Mega Post

Well I haven't posted for a while and a lot has been created so as I was deciding what to include here the list grew longer and longer so I thought I'd just throw it all together. It's going to be a long post but there are lots of pictures, that makes it much more fun than just words! 

If you follow my instagram (link to the right!) You may have seen many of these, if not but you want to keep up with my creatings instagram is my most up to date social media so go check it out!

A while ago I decided that I wanted to have a go at lino printing. Something I'd never actually done myself but seen other people doing it over the years and every time I'd want to give it a go. So I bought myself a starter kit and got cutting. This was actually done on the small test piece of soft lino and came out quite good. I like my little Felix rat.

Lino cutting is something that takes a lot of thought, you not only have to cut out a negative design but you also have to do a mirror image of what you want as the final design. I can definitely recommend it though as it was lots of fun and I hope to spend some time working on more, larger designs soon.

Most of the time though I have been stuck with my normal medium of... watercolours. I'm still addicted and can't really see that changing any time soon!

This included animals I've never drawn before (the raccoon) ratty designs and a velociraptor all of which were lots of fun!

I feel like my brain is torn in two with the two styles I've currently adopted, I'm not sure if that's a good or a bad thing right now but it's giving me a huge portfolio to work with, something I can't complain about at all. I'm also seeing my work improve lately, I'm not only experimenting more but I'm also being more fluid with my brush strokes.

The ratty designs are also available to buy from my Redbubble shop (link at top of page)

I also tried to play with a silhouette. Of course the galaxy theme had to return for such a thing, I could call this Corvus 2. Silhouettes are not as easy as they seem and keeping a nice crisp line with watercolours can be fun... either that or I'm just too much of a fidget... that wouldn't really surprise me seeing as my workplace lately has been my bed leaning over the paper, wet brush in hand ready to cause chaos. I enjoy working on the crow and he currently sits beside my desk so I like him enough to leave him on show but not sure if it's a style I want to play more with... I prefer to draw eyes...

And then for something completely different... a T-rex skull... on black paper. This was actually a quick sketch whilst I was waiting for my OH to turn up so I didn't spend too much time on it and the effort was lacking as my mind was on other things but it was interesting. I don't think I'd ever appreciated all the holes and textures in skulls before now so that was fun to study for a bit. 

I'm still working on my dinosaur related project so there will be lots more studies like this happening over the next few months... hopefully if I can spare the time!

And then the watercolours returned and the bird nerd got excited. This all happened this week, starting with a list of birds I wanted to paint, I got through half the list because I got so excited.

I doubt I'll ever be able to explain my love of birds and of painting them... it's strange but they are just a delight to look at or interact with.

So as you can imagine, I had a lot of fun working on these! First is the Moorhen with her chicks which I like to call bumble bees, they are ridiculously tiny!!

I also started a quail and a background for another image I had planned which I'm not posting here.

The Californian Quail, now affectionately known as Mr Quail was tough, I was also suffering from a nasty headache that lasted 24 hours so had fun concentrating on him as you can imagine. I know he's not perfect but I have a soft spot for him already. His face and head plumage was fun to work on, I probably spent a good 3 hours on that area to get him how I wanted.

And then today I got challenged to work on Rainbow Lorikeets. These are Australian parrots that wreak havoc but are absolutely awesome. It's also the first time I've used watercolours to paint leaves and flowers... I struggled and it shows which just means I need to practice lots!

I'm very happy with them though and they complete my week of birds. 

The first image is the final piece, the second shows the progress shots I took on the journey through.

A lot of people get the impression that I can just draw the final image instantly like waving a magic wand, this isn't so as the picture shows, my work goes through many stages, some ugly stages before it reaches the end.

The trick to art like anything is to keep going!

So that ends the mega post of creativity... I'm hoping to be a bit more active again. I hit a wall when I failed to hit targets and deadlines and having a few things fall through knocked my confidence, that along with other experiences knocked me for six and I needed a break. I've had that and am now back in business and taking on the world in my usual eccentric ways ;)

If you managed to get through all of this well done, you deserve a cookie! ;) Thanks for reading!

On a final note we got a new housemate for the week whilst her dad is away on holiday. She's a leopard gecko and is quite stunning with her gorgeous markings and those stunning cunning eyes... the mealworms don't stand a chance!

She also has the best reptilian smile I've ever seen :)

Have a Great Day :)

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Originals of the featured work available, leave a comment if interested.