New month - new art journal

Hi everyone,

It has been quiet on the blog front but I have been busy. As Spring is starting to bloom and the evenings are becoming lighter, I have started a new art journal and painted several new canvases this month.

R and I also decided to start an Instagram account called #andyandrachael where we try to post daily photographs of projects and things that inspire us. Please feel free to check it out if you are interested. We would love to see you there...

Here are a few photographs of the journal so far:

As you all know, nature is a big source of inspiration of mine and this has crept inside the journal

I was really inspired when I revisited the paintings I created on Flora Bowley's ecourse Bloom True last year and this double page spread reflects that inspiration.

                       

This source of inspiration continued further last weekend when I added to some new canvases  It felt brilliant to be working on canvas again and to watch how they are developing (as well as getting messy!). Lucky for me, my wife is very supportive when I am in the painting zone!!! 

Hope that Spring is inspiring you too.

Andy

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

Painting gifts

Hi everyone

Hope you are having a good week? It has been a while since I last posted, for which I can only apologise. Lots to do and no time in which to get everything done. You know the syndrome I am sure! Because of my time constraints connected to work, my wife R has set up an instagram account for us so we can both post what we are up to if I cannot get to the blog. I am now trying to make a conscious effort to be a regular blogger.  

As a start, here at last, are the paintings that were given to the family at Christmastime. I hope that you enjoy seeing them.

This cute Bunny I painted for one of my young nieces. She is only 1, and loves bunnies. The more astute of you will recognise the canvas that I created for the Lilla Rogers course. It needed modifying and a good home.

The pirate ship and squid painting was created for my eldest nephew, who has just turned 5. (I will show you the 'surprises' we made for his birthday next post.) I was really happy with the 'split' level effect.

Our eldest niece, who is 7, got this little beauty. She is fairy mad and a massive fan of yellow, so the logical thing to paint was a yellow fairy castle! I wanted to create something different from the classic 'Disney castle' look so I opted for a more woodland feel. 

This seascape was given to my mother-in-law. She wanted a tranquil image that looked like a seascape but still remained abstract. This was a totally different way of working for me. I had never done anything like this before. The other paintings were developed from the layering techniques that I acquired from Flora Bowley's course, but this was a new way of painting for me. I am happy to report that she loves it!

Another post is on the way. Hope that you can join me then.

Andy

Presents underneath the tree

SEASONS GREETINGS TO YOU ALL!

I hope that this post finds you all well and merry after the festive period. I have been delayed by a few things... you know how it is, Christmas just seems to take over. It's all about the fun, presents, food and of course family and because of that, it is one of my favourite times of year. We do not see our nieces and nephews as often as we would like, and Christmas has been all the more special because of the time we have spent with them.

Using my hand-crafted wrapping paper (and a bit from the shops), R went all out this year and wrapped the presents with homemade garlands too.  There is a family joke that R and I have shares in sellotape because we  wrap the parcels so tightly nobody can open them! To us it makes the experience last longer (watching them struggle that is, ha ha!).

That's not all. There was an extra addition to the table this year, yum yum!

Take care, enjoy the holiday season and I will be back soon with more photographs of this year's Christmas festivities. 

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

Getting ready for Christmas

Good evening everybody

As the sun will soon be setting on 2013, it is a time of celebration and reflection for many. I have not been prolific on the blog front over the past few months for various reasons and I would like to say thank you to all of you who have kept checking in and sending me good wishes. Although I haven't blogged much, I have not been idle on the creative front. Here comes a Christmas blog blitz that will show you many of the projects that we have been creating ready for the holidays.

Over the next four days, I will give you a posting a day. This is unheard of for me but I intend to do it as a small Christmas gift.

Even though work has been time consuming, we have managed to construct a rather Crafty Christmas this year. Both R and I have worked hard on projects to give our Christmas a distinctly individual feel. We have taken inspiration from online and magazines and have turned these ideas into our own distinct style. Followers of the blog will know that I do follow Alisa Burke's blog. Alisa was the inspiration behind our wrapping paper this year.

Do you like the new curtains?... !! This was the drying system for my sheets of pattened wrapping papers; very high tech!

The painting did not stop there. You may have noticed our tree topper this year? This bird house originally started out to be just a decoration but I really loved doing it. Here is the process - if you would like more details, please let me know.

You need to start by decorating your mount card. First layer, white acrylic

The second layer was fluid acrylic Copper (the same colours as the wrapping paper).

I tried to work out the measurements before I started cutting. Originally I created a net to get the basic shape, then added the roof from there. I drew on the back to make sure I got it right (it took a couple of goes!).

I then used a Stanley blade and a metal ruler to cut out the pieces.

A hot glue gun was used to put the house together.

Once I had the basic shape, I started to add in details such as the wreath and the bows.

 

As mentioned before, I did not intend it to be a tree topper. The bird house just evolved...  A hole created in the bottom allowed the top branch and Christmas lights to be inserted.

As I mentioned earlier, I am not the only one who has been busy. R has been hard at work creating some fantastic projects that are beautifully intricate and, to be honest, if I tried to make them I would probably get very frustrated.

Here is one of her mini Christmas trees, using Pine cones, florestry supplies and a cork.

These little beauties are dotted around the house along with her gorgeous Snow Globe Jars.

 

I hope that you have enjoyed this first Christmassy blog. These were all created during the first two weeks of December. Tomorrow, I will show you how we stepped up a gear; making cards and the house gets totally decked out!

Hope you will pop back to take a look. 

See you then?

Andy