Don't Forget To Fly........And Goodbye

Have faith, let go and fly off into the deep blue yonder. Take a risk, apply for that design team......... Even when you think you don't have a chance in hell. My last post as a Creative Team Member for Finnabair.  What a ride. What an honour. What fun. This experience has been the most positive thing, creatively, that could have ever happened to me.  Thank you Anna.

Full details and a step by step of how this was made is HERE on the Finnabair blog.

Feel Connected

Starting and ending and in between is the best part........... the process. Random bits of pretty paper glued onto a heavy sheet of mixed media paper. Where's this going?

Draw a face.......because I like them Highlight bits you like Block out bits you don't

Draw and paint in some extra detail Add some colour and some stamps

Add some texture and pattern Sometimes it's just the little details that I get lost in.

A more detailed step by step is up on the Finnabair blog HERE with a list of materials used.

Faces Pattern Collage

I love to explore the possibilities of all mixed media. There is still so much to learn. I understand the workings and characteristics of a few, but I am a master of none. This constant search for new, untried mediums and then, once found, the excited and sometimes frustrating play that comes next, is, for me, what art is all about. This constant practice, exploration and learning is pretty much at the heart of why I try to make art. I have always had a deep love for detailed pattern....Moroccan tiles, Indian paisley etc. and this month I've been inspired by the beautiful work of artists Anne Bagby and Lynne Perrella who use faces, pattern and collage in the most exquisite ways. As a Creative Team member for Finnabair, I have explored my love of faces, pattern and collage, using pretty much only her fabulous products for this double page journal spread.

You can find a detailed step by step of my process HERE on the Finnabair blog.

Texture.....Paper and The Real Thing

I set myself a fun challenge........to recreate a piece of texture "look" paper. Using Finnabair texture mediums like White Crackle Texture Paste, Art Stones and Rust and Patina Pastes, I created a textured background on a wooden block.  I used the paper on the sides of the block and hoped it would blend in with the front.

More details of all products used and a step by step is up on the Finnabair blog HERE.

Art Journal........ Colour

Playing with Dina Wakley colour. #showusyourMEdia challenge on the Dina Wakley blog. HERE

Fear is a great discourager..........

But, perfection is boring.

That's why I create. It's a challenge. To try to be a master of my medium.

It will never happen......because nothing is ever "perfect" and there in lies the beauty.

In your journal, nothing has to be perfect. Anything and everything is allowed.

Scribble Sticks, stamps and paint.

Coloured pencils and Gold Texture paste.

Check out the Dina Wakley blog and play along with her #showusyourMEdia challenge.

Art Journal

Paper, collage, a little bit of paint, stencil,  stamps, ink and washi tape. Keeping it simple

Because there is still so much sweetness in this world.

Chakra Tags

Oh my goodness. A whole month has gone by and I have not posted anything !! Can I use the (very poor ) excuse that we have renovated, sold, packed up and moved out of our house (after 25 years ) and moved into and set up temporary accommodation in a teeny, tiny, fairy house, well that's what it feels like to me, and I have absolutely NO idea where anything is, and am feeling a little disoriented? Amongst the chaos, in a small bedroom, which is now my studio, I have managed to complete the last  2 of eight chipboard tags representing the Seven Chakras. See previous posts HERE and HEAR

These tags have been made using predominantly beautiful Finnabair products. Detailed step by step tutorials can be found on the Finnabair blog HERE, HERE and HERE showing how each tag was made. It was a beautiful indulgence making this complete set and looking more deeply into the ideas behind Hindu Chakras, Yoga, Mindfulness and Spirituality.

Thanks for visiting. Namaste. 

Oxygen: A Contradiction

I over-think things, and this often leads me in giddy circles. Oxygen, the very thing that supports life is the same thing that slowly destroys it. With time, skin cells, soft, supple and smooth become hard, brittle and full of cracks and lines when exposed to the air.

Here a plastic irrigation dripper connector has been turned into a piece of rusty pipe using Finnabair's wonderful ( and so easy to use ) Rust and Patina Effect Pastes.

Finnabair Clear Crackle Texture Paste.....layered on thickly and allowed to dry naturally.

Textured background, rusted petals.

Shimmer and shine from Finnabair Sparks Acrylic paints and rust and corrosion from Finnabair Rust Effect Pastes. We can not live without oxygen, so perhaps, like the Japanese,.. we should embrace the process of ageing. Wabi-sabi....a view centred on the acceptance of transience and imperfection: The idea that beauty can be impermanent, imperfect and incomplete. Step by step process and list of materials used on the Finnabair blog HERE.

Opal Magic Wax and the Colour Purple

The colour purple. It's not a colour I use a lot. This project, a little 6"x 6" cradled wooden board, was going to be coloured in greens. Plans change. Finnabair's new Opal Magic Waxes are neautral in the tin. A kind of white, creamy colour. When you apply them to a black or dark surface they "magically" become a colour. So, after painting all the metal embellishments with black gesso, I started rubbing on some wax, thinking it was Green Brocade, but it was Royal Robes, and it was beautiful.

You don't need a lot of art materials to create magic.........just some black gesso, a tin of Finnabair Opal Magic Wax and a tin of Metallique Wax.

Step by step tutorial and full list of materials used are on the Finnabair blog HERE.