Loving lifebook!

I'm taking two courses this year,  it's great to learn a few new techniques and give myself the push to create new things.  One of them is lifebook with the amazing teacher Tamara Laporte and her guest teachers.  The other is "A year of painting" with the lovely inspirational Alena Hennessy.

The first two photos are of my lifebook lesson last week.  Patti Ballard inspired us to create a ballerina type figure and this was my take on it.  I was inspired by the vintage photos of circus folk taken on hanging moons.

The second two photos are a painting I have been working on for a few weeks now and finally finished.  She was originally inspired by Tam ' s "beacon of light" lesson although mine looks nothing like the original I was inspired by the light coming from the figure. .I decided to do a moon child, and if course she had to have an owl!

Blending Gelli prints with photos

Here's something that takes Gelli printing to a new level! I've been experimenting with blending layers of photos together as part of the colab artistry course with Alena Hennessy and Susan Tuttle.  In this course Alena introduces painting backgrounds and photographing them to incorporate into your photo art.

So I thought. .. Why not try it with Gelli prints too! The first photo is of a Gelli print I made. . Using several layers of textures,  grasses and stencils.  The second photo is of my local hill. .It's got a lovely distinctive shape doesn't it!

The final photo is of the two blended together in layers in my Android apps. This one was photoblender but I also love superimpose. 

What do you think? 

Gelli print giveaway on my Facebook page!

This is the first blog post I have done in a long long time,  for two reasons:
1. I get really caught up in the doing of my art and tend to not get round to writing a blog
2. I am much better at doing than writing!

But at the moment I am having a giveaway on my Facebook page of one of my monoprints,  and several people asked me to share my process.  So here goes (and I hope I get this right as I am posting from my mobile! )

I can't express how much I love my Gelli plate!  Monoprinting is such an exciting process,  as you never quite know what you are going to get until the final pull. Sometimes it is looking great then you add one more layer and it all goes wrong.  But the great thing about monoprinting is that you can just begin again ~ and also I have discovered recently that by drawing into my monoprints you can transform them in new ways! 

Here I have put down the first layer,  using some masks I cut from plastic dividers.  Sometimes I use the stencils and sometimes the masks,  usually a combination of both and I work two or more prints at a time,  pulling the first print then a ghost print on the second sheet.  

Here's the first layer!  

And Here is the second layer on two prints.  

And a third. ..I have also used textures to press into the Gelli plate. . Bubble wrap,  sequin waste,  hessian,  sometimes I use textured wallpaper or old buttons.  Anything goes! 

This photo is a bit blurry but shows the final layer of the lightest trees at the front plus a ground where I only layered paint on the bottom of the Gelli plate.  

Now,  once it it's dry I start drawing with my trusty posca paint pens!  Outlining the trees..

And drawing details such as dots, leaves, branches, and a moon.  

The final photo shows the finished piece.  Hope you like it! 

If you like what you see follow my Facebook page  www.facebook.com/Art.By.LucyBrydon

and click through to there to enter my giveaway! Just remember to be a liker of my page, and like the giveaway post which is pinned to the top. good luck! 

101 Art Days: Day 3

Here's a little fairy. She is called Feeorin

I created her using layers of paper, drips of acrylic and painted her using oils. 

I am feeling so inspired by the group of artists I am working with, to create all these art pieces in 101 days. We are really motivating each other, encouraging and inspiring. 

Someone in the group suggested compiling some themes to work by, and I have mentally noted some of my own. One of which is fairy folk so here is the first one. 

101 Art Days, Day 2: 

continuing with the Native American theme today, as I had more than one background already prepared. 

This one had an image of a Native American girl, some old maps of the United States, and a stamp in the corner. I had overlaid it with a stencil of a flying bird.

 Work in progress adding layers of oil paint

And here she is just about finished I think. I am going to call it "Earth teach me freedom (as the eagle soars high)"

Someone asked me today why I chose a Native American subject matter... Well, a long time ago I spent a whole summer on a reservation, the Blackfoot reservation in Montana, helping out with a family business, going to ceremonies and gathering information for my history of art dissertation. Since then I have had an interest in their culture, but also the cultures of Nomadic people in general..gypsies, travellers, Native Americans... (psst this may be a hint for the book idea!!) 

101 Art days: Day 1!

Well, 101 art days got off to a flying start. I do so hope I can keep up the momentum. 

I decided to start of by reworking some old pieces I am no longer happy with, and also I have some backgrounds I have prepared which I have never done anything with, so now is the ideal opportunity to get going with these and no longer have them as failures or unfinished pieces laying around my house!

I made 3 Native American inspired backgrounds last year, and dug one of them out to work on today.

 I have been mulling over an idea in my head lately for an illustrated book, and while I don't want to give too much away I will just say that these backgrounds were the ideal starting point and I'm kind of thinking these 101 art days might just be the push I need to do something about it. 

So I painted a Native American girl onto the canvas to go with the background.

Here are some details showing the background

I haven't come up with a title yet, I shall mull it over first... 

Well it has been a while since I last blogged! 

What has been a good motivator is recently joining in with a group of other artists on facebook. We are spurring each other on and encouraging each other to blog, set up Esty shops, and get more work done in general! 

We have also set ourselves a challenge. Since watching an amazing TED talk video where the artist set herself a goal to create 100 artworks in 100 days we are all determined to do something similar. We have called it the 101 days challenge. For some it may be 101 artworks in 101 days, and for others an artwork a week over 101 days. I haven't quite decided what mine shall be, although I suspect it shall be more along the lines of an artwork a week for 101 days. Anyhow, it is encouraging us all to get going and create create create! 

Here is the link to the TED talk that started the whole process:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKXmw7uZc5U

so, starting on the 1st of June I shall be a hive of creativity and attempt to blog more often. I am also setting up an Etsy shop and will post the link once it is set up. 

Here are some of the paintings I have been working on recently