ArtyFartyAnnie

Hey everyone, It's Wednesday again and time for a special WOYWW post today, because it's the 7th Anniversary and there's an ATC swap for anyone who wants to take part (if you don't want to do an ATC swap you can still join the linky party though) - the lovely LLJ is hosting while Julia's away so just nip over to her Fabric Frenzy blog and check it out. I've made six ATCs all ready to swap AND I've already received a gorgeous one from  Nikki which I'll show in a minute but first things first - my SHAMEFULLY MESSY DESK (I'm blushing here) ... It's pretty bad isn't it? I sort of tidied a few days ago, but it's back to the "shovel it all to the back to make room to play" stage again already. And you should see rest of the room .... no, actually, you definitely shouldn't! :o) In amongst all of that, if you were to zoom into the slightly clearer space at the front, you would see the beginnings of a paper tassel I'...

Hello me again! The lesson for week 19 of LifeBook 2016 was brought to us by the amazing Wyanne Thompson and as always I had a wonderful time and learned loads - although I struggled with the technique and my painting didn't end up how it was meant to be at all! Wyanne showed us a brilliant technique, whereby you start by making a sketch on rough paper, tracing it, inking it a bit at a time and pressing it down to transfer the image onto watercolour paper. Then you go in with lots of water and watercolour paints and let them do their thing - this is the part I struggled with! At one point it was going really well, then I got a bit too controlling and stuffed it up completely. Rather than chuck it in the bin, I kept working on it with acrylic paints and coloured pencils, until I ended up with a picture I was happy with - although it wasn't "right".

Hello my Bloggy Friends, The bonus lesson for week 20 of Life Book 2016 was another one with the lovely Pauline Agnew , who showed us how to create an Expressive Mixed Media Portrait inspired by a sketch by one of the Old Masters. I had never thought of doing this, but now I can't wait to try another one! Here's my finished portrait - can you guess where my inspiration came from? I think my version looks more resigned than enigmatic. My hubby said, " oooh that reminds me of that famous painting by eeerrrr .... that bloke .... eeerrm ..." which I decided to take as a massive compliment! John always tries to say something kind about my artistic efforts, but I can see sometimes that he struggles to think of something positive when I show him what I've been doing for the last four hours in my little room.

Hello bloggy peeps and fellow deskers, A very quick post today as I have so many jobs to do but don't want to miss another week of What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday - this week we're linking up over at Jan's blog , as she's babysitting while the lovely Julia is away. Join us for a good old nosey at crafty spaces all over the world and link up to show us what's happening on YOUR workdesk this week. Here's mine ... On the left, the beginnings of a new painting for LifeBook 2016, then my brand new envelope punch board which I LOVE (I've been using it to recycle old bags and envelopes, may do a separate post about that as it's working really well), right in the middle is my new Wink of Stella pen (LUUUURVE it), some pencils and then a pile of cute wooden buttons shaped like cats.  Ok, going to be late - I will be popping back to LLJs later to catch up with what everyone else has been up to this week - see you there! Cheerio for now :o) ...

Hi Everyone, This week I've been working on a lesson with the wonderful Effy Wild , for week 18 of LifeBook 2016. Phew! This was quite a big one for me - firstly because it is really two pages in one, and secondly because it involved thinking about some negative experiences in the past which have helped to shape my life in a positive way. Here's my finished page - well, the top layer of it ... Effy showed us how to use clear gesso over an acrylic paint base, then use coloured pencils and blending stumps to add shading and detail. This was a really enjoyable technique to try - the gesso protects the base layer and gives a good "tooth" to work onto with the pencils. I used my Wispa pens with a watery brush to create the sky and rainbow for the background. I thought about the things I've learned from negative experiences and where I am now and wrote some key words into the rainbow with a Posca paint pen. This part of the page is the "flesh on the bone...

Hello Fellow Deskers and Bloggy Friends, What a beeeeeOOOTiful morning it is - and I have the day off :o) I have a whole list of things I want to do today. Number one on the list - show you what's on my messy workdesk today and go link up over at the lovely Julia's Stamping Ground . So here it is, with the sun streaming in through the window and perfectly highlighting just how messy my desk is again ... It's not a great picture because parts of it are murky and the rest is washed out my the bright light, but I think you will get the gist - it's a mess, AGAIN!! But it's a mess because I've been using it, so that's a good thing right?! I've always been a messy crafter, but I used to tidy between projects - not any more, that seems to have gone the way of other non-essential tasks. As long as I can shovel everything out of the way enough to leave me a 12" square to work in, that's tidy enough. One of the many good things about WOYWW is t...

Hi Everyone, I've been catching up with week 17 of Life Book 2016 - this time, the lovely Roxanne Coble showed us how to build up lots of layers of collage, paint and penwork to create a space to honour some important events in our lives. It was a brilliant class, full of tips and ideas and inspiration. My new Golden paints got their first airing and I made the most wonderfully colourful mess on my desk! Here's what I ended up with -