Last year was not the most productive year I've had. I made fewer cards than the previous year (though not by a lot) and did a lot less other art (mostly explained by 2019's output including a series of art cards and about half of the projects from that year's Wanderlust). My favourite project of… Continue reading Last year and this
This Christmas bunny is just right for the last of the individual cards I needed to make for those relatives who really appreciate them. The sky background is the first lesson in the Starlight Starbright class from Sandy Allnock over on Art Classes. It's a really simple one, but anyone who uses with Copic markers… Continue reading Christmas bunny
My only real plan when I started making these cards was that I wanted to make some striped panels to use as the base. I have a box of card scraps and the smaller bits get cut into randomly sized strips to use on things like this. I quickly decided that I didn't want a… Continue reading Striped joy
This is the basic design I planned to use when I was thinking about making this batch of cards, but it is not the technique I was hoping to experiment with. I had thought that I would use the Alcohol Lift Ink pad that has been lurking in my stash for ages along with the… Continue reading Alcohol ink Merry Christmas
Another simple, small batch of Christmas cards. I'm not sure how many more cards I'll make this year — I have a couple more ideas that I definitely want to have a go at, but I'm also super aware of time passing and also that Royal Mail deliveries have been getting a bit sluggish since… Continue reading Let it snow snowflakes
This little batch of cards was inspired by Julie Fei-Fan Balzer's Hand-stamped Trees. Over the years I have carved a handful of small stamps; I gathered them up and selected a few that felt like the patterns would work together. Rather than use tape, I cut out a simple triangle stencil for the tree shape… Continue reading Stamped Christmas tree
Alongside creating the abstract landscapes and this canvas, Laly Mille also wanted us to start to identify our art language — the colours, mark-making, textures, materials, formats and compositions that resonate. I'm starting to get a feel for the colours I like working with and texture is definitely something that is important to me. Mark-making… Continue reading Artist Soul canvas
At the end of October, Laly Mille ran The Artist Soul online retreat, a short course packed with inspiration for creating abstract artworks. I am a fan of Laly's art style and have created a couple of pieces based on classes she has run before: river and rocks from Wanderlust 2019 and the more recent… Continue reading Artist Soul abstract landscapes
After making the set with the gold snowflakes on red, I pondered making a more contemporary set with silver snowflakes on purple — I quickly decided that it would be a nice alternative and would give me another much-needed small batch of cards — and so I did. It's very rare that I repeat designs,… Continue reading Silver snowflakes on purple
I did think about turning this little dragon into a pendulum card — I'd seen a card by Jennifer McGuire and this digi seemed like a good candidate for the technique. I do like to try out different card styles every now and again, but when it came to colouring him, I changed my mind… Continue reading Dragon on bauble
After completing the Winter Storybook mini class from Sandy Allnock over on Art-Classes, I was inspired to go back to the City Sidewalks mini class. I made a start on it last year, though I didn't get past making a card based on the first lesson. Normally I follow along closely with the classes first… Continue reading Snowman in the park
Series: Mandala Makers 2020 #3 After going back to black and white basics for week two of Rachel Evans White’s free Mandala Makers 2020 class, week three drew inspiration from natural forms, reintroduced colour, and used the mandala as a frame for text. Once again, I am making no effort to plan these designs, I… Continue reading Mandala #3
This is the fifth of this year’s Copic-coloured Christmas cards and this one is based on the final lesson in the Winter Storybook class from Sandy Allnock over on Art-Classes. I'm a lot happier with the trees on this card; I made the main one a little more substantial than the ones on the cat… Continue reading Christmas sheep in rainbow forest
This is the fourth of this year’s Copic-coloured Christmas cards and this one is based on the fourth lesson in the Winter Storybook class from Sandy Allnock over on Art-Classes. I really like the graphic mountain range, along with the snowstorm effect. This was definitely one that needed a reference image to work from —… Continue reading Christmas dog in the mountains
This is the third of this year’s Copic-coloured Christmas cards and this one is based on the third lesson in the Winter Storybook class from Sandy Allnock over on Art-Classes. I really need to work on drawing tree shapes; these are verging on spooky rather than wintry. The snow helps though... Like the little sheep… Continue reading Christmas cat in the woods
Crafty Rat 