PINK BLOSSOM AND COLOUR ME WEEKLY

During a lull between storms last week, we decided to visit Hilliers Arboretum.   As the sun tried to weakly shine through the clouds I managed to photograph this lovely branch of blossom - I quite like the way the sun is highlighting the petals from behind. 

I am linking this to Colour Me Weekly  

POLLEN AND WOYWW

On my work desk this week is a beautiful book on Pollen - a strange subject, I know, but I have been fascinated with pollen and have been including references to it in my work for a long time.

I have been working on several sketches and using the book as inspiration.   

Images from 'Pollen' by Rob Kesseler and Madeline Harley

 I LOVE using Winsor and Newton drawing inks but they aren't colour fast/permanent for display purposes so I only use them in sketchbooks - they are so vibrant.

Not sure where this is going - I might use it as a basis for another piece of work.  I love cutting up 'disasters' and re-using them!

I am linking this to What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday (WOYWW).  Use the link on the right to pop over and look at some fabulous and interesting arty places!

TAG TUESDAY, PURPLE AND STEAMPUNK

This weeks theme for Tag Tuesday is the colour purple.  After painting the tag with a plum coloured emulsion paint and spraying it with walnut ink I decided it had a night feel to it.

That  meant one thing to me - moths!

So here is the finished tag, with inspiration drawn from the Steampunk movement.

Steampunk is a genre that gained prominence in the 1980's, and took inspiration from authors such as  H.G.Wells and Jules Verne.  It involves a setting where steam power is still used, but includes elements of science fiction/fantasy - a Victorian vision of futuristic innovations!

This is a fairly recent purchase of mine - a wonderful book on Steampunk - it is crammed full of beautiful and interesting images.  It defines the movement as follows:

"Steam Punk is a burgeoning, counter-cultural movement; a genre, community, and art form.  The Steampunk movement seeks to recapture the spirit of invention, adventure, and craftsmanship reminiscent of early nineteenth century industrialization, in part to restore a sense of wonder to a technology-jaded world."

A small piece of Steampunk inspired work I made last year.

BIRTHDAY FLOWERS

Well, I am still on the subject of my birthday!  I was given a beautiful bunch of flowers by a very good friend of mine and they just had to be photographed.

I love the bright, zingy colours.

I am linking these to Colour Me Weekly and Mosaic Monday.  

A BIRTHDAY MOSAIC

I had a lovely birthday last week - we had a family day out and I was thoroughly spoilt.   I decided to make a photo mosaic to remember the day - my sister did a theme of red and gold and even the birthday cake, which was a delicious home-made raspberry and chocolate Torte, blended in beautifully with the colours!  The photo of the room is taken in the house where Charles Dickens was born, which is one of the places we visited on my day out (it's in Portsmouth!)

I am linking this to Mosaic Monday over at the Little Red House.

TAG TUESDAY AND SPRING FLOWERS

For Tag Tuesday this week I've taken inspiration from the beautiful blossom that is absolutely everywhere I look at the moment.

This is one of my favourites - I  love the oversized stamens!  Reaching into the depths of my memory I think it's called Blackthorn.

I made the tags using images from photos I took earlier this week.  I   threaded beads onto wires to make the exaggerated stamens, and added washi tape!

EASTER CUPCAKES

I hope you all had a lovely Easter and enjoyed the break.

I thought I'd share my Easter cupcakes with you - I was quite pleased with the way they turned out, and they didn't last very long so I count that as a resounding success!

   

Photographs: Photoshop, Kim Klassen textures and a spare hour or so!

I am linking these to Color Me Weekly over at Leaves n Bloom and Mosaic Monday over at Little Red House - click the badges on the right to visit them - it's worth it!

TAG TUESDAY AND WOYWW - EASTER THEME

I wanted to take part in Tag Tuesday this week, but realised it was already Tuesday and I hadn't got a clue what I was going to do.  So I grabbed a chicken stencil I had made a few weeks ago and 'played' for an hour!  

I mainly used walnut ink spray with copper (Moonshadow Mist) and Golden fluid acrylic, with sponges, stencil brushes and splatter techniques.

 I rather like the effect of this chicken with the old paint covered stencil - shame the stencil had to come off!

I can't say it was a resounding success, but some turned out fairly reasonable - my nephews will each get a tag on their Easter Eggs and at ages 6 and 9 they are not too artistically critical of my work!!!

I am linking this to WOYWW - take a wander over there and have a peek at other peoples work desks - the link is on the right.