Update on the Big News!

I met with Anita today. We sat drinking hot chocolate in our favourite seats at Costa Coffee (facing the window, so that we can watch the birds and the people passing by), and discussed our upcoming exhibition. We were so engrossed in conversation that we didn’t even notice that the café had closed! When we finally looked round we realised that we were the only customers there, the staff had cleaned up, and they were waiting for us to leave! Hunched over forms and a diagram of the exhibition space, Anita enjoyed telling the staff there that we were having a “business meeting”!

We made some important decisions during our “meeting”. We calculated that I will have about five metres of space to exhibit my paintings - not that I have many paintings to choose from, but it means I will be able to exhibit two triptychs instead of just one. Our theme will be “Emotions” and we will be exhibiting under the name (drum roll please)… “The Escape Artists”! We thought this was fitting as we both escape depression through art. I won’t be exhibiting the Leaf triptych this time as I don’t feel it fits in with the theme, but I am in the process of painting another, which I will post more about when it is finished. Anita will be exhibiting about five paintings of people in different relationships, and four large abstract paintings.

I feel more excited about it today than I have been during the week. I’m completely amazed that Anita wants us to be known as a “duo” rather than just individual artists, and wants us to do more exhibitions together in the future. Wow, that’s loyalty and belief! (Am I really that good??) I can’t wait until Anita has her website up and running so that you can see some of her amazing work. Here is one of her beautiful portraits of two of my nephews, which I have been “looking after” for her. It is entitled “Brotherly Love”. As usual the photography isn’t all that.

Found Art Tuesday and Big News!

Ok, so I’m a week late with my found art piece. This is for last weeks theme of “Circus”.


This piece was drawn in pen, coloured in pastels and pastel pencils, and then shiny things were stuck to the front.


The Big News
I received confirmation yesterday that I will be exhibiting with Anita in August at the local library. Yes, you read right, I will be exhibiting!

Anita is my crazy friend who has such faith in me that she asked me to exhibit with her before I’d even bought my first paint brush! I say “asked” but she hasn’t really given me the opportunity to say no! I had kept this news to myself thinking that the organiser would object to displaying the work of someone who had only started painting in January, and that it would all fall through, but obviously not. All I can say is, I’m glad I have more paintings to choose from than those from the Violent Death series! There will be a press release and posters will be displayed in the libraries of the surrounding towns. *Gulp*

I need to check the available space, but Anita has suggested I display a triptych, Red, and She’s on Fire. I need to decide by the end of this month, so that the library has time to take out insurance. Any thoughts? (Apart from "don't do it!" - I've already had that thought myself!)

Phew, That's Better!

I can now look at this painting without needing my sun glasses!


Sadly the photography doesn't always do the colours justice. This green is a lovely olive/sage colour (the other colours are cream and brown, in case you can't tell). I've fiddled with the photograph slightly, so hopefully the colours are more true to life now.

I'm told that when I said I didn't like the shade, what I really meant is that I didn't like the tone! Thank you Anita!

Triptych Abstract

I may be painting a few triptych abstracts in the near future, as my sister in law has asked me to paint one for her living room and it has set the creative cogs turning! Sunrise was one of the ideas I had for her, and although it wasn’t what my sister in law had in mind I decided to paint it anyway because I liked the design so much myself! Although a simple design, I think it is my personal favourite painting of mine to date. That being the case, I suppose it was inevitable that I wasn’t going to be entirely happy with anything I painted after it.

This one is slowly growing on me. It came out exactly as I had planned; I just don’t like it as much as Sunrise so I was disappointed when I had first finished it. I’m a little unsure about the shade of green too.

Argh, me eyes! Me eyes!

I’ve been using emulsion paint for these paintings. Originally this was so that I could get a good colour match with my sister in law's colour scheme, but they water down well and they go on well with a sponge applicator. They seem more fluid than acrylics but they’re more opaque than water colours. I also really like the matt finish. It's good to try something a little different now and again anyway. I didn't have any green emulsion so I mixed some white emulsion with green acrylic paint, which is probably why I'm not very happy with the shade because my mixing skills aren't that great yet.


Leaf - matt emulsion on canvas, 40cm x 50cm x 3.

Creatively Satisfying

Yesterday was a very creatively satisfying day for me. I managed to paint a set of three paintings in one evening. Whilst the design is very simple I think the results are very effective.



Painting this set was so enjoyable and a real confidence booster for me – it was quick, easy, and I’m really happy with the results. I was in need of a bit of a boost because, as I mentioned in my last post, I’ve been working on some paintings but still have nothing to show for my efforts. One of them is a larger version of the earlier Found Art piece “Dawn on the Blue Planet”. My husband thought the black circle looked like the pupil of an eye, and he liked the piece so much that he asked me to paint it for him. I thought it would be a relatively simple piece to paint, but the first time I painted the earth I didn’t like the angle of the shading, and the second time I painted the earth it wasn’t central in the pupil. So now I’ll have to paint it for a third time, but let me tell you; geography is not my strong point!

The other painting is the infamous “Cloud Nine” which I decided to have another go at the other night. I’m now wondering if I should do away with their hair and just have a couple of faces floating around in the sky! I should have left this one alone a long time ago…


Sunrise – matt emulsion on canvas, 40cm x 50cm x 3
Any suggestions on how to "fix" this piece would be greatly appreciated. Should I use varnish for water colours?

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.