Ivy

I saved this as a draft last year, then...reasons...
I'll write about them in the next post :o)

Ivy is a beautiful sacred plant.
Many Gods and Goddesses are honoured with it.
We have lots of old gnarled Ivy here.
Birds nest in the deep dark holes within.
Insects buzz around the fuzzy flowers.

The weird black berries disappear in the Autumn, I'm not sure who takes them all, but I know the thrushes love them.

I wanted to make a picture which shows the depths inside an old Ivy 'bush'.
It seems that the Fae wanted to join in too.
Who am I to say no?
So, here is the sketch.

Sketchbook Ivy

I liked her pose, she looked deep in thought but she wasn't quite right.
Anyway, the painting started, this is the fun bit, where you can make a mess...:o)

First, scruffy layers

Okay, I'm really not loving this, it just looks wrong.
Not how I picture the lovely old Ivy when I peer into it...or the little Fae.
I'll give her some more layers of skin.

And some leaves, and redder hair...
Mmmm...still not loving it.

Looking better, but still not right, damn...

So, now I think she would look better wearing a floaty little dress.

I really don't mind painting over her body, it is useful to have as a base.
(Yeah, right, I'm saying that because I'm annoyed with myself for not doing it sooner!)
So, after lots (& lots) more layers were added and some dew drops...taddaaa!

 'Ivy'

(Painted in Oils on canvas, size 12 x 16 inches)

How To Grow a Rose Faerie

Okay so maybe not actually grow a Faerie...it's my artistic license coming out and waiving itself about, so bear with me...

I have been asked how I 'come up' with ideas 'where does the inspiration come from?'...so...
I will let you into a little secret...I never come up with any ideas and I do not have any inspiration at all...naaah, that isn't true...the opposite is.
I can never ever shut off my damn brain and ideas for subjects to create are everywhere, always pulling at my clothes and nattering in my ears...they are doing it right now, telling me to move away from this evil machine and go and create something!
So, before they pull me into their dark, mysterious lair, I will share how this little lady came about...

1. Find a willing model...this is quite easy as the Fae are naturally vain and love to be sketched, if you do it quickly! If you're too slow, then forget it!
This lovely lady was sketched out on a big sheet of A3 paper with lovely black charcoal which we both enjoyed smudging and then getting covered in it.
She later washed herself in the birdbath...:o)

I then completely forgot about the sketch and went and created something else...
(I think it was either a miniature hatbox or an Art Doll...see what I mean)

I found this sketch tucked away behind the cupboards where it was covered in cobwebs, that's how long she had been forgotten...that's why she looks a little accusingly at me :o)

2. Find a pretty flower...this should be easy, there are plenty around...but not in the hay fever season oh no, because of the nasty pollen...and winter is a little too harsh for many flowers to poke their noses up...mmm...so that leaves the spring and autumn...but this is Wales, it rains most of the time...spring is always soggy and everything is droopy with rain...okay, so spring is out, that leaves autumn...nope, by then I have forgotten about wanting to paint a flower and am painting pumpkins instead...sigh...and another sigh...
So, look through your photo's and see if you can find one which will do for inspiration instead! :o)
No, stop looking at all of those other pics, you're looking for a flower, maybe a nice rose, not pictures of your children when they were little and cute...so very cute...sigh.
So, after a while you may find something which might do, if you squint at it, or use a lot of imagination...

This is Gertrude, not the most beautifully named but she smells divine :o)

So, now we have a model and a flower...what shall we do with them?

No.3 Try to fit your subjects together into a pleasing composition
Okay, sorry, that sounded like 'art speak' and we don't allow that here...
Because my charcoal sketch is big and I want to paint a small A4 picture I am going to have to get the old sketchbook out and see if the Fae will come and sit on the rose.
Easier said than done...although as the rose is so sweet smelling she eventually consented and it didn't turn out too badly. (Who needs critics when you can do it yourself?)
The sketch is now A4 and done with pencil, so that the lines are clearer-ish, (I never can stay tidy), so we are about to reach the next stage...unless some little squirrel in very shiny Armour comes by, then we will be off somewhere else with the Fae and this will become yet another forgotten painting (I should know, those armoured squirrels have sucked me into their dark wormholes many times).

 No.4 Decide which media to use... 
Although I love painting in oils best, for this picture I thought watercolours would be nice so everything in the sketch was copied onto watercolour paper and tucked away in a file to keep it nice and clean and away from cobwebs...can you see there's a pattern here?...
Then I went outside to play with the squirrel knight...

No.5 Remember the painting you started ages ago...
So, you're looking for something to do and because you don't know what you want to start, you go around tidying up your workspace...
And guess what you find?
Not just this picture but loads of other UFOs (Un-finished objects), just lying there in a box, who would have guessed there would be so many lovely things all ready for you to paint?
So, you say cheerio to Sir Squirrel de Wormhole and make a cup of tea and try to choose which one you fancy painting...
Because there is a rather pouty-looking faerie glaring from a big rose, you decide you should maybe choose her... and so the painting begins...after you have found a cookie to go with your cup of tea...

Almost finished, just a little blushing of the cheeks to do ;o)

I use old rescued plates and dishes as palettes, hence the rather fancy gold-rimmed painting equipment! he he he :o)

So, there we are, she just needs a little more eye-liner and she's good to go...I think...maybe I should add a little more shading here and there?
Maybe a little more green on the leaves or more creases on the petals?
Can you have too much paint?
Or, maybe I should just be happy that this one is finished at last...and she isn't looking too grumpy, well, not for the Fae anyway...

Do you think she has forgiven me yet?

Now I really must get my squeaky Armour oiled up...Sir Squirrel awaits...
I may be some time...:o)

One Upon a Time

One Upon a Time ...

At least that pumpkin is large enough for us to travel in.

Just when you thought it was safe to go back into The Land of Blog, who should there be tap tap tapping at the keyboard...but your little Old Faerie Godmother (aka Me)!
I have my wand at the ready to turn your autumn pumpkins into beautiful coaches...
Any little mice shall become horses...
You my dear, shall go to the ball!
Now, what do they wear for formal occasions these days?
Are poufy dresses still worn to the Royal Balls?
Ahhh never mind, in my head you are all dressed in the poufiest frocks I can imagine.
(And I can imagine really real poufiness!)

As you can see I have been swept away into my own world once again.
I think it started many years ago Doctor...when I first learnt how to fly.
Since then there has been no stopping me...

It doesn't help that the Fae are constantly begging portraits from me...and you know how much they like to flounce around!
So, here I sit, wand in hand, wondering if anyone out there is in need of a Faerie Godmother.
Do you feel in need of a little wand-waving?
Are your clothes all tatty and ragged?
Are you still looking for Prince Charming?
Fear not!
I shall endeavour to right this injustice!
Just say the word...
All you have to do is believe.
The rest is magic...:o)

Now, I really must finish these paintings...maybe I should take this poufy dress off first...

From Little Acorns...

I don't know about you but I love Autumn...although to be honest this year most of the Summer has been very Autumnal!

I haven't had much access to computers this year and it's been a rather strange experience...on the one hand I have missed and craved the way you can peep into other folks' lives and see how you all are and what everyone's been doing...on the other hand, it makes you so free when you can no longer do that :o)
As I'm rather isolated up here in the mountains of wet and windy Wales it's lovely to be able to travel the world with you all and come to have virtual tea right in your homes but because I haven't been able to visit I have had withdrawals, isn't that odd?
One good thing though is that I can actually get on and finish things begun last year which I always left in the 'to-do' pile...so be warned, you'll all be sick of seeing me soon ;o)

My little Elves are now speaking to me and not sulking and I have even done a few Halloweeny things...maybe I should get on and photograph them...(yep,that would be a good idea ;o)) then I could share them with you over an nice cup of tea, and a cake :o)

This painting was supposed to be finished last Autumn but got buried under piles of my other  'oooh shiney' stuff  (my attention span is not great when a new idea pops into my head) but at least I've done it for this year!
(As you know I'm a slow worker, I hate being rushed ;o)
To be fair to myself though, I do fit these things in around home-schooling children, trying to tame the wilderness which surrounds our garden and all of the other boring day-to-day things like cooking-gawd I really don't enjoy cooking, and yet I do it every day...come rain...come rain...feeding teenagers is a never-ending story, how can they be so skinny and yet eat so much!? Please let me in on the secret :o)

Well, enough of that...here she is...this one is for all of you who have that little Acorn waiting to be planted, you know the one...the little idea or dream, just waiting for you to give it some encouragement and a little care ready for it to grow...and we all know what little acorns grow up to be :o)

The ELF need your help!

Boo!
Hello out there in the Land of Blog...
I'm part of the E.L.F. (Elf Liberation Foundation) and I need your help!
This lazy 'Artist' will not finish us...we have been lying around this (very messy!) house and she just keeps ignoring us!
I have tried to look her in the eye to get her attention, I even put on my bestest sweetest smile...nothing!
Please, if you can help, or know of any help groups out there for lazy artists, please send us a message, we can now work the keyboard by using our feet and we enjoy jumping from one key to the next...and we can access her blog behind her back (we aren't as behind the times as she thinks).

To prove our point...

This poor creature has only had her head made, yes it is rather large we know, but surely that should not be a valid reason to leave her without a body!

And just look at the mess she makes us stand in!
We keep trying to tidy it but she always plonks her drawings down and covers us up!
Then she gets black smudgy pieces of stick and scribbles on paper and makes a black mess everywhere, there's no hope for her :o(
When she starts painting her Faery pictures she completely forgets about us...talk about fickle!

We also have a question...do you think we would look better in hats?
She gave some of us big fluffy hair and we aren't sure we approve...(it's so 1980's) and she only made me a hat (which is making some of the members a little envious)...

I have also been 'promised' (her promises are pie crusts) a little waistcoat, but I bet she's forgotten all about that idea...especially when she saw that naked Fae sitting on the flowers...her attention span is worse than a child's.
Oh...she's coming back...remember, she mustn't know about our conversation...keep it under your hat!
She doesn't come on this bloggy thing much so she will never notice...
Farewell people in the Land of the Blog and thank you from all of us...especially the ones we could not show you...they would make your hearts break...
Shhhhh...she's looking over here...tra la la la la...(I am the picture of innocence) ;o)

My Bleeding Heart

Call this summer!
Rain rain go away...(not really true as I hate having to water the poor plants when it's dry!)
We have another small flood in the front room, the rain has gushed down the mountain and banked up against our poor old house and is now trickling in through the stone walls and into the room (which they call The Parlour round these parts, there's posh for you ;o))
We have had this before...we lost our new carpets and underlay when we first moved here so don't put anything down anymore (learned that one the hard way, funny how no one mentioned that before we bought the house)...but, we do have to house the 'puters and stuff in there and when the puddles start we all rush around picking the wires and things off the floor to stop them getting wet (as you can see we have learned not to mix our water and electrics, safety first my dears!)
I'm huddled into a corner now with wires trailing all over things and it does look a little like a spider will be having me for dinner tonight!

Ah well, you gotta love June...if anyone is planning on being a June Bride, you may need to rethink that one...I hear December's quite nice ;o)

Spring passed me by so quickly this year that I didn't get to show my painting :o(
He was done for a Spring Challenge... and for some reason I decided (on some mad whim), to tidy up the house, so I packed him away safely inside a sketchbook (as you do) and then lost him!
I looked through all of them, over and over but nope...then...when I was no longer looking for him as Spring had made way for Summer (Ha! see top of post) and had decided that my Fae had flown the coop...I opened a book and there he was, trying not to look me in the eye (as usual) Typical!

So...here he is (the naughty boy)...he's sitting on my daughter's clump of Bleeding Heart...so of course, that's what the painting is called :o)

Hope the rain is being good to you wherever you are...
I'm off to try to catch Faeries...in the rain...
Cee :o)
 
 
 

Kestrel Sparkplug Sprocket the third :o)

Can you believe it's the end of the month already?!

As promised here's the little oddball which was hidden behind the EHAG poster ;o)

The challenge was to create something from the word 'SCREAMPUNK'...kind of Steampunk meets Spooky...so as usual mine decided to do its own thing and become an Elf!
If I'm honest, I think he's rather odd looking (and from me that's saying something!)...but when my clay and oddments start to go in a direction on their own, I let them...it makes creating something a happy experience and not a chore :o)
This is little Kestrel Sparkplug Sprocket the third, from the back...(I could just bite his bottom). He measures a whopping 3 inches high!!!

Here's a little I wrote about him for Etsy...Kestrel, The Steampunk Inventor Elf

 *This teeny little elf was created for the EHAG member's challenge entitled 'SCREAMPUNK' 

He's my humble offering and as you can see, he is a little oddball ;o)
His full name is Kestrel Sparkplug Sprocket the third, (I know that his name is bigger than he is, but he has been steadily growing into it)
I believe that he was born with only one arm but being born into a family of inventors, his grandfather made him a little replacement from stuff the big Human Beans leave lying around.
He has never known anything else, so does not feel in the least bit disabled...and being an Inventor Elf himself, he has updated his arm over the years as more useful items have been found, he even made his own little hat (you would never believe the amount of good stuff folks throw away!). *

I have no idea why he ended up like this but there you go...

If you would like to see what all of the other EHAG members came up with for the challenge, pop over to the Emporium and take a peek :o)

And now, as it is almost April...I think it's time for someone to play the fool ;o)...put your hands up if you're with me! :o)

Spring is in the air...

Spring time...although looking outside up here in dreary Snowdonia, you would think it was Autumn!
Ah well...that's Mother nature for you!
I've been playing around with something for the EHAG Screampunk challenge...but it's still a secret, (so don't tell anyone, okay?)
This is a little sneak peek...

Can you tell what it is? :o)
It looks kind of cute from this angle but it isn't from the front!
I've not been doing much in the form of 'Arty' stuff for a while as we have to clear the HUGE brambles and bracken out of the fields, which is an horrendous task which creeps up on us, much like the brambles ;o)
It was nice to have an excuse to not stick my wellingtons on and be able to sit at my table trying to remember where I'd put the one tool I really needed and which I couldn't find amongst all of my mess!

So...how are you all then...enjoying the Springy-ness everywhere?
All of the little yellow daffodils are smiling outside, which makes your heart feel all bouncy and renewed...just what we need after a long winter.
I might actually pull my wellies on and tramp through the mud to take a big sniff of Spring...after I've had another cup of (nettle) tea though...it's still a bit chilly after all ;o)

Let Sleeping Faeries Lie...

If I sneak in while everyone's looking the other way...no one will be able to moan at me for going AWOL again ;o)...not that anyone would ever do that to a poor old Fae...
I know you are all lovely kind folks deep down and missed me terribly didn't you ?;o)

So...here we are again...how've you all been?
My 'puter is still having the odd problem (or two) and groans when I do anything strenuous, bit like me really, so I know not to push too hard...hence my absence...
Still...it gives me more time to paint...or to try to sort out my stash of projects...
You know the classic image of a crazy painter...with paper, canvas and paints sprawled over every surface?
Me :o)
The ones who slide everything off a table to make room for a meagre snack of bread and cheese?
That's me :o)
The ones who everyone moves away from if they get too close, as they have paint under all of their nails and in their hair...the ones with paintbrushes sticking out of their ears?
Me again :o)
If you have any OCD problems and need to be neat and tidy...you would hate me, truly, madly, deeply!
Everyone here is so used to me they kind of just get on with it and work around me, (granted they have no choice), but it must drive them mad!
Hang on though...I tread on Lego all of the time (and it really hurts!)...and I let them pile their toys into teetering towers all over the place too...and spread games and cards and all sorts of 'educational' things everywhere!
And my musician son has been breeding instruments all over this house so the 'parlour' (ha) has become a recording studio of sorts with wires everywhere (and me on a 'puter) and deafens us all!
You try typing with a 'session' going on!
So...thinking about it...I now do not feel so guilty about my art stuff littering everywhere...
At least it's quiet...well...most of the time ;o)

This painting of a Sleeping Fae was done a while ago...but got lost under things, hence me tidying up!
She has a story to go with her but I won't bore you all with that (just yet!) it's a little sad and I really do not feel like being in sad mood today...there's a beautiful full moon and I'm off to howl at it...right down my musician son's ears...payback time...
Revenge can be oh-so-sweet!
(Oh yes, she's a watercolour in case you were at all interested)
See you all soon...if I can climb over all of this Oh-so-useful-really-necessary-art equipment!

My Little Faery Friend Daisy...

Sometimes...from the peripheral vision...you get fleeting glimpses of movement...
Many folks pass this off as a trick of the eyes...
Some just think that the imagination is playing tricks on them...
Some just like to lay on the dewy grass and watch the world go by before their very eyes...

It is now officially Autumn...season of mists and mellow fruitfulness...
So why are my little Fae friends still playing in the grass with no vests to keep the chills out?
I have no answer to that one...
As you can see...some of my little ones still hold fast to the notion of freedom without inhibitions...I suppose if you are a Fae then you can get away with it...unlike us giant folks the human beans.

Let me introduce you to Daisy...a pretty little thing...not at all shy...having a morning stretch in the Autumn sunshine...I don't know how she managed to find daisies still in flower though...but let's just call it Artistic License...

She said it was okay to paint her but only from the back...
I'm happy to do that though...it saves having to edit over body parts to be able to post my pictures on here...some folks you see are a little worried about seeing naked things on blogs and I might get into trouble...(although that doesn't usually stop me he he )

Daisy as you may have noticed doesn't have wings...she can fly without them...so I suppose evolution had a hand in that somewhere...much like us.

Well...I just thought that Daisy and I should wish everyone a beautiful Autumnal Equinox...that wondrous time where the world is equal and night and day are even...
If, as you take a lovely Autumnal walk... kicking through the fallen leaves...you happen to see Daisy...introduce yourself to her...she's a real sweetie...she always smells of blossomy mist...and she would be so pleased to know that you caught a glimpse of her...out of your peripheral vision...

Litha...or...Waiting for the day to begin...

Hello there my pretties!
Are you all enjoying the Summer?
Seems like I haven't been around here for a very long time...
Life's like that sometimes...if you don't hold tightly to time...it has this way of escaping your grip.

Of course I haven't been totally idle (no eye rolling you lot!)...I have been doing some arty things...although these days...I just seem to let it lead...with me following behind trying to catch up with it...

I posted the origins of this painting on the PAN blog here
She is obviously the bottom sketch...and I knew that she was in just the right pose for a laid back faery...so...gave her a couple of toadstools and here she is...finished...I think...

In the beginning...I thought that she was waiting for something...but couldn't make my mind up what or who...she seems to be looking across into the distance...and of course...there is the answer...she is waiting for the sun...

She is a Fae of the Midsummer...a Solstice Fae...and she is watching the sun rise on this special long day...presumably she is resting...before the faery revelries begin...

It is long known that these little beings can really party...
Maybe...one day...they will let me join in with them again...I'm not too fussy about the size of the cakes...and I don't drink the hard stuff...so I wouldn't tread on any of them by mistake...
If I cross my fingers...maybe this year...

I have a dear friend called Linda...who each year celebrates the coming of the Fae...she lives with her Grandchildren in New Mexico...where the faeries sure know how to party...and everyone gets to see them...if you would like to join in...here's how you get there click

If I don't see you again for a while...
You know where I'll be...
Happy Midsummer Solstice my faery friends...
Hold on tightly to time...and sprinkle faery dust in your wake...