Art Class - Flowers in a Vase

Flowers in a Vase

Another flower still life.  I started painting a still life at class but spent so long on trying to get the red velvet tablecloth correct it was nowhere near finished. We were supposed to add a scene behind the flowers but the view I had was of just others painting, not the window overlooking the river Wensum. I came home quite despondent.  I tried adding a view overlooking my garden but couldn't get the angles of the table to fit to my windows so time to start again.  We had to look at the paintings of Elizabeth Blackadder for homework and I found one I really liked 'Flowers in a Vase'.  So this is my homage to her painting.

I started by making some Gelli prints using mixes of black and white acrylic and some stencils to cover piece of paper. Always good fun when your spirits are low and my take on adding a scene behind the flowers.

Sketched in the flowers from my original still life and then added bright colour acrylic mixed with gloss medium so that the background still showed through. The primula flowers didn't stand out enough so I gave them an undercoat of white acrylic and then a yellow glaze again.  Finally some black pen around the outlines, which might have been a step too far.  I am much happier now and might go back and have another go at finishing the original one I started in class. 

Lesley x

Easter Cards

I didn't get to see my eldest two grandsons this Easter as they were a bit poorly but receiving these Easter cards from them really brightened my day. A big thank you to Wren and Orson love

Nanny Lesley x

Claritystamp Challenge - Wee Folk

You can't help but love the new Clarity Wee folk sets, they are so versatile, so I was really pleased to see the topic for this month's challenge meant I could use them. I got so carried away that I forgot to take photos as I went along this month, but it is a fairly simple card (or should that be fairy!).

Stamps: Claritystamp Wee Folk sets 3 and 4, Large Art Nouveau Corner

Inks:      Archival black

Stencils: Clarity Seed Heads

Other:    Gelliplate, Acrylic paint (sorry can't remember exact colours used but a blue and green). Dymo labeller, Black pen, 

The background paper is a leftover from a Gelliplate session I did experimenting on printing on  fabric.  I think I took a fabric print over the Seed Head stencil then lifted the stencil and made another print with copier paper. I kept it because I liked the texture effect the fabric had left and thought it would come in useful some time. I don't think I would be able to reproduce it again but that is half the  fun of using the Gelliplate, you don't know what you are going to get.   

The stamping has all been done with black archival ink. First I stamped the Large Art Nouveau Corner then added some extra blue bells using the stamp from Wee Folk set 4.  The mushroom next, also set 4, followed by the fairies and stars from set 3. Not having a suitable sentiment stamp I used a labeller to print "Make a Wish".  After mounting the card I decided it needed a few extra swirls in the top left corner which I drew on with a black pen.  Finally a touch of shimmer was added to the fairy wings with a fine holographic glitter.

This is another version I made at the same time.  I liked the bluebell swirl better on this one but thought the background wasn't as interesting.  I also made a red version, similar to the one above and one with a shaving foam background. Hope this has given you some inspiration for your entry this month.

Lesley x