Inspiration overload

Today was Maisie day. She paid her usual trip to the studio for painting and general mess making. She then decided that I needed a handy man. So off she went hammering and fixing. Just not sure how I ended up with more holes than I started with..!!!

I wonder who she gets it from..??

Need to tell you about 2 fab new books that came in, and are flying out already. They are packed with inspiration and ideas and I feel they are a must.

The first is by Susan Tuttle with a great idea of a virtual art exhibition. She has gathered 36 mixed media artists together, with samples of their work ranging from collage to assemblage. Each artist gives a fascinating insight into their thought and work process and there are plenty of examples and step by steps. My favourite bit of the book are the ten art challenges to kick start your creativity. If this book doesn't inspire you I will be amazed.

The 2nd is by Sheri Gaynor and again contains artwork, and personal experiences from the 12 contributing artists. Creative Awakenings is a workshop in a book teaching you to realize your dreams and giving you the creative exercises, tools and techniques to use along the way. My fave thing in this book, if I have to narrow it down , is the Transformation deck of cards at the back of the book which will challenge you and push you further along the road of self discovery. They are just gorgeous and I can feel a handmade set coming along, lol.

We have also finally received re stocks of Claudines latest book set. Again another one I love. Don't be misled by the word Scrapbooker in the title. This book and sets of card decks are just fab for finding inspiration through colour in many art forms. There are one set of colour cards and one set of prompts. The idea is to mix and match to kick start your art process. There is also a book full of ideas and galleries to assist you along the way.

Which to start with thats the problem..

Enjoy xx

The kids done good.

Got loads of the kids work to show you today, but first need to show you this from one of my Tuesday night ladies, the lovely Jane. They have been silk painting and she has really excelled at it. Unfortunately I seem to have deleted the full size photo of her work. She hand copied a Tiffany design and painted it. I think she has done a cracking job.

So now onto the kids. Katie is relatively new to the class and has made this beautiful book. It is made from a 7gypsies board book.

I mean really, how fab is that..???

And once again fabby journal pages from my 11-13 yr olds.

These are Georginas

Ellies

and Anne

How cool are they...??? They will soon be giving me a run for my money..???

Enjoy xx

Boots are back!!

What's happened to the weather..?? Its wet, cold and miserable - or maybe that's me!!! No seriously is that it..?? Is summer over for this year..?? I had to resurrect my dockers and furry knickers llmao. Ooh I,m such a lady..!!

Forgot to say 2 thank yous to the weekend ladies. First to the lovely Val on Saturday and then the lovely Sara on Sunday. Both brought me along bags of my fave , Thornton's toffees. Thanks darlings always appreciated.

So on to today's class. We were doing the large canvas. I just live this class the results are soooo funny. This is my sample with all the kids and Maisie. Fun isn't it.

This class always has to be limited in numbers as the canvas's are so big we cant fit many around the table.

Have to show you these little beauties that the lovely Jane brought along for shoe watch. They are just so cool.

I had to take this full length photo of her for you. She is so goddam co-ordinated, lol. Even her pinny is pink!!

Onto the kids class, they are finishing off their silk paintings here's some of the completed master pieces.

I,m now skiving through the Tuesday night ladies. Not really skiving , but they just don't need the benefit of my amazing experience this evening ( how redundant do I feel, sob sob). So I am writing this early whilst listening to Oleta Adams. Love her and brings back many memories. What happened to her..??

What a show and tell!!

Yayy love Art Journal classes. My ladies are really getting the hang of it now and are producing some stunning work. Even thought they are really messy lol

We had four beginners join us today. They were make the journal, pages and all, from scratch , and learning some paint techniques. And what a fantastic job they did. Just hope that my regulars didn't frighten them away with their banter!!

The regulars were continuing with the theme of colour in emotions and feelings. They each had to pick a card that depicted an emotion and its colour and they had to create a journal page around it. I was expecting a lot of resistance about it, but they surprised me and rose to the challenge beautifully. Some pages just "happened" and other pages needed an inspiration starer or a little bit of tweaking but the were all fabby. They should all feel extremely proud of themselves for creating such work.

Here are Pat and Jeannes pages.

Sara and Teresa.

Bezzie Su and Jeanne

And Sarah.

Sara brought in this journal page that she had made at home. She had carefully sewn threads onto felt and added tags.

The figure is beautifully hand beaded.

Here's the back of the page. This side is even on handmade felt!!

Nearly all the embellishments are made by hand.

Don't you just love the beaded hair..?? Her attention to detail is amazing and we were all left in awe at her wonderful work.

Jeanne aka Chocolate Lady brought in her first ever ATC. She had even made and decorated a box to keep it in.Gorgeous isn't it..??

And Katie popped back in to finish off some of the art work she needs for her University interview. Here's some pics of one of her paintings on a 12 x 12 in canvas.

I just love it and have twisted her arm to make me one. Ooh can't wait.

Enjoy xx

Will I ever grow up??

Great class today. It was the 7gypsies tag album. You all know I love my 7gypsies and I love technique workshops and this was a combination of the two, Fabby.Due to the Flower Show traffic we had a bit of a late start and that combined with a lively bunch of students made for a challenging and hilarious workshop. I love it when we seem to laugh for most of the day. Here they are having lunch. Yes I allowed them lunch today lol.

Not sure what Helen's doing here. Think shes singing opera!!!!

Running around after a large class means flatties. So today's shoe watch is little ballerina pumps.

The Goddess came and assisted me today. Thank goodness she did. Ten mins before the class started I broke my glasses. I pulled out the spare pair from my bag to find they were broken as well. So The Goddess shot off home to find me another pair. She is my hero!!

Even though she took this odd photo of me. As you can see I haven't morphed overnight into a young lady. But I have put my beloved dockers to one side whilst the sun is shining.

Its my fave tomorrow, Art Journals. Yayy!! I've loads of pages to show you tomorrow.

Enjoy xx

Magazines

1 down, 6 to go!!!

Its a need not a want !!!!!!

I haven't time to do much blogging tonight. Look what arrived in the post this morning. Yes enough magazines to sink a battleship. And they all need to be given the quick once over , just in case!!! So I,m sat in bed, mug of tea in hand, nails painted black and all beauty preparations completed. Ooh cant wait to dive in.

Been a bad girl today. Ems and I have spent most of the day completing the tax return, and formulating a new business plan. Heavy stuff, so thought I would just have a quick stroll around the shops. Not sure how it happened but I came away with these little beauties....

Love the front ruffle...

Unfortunately these fabby dabby's seem to have come home with me as well...

And yes I know that, yet again, they are black and high and strappy. And yes I know they are very similar to lots I've already got, but it always pays to be prepared and have a few pairs in reserve in case there's a war.!!!! Well that's what I,m sticking with any way.

Enjoy xx

Scooooooby Dooooooby Shoes

My gorgeous little Maisie stayed over last night as usual and we had an early start this morning.
Apparently my back garden has become over run with monsters. So we set out armed with our Scooby Doo van and monster catcher. Here's the first one lured into our net.

What do we do with it now??

Lets give it to Laura to hold while we have a think.

Ooooh there's another one. Maisie was right we are over run.

Quick lets formulate a plan of action.

I know we,ll wrap them tightly in Mama's tea towel, so they cant escape.

And then we will perform a ritual banishing dance.

Well that seemed to work because by 8.15 am my garden was totally clear of monsters. If you are having trouble with them in your garden I am sure she will be only too happy to come and help.

I did a load of colour Art Journalling in the garden this morning and got sun burnt. How bad is that??? I usually seem to miss the only two days of summer that we ever have, and was so engrossed in my art I never even thought of the sun. I was fine till I got in the bath, then I knew about it,lol.

All the kids weekly workshops have started back up again, and I just wanted to show you this Work In Progress that one of my older girls is doing. Its a pair of papier mache shoes.

She covered a pair of her own shoes in cling wrap and then built the papier mache up around them. Love the relief hearts on the heel.

Here's Sophie with her shoes. I have made her promise to bring them back when they are finished so we can have a proper shoe watch.

Might have to commission a pair myself..!!

Enjoy xx