Wedding Cake

Hi, I was asked to make the wedding cake for my sons girlfriends brother. It was great fun and I really enjoyed it although it was nerve racking transporting it to the venue. I finished the cake on the Friday before the event. The bottom tier was a fruit cake and the top tier was a sponge. I really enjoyed creating the quilted effect on the top tier and overall I think it worked well. I love this shade of purple. Now its back to the sewing and painting. My son will graduate in July and I want to make a dress to wear for the occasion. I have some lovely fabric that is blue/grey with a little white spot. I have bought the shoes and the bag already so in a couple of weeks time I had better start making the dress.

Corsage or Button hole painting.

Hi, This has turned out to be a typical bank holiday weekend. I have just come in from the garden having spent time fighting with those sticky type of weeds that seem to be every where at the moment and my husband is decorating. Although I must admit the decorating has been on going since January. I have however completed the painting of a corsage or button hole. The colours are pretty good although the rose colour was hard to match. I have also baked two sponge cakes. I have been asked to make a wedding cake for friends which is exciting and I baked the fruit cake several weeks ago. I will freeze the sponge cakes ready for decorating in nearly a couple of weeks time.

Button hole painting and doll clothes.

Back to work this week after the Easter break. My Tuesday students are painting Biden plants with the aim of adding a Fuchsia and a Pelargonium to the composition. My Wednesday class are painting Aqualegia flowers. It is lovely to see all the plants in the garden growing well. The sunshine certainly makes a difference. I have begun a new painting of a button hole flower from a photograph of my friends sons wedding. I hope to make available custom orders for customers to have wedding button holes or corsages painted as lovely keepsakes. The rose was very pretty and had a hot colour feel to it. I am gradually building up the depth of the colour and using some lovely oranges. I have used Sennelier paints for this project. I love these paints and use them more and more.

                                                                                                                            I have to continue to build up the colour on the rose. I have not yet achieved the depth I would like. I have also completed knitting a jumper and cap for 18" Doll. The pattern I used was by A Jacknitts Design by Jacqueline Gibb which can be purchased from her Etsy shop. These patterns are lovely to follow.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               I have also sewn from my own patterns some dresses to fashion dolls. I have some great daisy print fabric and decided it would make pretty summer dresses. I made three styles of dress. I particularly like the full skirted dress.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

Painting a Slipper Orchid Part 4.

Hi, I have completed the painting of the Slipper Orchid. I did'nt have a lot to do but I am glad that it is finished. I used the same colour combinations to achieve the markings
which I applied to the sepals. I added the shading to the sepals before applying the markings. I find when using Fabriano Artistico paper this technique works much better and prevents any smudging of the markings. I then applied the markings to the stems and finally I added all the tiny individual hairs. This particular plant is very hairy. Overall I am pleased with the results.

Painting a Slipper Orchid Part 3

Hi, I have nearly finished my painting of the Slipper Orchid. I added the hairs to complete the flower on the left. I then tackled the flower from the back view. This was a little more tricky because I had to make sure all the markings on the petals were more subtle and softer. I used the same colour combinations as for the first flower but made them a weaker mix. The side petal patterning was achieved by applying the pattern with the brush and then gently dabbing the applied paint whilst wet with kitchen role to soften the effect. The final stages were to add the hairs to the flower where appropriate. I applied a flat green wash to the stems and the sepals varying the green as I proceeded. All that is left to finish is the patterning to the stem and all the hairs. The stems on these plants are very hairy.