Oh Captain!

Based on Beth Ditto

Tattoo

I got a tattoo yesterday so I wanted to remember how I felt as it was
such a positive thing. This is what I remember seeing as it was being
done. I tried to do Dave's actual arm tattoo but my memory could be
slightly wrong.

Leo the dalmation

Luna and Cuba

Weinerarmer

Bobby the dog

First dog I haven't known I've painted. Thought it might be weird as I
don't like dogs much, but studying the fur it's totally different to
cats. The eyes were tricky cause at first I shaped them too much like
a cat. Dogs have rounder eyes so once I noticed that it came together.
I'm happy enough with it to do more when my square canvases show up.

Plans

Darren from Big Paw Gifts is coming over on Wednesday night to discuss 'sale or return' on my cat art. He has a website which sells pet related gifts, like photo frames, clocks, toys and paintings.

I have 5 paintings and some greetings cards I can let him have. He'll be putting them on the website, and taking them round craft fairs, which means that if I don't go to a craft fair, some of my work will still be there.

So for now, I'd better focus on pet paintings for a while. They're what I like painting anyway, but now I have a reason to paint them. I've got a couple of paintings planned after our trip - one of the church at Rudding park, one of the crumbling castle in Knaresborough, and then I want to do a series of shop counters and or craft fair tables, with portraits of people who inspire me (the first was obviously Heidi's sweet shop)

View from the window

What being on holiday means at the moment

Ian napping, I'm drawing in the mirror

Etsy Blogger of the Month

Featured Etsy Blogger of the month - Design by Nora

Nora has many beautiful and varied items in her shop, including these lovely handmade studs, all at reduced prices.



These small flower studs are only $8 (about £5.67) and free shipping if you're in the United States.

Her uncle has been making leather purses for 30 years for companies such as Isabella Fiore and Goldenbleu, and Nora has a wonderful selection of them in her shop.



Alice's Purse by Design by Nora

The only problem I have with this shop is that there is no International shipping. The earrings would be very inexpensive to post, and Nora could open her audience up substantially by offering postage to Europe - I know lots of people over here, particularly in Scandinavia, can afford to spend more on handmade, unique items than the US can at the moment.

Fire Mandala

Fire Mandala
Originally uploaded by peskychloe

I bought a canvas set - as it was cheap, and came with paintbrushes and 3 tubes of paint - without realising it was ready printed. I didn't like the colours included (pink and brown), so I used the basic outline, but replaced it with my own colouring.

I used very thick paint, and as I was painting it, it started shaping up as flames, instead of 'The Setting Sun' it was described as on the packaging. I did plan to use white or gold once it was dry, but after hanging it up, I decided to leave it just as it was.

Turtle for Emily

Fiona's Abstracts

Fi asked me to paint some red abstracts for her living room. I've seen
it so I had some idea of colour. However I've not really done any. I
read some books on abstract expressionism (jasper johns, Jackson
pollock) which explained that with abstracts it's not about what it
looks like as much as the method.

For these I used twisting circular strokes, and long sweeping strokes.
I also dripped paint on, and used an icing bag to pick out the main
shape in White. To finish it off I used shimmering red so it catches
the light.

I'm sort of pleased with them, mainly as fi likes them. In our house
it's mainly cats, and paintings ian and I have done which we've given
each other, generally flowers and more cats. I couldn't really comment
on whether they're any good as we don't really have much to do with
abstract art.