A Roaringly Good Time

Hi everyone

As promised, here's the post about what R and I created for our nephew's fifth birthday. He asked for a 'Dinosaur' themed party and that is what the family endeavoured to create. As a surprise, we created treat boxes and party hats, a banner, food labels and fun straws to match this theme.

 

We took a basic party hat design and used the shape for the cones and added a stegosaurus tail to the back of the hat. They were a big hit.

We were asked to think about designs for party bags but we wanted to do something extra. R and I worked hard on creating a layout and then manipulating it to create our treat boxes.

Whilst we were making them, I have to admit there were a few renditions of the 'Jurassic Park' theme tune!

We created four different designs: a Stegosaurus, Triceratops, Ankylosaurus and a T-Rex. We used the same colours as the hats, and added a support in the form of a tail on each. There were twenty five children at the party so we made thirty of these little monsters. They were filled with treats like chocolate (dinosaur) eggs ready for the children as they went home.

Hope you enjoyed seeing our creations. Will attempt to blog again soon!

Andy

Decking the Halls

Good Morning Everybody

It is Christmas Eve and I would like to welcome you to my second Christmas posting. Yesterday, I showed you some of the smaller projects that R and I started with. Now we step up the pace.

Above is R's wreath. We used a shop bought wreath as the base and then R added a whole host of different stars made from different materials.

Whilst R wrestled with the wreath, I was busy making this year's cards. 

Our inspiration this year is the Northern lights. Using a squeegee, I created the colours I wanted then added in the detail once this was dry.

I found the best colours to use were Cyan, Magenta and a Bright Yellow (all the usual primary colours of Blue, Red and Yellow came out too dark) with a splash of white thrown in.

Once the cards were done it was time to 'dec the hall'. Above, is the landing window complete with our advent calendar and candles.

The whole house has been decorated this year. R has been the busiest making the banner, and paper trees among other things. She has used many different materials and techniques and the end results are really joyful.

Even the downstairs loo has not escaped being decorated!

But of course the epitome of and celebration in the house is the tree. Ours is full, with lots of our home-made decorations (including the bird house).

The snowman was created the same way as the Christmas Decoration Swap elf ball, and the star was shop bought to which we added chalkboard paint.

And, thank you Miriam for our bird. We love it!

I hope that you have a brilliant Christmas Eve and memorable Christmas Morning, and Santa remembers you all. Tomorrow, the post will be all about presents.

Merry, merry Christmas to you all.

Andy

A Spicy New Year

Hi everyone

I have finally managed to write up my first blog of the New Year. Thank you for coming to visit.

Even though I have not posted since November - time certainly does fly! - I have not been idle. With my job busier than ever, the festive season and ill health all playing a part, I did manage to squeeze in some time for Art.

Before Christmas, as part of a project at school, I was teaching the students how to create a wood cut print, using MDF and lino cutting tools. There were 27 sixteen year olds, chipping away to create their masterpieces. I had an ulterior motive for my piece as I wanted to give it to my wife's sister and her husband for a Christmas present.

The MDF 'plate' showing only two of the chillis. 

After printing them with the students a few times (as shown below) I decided that the print needed another chilli so that the image looked more even (see the final piece below).

These are printed using water based printing ink and a variety of paper.

After work, I decided to experiment. The final image was printed on old map paper (of the area where they now live) and after printing, Gauche paint was added to give depth and tone. The final image we had framed with a burgundy border and black frame but unfortunately, I did not photograph it before presenting it to them.

Final piece

I have been reliably informed that my wife's sister and her husband love it and it now sits on their mantlepiece ready to be hung when they move into their new home. They have suggested that I could sell similar work as original art or prints. What do you think? 

I am now playing around with different designs and colours, and would appreciate your input.

From my sketch book

But that is not all; I have started a new painting, 150cm by 100cm. This painting started to talk to me about a rather neglected passion of mine... Jellyfish.

This painting is a long way off being finished. I have been looking at lots of reference material and came up with a new fact that I did not know: " If all the creatures in the world that communicate using light (like deep sea fish) were placed together, they would outnumber those who did not, three times over".

With any luck I will be able to attempt some more painting tomorrow at home. That is, if hopefully, we are snowed in!

Until the next time.

Andy