Happy Easter

I receieved some junk mail through the post and on it was a lovely pattern of Easter eggs. I decided to rip it out and glue it into my journal and from there sparked a seasonal page.

Happy Easter everyone. Hope you have a lovely weekend with your families and don't eat too much choccy!

March Craft Space Envy

This month's craft space envy....

I love the jar idea... might have to try that!

Featured on Jennibellie

I am so excited as on Tuesday I was a featured artist on Jennibellie's blog. Please do head over there to read my interview and check out the rest of her blog and tutorials. Just click on the image below.

But if you don't head on over this is what I said...

Tell us a little bit about yourself & what kind of artist you are.

My name is Anna and I live with my childhood sweetheart (my hubby) and our two bunnies and two guinea pigs with lots of character. My “day” job or trained profession as it were is as a photographer and graphic designer. My heart lies with anything creative really and as a small child I played more with “junk” and art supplies than I did with dolls and bears and the like. My Mum always said I was happiest with an empty loo roll tube and some paint and glue and that is so true even to this day. Whatever I can get my hands on I tend to use and like Jennibellie, I am also quite thrifty. I don't tend to buy lots of paper crafting stuff, I tend to do more of it myself as it gives me more of a sense of achievement to do that (not that I am dissing people who do, just for me it doesn't give me the same sense or feeling). For a while I ignored the arty feelings I had and I did what was to me a boring HR job which I hated and it made me so ill and stressed and the creative side just kept on calling and calling. One day I gave into it and I have never been happier. I call my self a mixed media artist as I use anything and everything to create, usually canvases and if I am not doing that, then I am working in my art journal.

What is the biggest challenge you personally face as an artist and how do you overcome it?
The biggest challenge I face is not thinking that I am good enough or indeed an artist. Am I worthy of the label artist or am I just someone who paints and draws? An artist is a label that says you are good at what you do and sells loads of art. At least that is what my inner critic is always telling me! I draw something and then look at it and think “meh” but then my husband says I should stop beating myself up about it and that I am good. I don't think I ever really look at my work and think it is amazing. I look at it and think that is OK for now but I always want to strive to do better and I am always practicing Always trying to push myself. To start with I just created for me and enjoyed that process. Friends and family told me that I should sell some of my work but I didn't believe them as I thought that they were just being nice. Then one day a stranger told me they liked my work and also I recently did a mail art swap with an artist who wrote me a really inspiring letter. I gave in then and thought what have I got to loose so I opened an etsy shop. I still create for me I just happen to then sell it on. I think if you try and create art that you think other people might like then you can't do it as well as your personality and your soul and your energy does not go into the piece. What ever happens I try and stay true to me. I often look at my work and think it is not finished but I have to call it a day somewhere as I could go on and on and I have made that mistake before and then ended up ruining it. Sometimes less is more as they say and that is so true. Knowing when to stop is hard.

What is your greatest personal achievement either in your art, or because of it?
This may not seem that philosophical but my greatest achievement is selling my work because it means that other's believe in me!

What is the best thing / worst thing that art has brought into your life?

Art has definitely bought a sense of calm into my world and also an escapism. Whatever kind of day I am having, art saves me and makes me sane again. I can't think of a bad thing except for wanting to buy more supplies!

A leap into fashion and bodies...

I often struggle when it comes to drawing figures and I really don't know why as other people tell me they are easier than faces. I really want to improve on that aspect of my drawing so I was having a look on Pinterest at people to see how I could translate body shapes into my art.

I came accross this image:

 

and well I love vintage fashion anyway but I just love the illustration of these ladies. I took that on board and began to sketch my own interpretation and I wanted to share the result with you. Here she is:

I am fairly pleased with her as an initial concept. I am sure I am like many artists whereby you can't decide whether it is actually finished or not or if you want to do anything else to her. I feel at this stage I would be better to start from scratch on a new lady for fear of making this one any worse lol!

A quick page.

I just thought I would share a quick little page I did last night. It literally only took me five minutes and you can probably tell! Little bunny gazing at the stars was created using pro markers and ink pads. That is all. Simple, quick, easy and mess free!

I am happy with him, he brings me joy. In the end I couldn't bare to write anything around him which is happening to me quite a lot lately. I seem to prefer just the art on the page on it's own. No matter as long as you are happy I say!

The fluffies in my life!

We are hopefully moving house soon, we are just in the process of doing all the legal what not. I can't wait for the move. I feel like we have really out grown our little house and with working from home I so need the space! Anyhoooo, we were chatting about what we would miss about this house and just generally having a bit of a reminisce about the place and we remembered the first pets we got. In the 9 years that we have lived here we have had:

Bob (Bunny) - Lived to be 8 years old
Dexter (Bunny) - Bob's mate who unfortunately at age 5 got fly strike quite badly :(
Arthur Fonzarelli aka Fonz (Bunny) - was a rescue who was abandoned in a box so we took him in. Bob and Fonz used to fight, they did not get on. Fonz had a tumour and was approx 6 months old when he passed
Christmas Cracker (Guinea Pig) - passed on when he was about 4 due to a tumour
Larry (Guinea Pig) - passed suddenly at approx age 3, reason unknown

Splodge (Bunny) - happy and with us at the age of approx 5. She was a rescue
Nibbles (Bunny) - Splodge's 4 year old daughter, still happy and with us
Bert (Guinea Pig) - Larry's friend who is still with us at a happy age of 5
Betty (Guinea Pig) - Bought as a companion for Bert when he lost Larry. She is age 2 and happy with us.

As you can see we have had a few and they have overlapped. All the lovelies that are not with us any more are burried in the garden under their favorite spots. I was just thinking about leaving them behind and my sketchbook was open and this is the result.

I will post some pics too so you can see the fluffies! Cute-ness overload are you ready!

Passing the time away with a doodle

We haven't really watched much TV since the New Year. We were finding that we were getting sucked into pretty rubbish programmes, watching just for the sake of it really and then the evening seemed to wizz by and we felt so lethargic because of it. So we decided not to put the telly on unless there was something really specific we wanted to watch and you know we haven't really done that. I suppose some of it is probably a catch 22, we haven't had the telly on so don't know if there is anything good to watch or not. You know what though I really haven't been that bothered. We have had more energy, spoke to each other more and had the time to do other things. I have created so much more artwork since not having the telly on and I love it.

So last night we had some relaxing music on and hubby was working away on the laptop so I decided to play in my sketchbook / art journal. I had found some pencils whilst having a sort out (as you do. I swear I must have art stuff everywhere). They are only children's cheapies but still they are the only pencils I have and I fancied having a go with them. The result:

They were so hard to work with they really were. I had to scratch and dig away at the paper just to get any colour down on the page and they did not blend at all. As you can see there are lots of lines and scratches. But never mind because you know I enjoyed the process and well quite frankly that is all that matters isn't it. I didn't even feel like adding any words around her.

Book Review: Doodles Unleashed

I actually bought Doodles Unleashed as the kindle version. This was the first art book I had bought for the kindle as well, to me an art book is something I like to have in the flesh to flip through and to really appreciate the art work in the book. With this book however I was not disappointed. It probably helps though that I read it on the kindle fire which has a full colour screen so I wasn't terribly hindered in viewing the artwork.

This was a great book in my opinion. I doodle all the time, when I am on the phone, when I am thinking etc etc but I never thought of turning those doodles into a piece of art work. To me they were just rubbish scribbles. What I like about this book is you are not just told how to do it but you are also given prompts and tasks to do so if you are struggling with creativity just follow one of the tasks. Once you add colour to your doodles you really are amazed at how, well, arty they look.

I love her style of drawing faces and I love her bold use of colour. All in all this is a great addition to your book family!

Here is my video review...

**Please note this is my own personal opinion and I have created this review myself to share with others. I have not been paid, sponsored or endorsed by anyone to create provide this review** 

He brings me joy!

I just wanted to share with you a quick little page I did in my art journal. Really quick. Really simple but he brings joy to me. The page layout is so simple and no words but to me it doesn't need it, I am happy with it "just is".

I hope he brings joy to you too!

Created with cosmic shimmer sprays and a stencil for the background and then black promarker and water soluble wax crayons.

My paint brush holder

So when I showed you a quick glimpse at my workspace you also saw a little sneaky look at my paint brush holder. Well I just wanted to show you some more pictures as I am really proud of my little owl. I painted him at Crafty Monkey Potter Painting Studio in St Neots.

He is really supposed to be a plant pot holder but I think this is a much better use for him. I love looking at him as he makes me smile being as he is so bright and colourful. It inspires me and I like have fun and inspiring things around me when I am creating. How about you?

My First ATC swap - Valentine's

I took part in my very first ATC (Artist Trading Card) swap in February. I love doing mail art swaps so I thought I would give it a go. Basically you design your artwork on a piece of card that is 2 1/2 inches by 3 1/2 inches and post it to your partner and then they do the same. It was a little tricky to begin with as I have never worked that small before but I loved doing them.

The theme as it took place in February was Love and Valentine's. Super cute.

So off I went. I am posting these now rather than at the time as I wanted to wait until my receiver (Michele) had got them first as I didn't want to ruin the surprise!

The swap was organised over on the Willowing.ning site where they regularly have swaps so go along and take part too.

I hope Michele liked them and it made her smile when she opened the envelope!