Art Class - Calla Lily

Yellow Calla Lillies

Art class this week we had to find a picture by a favourite artist and do our own version.  My picture is based on 'Calla Lily' by Tamara de Lempicka.  I brought in my own fairly life-like plastic lillies and borrowed a vase from the studio. I used Lempicka's composition, vase of flowers and a present, and copied some of the leaves from her painting as well as trying to do a similar background to hers.  The painting is not as clean and smooth as I would have liked as the acrylic paper I used had quite a rough canvas texture. I found painting the glass vase quite difficult and left it until last.  Not a good idea as I had to finish the painting off at home without the vase to refer to. The actual vase was made of green glass but I decided this would make the painting too dark so I painted it as clear glass.  My background is not quite as blue as the photograph makes it look. Friendly critique, good or bad would be welcome.

Lesley x

Art Class - Amaryllis

Amaryllis Picotee

We've been looking at different artists for homework, Georgia O'Keeffe being one of them.  I just love her enlarged flower paintings.  For Christmas my sister-in-law, Sandra gave me an Amaryllis bulb which flowered for over a month sending up three different flower stalks, which flowered one after the other. I took a photo of one of the flowers meaning to send her a copy via Facebook but never got round to it. Anyway, I remembered the photo and decided to have a go at painting a copy, in the style of an O'Keeffe.  First I drew it in my sketchbook and coloured in with Spectrum Noir colouring pencils, then the next day I scaled it up onto a board and painted it in Acrylic paints.  I am pleased with the result and will definitely do more close-ups of flowers from my own photographs. 

Lesley x

Claritystamp Challenge - Clocks

The inspiration for my Claritystamp card this month came to me as I was going through all the nursery rhymes I could remember trying to comfort a poorly grandson. My daughter seemed to know far more verses to Hickory Dickory Dock than me, although I have a suspicion a few of them might have been made up.  

Stamps:  Claritystamps NDC Celtic Square, Calligraphy Corner, Fob watch, Mice on a Crescent, Letterbox set
Inks: Archival Black and Coffee, Adirondack various colours
Stencils:   Claritystamp Stripes stencil
Other: Theuva card, Claritystamp stencil brushes, pens black and sepia, Spectrum Noir Pencils, Clear embossing powder, black Sharpie pen

You will need to make a mask for the clock case.  Stamp the Celtic Square and Calligraphy Corner on a piece of copier paper. Draw the case which is mainly rectangles around the stamped images.  Notice the central line which helped me keep the design symmetrical. Cut out carefully with a craft knife.  You will need both the inney and outey. Also make a mask for the Fob Watch, clock face only, the Celtic Square and a small circle for the pendulum bob.

You don't want the top of the Fob watch or the hour hand to stamp so cover them with masking tape before inking with Archival black, remove the masking tape and then stamp onto Theuva card.  Mask the clockface  and stamp NDC Celtic Square on top.

Cover with masks. (Pendulum bob mask added after the photo was taken, nearly forgot it!)

Brush on inks to colour the clock case. I started with Butterscotch, then Peach Bellini and finally Cranberry. Use some copier paper to mask the horizontal edges and make them stand out more.  Barbara Gray used this technique to create a table in one of her demos on the TV.  When you are happy with your wood colour, cover with the inney mask with the inner rectangle removed and add more colour to darken the inside rectangle. I used a couple of strips of paper to create some highlights. Remove all the masks and stamp the Calligraphy Corner with Archival Coffee, second generation ink at the top.

Draw round the edges with a sepia pen and ruler. Add the hour hand with a black pen. Stamp on the mice. I have to admit here that I have cut up my Mice on a Crescent stamp to make four separate mice stamps no longer on a crescent. Don't tell Barbara.

For the wallpaper effect, mask the clock then brush colour through the Stripes stencil. Butterscotch at the bottom and Denim at the top.

Mask the wallpaper and brush on ink for the flooring. I used what was left on my brushes from the wallpaper to make a green. Enhance the shading on the clock case and colour in the clock face with Spectrum Noir pencils.

Trim, edge with Verdigris Promaker and mount on white card. The text was stamped onto white card using the Letterbox set, heat embossed then cut out, edged with a Sharpie pen and fixed to the card.

Hope this is some inspiration for you.  I will be sending the card to my grandson who is better now.

Lesley x