lots of little prints

This was what I got up to yesterday (that's our dinner table!) I use these little prints to collage and make cards, like this.

It's a really quick and easy print technique using a styrofoam sheet (you can buy art-foam or recycle packaging foam sheets). Draw into it with a pencil, print up using a foam roller and acrylic paint with a drop of retarder. It has it's limitations, you can't get a fine or very varied line, but it's fast and fun!

In the photo you can also see 2 tiny orange canvases which I've printed onto too. For me a blank canvas is daunting and not very inspiring, so I have to mess it up a bit first. I'm starting on some little canvases ready for a craft fair at the end of November - more on that soon!

ATC party girl

It was my birthday on the weekend, and I had a lovely day with more presents than usual - my partner outdid himself - now we just have to get around to planting the mango tree and the passionfruit vines. This week it's cake cake and more cake at work, I don't know if I can eat anymore!

I hope you're having a good week too.

Rollercoaster

Sitting down to paint on a Friday I feel like as breathless and excited as a kid getting on a roller-coaster. It's not always easy to sit down and get started. 'The book show' is on the radio at 10am (ABC Radio National), so I aim to listen to that while I paint. I tell myself I'll just do a couple of base coats or play around in my sketch book. By the time the show's finished I'm usually in my stride and keep painting for a couple of hours.

I wonder what tricks other people use to get down to work...?

This painting is called - a fairytale wolf in Paris. It's for an exhibition on the theme of lost gloves that opens next Friday.

Have a great weekend!

birds in the grass atc

In the overgrown garden

thimble sized birds

peck seeds in the long grass.

ATCs

Maybe it's because I live in far off Darwin, or maybe I just haven't been paying attention, but I never heard of ATCs until last year. I love the idea of trading these tiny artworks and making contact with artists around the world through them.This is the first batch I made in May. I'm trying them again, on scraps of cardboard from work (we throw so much away, more than I could ever use). Blogger isn't playing today! (could be something I'm doing wrong) but I'll show you some of the new ones tomorrow!

A drop in the blogging ocean

Over the last year I discovered the world of art and craft blogs. It's been so inspiring and fun. At last I got the courage to have a go too.