Well the job is done (almost) and the studio is getting back to normal if you can ever call it that!  The good news is that I temporarily managed to squat in the study in a small corner of my hubby's desk and have gradually been moving myself in...lol.  No more hopping from dining room to studio and back again ... all my papers in one place and near the printers, bookshelves etc.  It sounds like a minor thing but it will make things soooo much easier :)  We do have to have a line down the middle of the desk though or there will be trouble ..... haha.

So now that I'm back 'online' what have I been doing...?

I went to a fabulous 'Junk Journal' workshop with Kate Crane at The Artistic Stamper yesterday, which was great fun!  Jennie looked after us so well and spoilt us with a fabulous lunch and cake.  Kate is such a lovely teacher and is so generous with her time and skills.  I learned so much and even though I didn't finish my journal during the class, I'm feeling hugely inspired.   For some reason my mojo didn't make the journey with me to Faversham, and I was feeling a bit out of sorts :(  I've had a busy few weeks so I was probably feeling a bit tired and run-down which was really frustrating as I had been waiting for this class for ages.  I didn't let it deter me though and decided that I would just potter during the class and soak up the atmosphere and Kate's advice and bring it all home with me for another day.  Sometimes in class we can put ourselves under so much pressure to finish our project pieces that we can get stressed by it all and not enjoy the process so much.  Has anyone ever felt like that?  I know I have, which is why I try not to put myself under too much pressure on the day.  These classes, whilst hugely enjoyable, can be extremely tiring and especially when long journeys are involved too.  I'm now looking forward to setting some time aside to work through the rest of my journal ... :).  I also had a lovely chat with Kate about 21 Secrets, which I had signed up for this year.  Unfortunately, time is running out to finish all the lessons but I'm determined to work through as many as I can before the end of December!!  Look out for 21 Secrets 2014 ... I may have to sign up for that one too..... ;)

I think I'll leave my other adventures for another day ... I'm off to Harrogate this weekend to demonstrate at the North of England Woodworkers & Power Tools show so shall look forward to sharing this with you next week.

Until then .... happy painting

Liz x

29 Faces ... still catching up !!

I'm not doing very well so far on the '29 Faces' challenge!  I'm catching up slowly, so here's No's 5, 6, 7 and 8 ... and with a bit of luck I may be up-to-date by the time Day 29 comes along ... ;)

I really like the plain face against the bold colour here

Really bold colour here which is unusual for me, quite pleased with the outcome though

Not keen on the hair here ... I may need to collage over it !

I really like the colours here and how the size and position of the face works with the  background

I'm still working with the Dylusions Inks and Stabilo All pencils, but experimenting with different backgrounds and trying some bolder more colourful approaches.  It's funny that sometimes I'm not sure about the background but once I've drawn a face over it, it seems better somehow....

Thanks so much to those who have visited and left lovely comments, it means a lot to me.

Until next time ...

Liz x

WOYWW 223

Hi Woyww-ers

It's Wednesday again and I'm getting back into my 'groove' now that school is back and I'm delighted to have spent some time in the studio.  One of my 'new school year' resolutions is to work through and finish some of the online classes I've started..... There are so many fabulous classes out there that I'm like a child in a sweet shop and I just want them all!!!  I currently have about 4 that I've signed up for so I really need to get on with it ...lol!

So, on my desk today ...

One of the classes I'm doing is '52 Card Pick-Up' by Stephanie Ackerman and these are my 52 playing cards.  I'm preparing all the backgrounds first and then working through all the cards.  The 5 in front have been coated in tissue paper with a swipe of gesso.  Holes have been punched in the corner so I can attach them all to a large ring.

In the background you can also see 3 little birdhouses which I'm working on for a class project, and as always, those little Percy Piglets hiding too!

Thanks for your visit and I hope you're having a great week.  For more info on this blog-hopping extravaganza, visit Julia over at The Stamping Ground.

Until next time ... happy painting ...

Liz x

29 Faces

Regular visitors will know that I've had a fascination with drawing faces ever since I attended Dina Wakley's fabulous workshop at Art from the Heart earlier this year.  I think I must be addicted ...!!  Well, as you know practice makes perfect so I'm so pleased to have found this great challenge, running throughout September (so I'm a bit behind already) but looking forward to pushing myself to sketch a face every day for the rest of the month!  I don't want to bombard you with daily posts so I think I may group them together every couple of days ... wish me luck!!

Just a couple to get you started ...

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

These have all been created using Dylusions Inks with stamps and stencils as a background - I had lots of prepared pages as I put together a holiday book to take away with me and didn't finish them all!  I can then add a sketched face using the Stabilo All pencil in different colours.  This pencil is AWESOME!  It works a bit like a watercolour pencil but so much better ... be warned though because you need a very light touch with the water otherwise it can become a big grungy mess!!!!

Thanks for visiting and I look forward to sharing more faces with you soon ...

Liz x

WOYWW

Hi Woyww-ers

It's here again and I'm happy to be back in the studio after a long summer holiday!  To be perfectly honest, I always have plans to try and keep to my usual routine, but other stuff just seems to get in the way!  I have no excuse as my son is a teenager and really doesn't need my constant presence, but I feel a bit guilty abandoning him completely for hours and hours at a time!  I really don't know why I should, he does it to me when he gets engrossed on the Xbox or his laptop .... lol!!  The joys of motherhood ... eh?

Anyway, first job of the day was to have a bit of a tidy up!!  So I am treating you to a before and after pic!  I was in a bit of a rush before I went on holiday so left it in a bit of a mess!  Tut tut ... try not to judge me too harshly ... ;)

Before .... *covers eyes*

Eeek ... creative chaos reigns ...

 After ...

All ready for my Thursday class and a bit of die-cutting with my new Tim Holtz dies purchased last week :)

Hope you're all having a fabulous week and if you have children back at school, enjoying some peace and quiet and 'me' time!  Pop over to Julia's to find out more about this wonderful Wednesday blog-hop and thanks for visiting.

Until next time ...

Liz x

Holiday Faces

I'm a bit out of sync with this post as I've been back from my hols a week already! But the Tim-fest took priority as I'm sure you'll understand.

Anyway, as I was packing to go away, I couldn't bear to leave ALL my arty things behind cos there's nothing worse than having time and the urge to be creative and having no materials with you!  I put together a 'travel kit' and spent a happy half-hour prepping a small sketchbook with loads of inky backgrounds and stamps, all ready for sketches.  Funny how when time is short, you get the best results!

All I needed to pack was my tin of Stabilo All Pencils in a range of colours, a pencil sharper and my water brush!  Easy peasy ...

So I managed a few sketches sitting round by the pool .... not a bad life eh???

I created the backgrounds using Dylusions Inks and a selection of stencils and in some cases, stamped over them using some of Dyan Reaveley's background stamps.  I'm thinking about adding phrases now and a few additional bits n pieces so will have to show you the final piece later!  I don't know about you but I frequently have work in progress which gets completed in stages ... it used to really frustrate me but now I try and 'go with the flow'.

Until next time ... happy painting ... or in today's case 'inking'...

Liz x