Here I am, better late than never

Monday, Monday so good to me...well normally, it is the day I generally do catch up from the weekend. That was all well and good and going well till Stuart decided to come home early. He bought a chainsaw as there was a couple of trees rotten that needed to come down in the garden...so hey ho boys and their toys had to come out to play - TODAY!!!!!
I ended up being a labourer for lumberjack Stuart, not complaining about the work, bit like a work out really and lots of wood ready for the wood burner - so result on 2 counts.

Anyway I might have mentioned before that my best time for creating is as my lot walk out the door, 6.30 and I am ready to create for a couple of hours, sometimes it is productive, other times not so.

Sharing with you a piece I worked on last night as I watched Real Madrid and the piece that I worked on this morning before my plans for the day were changed

Ready for this...

Now over on Facebook I belong to a group called British Forces Brats, it is for all those who had parents in the Forces - it is a wonderful group because the people on there we all understand each other and our past lives... and believe me it IS different growing up as a Forces Brats, all the moves and having to make new friends etc.
Anyway the reason why I am telling you about this group is because one of the members Jason Bridgman is such a wordsmith, he writes the most beautiful poems reflecting on our lives and he visited my FB page and penned these words for my picture - Ian has called her Estrellita

"As she gazed at the stars with the moon in her eye,
bathed in the light of a clear lunar sky.
Earth's daughter was kissed with the simplest of things -
if we wish to the stars, may our wishes have wings"

Beautiful words Jason, Thank you....

 This girl needs more working on... not happy with her, but hey ho we all have days and pieces that don't work straight away. her nose definitely needs removing, and reworking so that is what I will do; think it is good to share that which makes us happy and that which doesn't - its good to look back and assess - so I will leave her for a while...

(Don't forget for an extra chance to win in the Giveaway, leave a comment)

Giveaway

THE GIVEWAY IS OPEN TO EVERYONE - DOESN'T MATTER WHERE YOU LIVE I WILL MAIL TO YOU IF YOU WIN - GOOD LUCK EVERYONE.

Okay I promised to announce a giveaway today and true to my word I shall.
I have a couple of items to include...little things as a runner up prize, I am unable to post pictures today as weekends in my house are pretty much no go as far as getting things done craft wise, it's family time, but I will post in the week.

Today Stuart and I went for a run out to the Woodman pub in Ide Hill.

A pleasant couple of hours with friends from the TVR Club. While there I was thinking about the Giveaway and what to offer, well this is one of the items

A Poppy painting I did with H2Os...done in a Strathmore Journal, one of the smaller ones, just checked on size it is 5.5 x 8 inches.
I am also going to create one of my ladies - not sure whether it will be Pastels, Pencil or Caran D'ache - but it will be done especially for this Giveaway.
The Draw for the Giveaway will be on the 17th March - St Patrick's day...so not too far away. To enter you will need to leave a comment on this post and then as a bonus if you comment on posts made on subsequent days up until the 17th March for each time you comment you will get put in to the draw again, so that way you will increase your chances of winning.

I will not be including comments left on Facebook, you have to return to the blog to be eligible.

So that is it, hope you join in - have fun wherever you are, here in my corner of Kent it is a grey miserable day, so this way I hope to spread a little sunshine...
Thanks for visiting xxx

PAN PASTELS

Okay you know what it is like you have supplies that you have but have never used - I was like that with my Pan Pastels...I had them in their boxes waiting for the courage to use them. I decided to watch a few videos on the Pan Pastel site; having done so I decided to bite the bullet. I took the Pans out of their boxes and put them in to palette trays - and hey presto ready to go...

Just look at all those delicious colours, mouth watering.
Anyway with some trepidation I sketched out a girl, I made her big as this was the first time I had used them and thought that using the sponges etc in small places might prove tricky. This was the end result...

Now over on Facebook  have a friend, Ian, from Alberquerque, NM he pointed out that the eyes could have more depth and pointed me in the direction to do so, I heeded his advice (he was an art teacher) as he is very talented and changed her eyes, look at this picture and see the difference darkening the bottom lid and the edge of the iris to see the difference it made...

See how it makes the eyes more realistic and gives them depth, a great tip and one I will use now in my art.

I was so amazed at how much fun I had creating this lady called "Giselle" - Ian likes to name my ladies. That of course I had to play again.

I had a fairy come to mind so I started work on her - I have to confess that there is a lot of rubbing out, amending and so on till I get to the point where I am happy with the sketch, then it is time to start adding the colour.
My fairy turned out like this - she is called "Angelique"

I have to say I love her - and hey I was so surprised at the comments on Facebook; I am now starting to believe in myself.
I had the BEST comment from Christy Sobolewski... she wrote

 I have always been able to pick out your work from a sea of artists. That is something to be proud of. I'm just glad you are creating more! So good to see that!


Seriously I can't begin to tell you how my heart soared when I read that - it told me that I had my own style, and yes I am so proud of that. 
The support I have received is beyond...and I would like to THANK YOU, all of you, who comment when I post to FB - it means the world.


And so I shall share here my newest creation, all Thanks to those delicious Pan Pastels, she is yet to be named as she is not on FB yet, do you want to see her? Here she is...

This piece is called "Penny for your thoughts"
Thanks for dropping by, the next post will be about a GIVEAWAY - I would have done it sooner but I believe some people have not been able to leave a comment, I shall use this post as a tester, if it works again, and I hope it will I will post details next time around, THANKS again

THE LAST DAY OF FEBRUARY IN THIS LEAP YEAR

I saw lots of women proposing to their fellas on this special day today, not in person but on T.V. I don't think I would ever have the nerve to propose to a man, I would fear the rejection too much - so glad that I don't have to worry about that.

What else is new as month ends.... Art Is...You posted the Workshops for Octobers retreat, oh my days, so much choice.... still not ruling out going, but we will have to wait and see.
I must admit that I would find it difficult choosing the classes to take...so for now I will just go over and over them so that I am prepared..lol

I seem to have created a lot of faces this month, nothing wrong with that, my muse spoke to me so that is what I ended up focusing on.

Such a thrill to sell a piece, she arrived safely in her new home in the U.S.A.
So as not to bore you but so I have a record for when my blog goes to print at the end of the year I thought I would share my ladies here...
if you are on Facebook you would have seen them there, but like I said this is for my blog book -

Work in Progress, final result at end of post

 Completed a piece I started at Art Is...You, a fabulous class with Nancy Lefko, she is teaching again this year.

The postman came with a package from Francine, this fabulous bust was part of the package as well as PINK BETTY BOOP HOT CHOCOLATE!!!!

My Soul sister Barbara sent me this lol, as an homage to the mice who ate some of my papers in the Boop Pad
HILARIOUS!!!!

THE PINK HOT CHOCOLATE!

A Xmas tree for my Pandora from the beautiful Francine xxx

Tried to go with darker skin tone with this lady

My Goddess page for the LifeBook 2012 project.

Ruffles and Hat

My fave picture for the month xx

So thanks for dropping by, an new month tomorrow and a give way to sort out!

Friday...

that means off to the hairdressers to get my hair done, being a curly top I prefer it straight, we always want what we don't have right? I always feel "human" again once Richard has done his magic..

Yesterday I was over in The Boop Pad, Stamford came with me for a nose, he started to get really excited, trying to get behind boxes etc...anyway I found evidence of a mouse in the house, as there was ripped up papers - so today I had to get a mouse trap. I have no problems sharing my space with a mouse if it behaved, but chewing my stuff is not a good way of being welcomed!!!

Spent time sorting out in The Boop Pad - I love my paints, especially my PaperArtsy Fresco paints
all muy lush new colours

So I promised a giveway once my blog roll showed 22500 visitors - well when I checked it was at 22499...so a giveaway is just about in order.

I have a few ideas for the Prizes...yep, that is a plural - and will do a post about it tomorrow.

For today I will share what I created..

Work In Progress

(this post was started on Friday but couldnt add photos, hence the delay)

Catching up...

Where oh where do the days go, they zing past! But hey ho lets crack on with an update.

The weekend saw the weather still bleak, so what to do on Sunday, Stuart went to meet like minded petrol heads with R8s at the Woodman, China and I stayed indoors and made this for her room...

We decorated the letters we bought at the Creative Stitches/HobbyCraft show at Bluewater the other weekend. It was fun and we were pleased with how they turned out.

Stuart and I went for a walk wit the dog to Trosley Country Park

It was cold as you can see but it was lovely to just walk and chat, quiet time for the 2 of us.

I have been busy painting and drawing and here are some of the pieces I have done since my last post

CONTEMPLATING

This was done again with the Twinks

I also did this piece too, I was quite pleased with the simplicity of her

It was fun using the Twinks, like water colours so I enjoyed the process.

Then Valentines day I went to the hospital with mum Connie for an ultrasound on her 

Thyroid, whilst there I finished off a piece I had started the night before, the 1st time I have worked on a piece in a public place, I didn't feel as awkward as I thought I might. She was done with Prisma pencils and was called Jacqueline (you have to say it with a French accent) by my friend Ian.

and these chocolate covered marshmallows hark back to my childhood.

When we lived in Germany we used to get these, well over on Facebook there is a group called British Forces Brats, for all us children of servicemen, they were chatting about stuff we used to like and I learned you could buy these in Lidl's. There is not a Lidls where I live but my mum in law Connie asked if I could take her to her Lidls whilst I was done there...is the Pope a Catholic - hell nothing was going to stop me going just to look for these yummies! and lo and behold I got some and I am so happy - it's the little things in life don't you think?

Today my friend Natalie came to visit with my God-daughter Rhosie, that was a joy - and she loves my new home. Much chinwagging later she left.

I received some goodies in the post

A gorgeous handmade book from Jean Toms as part of a Pay it Forward on Facebook 

And some Valentine goodies from my sweet hearts in the States Maddy and Maxx and of course Nonnie, Barbara - do you see the beautiful bracelet...I am one lucky lady THANKS GUYS!

And finally as I am catching up, my last piece to share this Fairy Dreamer

 Here she is, what do you think? Tried to photograph to capture the shimmer of the Twinks.

This picture was taken through the magnifier of my craft lamp just to see what would happen, if the Twinks would show, I like the way it turned out.

Well guess what people, I am not going to bore you any more...Yay, so until next time have fun out there xxx

Okay here we go again, sharing some new pics - what have I been doing? Well  here is the first picture,

POPPIES

I LOVE Poppies, always have, Poppies and Pansies my 2 favourite types of flowers.

The Twinkling H2O red was called Poppy, but I actually wasn't to sure if it was too red, so mixed with a ruby red too, any way this is the end result.

The next challenge was to try and create a group of white flowers, daisies to be exact..just to see how easy it would be to do - here we go, not the easiest, it is more about the shadows. I will give it another go, but I think I will use masking fluid next time.

Harder to do than I thought but I did enjoy the challenge.

Finally, got some irises to share with you..it was far too cold to go out any where today so obvious what I have been doing eh?

CLOSE UP trying to capture shimmer of Twinks

Iris

I have to confess I was a bit dubious about putting background

shading on this one, so I have left it at is it. I could go back to it but for now it is staying as it is.

and this was it on the creative front today a practise alphabet as part of the Joanne Sharpe Letter Love 101 class.

It was so quiet and relaxing here today as the builders are all done, the wall is complete - so no more making lots of tea. Very icy out so didn't venture far - don't normally go out at all if it is bad but the main roads were clear.

Another week has come and gone, not sure what the plans are for the weekend but we shall see...wherever you are, whatever you are doing - have fun...

Progress in Classes

I have posted pictures from the classes I am taking on my Facebook page, but as I like to make my blog in to a book at the end of the year I still post them here...the get lost on Facebook, with a book you can take it of the shelf and see progress made as you look back.

I have been enjoying the Mastering Twinks and the Letter Love 101 classes I have been taking on line, it can be a struggle to keep up, especially doing 2 classes back to back but I am endeavouring to get somethings done.

Part of the Letter Love class is practising alphabets, fonts etc. so I decided to incorporate the 2 classes in to one piece

Letter Love 101 (on left) Mastering Twinks (on right)

I have to admit I was really pleased with how the spread turned out.

Here are some more pictures of the flowers...

You don't really see the shimmer that the Twinks give this piece but it really shimmers.

As I develop my alphabets I will share the pictures with you here.

The "Great Wall of Wrotham" as we have nicknamed it is getting there, not much more to do now - one half of it is 25 metres long and the other near double that, so it has been a lot of hard work.
The cold weather hasn't helped, but keeping the builders in tea keeps them going.
Stuart has a need to have CHICKENS...can you believe it, fair enough the garden is big enough for us to keep them, but I just know I will be the one caring for them. There is a really large plot behind the garages which is wooded so that is where they will go, and I might even try to grow some veggies too..I am not the worlds most green fingered person, but hey ho - worth a try! Will let you know if that ever gets of the ground.

I am thinking that it will be time for a give way soon, haven't had one for a long time, I think when I have 23500 visitors I will go for it, so watch this space - that's it for today, gotta go and do some more lessons - till next time, BYE and Thanks for dropping by.