The best things in life are free...

... but art supplies are not unfortunately!  I have been very naughty today though and treated myself to a new batch of supplies, some new gouache and acrylic paints and various sundries.  I'm preparing for my week off next week, when I intend to spend lots of time sketching and painting - please don't let me get a mental block!!!  I will post images of my efforts here.  I am hoping (finally) to prepare some bits and pieces to sell too, hopefully as a means to at least try and pay for the materials I have bought!  I'm feeling very fired and inspired.

This has been helped by the re-discovery of an artist I had come across vaguely years ago and then, I am ashamed to say, had not thought about much.  However watching an obscure little art programme on TV last night, this man was featured and I totally fell in love with his work.  Not least because there are some beautiful images of The Peoples Republic of Yorkshire!  The artist is John Piper, I'm sure you will already know about him.  I have been researching his work on the internet all morning and love it.  Am very tempted to be extremely naughty and order a book I have found about him and his work.  I am offering a couple of images here which are from the website The Art of John Piper

Conisbrough, Yorkshire

Elgin, Scotland

I can't recommend the website highly enough, the work is just lovely.  I now have to visit Coventry Cathedral sometime as well because he worked on the design of the stained glass windows, when the new Cathedral was built after the original was destroyed in the Blitz.  The images of the windows look magnificent.

Don't you just love re-discovering artists and their work? 

Roll on next week! x

Deliver the letter, the sooner the better...

Well, I did it!  I have just posted a painted envelope to the Mail Me Art 2 project and I'm really excited.  I've enjoyed doing this so much, I really needed to set myself a little project and be disciplined about a piece of artwork, and I've done it!  Hurrah!  I don't even mind if I never hear about the envelope again, I even just like the idea of that little bit of art being out there, somewhere, hopefully making someone smile.

I'm a children's librarian, I love children's books and their illustrators, so I decided to come up with idea that reflected that.  I have tried to make my piece look like it could be a page from a children's book - which meant me having to make up a bit of a story.... so, the idea is that the front of my envelope is supposed to be the illustration from a fictional - fiction book (!) you flip it over (turn the page) and on the back is the page that explains the whole piece - hopefully!!!!

So here's how it all came together, a bit at a time (without boring the socks off you).  I had a few ideas for the front first, sketched in my little sketch book...

Idea number 1:

Idea number 2:

So you have basically got a small decorated envelope, on top of the larger envelope.  I wasn't keen on either of my ideas for the 'smaller' envelope, then found this 'scribble' in an old sketch book that I quite liked...

So, that became the basis for the 'smaller' envelope design, which was essentially supposed to look like a piece of post that had been dropped onto the ground on an Autumny, leaf covered path.  The the little envelope itself is slowly being covered in leaves.  Here is the collage as I started to build it up:

As you can see, I painted each bit seperately, including the Autumn leaves, then glued them down, overlapping each other.  The final front of the envelope, after hours of painting, cutting, gluing and sticking looks like this:

You can see some of the flyagaric toadstools have managed to find their way in!  The back of the envelope I hope will help you understand my thinking for the whole piece:

The size of the piece is bigger than A4, I'd say about 13" x 9" ish (in old money!).  I have thoroughly enjoyed doing this.  I'm really fired up to set myself another project now, got to keep going!  If I hear anything - i.e. whether or not the envelope actually gets to it's destination, I'll post something here.  Watch this space! x