Monday 30 January 2017

Tell me a story and a fun afternoon.

Hello

Today I am showing my last piece for AJJ 'Tell me a story'  where the lovely    Erika from BioArtGal  chose the fun theme for this month. I can't believe January is over so soon, that seemed to fly by. Thanks Erika I really enjoyed your theme.
I drew around a bird die-cut (by Sheena Douglass) and used water colours and pencils. The rest is a couple of stamps and Washi tapes.

 
And now...drum roll please..... this afternoon I got the small Gelliplate out and had a lovely time playing with it and made 3 useable pages that I was quite pleased with. I even found that roller (which had been in plain sight all the time) although if you look closely at the photo you'll see its not a proper roller, but one of those things you use for taking off fluff from your clothes.... when brand new they start off sticky but that's goes eventually.
So thank you for all the encouragement and advice you left on my previous post - that really helped. 


 



On this occasion I didn't get out too many stencils or mark making bits and I also limited my colours.
I stuck the gelliplate on a clear acrylic block and used it like a stamp on my pages.

 
 
I can't wait to have another play and be more adventurous.
I also want to get some of the mini 'Gel press petites'.
I can now see this being very addictive and fun :)
 
Thank you for your comments
and stopping by.
Gill x

Sunday 29 January 2017

Tell me a story.... final part of 'The caretaker'

Hello
Hope you're having a lovely weekend.
Thanks for the lovely comments about my throat and broken washing machine... the end of the week was almost a broken pc too - but all is well..big sigh of relief... so next week I think will be a much better week.

  There's still a couple days left to join in with Erika from BioArtGal theme 'Tell me a story' for AJJ this month. I was going to post a different page today but then I thought it was a bit a mean and I should show the final part of 'The Caretaker' story.
Other than my inky background and original caretaker artwork  from one of my journals the rest is digital.
 
 
 
I was asked the other day if I had used my Gelli plate again... I confess I am scared of it (in case I ruin it) and only used it once. I had 2 as a present the Christmas before last and only tried the smaller one. So I got all of my bits out like the book recommended but got no further... I couldn't find my old brayer. Actually that's not strictly true, I found the more expensive one I keep for inks and didn't want to ruin that either (bit of a pattern developing here).
Dave thought I was daft and should have used that one and bought another...
ok so that's decided then... next opportunity I will go for it and have some messy fun!
 
I also got some 'Pastelmat' to try - if you are unfamiliar with this, its for pastel and has a sort of short pile/velour texture which apparently allows several layers of blended pastels. I think I need to get use to how this works and learn how to blend on it as I found it fairly hard to do.
It's still unfinished, but this is what I managed so far...


 I think I should have stuck to pastel sticks/pencil too as I tried Panpastels on this surface as well and they were awkward to blend.
Lots to learn I think - if you use it I would love to know your thoughts/tips - thank you.
 
Thanks for stopping by.
Hope next week is good for you.
Gill x

Thursday 26 January 2017

The Caretaker part 2 for AJJ Tell me a story

Hello
Hope everyone's having a good week. I've had a bit of a bad throat for several days but ok now. I was going to post yesterday when all of a sudden there was an almighty noise and the washing machine decided to breakdown. It's 20 years old - so I think we have had our moneys worth, but I love it so I hope it can be repaired.

Today I have a digital piece to link for AJJ theme 'Tell me a story' which is Erika from BioArtGal theme for this month. This page continues the story from a previous one The Caretaker .
I used my original real artwork and digitally cut out  'the caretaker' and then copied and pasted the image many times to go on my shelving in the laboratory. The other digital imagery is from Daisytrail (Serif Steampunk kits).


 
I wonder what happens next?
 
Thank you for stopping by
Gill x


Friday 20 January 2017

Love Story for AJJ and MM&M

Hi... another Friday again, they come around so quickly don't they?
Hope your week has been good.

I don't normally think of something I can use for both AJJ and also MM&M so I hope this is ok as
this month Erika from BioArtGal is hosting AJJ with the fab theme 'Tell me a story  and the theme currently at Moo Mania & More is 'Love'.

I started with a page using stickers, washi tape, panpastels, felt-tip pens and a little grungy stamping. Then digitally added my words, some more flowers and some vintage words and music.



I guess the equivalent to a UK 'Hen' and 'Stag' night is probably a  Bachelorette, Bachelors or Bucks party and other names depending where you live.
original page


Thank you for stopping by.
Hope you have a lovely weekend.
Gill x

Saturday 14 January 2017

Tell me a story - Ye Olde Mystery Album

Hello

Hope you are having a lovely weekend and not snowed in, flooded or having any nasty weather...  hopefully you are somewhere nice and cozy and maybe having some arty fun.
Our snow has gone today and fortunately the flooding predicted for the next town along the coast to us didn't come to much.

Today I am linking my digital page to  AJJ 'Tell me a story'  this months fun theme chosen by Erika from BioArtGal 

Thanks for the great comments on my previous AJJ page 'The Caretaker' - I haven't had time during the week to continue that story yet... so for now, here's a quick digital page...about another story.
The four lovely Egyptian elements credit & thanks to Valerie (thanks valerie x)

 
My late father gave me a photo album about 15 years ago but didn't know exactly who on his side of the family had started the album. The first photo with a date is 1902 and I am guessing that the photos here are sometime between 1902 and maybe 1914 but probably the earlier date.
The last photos in the album, towards the back, definitely are 1914-1918 as my paternal grandfather born 1896 is in some when he was in the R.A.M.C.
The photos are of soldiers, sailors, lots of boats, Pyramids, the King in Malta in 1903, a boxing match and all sorts, including a few photos possibly from the Boxer revolution that are so horrendous I could never show them.

I have managed to solve a few mysteries - one photo of a soldier had a name and address on, and I was able to trace the daughter of the soldier. It turned out that she had never seen this photo before - she told me about her father and his brothers who were all soldiers during WW1 but the connection to my family and why he was in the this album is a mystery still.

If only each photo in this mysterious album could tell its tale... I wonder what stories it would tell.

Thank you for stopping by.
I will try and catch up with your posts
that I've missed last week asap.
Gill x

Thursday 5 January 2017

Tell me a story..... 'The Caretaker'

Hi
I can't believe we are 5 days into 2017 already, hope your year has started well.
My first post for 2017 is to join in with the great new theme  'Tell me a story' at AJJ hosted this month by the lovely Erika from BioArtGal  
There's so many way to interpret this and luckily (or maybe not) I think I have always had a bit of an over active imagination so of course this theme really appeals to me.
My first piece, well what can I say.. these things just happen...no idea where this came from but I am now wondering who exactly the caretaker is and what happens next. I added some digital elements from a Serif kit called 'Robot Rust' to my own artwork.
 


my original artwork

 I can almost never remember at the end of a year if I have kept any 'New Years resolutions'... but one I did keep was that in 2015 almost every day I put a slip of paper into my 'Gratitude' jar.
The idea is that everyday you write on a slip of paper the positive things that happened on this day; things to be grateful for. Write about the things that you laugh or smile, Natures wonders, blessings, little gifts. a kindness, achievements or memorable moments. You put the papers into a jar which you then open on New Years Eve and read. It reminds you that even if your year is filled with pain, tears and life stuff, that nice things also happen.
I have started to do this again this year again and hope to have a nice full jar in December.
  

 
I'm not going say I will be doing this and this for this year but just try to do them if I can.
Which includes following some exercises from these two books.
I've done most of the first drawing exercise which was drawing about 30 cats :)


The main thing for 2017 is be happy and have fun.
 

 
 
Thank you 
for taking the time to stop by..
Gill x