Scavenger Hunt C

Hi everyone

It has been a busy week with lots of toing and froing. I am glad of a few days at home and have been working on another post for Rinda's 2013 Scavenger Hunt. I have tried something new with layouts. What do you think? I found the layout on pixelscrapper.com designed by Brooke Gazarek. It's a great site to visit.

Today's theme: Out and About

As you know, if you are a regular reader of this blog, we visited family in West Sussex over the summer holiday. While we were there, we had a few outings, including one to Russell's Garden Centre, which is a favourite of ours.

And GunWharf Quays in Portsmouth where we saw a ship shaped bench that has a wonderful history. 

These candles were spotted in John Lewis, which is new homeware store in Chichester and where we love to window shop. Wish there was a store near us in Kent (John Lewis take note!). 

While travelling through Chichester, we saw something rather unexpected on the top of Beaver Tool Hire. They always do something unusual, like a Darth Vader for the Starwars 25th Anniversary, or Santa stuck in a chimney for Christmas. I tried my best to get a photograph through the car window, but what you don't see is the baby jumping up and down in the pram. You can just see it's tiny hand in the top right picture. I love the wheel-barrow display too. 

We have also spent some days exploring our local area, visiting several beaches and other wildlife attractions that are to be found around the Thanet and Dover district in Kent. 

As we don't have a pet and the wildlife around us always seems to be awake, 

I was wondering what I could photograph for my napping subject.  This father and son were captured fast asleep while we were taking a walk along Deal's coastline. 

The next set of photographs were taken at Wingham Wildlife Park, which is not far from where we live. We are lucky to have a few animal parks around us, which I love to visit, that have animals of all sizes. This love stems from childhood visits and watching and observing nature. I hope to go back again but remember my sketchbook next time!

And lastly, the photographs below are of the Fire Engines' Warehouse, which is connected to Manston Airport, which is not far from where we live. I added on the children's ride as I couldn't resist the temptation to have a go on it myself. My wife says that I am a big kid at heart, which she loves about me at times and makes her laugh!

Hope you have enjoyed this post as much as I enjoyed scavenging and hunting over the last month. I can't wait to post again soon. I have some towers and castles to show you spotted at a recent wedding reception. 

Until the next time, have a good week. 

Andy

Art that Sells - weeks 4 and 5

Hi Everybody

I hope that this posting finds you all well. It has been great to have the time to create so many blog posts. The summer holidays are racing by.

As promised, here are the two final assignments of the Lilla Rogers Make Art That Sells e-course. 

In week 4, we were asked to produce a piece of wall art. It  had to have very specific colours and the starter activity was to gather collections that demonstrated those colour combinations. This was a fun activity.

Over the course of that week, I produced my canvas using these colours. This was a definite challenge for me. I have to admit using these colours together was not a natural thing for me, though I did warm to them in the end. I also used stamping techniques on the canvas to create texture. This was also a first for me but I was pleased with the end results.

The only thing that I would change about this painting is the text. I don't usually use text on an image, as I like people to look at my paintings and make up their own minds about its subject matter. On review, I am going to remove the text and I will post the results at a later date. It was really interesting to look into the wall art market, and to think about the type and styles of work that people will buy to place in frames and hang.

As a side line to the painting, I created three collages. Originally they were going to be part of the painting and although I didn't use them in the end, I do like them and may make some more for another project. With art, nothing is ever wasted!

In week 5, the last week of the course, we were asked to create a 'lush' design that could be used on a range of gifts. The starter activity was to create images of our personal collections. I think I have mentioned before on this blog that I have a big passion for fossils, minerals and natural forms, so I produced drawings and photographs from my collection.

At this stage, I wasn't quite sure how to interpret a 'lush' design but I then came up with the idea of inserting my fossil drawings into images of bottles I have also collected and this created a busy, colourful design. To do this, I had to use Photoshop and Illustrator, the effect is certainly very different than my normal use of drawing and paint.

Here's a section of my final design. 

It was great to do something different and fascinating to read the enormous amount of information provided by Lilla. 

In respect of the course I found it very challenging, as several of the assignments were outside of my normal area of expertise, but I enjoyed being stretched out of my comfort zone. I am now able to view art in a much larger picture seeing it applied to the variety of goods for which Lilla Rogers is an agent. If any of you want to make art to sell, I cannot recommend this course enough. Each area of the market place is thoroughly covered by examples, interviews and contacts. Mind-blowing information from which I have gained so much. Thanks to Lilla and Beth for this amazing course.

I hope that you have found this interesting. I will post again soon with the latest developments from the Man Cave.

Andy

Anniversary celebrations

Hi Everyone

As I mentioned in a recent blog post, my wife and I celebrated our fourth wedding anniversary on the 8th August. We have been spending time with my wife's family in West Sussex and they organised a celebratory meal for us all.

It was at the Richmond Arms, a delightful pub that nestles in the valley of the South Downs. 


While we were celebrating, the conversation turned to blogging and on checking my blog the next day, I realised that today is the first year anniversary of my blog. Double celebration!

It seems ages ago since I started to blog and found out about on-line e-courses. Since my first course 'Ode to Nature' with Alisa Burke, I have met some fantastic people and I would like to say a massive thank you to you all for following me and giving great support to my work.

Back soon with more of those scavenger finds.

Andy.

A Splash of Paint

Hi Everyone

As well as seeking out unusual items for the 2013 Scavenger Hunt, I have started painting again. YIPPEE! There is nothing better than to splash a bit of paint around or take a pen to paper.

I thought that you might like a glimpse of some sections of the paintings that now grace the 'Man Cave' (aka the Garage) which is my new messy studio space.

I will start with the paintings that only have a couple of layers so far. Above shows a layer with fluorescent paint. I am rather hesitant to use it that much as it is a powerful colour, but as Flora Bowley said when I took her Bloom True course, be brave!

I have a few ideas where these paintings will be going but that's for another post.

There are also several larger canvases on the go about which I am quite excited. Here are sections of these.

All these paintings have multiple layers and contrast, so now it is up to me to trust my instincts in order to complete them.

I hope you all are having a creative summer?

Back soon.

Andy

Scavenger Hunt B

Hi Everyone

Welcome to the next installment of my Scavenger Hunt. Thank you for your comments about the last post, I really appreciate them.

I have decided today's theme is : A Historic Sandwich.

Sandwich is a historical town very close to where we live. It's history stretches back to when it was a port for Henry VIII and there is plenty of material for a Scavenger Hunt. Sandwich also has the best fish and chips in the area!

Number 16 - a Windmill. 

This is the White Windmill Heritage Center. Sandwich has two windmills and is very close to two off-shore wind farms, so I was spoilt for choice!

Number 3 - Civic Building. 

This lovely building is the Sandwich Guildhall (complete with bunting to commemorate the birth of Prince George).

In Sandwich there are some great place names; Buttermilk Lane; Knightrider Street; Short Street; the Butts, and there is also a sign post that points to both the village of Ham and the town of Sandwich. 

By far, my favourite is ...

Number 7 - A sign that is intentionally or unintentionally funny

This leads me nicely onto...

Number 18 - Your local pub/bar, coffee house or tea shop

The No Name Shop is one of our favourite places to pick up a sandwich and a cup of tea. Unfortunately, it was closed for refurbishment when I took this photo but I have heard it has reopened its doors. Yummy!

Will post again soon with more finds. 

Andy

Scavenger Hunt

Hello everyone

Firstly, can I say Happy Anniversary to my wife. We were married Four years ago today and here's to many more years together.

Horray! It is the summer holiday and the paperwork is all complete, apart from one project. A sketchbook journal book. I am happy to now be spending my time drawing and painting. It's a fun project.

For this post, I would like to focus on Rinda's 2013 Scavenger Hunt. I have made a start with the list and I am looking at the items as themes and would like to share the first set with you. (Mind you, as I am writing this and looking through the photographs, I have this song stuck in my head.)

My theme today: The Sky's the limit!

For Number 4 on the Scavenger list, we were lucky enough to have the Manston Airshow very close to our house. We had everything from Lancaster bombers to the Red Arrows fly over but it was very hard to get a good photograph. It was a really cloudy day.

Number 5 is a Sunset; again a local view over farm land. 

And finally, Number 12 on the list - a cloud. I would love to know what you see in this photograph? I find it fascinating to know what other people think,

because what I can see is ...

A tortoise - One of my favourite reptiles.

There you have it. Three items blogged, only 19 more to go!

I hope to post again soon and will include the outcome to my Making Art that Sells course. In the meantime, I am off to catch up around blogland to see what everybody else is up to.

Have a great day. We are going out to dinner this evening. Who knows, there may be an opportunity to cross another photograph off the list.

Andy