Gingerbread men and reindeer

Hi, It has been a very busy few days. I had a stall at a local craft fair last weekend and I have spent a lot of time making things for the fair. I have made some cute little reindeer. The pattern came from the Craftseller magazine which I really enjoy. Unfortunately the magazine is being stopped which is such a shame. I have also made some gingerbread men. I have made advent calendars as well. I love making things for Christmas. Now its time to start stitching cards for my mum and mum in law.

Christmas Card

Hi, I haven't posted for ages. I have been away on holiday to the Yorkshire Dales. The autumn colours are spectacular this year and the weather was very kind to us. We did lots of walking, drinking tea and eating cake what could be better. I have been teaching my courses and frantically making Christmas decorations for the fast approaching fairs. A friend asked me to design and draw a Christmas card for the local church. I had great fun drawing the card and was happy with the final result. Just a few photos of the finished drawing.

Even More Doll Dresses

Hi, Just a very short post today just to let you see the other doll dresses I have made. I love how cute these are particularly the polka dot strapless dress.

More Doll dresses.

Hi, It is nearly time to go back to work. I have a lot of stitching to do for Christmas and I have cut out my Advent calendars but first I wanted to make a few more doll dresses. I completed five cute little numbers and have a further eight to go so watch this space. Here are the completed dresses.

I love the spot fabric it is great for these little dresses.

Doll dresses

Hi, I had a lovely busy time catching up with friends last week and now its time to get back to painting and making. I have a commission for a painting of a wedding bouquet to complete. I finished the drawing and begun the painting but have a long way to go. My stock of doll dresses has reduced drastically and I need to spend some time at the sewing machine. I have made three cute dresses and have more cut out ready to stitch. I hate to say it but Christmas will arrive all too soon and I have lots of lovely Advent Calendars to make and some children's height charts to sew. Back to the painting and sewing with no delay.

Holiday in Austria

Hi, I have just returned from my holiday in Austria. We had a fantastic time and very hot weather. Austria is a lovely country to visit and the scenery is spectacular. We camped as usual just outside Lofer and I managed to do some sketching. Here are a few of the sketches I made.

View up the river at the camp site.

A quick sketch made of the Geological trail a short walk up the valley from Lofer.

Two small sketches completed at Konigsee.

Konigsee

Sketch made whilst waiting for the bird flight display at Hohenwerfen.

Photograph of the view sketched.

Sketch of the Gross glockner on a spare envelope.

Photograph of the mountain.

Sketch of Krimml Upper Falls.

Very quick sketch looking up the valley towards the upper Krimml falls.

Peony painting update number three.

Hi, Just a quick update, I have finished the painting of a peony. Overall I am pleased with the completed painting and really enjoyed painting the stems and adding the reddish colour. The leaves took a long time to finish but I think I have achieved enough contrast between the their top and bottom surface. At the moment I am working hard on my dress. So its back to sewing.

Peony painting update number 2

Hi, Lots of things happening here. My son has had his masters results and we are very proud of him. I am still painting the Peony painting. It has taken a lot longer than I expected because I have had a lot of other demands on my time. I want to make my dress for my sons graduation. I have cut the pieces out and now need to get on with the sewing. Today, however, I have given some time to my painting. I have painted all the top surface of the leaves trying to create some shine. I have adjusted the colour with a glaze as they were a little too bright. I have now started working on the backs of the leaves which are a more greyish green than the top surface. I am using the same colour mixes. After I have painted the backs of the leaves I want to add a little red on the leaf edges.

Peony painting update.

Hi, most of my classes have nearly finished for the summer and I have had a lot of paper work to complete for them. I haven't had a lot of time for the actual painting but I have managed to tackle a couple of the peony leaves.

I am using sennelier paints for this project and I really like them. I know some artists prefer other makes but these paints are very creamy and lovely to apply on the fabriano artistico paper I am using. I wanted to create the effect of light striking the leaves. The leaves are not glossy but do have a slight shine. The under surface of the leaves is a more subdued shade and more blue. My drawing has a lot of backs of leaves for me to tackle but I will complete the top surfaces first. I also have more leaves to draw for the centre flower stem.

Peony Flowers in watercolour.

Hi, Another very busy week. My son is home for university and looking for a job. I had a lot of get together's with friends which was great but I am afraid I have eaten much too much cake. My current projects have been to finish a crocheted fairy light bunting decoration which I began a long time ago. I used the pattern from the craft seller magazine. I have lots of cotton left over to make a second set. I think the bunting is fun and very cheerful.

 I have also started a painting of Peony flowers. These flowers are absolutely beautiful and cry out to be painted. I have purchased several bunches of flowers over the last week to try and get the flowers to open enough for me to paint the last flower. Eventually I managed to get one flower to open for me to paint. It is so frustrating when the flowers won't open. The paint I used was Sennelier helios purple and it a lovely match for the flowers. I love the outer petals and sepals which add a real splash of colour.

I have purchased yet another bunch of flowers to work on the leaves.

Painting with Acrylics

Hi, My husband and both my sons have gone to the rugby final at Twickenham today. I thought it would be a good opportunity to have a play with the acrylic paints I had bought for my birthday about four years ago. I have always meant to have a go painting with acrylics but the time has flown by. I paint in watercolours so this is very different for me. Acrylics can be used like watercolours but I wanted to try and paint with them more like oil paints. I have had a lovely time painting a coastal scene and although its not  a great painting, for a first attempt, I am rather pleased with it. It is very different from watercolour being able to paint light over dark colours. The foreground needs a like more work. More definition is needed on the grasses but I ran out of time. It is lovely to take the time to have a go at something new.

 This is the first stages completed. I covered the cliffs and the foreground with a general background of the relevant colours. The aim was then to add more details when it was dry. The next stage was to tackle the sea.













This is the virtually completed painting. More finer details are needed to the grasses in the foreground.

The scene painted was taken from a photograph of the Cornwall coast.

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.