Fruits and veggies

Hello

Yet again the month has flown by with no time for real art but I really wanted to join in with my friend Rike  who has been the host for November at     AJJ theme fruit and veggies
I chose to make a page on one of my favourite fruits - grapes, which I love in both formats ...on the vine or in my glass :)
My page is digitally created using elements from various digi kits but the background is a photo of a mixed-media (paints and stencils) page I created some time back.

thanks for stopping by...
Gill x

Sweet Dream

A digitally designed piece (using elements from various digi-kits) for  AJJ Dreams or Wishes hosted by Eileen of The Artful Crafter

I wish I could have joined in more this month with Eileen's theme; it was right up my street as I am spending a lot of time dreaming about moving and wishing that all the jobs needed to be done in preparation for that were finished :)

Sorry due to lack of time I have not blogged or visited anyone this month - but, aiming to have a lazy weekend and will visit as many blogs as possible and hopefully make a little art too.

Bye for now     

                            

 Gill x

 

Fill your paper with your dreams for AJJ

I have a digital page today  for Art Journal Journey  'Polka-Dots, Stripes, Plaids  hosted by Erika of BIOARTGal
Sorry I haven't joined in more this month...
My craft room is upside down with a sort of organised chaos :) at present while I am decluttering* and  attempting to pack some less needed things away in order to make the room/house look more presentable for the time when we can get an Estate Agent in to value property. (*with the amount of stuff I/we have this feels like it will take forever ha ha)

My digital piece is made up of my own scanned geli prints and dotty stencil work, digitally drawn cartoon girl and then I added stitched flowers and other stitching all done using the software programme used to create the whole page. 

all for me today,

back to wrapping and boxing up :( 

....hope you have a great day...

Gill xx

Polka-Dots, Stripes, Plaids for AJJ

Wow this month is flying by ... I'd hoped to have posted a second piece by now for Art Journal Journey  'Polka-Dots, Stripes, Plaids  hosted by Erika of BIOARTGal
but here I am at last with the finished page I started at beginning of month which I finished one morning about 6am after laying in bed for a good hour or so not being able to sleep thinking about decorating, decluttering and stuff. Surprised I managed to cut out the butterflies reasonably well at that hour, and yes the cutting off of the antennae and drawing them in was intentional ha ha :)

All for now...

Will catch up with comments asap..

Have a great new week

Gill x

Wherever you go...

Oh my...it's the 8th already and I'd hoped to have posted by now.... so my first piece for this month Art Journal Journey is just a simple digital page. The fun theme this month is 'Polka-Dots, Stripes, Plaids or Patterns'  aka 'PSPP' and is hosted by the lovely Erika of BIOARTGal

  My head has been a bit all over the place for the last couple of weeks nothing serious - and hopefully a good thing. I've been wanting to move home, away from here for a while and now hubby is on board with this idea too we are investigating the where to etc etc... having lived here for over 20 years its a big thing to think about....

I did start a page on the 1st and then I saw that the previous collaged/painted double pages in my journal of the Blackbird from August was going to stick together* if I flattened the book in my book press - so it needed a coating of candle (does everyone do this I wonder or have other methods? - I rub the side of a candle over finished pages to try to stop that* happening) .... but then I couldn't find the candles...anyhow... I've since found a candle, flattened and gessoed  the page eventually after finding my old Gesso dried up... and for now I'm having a mental block....arghhh....  :)

 

I needed to make a card...  and because I now keep rough stamped copies of previous cards on paper that I can put in my stamping platform it makes it easier to reproduce again if need be.. this is so useful when having a mental block..

and the Altenew 'watercolour doodles' are fairly quick with the layering system and adds colour quickly and this design is a loose design with the colours going over the lines to give an arty hand coloured look.

Thanks for stopping by...

hope your weekend is going well...

will catch up with you soon.

Gill x

Flower girl for AJJ and a big thank you x

Hello everyone...

August seems to have flown by so fast - there's just one more day left

 for our AJJ 'anything with eyes' challenge so this will be my last page. 

This is a mix of watercolour painting and digital - I hope you like it :)

Before any digital alterations she looked like this

I used black pigment pen and white Posca paint pen for details on her eyes.

 I scanned my painting and then, using my favourite digital software, cut out the flowers in her hair and added them back on top of the original painting with some shadow making it look more 3d.
 

 I also added some other digital bits for some of the flower centres and

 some flower-swag looking things that I made ages ago.

 

 and then finished by adding a quote digitally too.

 'Eye' had a lot of fun with this theme and visiting all who joined in.. 

what an amazing  selection of beautiful pages for 'anything with eyes'

  

Thanks everyone and thanks for all the wonderful comments left for me. 

I am now looking forward to the next theme in September

 and wishing that host a fun month too :)

And its Friday...so... have a great weekend
Thanks for stopping by...

Gill x

Eyes are watching.. everywhere ... for AJJ

For  AJJ 'anything with eyes' I had fun in my a5 journal stencilling first with black gesso and then stamping with the eye stamp by Visable image. Added colour and even more stencilling using Portfolio water soluble crayons,  Stabilo all and other coloured pencils.  Finished by adding digital words because it seems to be that cameras are everywhere.. in the sky and on the ground....

Until next next time...

Thanks so much for stopping by

Gill x

Garden Birds

My double page spread for my AJJ ....'anything with eyes' theme and because my garden is always full of birds I am also linking this project to TIOT  theme 'In my garden there is' 

I started with an image torn from a bird food catalogue which was on nice thick paper and used Winsor and Newton Galeria matt medium to stick it down. 

 I tried to choose acrylic paint colours close to the image as possible and mixed them with the matt medium. I then randomly painted splodges to fill the remaining white space on the left page but tried to paint some background looking flower blooms on the right side.

 Then to blend image more into backgroound, I extended the branches and added some leaves and buds - I used PaperArtsy French Roast Fresco Finish  paint.

I finished with a digital quote ..... not certain who it is by.

My feathered garden friends have played a big part in our life over the last 20 or so years :)

And while I am forever out in the garden feeding the birds, Dave is usually in the kitchen looking after my food needs and is busy baking all sorts of things.... breads on this occassion :)

 OK that's all for today,

Thanks for stopping by..

Gill x

Lots of things with eyes

My page today for my   AJJ 'anything with eyes    theme started with dictionary pages pasted in my a5 journal followed by a layer of gesso, then I drew my lady in T-shirt and coloured with Reeves Gouache and coloured pencils. Quote by Mark Twain.

And more extra eyes... I have some really old fabric paints to use up so I thought I would  stencil a face on to an unloved old T-shirt

final result after adding some extra glitter fabric paint and extra hair on top. For some reason this looks like T-shirt is beige instead of pale yellow.

and yesterday was the start of our annual 2 day air show - I just watched again from our garden

Spitfire and Hurricane

some 'Pitt planes' drew a lovely smiley face in the sky - the planes are not shown as they were so high up and too small to see.

There wasn't too much wind and the face stayed in the sky for a while

this month AJJ challenge 'Anything with eyes'

hope to see you there :)

OK that's all from me for today I'm off to watch more planes...

Thanks for stopping by...

Happy Friday - hope you have a great weekend.

Gill x

Be Unique... for AJJ

For   AJJ 'anything with eyes'   a quick post from me today as 'The painter' (as in decorator) is waiting to move my PC desk away from wall to continue decorating our lounge.

I have a fun piece on a A5 page in my journal using Winsor & Newton Designer Gouache, coloured pencils, white Posca pen and Stabilo all pencils.

Thanks for stopping by..

Have a great day..

Gill x

You are not a number......for AJJ

Today for AJJ 'anything with eyes'

for my mixed media page I slung a mix of watercolour paints, acrylic inks and water soluble crayons on my background.
 I found several sheets of colourful numbers (thick stickers) in my stash to use up which I thought fitted nicely with the wording used  (White Posca paint pen)and I also used some of the fab TH vintage people die cuts.

In case you can't read my writing ..it says ' Your value is more than a number' and 'a good decision is based in knowledge not a number'

It's Friday.. have a great day

 and wonderful weekend.

Thanks for stopping by...

Gill x

For AJJ 'Anything with eyes' .. what do you see?

My page for my AJJ ....'anything with eyes'
What do you see?....  the answer is at the bottom of post :)

A mix media A5 page using gouache, watercolours and water soluble crayons, black and white Posca pen and a digital quote.

What did you see? ... did you see the word 'eye' on her face.... I started with the word and then drew the rest from there.

this month AJJ challenge 'Anything with eyes'

hope to see you there :)

but before I go I have a digital MOO for the 'Butterflies challenge'
over at MOO Mania and more
 that was created with my own digital art and photos.

OK that's all for today,

Thanks for stopping by..

Gill x

Anything with eyes....Barn Owl..... for AJJ

I did enjoy creating my page today for  AJJ 'anything with eyes'
as I had a sweet Barn Owl ornament that I was using as a reference looking at me with its mesmerising eyes and the look that made me think he was probably wondering how much longer he was going to have to sit there posing for me :)

I did a rough sketch in my A5 journal and painted using a mix of  Reeves Gouache, Rowney Water colours and Coloured pencils.

And in case you are wondering, the tall red thing (below) to the right is a recycled perfume atomiser (you have to pump the top up and down to build up pressure) ...good for spritzing paints or anything else....

Sadly we don't get Barn Owls in our garden but we do get lots of other birds...

answer.... It's an eye of a Wood Pigeon

I was privileged to see (for the first time)  a Wood pigeon feeding its young.

The young bird is known as a squab.

I think the adult is one of our regular visitors and 

use to seeing me so wasn't phased by me using the camera. 

They seem to have a funny ritual where it looks like 

the  'squab' nudges and cuddles its parent.

It is not common to see Wood pigeons bring such a young bird and feed in a garden. 

I have seen juvenile Wood Pigeons but never one as young and small as this.

 Unlike most garden birds, Wood pigeons have the ability to make a milk 

and feed its young from its crop. 

this month AJJ challenge 'Anything with eyes'

hope to see you there :)

OK that's all for today...

Thanks for stopping by...

Happy Friday - hope you have a great weekend.

Gill x