Shadows, Collages, Small Lives(on the sofa)

For the portrait class-such a fun type of collage to do!

The other one I did-it is Mariah Carey. She had great flicked hair in the photo which I have tried to recreate through the medium of collage.

Loved the colour combination of the blue plastic on the green table with shadows.

Clarice is wondering how she got here-she feels a bit suspicious that this might not actually be a room she is in, but somebody's sketchbook. She could have sat on the sofa but prefers the floor. The table at least seems real. The doorbell goes.

Thank goodness, Pamela has arrived, with her usual mixture of good cheer and things to share. Today she has brought a pumpkin (a bit out of season but it lasted) and some large shells. Pamela wants to know about the portraits on the wall in the strange book room, but Clarice knows nothing, so that avenue of conversation is soon finished. They go home, leaving just a shadow on a painting.

Visit Hey Harriet here for more shadows from around the world.

Shiva Paint Sicks

I have some very old oil bars by Windsor and Newton which are still usable, but have gone sticky so are incredibly messy to use. I ordered a basic set of Shiva Paint Sticks (oil paint in a crayon form) from America and mainly used these. They are lovely to apply but initially messy as you have to get the hard skin off first. Yesterday I just used my fingernails and got in a big mess. Today I used a palette knife and still got in a mess but not as much! The oil paint is lovely and creamy and can be blended with fingers, a brush or a blending stump. I used my fingers. I love the way the colours blend in unexpected ways. The effect is different to anything else I have used. The face above is a made up one. The one below is from a photo of Alice Liddell.

Femme Becomes Homme

I have a couple of books of works of art owned by the Tate Gallery. I love looking through them from time to time, and came across this Picasso painting the other day. I think it is so beautiful and wanted to have a go at a copy using techniques from the portrait class. This is how it turned out! As I said in the title, femme became homme!

She looks slightly elfin with that large ear and pointy features.

The transformation begins!

Though I think he/she is wavering here a little.

Completed!

Sky, Clay, Faces

 Today we had lots of fun clay painting all over the wall, window (my personal favourite) and the door. I was trying to make the most of the rainy weather when I went to set up this morning. By the afternoon the weather was much colder-in fact had completely changed-even had a few snow flurries. As Ronnie Barker said "It's mad!" Ronnie Barker is a boy in my class-he is not named after the RB but after his Grandad. I have another Ronnie so yes, I do have the two Ronnies in my class. They are about as funny too!

It somehow felt really naughty painting all over the window. I did wash it after school!

Lunch time sky.

Home time sky

Evening sky.

Trying to correct the nose. This is another pencil and white paint picture.

I felt it needed a bit of colour!

This is my first attempt at painting in the way Misty has taught us-using layers and under painting. It is more like the way we were taught oil painting at school and it is interesting to see the different effect it has to my normal fairly flat style.

I am so glad it is Friday as this week has been really hard in some ways.

I am looking forward to a bit of a rest and then making some tiny things-a start to my

dolls house contents! I hope you have a lovely weekend too whatever you are up to!

Sky, Faces, Flowers

A great big kiss in the sky over school today, created as we watched!
I started a new online class with Misty Mawn at the weekend-more faces-but learning new techniques too. She is a good teacher. Lots of ideas to try and good advice. The main technique is not one at all-more of a policy-keep practising! This week we are working on pencil and charcoal portraits and I have done a few so far-this is my first one-from a photo of Lily Cole. The pretty red rose is no more-I over watered it, it had no drainage, and it died! I was a little put out, but it did give to the end with these dried flower heads. What is their colour? It is not quite purple-maybe maroon.
Mauve Muscari. (Reminds me of Vulturi!) I needed calming flowers when I came home last night as I had to speak in front of a meeting of four different schools-at short notice I might add! We are taking part in something called The London Challenge, which is a project to raise attainment in writing (well I think it is in general but our group has chosen to work on writing) We had to meet in our phase (age) groups, then feed back the key points from our discussion (which I also had to chair-ha ha-luckily they were all very nice) Honestly, I thought I was going to cry and half way through actually said "Sorry, I'm a little bit nervous!' Apparently I didn't sound as bad as I felt-or were they just being kind?! The other three teachers from my school who had to do it too all said they felt the same but who knows. I was speaking in front of about 60 people! I know I am banging on a bit but it was traumatic. I was pleased with myself afterwards though and I enjoyed the applause! (sympathy applause?!)
Face number two-drawn from a photo of a really beautiful girl who I have distorted somewhat. I liked doing her lips!

I needed calming flowers when I came home tonight too-the nursery felt like chaos this afternoon-lots of new children still settling in so lots needing extra reassurance and help-but they then have to be ignored for a while when other children have run into metal poles, had accidents (euphemism for pooing on the floor then trying to clear it up with a whole pack of toilet tissue then walking half of it over the floor!), had more accidents (euphemism for weeing), need help to wee, undo belts, do up shoes, turn on computers, share cars and so on. By the time it got to home time I felt exhausted! So I came home early, looked at the flowers, had a bath, did some work and then did the last drawing below. What a day!
Isn't her lacy headdress beautiful? This is my first go at a three quarter view. I like how my drawing came out but I can see how the eye on the right is not quite-right! I often hold drawings up in the mirror to see them better and looking at a photo of the drawing can help too.
Roll on the weekend. I am driving to Rugby on Saturday to pick up a 60s Bungalow I bought on eBay for £10. Not a full sized one obviously. I don't know what comes over me-well I kind of do-I read an article in Elle Decoration about this woman designer who had done up a dolls house with miniature wall papers and other amazing things. It inspired me and made me WANT ONE! There will be pictures sometime I expect.

P.S. Here is a link to Interior Divine, which has an article on the house I mentioned-it is by Emily Chalmers, owner of London shop Caravan. Visit this page even if you miss the rest out!