Found Art Tuesday

Ok, so Tuesday has come early this week (well, I normally post my Found Art Tuesday piece on a Wednesday, so it’s clear that most of the time I don’t even know what day of the week it is!) Rosa gave us the lovely theme of Joy and I just couldn’t wait to put my piece together.

The picture is of a niece and nephew of mine.


Inside I wrote:

“What’s the one thing that always makes you smile, even through the tears?
For me, it’s the happy faces of my nieces and nephews.
What brings YOU Joy?
I hope this card made you smile by making you think about what brings you Joy.”

And on the back I wrote a little about Found Art Tuesday.


I have actually been doing some painting recently, but I have nothing to post yet. I’ll write more about that later in the week as I spent the day with my sister in law yesterday and my head is still pounding from laughing so much!

Found Art Tuesday

Rosa's found art theme this week was Kindness, which brought to mind the poem by James W. Foley "Drop a Pebble in the Water".

Drop a pebble in the water:
Just a splash, and it is gone;
But there's half-a-hundred ripples
Circling on and on and on,
Spreading, spreading from the centre,
Flowing on out to the sea.
And there is no way of telling
Where the end is going to be.

Drop a pebble in the water:
In a minute you forget,
But there's little waves a-flowing,
And there's ripples circling yet,
And those little waves a-flowing
To a great big wave have grown;
You've disturbed a mighty river
Just by dropping in a stone.

Drop an unkind word, or careless:
In a minute it is gone;
But there's half-a-hundred ripples
Circling on and on and on.
They keep spreading, spreading, spreading
From the centre as they go,
And there is no way to stop them,
Once you've started them to flow.

Drop an unkind word, or careless:
In a minute you forget;
But there's little waves a-flowing,
And there's ripples circling yet,
And perhaps in some sad heart
A mighty wave of tears you've stirred,
And disturbed a life was happy
Ere you dropped that unkind word.


Drop a word of cheer and kindness:
Just a flash and it is gone;
But there's half-a-hundred ripples
Circling on and on and on,
Bearing hope and joy and comfort
On each splashing, dashing wave
Till you wouldn't believe the volume
Of the one kind word you gave.

Drop a word of cheer and kindness:
In a minute you forget;
But there's gladness still a-swelling,
And there's joy circling yet,
And you've rolled a wave of comfort
Whose sweet music can be heard
Over miles and miles of water
Just by dropping one kind word.

Ok, so my drawing isn't very impressive, but it was so much fun to draw! Isn't that what it's all about? I love creating these little pieces because they take little or no concentration and they just really make me smile whilst I'm doing them! I drew this piece in pen first, onto A5 heavy weight paper, and then coloured it in with pastels and pastel pencils. I've included the above poem on the back with a short message about Found Art Tuesday.

S.H.O.P.P.I.N.G - We're Shopping!

So today I bought this...

...which will be...

[for silly little drawings like...]

...this!

And it came in this...

Yes, a paper bag! I have made a pledge with myself that I will never collect another plastic carrier bag. Plastic is bad! So how silly did I look when I forgot my shopping bag this evening when I went to the supermarket, and had to carry a basket full of shopping in my arms out to the car, with a lettuce bulging out of my handbag?!

Anyway, back to my pretty little sketch pad... I shall use it to try out techniques that I've been wanting to try, like using white spirits with oil pastels (where did I read about that?), and for trying out groovy new things that I have bought like my new pastel pencils (yay!), and just general doodles and ideas and stuff like that. Maybe it will encourage me to draw more often because it's a nice size to slip into my handbag, next to the lettuce and cheese.

Found Art Tuesday

Rosa’s Found Art theme for us this week was “Face”. I struggled with this theme, only being able to think of either a clock face or a human face. I wanted to make something a little different as well, as so far all of my found art pieces have been drawings or paintings on A5 paper. I toyed with the idea of making a hand mirror out of papier-mâché, but after playing around with Adobe Photoshop for a while I came up with this instead.




I started with a photo of my nephew (looking very thoughtful) and applied the “Stamp” effect, then painted the image onto a CD covered in gesso. Thank you Jafabrit for the idea of recycling old CD’s and records in art! I think this is quite a nice image for an album!

Apart from this it has been a rather uneventful week for me as far as art goes. I’ve been making preparations for projects by buying materials and taking photographs, that sort of thing, and mentally making lots of plans, but last night when I tried to put those plans into action I discovered my confidence was missing and I’m not sure where I left it. If you see it anywhere please let me know. I want it back!

Found Art Tuesday

I really loved Rosa’s Found Art theme this week of “A Good Message”, so I got a little carried away and made three!





Now I just have to decide where to leave them!

They were very simple to make, but so enjoyable. I was singing Sheryl Crow’s “Love is a Good Thing” while I was making them and I noticed on more than one occasion that I was actually smiling to myself whilst painting! Is this normal?

I am enjoying art so much now. My only regret is that I have wasted 20 years.

Degas' Ballerinas

I was incredibly lazy with my last chalk pastel drawing, that of the Last Supper. After drawing the detail on Jesus I told myself it didn’t matter about the others, as he was the main focal point anyway. It would have been difficult to draw detail on the Apostles in the background as they were so small, but I really should have made more effort with the one sitting closest to Jesus. Oh well, we learn by our mistakes, and this time I did my drawing in stages to avoid getting bored or tired. Actually, I feel that every piece is now a learning experience and only a stepping stone to the next piece. I am continually learning, and gradually my confidence is growing, allowing me to try more difficult pieces.




Surprisingly (to me anyway) I’m finding that I enjoy using the chalk pastels more than the oil pastels. I found the chalks incredibly messy to start with, but the most frustrating thing was that the picture I was working on would become smudged so easily. I’m finding ways around that problem now – I start on the left (as I am right handed) and spray the piece with varnish at various stages. I used cotton buds on this piece to blend the smaller areas which worked much better than using my fingers, but I still struggle with detail as the corners of my pastels have been worn down. I’m thinking I need pencils!


Chalk Pastels on A5 heavy weight paper