Fin - L'Oiseau series

This is the final in my L’Oiseau series – although I am not quite sure about this yet. It feels as if there’s on more lying in wait…. So you’ll have to watch this space.


It refers to the following lines:
‘The eyes are not here
There are no eyes here
In this valley of dying stars
In this hollow valley
This broken jaw of our lost kingdoms.’
From T.S. Eliot’s poem ‘The Hollow Men’. All paintings were inspired by this poem.

It is available as prints and greeting cards on Redbubble.

Here you can see the other images in order:

Panier Avec L'Oiseau

 Tete-A-Tete

 

 Metamorphose

 

Posters, Goth Designs and T-shirts

Two new designs I made for my new Goth kit (still a work in progress).

The first design was inspired by the 'Day of the Dead'.

The second is inspired by tattoos. I wanted it to be funky, gothic and romantic all at the same time.

I liked both designs so much that I decided to make them available as prints and t-shirts on Redbubble.

I am still working on the kit. It will be divided in two - one part will be the original Gothic and the second part will be the 'new' Gothic.

Fire in the Sky - Photo Collage

Another of my photo collages. This one is inspired by Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth Series and depicts the carnage wielded by the chime of fire.

Photos:

Zagreb cathedral
Sky at the Suffolk coast
Flowers (night picture)

Pattern:

Snowflower (from my L'Hiver Scrap(k)it see my other blog)

Textures:

Big Light Textures by HinataTentenAnkoRul
Grunge Textures by Buzillo-Stock
Various Textures  by Sirius-SDZ

Prints as always available from Redbubble.com

L'Oiseau Series - Métamorphose

The third in the series.

The series was inspired by T.S. Eliot’s poem Hollow Men, especially by the following lines:

“Between the desire
And the spasm
Between the potency
And the existence
Between the essence
And the descent
Falls the Shadow”

The first in the series is Panier-Avec-L'Oiseau
Prints of this painting are available on Redbubble.

The second in the series is Tête-à-Tête
Prints of this painting are also available on Redbubble.

The fourth painting in the series 'Fin' should be ready soon too. So watch this space. :-)

Arthur - Photo Collage

King Arthur sleeping under the lake.

My all time favourite legend. I've been fascinated by it since I was a kid.


Photos:

Picture of a stone head (taken at Ely Cathedral)
Picture of a lily pond in the Botanical Gardens in Zagreb - both taken by Steve and now mine for a cup of coffee. :-)

Textures:

Three of the fabulous textures by Sirius-sdz
One of the Smoke textures by MySnapz

Photo Collage: Fire And Water

My own photos:
Water reflections taken at Sawston Hall, Cambridgeshire
Hawthorn taken at Reach, Cambridgeshire

My pattern: Butterfly swirls

Textures by:
Dark Symphony Lady Amdis
Fire Textures Rhys Hale
One of Sirus-SDZs textures
I have also used a cool tutorial by Anna Shaw on how to make rays of light

New Etsy Shop

Check out my new Etsy shop here.

The first of the kits 'Papillion' should be available later today. The second kit L'Hiver will follow soon - probably sometime at the weekend. It's more or less finished but will need to be tested.

Here are some samples created with the new kit:

L'Hiver - Winter Scrap(K)it and Weekend News

Check out my little taster of the L'Hiver - Winter Scenes Scrap(K)it over on MagpieMagic Scrap(K)it. It's not finished yet, but I wanted to show off what I have so far. (There's more to see plus 'breaking news' over on the new blog.)


It's been a busy old month so far, with one kit finished and tested - check out Nunt's Test Report - and another in the making.

I've also done a lot of preserving - from blackberry vodka to apple compote and apple jelly to ketchup. Sloe gin will be made today. (Pictures soon...)

I am also still knitting - this time a cherry red scarf in Malabrigo silk blend with a lovely lace pattern from the Victorian Lace Today book. Although the yarn is not a lace weight, the melon pattern (on the front cover of the book) I've chosen works fabulously, but with all the kits I am working on, it's taking time and only about 1/3 of the scarf is finished.

It's gone very cold and I'd quite happily go into hibernation; although I love sunny cold days, especially when there's snow about, I don't particularly relish the cold nor the wet and grey days we get here in England.

My new calendar from Redbubble arrived yesterday and it was the first chance to see my photo collages all printed on glossy paper. I am so pleased with it. It looks great and the print and paper quality is fab. Big thankyou to Steve for ordering it for me.

Lastly, I updated my blog layout today to allow for three columns rather than two. Thanks to Nunt for the link to the info that allowed me to do this. I've cleaned and tidied up the layout a bit as well whilst I was messing around with it and added a button plus code to the new MagpieMagic Scrap(K)it blog.

I hope you all have a lovely weekend.

Autumn Photo Collage

Here's my latest collage. I wanted to make something autumnal and used one of my Sawston Hall park photos, a photo of the sky and one of some wild flowers. I also used several textures:

- Buzillo
- Sirius-sdz
- HinataTentenAnkoRul

Makes me feel all warm and toasty....


... on the Scrap(K)it front, I've just finished the last pattern and made a sample card and a sampler of the patterns, frames and digi stamps included in the first pack, Papillion. You can see it over on MagpieMagic Scrap(K)it. The kit still has to be tested before it goes on sale, but hopefully it won't be too long.

Watery Mystery

My latest adventure into the exciting world of photo collage and textures.

I used a photo the shell sculpture at Aldeborough, two different photos of ivy, one growing on a trea trunk and one growing on a wall, both taken at Sawston Hall, a picture of seaglass pebbles, and a picture of bamboo leaves.

The bubbles have been painted in.

I used several of my own textures and some of these:

Sirius-Sdz's textures - these are totally fab. Also check out his art here: Darkzero-sdz.
Frasio's Big Light textures.

News on the Scrap(k)It collection front:

I've almost finished the first collection and it'll be ready to test in the next few days. I'll post some preview pictures then, too. The other collections are coming on alongside it. However, I needed a break from patterns, hence the photo collage.

MagpieMagic presents: MagpieMagic Scrap(K)It

I've just started a new blog where I will post my new venture:

MagpieMagic Scrap(K)Its

I'll be publishing my own kits of patterns, digi stamps, and frames within the next month, once they're all finished and ready and have been tested by Nunt over on PiquantPurls.

• The kits will include around 5 coloured and 5 black & white patters, five frames, and five stamps, all matching a theme. The first pack will be 'Butterflies' and should be extremely pretty and fun. I'll also include a small booklet with tips and tricks on how to use the contents of the kit.
  
  
• The kits are designed for crafters and for personal use rather than commercial use. This means they can be used on items you make - cards, scrap book pages etc - and then sold or given away, however you cannot sell the kits themselves or any of the contents of the kit in any shape or form. If you want to use the patterns, stamps and/or frames in a commercial context, contact me and I am sure we can come to some arrangement. A detailed policy will be posted later this month.
  
  
• The kits will be available directly through this the MagpieMagic Scrap(K)it blog and in my new Etsy shop once I've set it up. :-)

Or click on this pretty banner to check out the new blog:

In Cold Blood - Featured

My collage In Cold Blood was featured in the Painted Nature group over on Redbubble.com:


I am so pleased, especially as the standards are so high in this group. :-)

Lucky Day!

Not only is my gorgeous calendar finally done (sorry, I am just so proud of it), but I've also just been included into the most gorgeous treasury:


Thank you Diana! Check out her lovely shop on Etsy OneCraftyFox.

Into the Maelstrom and Cover Page

This is the December image for my 2010 Soulscapes calendar.

I have used lots of my own textures and patterns (including the wallflower pattern and a new feather pattern), some of them photographs taken in Cambridgeshire (Lode and Reach).

Other textures are from fellow Deviants:
- Grunge by Buzillo
- Grunge Nebulae Textures by Fudgegraphics
- Big Light Textures by HinataTentenAnkoRul


The beetle is a red lily beetle and details can be seen below.


The calendar is available now from my Redbubble site.

Here's the cover image:


The front cover of the calendar:


The back cover of the calendar:


My next project will be the pattern/digistamp packs. I've already secured Nunt from PiquantPurls as my tester. So, this will occupy me in the next few weeks... amongst preserving, apples, sloes, blackberries and hopefully some quinces.

I also can't wait to get back to some knitting! I've got some plans for some gorgeous cherry red Malabridgo silk blend..... :-)

In Cold Blood - Collage

Number 11 - almost there.

In Cold Blood

The collage has nothing to do with the novel of the same name by Truman Capote, but rather with the necessity to make life changing decisions with your head and not your heart. I have tried to play with the differences between heart (passion, fire) and head (ice, cold logic) in the image. The salamander, who of course is a cold blooded creature none-the-less looks hot, almost like lava, whereas the background is cold and spattered with blood.


I've used various textures and some of my own patterns for this collage: there is a bindweed and a spiral grunge pattern, a grass/moss texture, a wall texture, a bark texture and an icy swirly texture made with my patterns. The textures that aren't mine are:

- Water/Ghostly Textures by Lithium0916
- Khaosdog: Blood Splatter textures
- One Cold Canadian: Abused Floor Textures
- Buzillo Grunge

Here is the fire salamander in detail. I stayed as true to the real thing as I could but emphasised the red/orange patches on its back to make it look more like magma and lava.
The calender is now almost within reach. I started the final picture last night and will hopefully finish it today, so, fingers crossed, there will be a calendar tomorrow. :-) I'll post the news of the calendar when I post the final picture.

Wild Thing - Collage

This is collage number 10, only 2 more to go and I can make my calendar! :-)


I've been playing even more with the background on this one than on all the others, including some of my patterns (falling blossom and the wall flowers), and lots of my own textures.

However, as always there are some others I added to the mix:
- Khaosdog Blood Splatter textures
- Freaky665 Memories

The hummingbird is a bit of a generic bird rather than a specific one as I couldn't find one that ticked all the boxes. It has the tail of a scissor tail and the red throat of the aptly named red-throated hummingbird, however, the wing/body colour is not something I've seen in any of the ones I looked at.


I spend a lot of time researching each animal/insect that I paint. Firstly, I like them, secondly, I usually prefer to paint them as anatomically correct as I can, but sometimes you need to use artistic license to get the painting you want. :-)

The image is inspired by the song 'Wild Thing', this sort of 'Wild Thing' does indeed make my heart sing. :-)

The Blues - Collage

Another of my collages, this time with a background of Autumn leaves taken on Devil's Dyke near Reach in Cambridgeshire.

I combined the original photo with lots of textures, some my own, some from fellow deviants:

- Absynthium Stock Flame Textures
- Freaky665 Victorian Grunge
- Lordarq Clouds
- Khaosdog Blood Splatter textures

The butterfly is a Heliconius Hortense. Took me ages to find out what it was, as it's quite exotic and mainly flourishes in places like Peru. I love the almost graphic design on it's wings.

Almost there. There should be a 'Soulscapes' calendar very soon as I am determined to finish it this week.

Prints etc as always available both on Redbubble and DeviantArt.

In the Deep Dark Wood - Collage

My latest collage.

In the Deep Dark Wood




Imagine a Summer's day and coming out from the deep dark woods into the glowing sunlight....

I've used pictures of Sawston Hall's grounds, pictures I took at Reach and the sky at the Suffolk Coast... plus lots of textures, mostly 'home grown' this time.

... and painted a picture of a Ruby Tiger Moth. This time the colour is pretty much spot on...
The textures I've used from fellow deviants:

- Buzillo Grunge Textures - definitely my favourites, so useful!
- Frasio Big Pack of Light Textures

The image be available in my calendar 'Soulscapes' and as a print on Redbubble and in various forms on DeviantArt.

Newsflash: I sold a small poster on Redbubble yesterday - my second sale. The image was 'Over the Sea and Far Away', so far my most popular of the the collages.