Just Playing!

Hello Everyone,

It's a lovely long weekend here in the UK, as we have a Bank Holiday Monday woooHOOOO!!! The weather's not up to much, but that suits me, as I plan to spend some time playing in my room - first I want to catch up on a Life Book lesson I missed, then I want to do some scrapping as I have a delicious new Quirky Kit to play with. My kind of weekend :o)

This week on LifeBook we had a Bonus Lesson - a "mash-up" with LB creator Tamara Laporte and her good friend Jane Davenport in Australia. Their styles are very different and it was interesting to watch them work together on the same piece to create an integrated whole. Tam encouraged us to free up our creativity by trying a new style and using limited supplies.

I chose to be inspired by Jane's style, determined to use only what is in my pen case, and since it was Friday night at the beginning of a long weekend, I decided to further liberate my creativity by doing most of my painting under the influence of one or three Gin & Tonics!! When I got up in the morning, I was pleasantly surprised by what I had left on the dining table the night before ...


It's quite different from my normal style I think - much more loose and scribbly, less controlled than I would usually be. Straight away I wanted to add bits and titivate, but I'm going to leave it and add it to my Life Book as it is.

This was mostly done with my Wispa felt pens - I bought this set in 2009 and have used them such a lot but they're still going! They have a fine end and a brush tip end, which is really useful and the set came in a case with space to add more. I've added my black Micron pens, a couple of watercolour brushes, some Pitt Pens, a white Uni Ball Signo pen and a mechanical pencil with an eraser. I can carry this anywhere, along with a small pad of watercolour paper, and create on the go. You can see it in the background of the photo I took out in the garden the next day ...


Ok, so maybe that doesn't look like all that limited supplies, but compared to the bewildering array of mixed media supplies I now have in my workroom, it really is! The great thing about good felt pens that I only discovered recently, is that if you apply water to them with a brush, you can activate the pigment and use them like watercolour paint. What a revelation!! It doesn't work on all papers though - watercolour paper and mixed media paper works well.

I started with a quick sketch in a fine Micron pen, which is water resistant ...


Then started to put down a base layer of colour, using the Wispa felt pens and one of the watercolour brushes in my pen case ...


To be honest, my memory of the process after this point is a little fuzzy and obviously I stopped bothering to take photos - this may have something to do with the G & T!! :o) But it looks like I just continued to apply colours in this way, then scribbled with the Micron pen to add definition and added some highlights with the white Signo pen. It's not totally like Jane's beautiful style, but I can see the influence, and it was definitely an adventure for me.

Tomorrow is the start of a new week, and a new lesson on Life Book 2016 - I <3 Mondays!!

Thanks for visiting today, have fun with whatever you're doing this weekend :o)

Annie xxx

Comments

So beautiful and I definitely recognize the Jane influence, but you also managed to put your own stamp on it. Loving the watercolour effect and the loose outlines. Must try the G&T method to loosen up LOL!
Helen Wallace said…
You are so talented Annie! Every week you display something new and exciting. You must be thrilled with what you are creating :D
Lizzy Hill said…
I so agree with Helen! You continually make such different and equally striking art pieces. AMAZING! I'd give my eye's teeth for a 10th of your talent....well, maybe not my TEETH, but you know what I mean! I LOOOOVE this one. It's really fun! Maybe that was the G & Ts too, a bit!!!!
Val-Belle said…
Wow a girl of many talents and styles. I have so enjoyed seeing your journey with this new art venture of yours. This girl is lovely.
Gorgeous Annie, love her. Happy weekend, Angela x