Remember the hummingbird that took me so long to turn into something I was happy with? Well, this is another project from that class: the Artful Academy Visible Image Mini Collection. This was inspired by the lesson from Lisa Taggart and it took me almost as long to make as the hummingbird, but only because… Continue reading Artful Academy butterflies
I have posted this little house before, but now it has been turned into a birthday card for my brother whose house this is a flattering portrait of. I wasn't planning on using it like this — though it would definitely have ended up being given to him at some point — but I just… Continue reading House portrait – update
Series: Artful Academy 2020 journal #9 Unlike all the previous months which had a single prompt word, August's tutor used the theme of "recycle" but also used "grateful" as a separate prompt word. I decided to keep it simple and stick with just "recycle". I went literal with the design, basing it off the Recycle… Continue reading Artful Academy journal – August
There was a definite phase earlier this year when I simply could not properly focus on anything that needed any planning so my creativity was basically being prompted by things that went past on Twitter or wherever. This time it was a painted leaf that reminded me I’d pressed a few leaves last autumn. And… Continue reading Metal striped leaf
This is another "from the stash" card. My brain is still not in card-designing mode at all, which is a bit worrying as I really should be thinking about starting on Christmas cards soon. The bunny and the toadstools are two Some Odd Girl digistamps that I combined on my Mac and coloured during one… Continue reading Bunny in the woods
Series: Artful Academy 2020 journal #8 July's theme for the Artful Academy Art Journalling Challenge 2020 was "story". These are the sort of prompts that give me the most trouble — "think of a story that inspires you to use as inspiration for your art journal page" — now, I love reading fiction, but I… Continue reading Artful Academy journal – July
This abstract was inspired by Becky Wood over on Twitter. She makes a small piece of art every day — I've given up trying to do specific daily practice, it just doesn't work for me — and changes the style or theme every month. March's theme used a bold stroke of colour over a background… Continue reading Red swipe abstract
I posted this card back at the end of July before I had decided what to do with it. I thought it might get used for my other half's mum's birthday, but I wanted to leave my options open. In the end that's what I decided to do, though it was going to need a… Continue reading Butterflies and flowers – update
This is definitely not a book review, it's just me getting an annoyance out of my brain that has been bugging me since I read a pair of books about art and I'm hoping that after writing it down I can forget about it. Early last year I read A Short Book about Drawing by… Continue reading Not a book review
I was about to say that I only really use my acrylic paints for colour and texture on mixed media work and that I never really just paint with them. Then I started wondering if that was actually true so I had a quick search in my blog archives and realised that I have used… Continue reading Simple acrylic landscape
According to my spreadsheet — yes, I keep a spreadsheet listing all the cards I make and who they get given to, how else am I supposed to keep track? — according to my spreadsheet, this is handmade card number 600 🎉 I have been doing this since 2014 so that's averaging around two a… Continue reading Junkyard robot
Series: Artful Academy 2020 journal #7 I like the background — made with my ivy stencil and layers of paint and pen — and I like the foreground. They just really don't belong together. Maybe if I'd made the background more green than blue, using the complementary colour of red, it would have been better.… Continue reading Artful Academy journal – June
This is literally junk. Or at least it was before I got my black paint out. I'd been using cotton buds to put blobs of colour on the top of some acrylic paint bottles so I could quickly see which was which. And then I'd wiped the excess paint off onto a piece of card;… Continue reading Abstract negative painting
The last three years I have made "clever" cards for my other half's birthday — twist and pop, interactive, and tunnel — but nothing had inspired me for this year. I had a hunt around Pinterest and really nothing was sparking any ideas. So I had to go back to basics. I've had the Lucy… Continue reading Voyage to Venus
Series: Artful Academy 2020 journal #6 May's prompt was "quotes" so I really couldn't avoid using words on this one. Trying to find a quote that wasn't over-used or twee or without any meaning for me was difficult though; I have a few collected in my notes, but nothing was speaking to me. But there… Continue reading Artful Academy journal – May
Crafty Rat 