Making a Portrait Journey!

Welcome to Magpieheaven - Followers and Friends. The other day I popped over to my crafty friend, Mo's blog to discover that she had been having fun making faces - if you know what I mean! She was linking up to Kim Dellow's Art it Friday who has been 'bitten by the Portrait Bug'. Both Kim and Mo had discovered how liberating it is, and how wonderfully you can express yourself by creating portraits! I drew faces all the time I was at school, doodling weird and crazy characters all over my notebooks when I should have been taking notes on crop rotation! I didn't worry too much about how technically 'right' those faces were, I just loved letting my pen move across the paper creating characters. Last summer I took a class in doll making with Mary Jane Chadbourne and that inspired me  to draw again and to use my hand-drawn faces on mixed media creations. I love stories and story-telling and I've found creating my own faces has stimulated my imagination afresh and sent it off in all kinds of new directions.

What kind of journey has my portrait odyssey been? Things happen rather like this. I draw a face either that captures my imagination in a book, or that seems to be hiding in my imagination. I don't agonize too much over it, just let it come. I like to work with a soft sketching pencil and build up layers with Inktense water-colour pencils, sometimes Pan Pastels and then add definition and some doodling with a very fine black pen. My friend, Lyn Tivenan recently gave me the lovely gift of some of her art and an extra fine Pilot pen, which I used on this sketch.

I then scan my sketches into the computer. I am building up a collection of faces, which I can re-size and then print out and use on different projects. Like an actor, one face can play many roles and tell many different stories. This most recent sketch suggests an eco-warrior to me; but some day she might be re-cast as a Nature Spirit; a princess from another planet or even a carnival reveller!

I'm thinking of using her on one of my peg dolls! But she might find her way onto a card like this little character has done more than once. Here she is working as a clown/magician conjuring a lively spring-time rabbit!

I love to try image transfer with my sketches too. I was recently gifted this beautiful Sandra Evertson heart, which I've photographed with some of the masterboards I've been creating for birthday cards.

I wanted to use it to celebrate the Spring and to have a spring-time goddess at its centre. Now that I look at her, I imagine she might be a young nobleman's bride and the heart a gift from her to him on their betrothal. I printed out a tiny image and covered it with a layer of PaperArtsy Satin Glaze. I then placed it face down on some cream coloured linen and painted over the back with more of the Glaze, making sure to avoid air bubbles. When it was quite dry, I gently rubbed away the paper on the back of the image with a damp cloth to reveal a little fabric image.

 I was then able to fix my sketch with some more of the Satin Glaze and seal it with this too. Before adding my image, I covered the heart with  some torn tissue with Grunge Paste stencilling on it to create texture and when this was dry, sprayed with diluted, very watery Fresco Acrylic paints in Wisteria,  Blue China, Hey Pesto and Smurf. I also painted some areas with Prima soft gel medium and pressed tiny beads in. The leaf is a painted charm with a little Treasure Gold gilding paste on it and there are two painted resin flowers and a pearl.

 You can see a little more of the texture created using gilding, gels and Prima Copper Crackle Paste. I liked the texture that the fabric gave, as if the little face were made of canvas. It reminds me of Renaissance artefacts and I now want to experiment more: I should like to decorate more and possibly attach them to boxes or place them within niches.

Thank You so much for dropping by Magpieheaven today to watch me make faces! Enjoy your week and try to go on a portrait journey yourself. You still have time to join Kim here. 

Peg Doll Winner!

Hello and Welcome to Magpieheaven, Followers and Friends old and new! I should like first to thank those who have followed me over the last two years and say a warm Hello to those who have just joined my blog. On April 4th I celebrated my second year of blogging and offered a decorated peg doll as a prize for the first comment from that day to be drawn from the hat two weeks later. Now the weeks have rolled by and it is time to announce the winner of this little doll that I have created! I started blogging in the spring so she celebrates that season with its new life and greenery.

She is double-sided and this is her other side, which is a reminder to, 'Make art everyday'.

And her sides are decorated with dots!

So who has been picked from the hat? We took Mr Magpie's sun-hat...

and my son assisted in picking out the winner...

Who is - drum-roll - TA DAH -

I believe I have your address somewhere, Sarah, so a peg doll will be winging her way to you very soon! I wonder what stories she will have to tell? Have a lovely weekend everyone!

Three Little Birds! Blue and Words, Dragons Dream TIO.

Hello and Welcome to Magpieheaven! It's been quite a busy time here! Sunday was so much fun at Alexandra Palace, meeting up with friends old and new and creating lots of tags featuring 'Bird-Ladies' - a 'mash-up' of the two Lin/Lynne's stamp designs for PaperArtsy! Now once again it's time to dream with the Dragons! This fortnight it's the turn of the lovely Elizabeth, also known as the Crafty Robin, so birdies still rule at the moment! She has chosen the recipe of 'Blue and Words'. You can see some fabulous inspiration from the rest of the team here. Now blue is probably my favourite colour and just lately we've seen some wonderful springtime blue skies filled with birdsong. I was still in birdy mood so I took a jumbo tag and started to create a blue sky you might find in a magical land!

After covering my tag with a neutral shade of PaperArtsy Fresco paint - Vanilla - I blended PaperArtsy paints in Blue Oyster, Smurf, Mermaid and China. I then stenciled Lin Brown's circles using Lake Wanaka, moved the stencil just a little to the side and then stenciled on top again with Antarctic! I then used a tiny stamp of Lin Brown's with little speckles on it to stamp over my 'bubbles' with South Pacific. There's also some script stamping and some stamping through sequin waste too. So many blues! Because this is a jumbo tag, I wondered, would it be possible to feature not just one, but three birds on it: a chirpy trio?

And here they are! I thought they looked ready to start a little song and dance routine against their blue sky backdrop! I was reminded of Bob Marley's song 'Three Little Birds'. When we wake up to blue skies and birds singing, somehow our worries that seemed so insurmountable on a blustery, grey and damp day, just evaporate. I love the way this exquisitely simple song captures that feeling:

Rise up this mornin',
Smiled with the risin' sun,
Three little birds
Each by my doorstep
Singin' sweet songs
Of melodies pure and true,
Saying', ("This is my message to you")

Singing' "Don't worry 'bout a thing,
'Cause every little thing gonna be alright."
Singing' "Don't worry (don't worry) 'bout a thing,
'Cause every little thing gonna be alright!"

And this is my message to you! Don't worry about a thing, just get those tranquil, blue paints or inks out, find some words that inspire you and a tag; make sure there's at least one real stamp on your tag and then join us at the Dragons Dream TIO Challenge here!

Alexandra Palace - behind the table!

Hello and welcome to Magpieheaven. Sunday April 12th was not the first time I had been to Alexandra Palace - known affectionately as Ally Pally. I think I've been about three or four times now to meet up with friends who love to craft and to take a look at all the latest stamps, paints and crafty goodies available for us to play with. Usually the first port of  call for most of us is the PaperArtsy stand! It has been a love of the quirky stamps and fabulous paints that brought us together. This time, though, Leandra and Mark, founders of PaperArtsy were off to Version Scrap in Paris: Leandra wouldn't be able to make the show herself, so she asked some of us who contribute to the PA blog to have a 'go' at demo-ing the products - we were to be behind that PA desk rather than gazing admiringly on! Nina Greco of Crafting Time in Shepreth allowed us to use her stand to demonstrate the magic of Fresco Paints and PaperArtsy stamps and the wonderful Darcy Wilkinson and Emma Godfrey ran fun 'Make and Takes' using the stamps and paints too.

On Saturday, Alison Hall, Jo Myhill and Gabrielle were in the spotlight! Then the following day it was the turn of Deborah Wainwright, Alison Bomber and myself! It was just magical to hear the 'Oohs' and 'Ahhs' as visitors to the show admired the beautiful colour palette on offer: you can see the lovely selection just in front of me in the tray here! It was a real privilege to work beside an accomplished crafter like Alison Bomber who was so relaxed and who experimented Crackle, Grunge Paste and stained glass effects with such panache and enthusiasm it was as if the visitors had just popped into her craft room to see her at work. As you can imagine, I didn't have much time to take photos - it might be interesting to have some taken from behind the desk, actually! But Petra Berendson took this photo of me in action!

Some friends and visitors took photos of the tags I was creating during the show and I was able to hand out one or two and to give a couple to Nina to display in her shop. The rest I took home to add finishing touches to. The tags are made using Lin Brown's Eclectica stencils and Lin Brown birds and Lynne Perrella ladies. There's also some sequin waste used there.

It's so much fun mixing faces and bodies from the different stamp sets and seeing what you come up with! You can even create your own little hats by cutting up a stamped image like this!

I had some faces and bodies left over so I tried an experiment when I was home: could I introduce a bird on the wing? Her heart is made from cutting a heart shape out of the tail of another bird! The possibilities with these stamps are endless! Could this bird-lady and her tiny companion be having a singing competition?

There was even one of those 'happy accidents' - the stencil ripped some of the tag when I removed it, creating a distressed look, which Nina thought was intentional! Thank You so much to all those friends who stopped by to take a look and to support me on my first try at demo-ing: Lucy Edmondson, Petra Berendson, Lin Shields and  Kirsten Sheridan. Thank You so much for making this such a happy day!

Happy Easter - Two Years of Blogging!

 Happy Easter Everyone and Welcome to Magpieheaven. Today is a special day for me, as  the 4th April 2013 was very first blog post! Leandra Franich of PaperArtsy suggested I give blogging a try, and what a wonderful learning experience it's been! I now know what a Patwit is, for a start! I didn't know if anyone would want to look at what I created, or read what I had to say - I didn't quite know what Followers were, or how you might acquire them! Since then I've learned so much from wonderful artists; made fantastic friends; learned a little about taking photos and a lot about craft blogging! I still feel there's a great deal more to discover and those two years have flown by! And talking about flying, here is the first project I ever featured on my blog!

It was an exploding box from Retro Cafe Art Gallery. I owned some Graphic 45 paper; around 3 or 4 shades of Fresco Finish paint and a very small selection of PaperArtsy and Crafty Individuals stamps! I had seen a box created by Linda Cain and I was just dying to have a go at creating! It was a gift for an old friend who loves butterflies' wings and it still sits on her piano!

On that first post I said that I hoped my blog would take flight, but I didn't know the fun in store! Blogging and crafting have really been two of the best things that have happened to me! I've loved having a chance to create projects through which I could tell a story as well as tiny worlds to escape into...

There have been so many fun projects to get inky and painty with

 and I've received beautiful artwork from friends, like these hares created by the very talented Lyn Tivenan in charcoal and pastels - my next project is to frame these!

And tags and ATCs swapped with friends and followers...

Kirsten Sheridan, Lin Shields and Emma Taylor's work features here. I've discovered the delights of making art dolls; collage; mixed media canvasses and explored the world of crackles and glazes! Now I'm beginning to have the confidence to use my own artwork along with the lovely stamps and digital images available.

 Peg dolls are my current obsession.

These pegs make fun gifts and swaps! I recently gifted the Bird-Lady peg to my dear crafting friend, Lucy...

And this double-sided Elizabethan Lady was a gift to my friend, Lyn,the creator of the hares. On one side we have Hermione from The Winter's Tale and on the reverse, her daughter Perdita. The two little figures suggested the springtime awakening of hope and reconciliation that Shakespeare's play always evokes for me.

As a celebration of two years of blogging I would like to gift one of my clothes-peg dolls to a friend or follower who makes a comment on this blog. I am working on her at the moment so what she looks like will be a surprise. I will pick names from a hat and post here who I have chosen to receive the doll in a fortnight's time.

I should like to say a very special Thank You to all those who have read my blog over the last two years and left such kind and encouraging comments. I would also like to thank all of you in Blogland who share your creativity through your blogs, Facebook and Twitter. Thanks to you I have been truly inspired and visited places I could never have dreamed of!

Animal Instincts

Hello and a warm welcome to Magpieheaven. Unruly Paper Arts are celebrating the Animal Kingdom today with a Readers' Art Quest entitled 'Animal Instincts'. Do take a look at what the DT have come up with here. When I put on my thinking cap to create some inspiration for this challenge, I discovered my stash was severely lacking in anything animal-themed. Then I found this little Retro Cafe Paper Cut depicting Alice through the Looking Glass. The illustrator has captured such a bond between Alice and her animal companion that I felt I really wanted to work with this image. I also had a little box with sections that once held Prima wooden embellishments. It had far too much potential to throw away and I had been wanting to use it for sometime. Could I present the animal world in Alice and create a version of Wonderland?

I gathered together these PaperArtsy stamps from the Hot Picks range and Darcy's Eclectica and played around with the idea of stamping onto a microscope slide with Stazon. I liked the effect of the birds on the grasses, but although I liked the birds in flight too, I wasn't so sure about so much on one slide and in the end I opted for a slide with just the birds in the grass.

I had gessoed my little box and painted it with PaperArtsy Little Black Dress, but I still wasn't quite sure how I was going to create Wonderland. I kept gathering bits and pieces from my stash: a tiny resin crown, my crafting friend Kerry once gave me, which I decorated with Treasure Gold and Pearlen Pen and some dried flowers, again from Kerry, which I painted and made into little trees. Suddenly ideas started to swarm like bees in my brain and off I went, working away and getting into such a painty and sticky mess that I couldn't stop to take step by step pictures! I have had to take detail images to make up for this and I will try to explain what I did to make up for this!

I painted each little section with graduated shades of PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Paints in Blue Oyster and Caribbean Sea to capture the blue skies of a sunny afternoon in Wonderland. The box was very rough and poor quality wood so the sanding and Gesso had been vital!

I was very pleased with the effect I got from adding some turquoise primary element to Prima Clear Crackle Texture Paste and painting over the Little Black Dress. I blended in some silver Crackle Paste and when this was all dry, accented with Treasure Gold in Green Amber, Sapphire and Aquamarine. 

I thought the exterior of the box was beginning to resemble gnarled old tree bark. Here is a photo to give some idea of the scale of the piece...

I wanted to create the impression of Alice and her animal companion stepping out of their wonderland into ours...

This was where the microscope slide came in handy. As well as the stamping, I painted a tree using translucent Frescos in Hey Pesto, Banana and a little Toffee with some Satin Glaze added to dilute it.

Charms, shrink plastic leaves - some stamped and one with my own artwork, stamp bord and resin flowers combined to create the impression of Alice's enchanted world in which animals could talk!

Alice encounters a variety of animals in both Carroll's books, many of them anthropomorphic, but the deer is so beautiful because he is just as he would be in the wild.

The birds, the butterflies, the vintage playing-card horse riding through the forest in the distance all remind us of how extraordinarily rich the natural world can be. It certainly contributes so much to Lewis Carroll's classic. I wish I could have added a tiny white rabbit scurrying away into the distance, but I didn't want to overcrowd the box. The leaves and butterflies were punched from card and then covered in Versamark, dipped in UTEE and heated. I know that many of my friends and followers have much-loved pets, and our world would be an empty place without the delight animals both wild and domesticated bring. Have a lovely day wherever you are and do please celebrate animals with our RAQ over at Unruly Paper Arts this month.

A Rainbow of Colours - Dragons Dream TIO

Welcome to Magpieheaven. This fortnight our lovely 'teamie', May has chosen such a beautiful recipe: A Rainbow of Colours! It's the perfect choice for April, which I always see as a month of raindrops and sunshine. Please do drop by the Dragons Dream to feast your eyes on the inspiration the DT have come up with. I've tried to keep this post brief so without further ado, here's my rainbow background!

I used only rainbow colours, brayering, stamping and mark-making with PaperArtsy Fresco paints in Cherry Red, Tango, Yellow Submarine, Blue Oyster, Guacamole, Hyde Park, Inky Pool and Wisteria. To remember the colour palette I used the well-known mnemonic 'Richard Of York Battled In Vain'. And, of course, we don't just find rainbows when we look up into the skies, they're so beautiful in bubbles too. That's the effect I was aiming for.

I created some Lynne Perrella rainbow clowns, some tiny shrink plastic birds singing their hearts out as the rain falls upon the sunlight and some rainbow text from a Sara Nauman plate.

It was one of those 'happy accidents' that the text from a Red Lead stamp on this bird reads 'She creates Dreams'. How often the evanescent colours of the Rainbow are associated with dreams, so vivid yet dissolving into the light of day.

I used Glossy Accents to give the girls a rainbow gleam. I always think the arrangement of circles on this image makes her appear to wear a monocle. Perhaps this one has a magic lens that enables her to see the world rainbow-tinted!

Thank You so much for stopping by Magpieheaven today. If you do have some time over the Easter Break, why not play with rainbows and create your own tag of rainbow colours? You simply need to include at least one real stamp to your tag and the colours of the rainbow and link it here. A Happy Easter to my friends and followers.