Painting and Paintings; Compendium & Simon Says

Last week I suddenly woke up to the fact that The Glasgow Boys exhibition at the Royal Academy was about to finish, so I hastily renewed my railcard and headed off for London. I had hoped to make a full day of it by getting tickets for a concert or a play, but alas all of interest were fully booked, so I decided to content myself with the exhibition and take the opportunity to do a bit of shopping. I arrived at Burlington House thinking that I was just in time to have a cup of tea before going into the exhibition, only to find that the building had been evacuated because there had been a power failure in that part of Piccadilly. No one could say when the electricity was likely to be restored. I was so disappointed that I had travelled to the city especially to see the exhibition, and it looked as if I was going to miss out. I decided to take a walk for a while and come back in an hour. I spent part of that time buying my favourite yummy honeys from Fortnum's ! - Scottish Heather which is dark, heavy and strong, and Welsh Heather which has an amazing jelly-like consistency and is great for mixing with plain yoghourt. On my return, the Royal Academy and surrounding buildings still remained without illumination. Off I went again this time for a pot of tea and some chocolate gateau in a nearby restaurant. Back at the RA still no electricity, so I decided that it was time to either head back for the train or see if there were any last minute theatre tickets available for a musical. Before that I wanted to have a wander through the Burlington Arcade, and that done, I decided on a final check on the RA. To my delight, after my wait of two and a half hours, the power had just come back on, and I found myself near the head of the queue.

I so enjoyed the exhibition: The Glasgow Boys - Pioneering Painters 1880 - 1900. The 'Boys' had been critical of the work of Scottish artists who produced dramatic landscapes and sentimental scenes. They wanted to depict scenes from everyday life, and they drew their technical inspiration from European artists. This week I am engrossed in this book, The Glasgow Boys, by Roger Billcliffe. On the right is one of my favourite pictures from the exhibition, A Hind's Daughter by one of the leading 'Boys,' James Guthrie. (A hind was a skilled farm worker who would have a special responsibility, perhaps, as Billcliffe suggests, for the large team of horses used for ploughing). I'm a family historian, and my paternal forebears were farmers on Loch Lomondside, so to see farming life depicted was especially meaningful for me. Needless to say, some family members migrated to the city, so would have walked the same pavements as the Boys at the School of Art.

The exhibition was beautifully planned. The guide booklet says that there were around twenty Boys (only one of whom was a girl !), and among them were twelve key painters some of whom travelled and worked together, and some who followed the same path in terms of artistic development. You could see how they started off, travelling to various rural locations in Scotland, and painting what they saw there. Thereafter, some travelled to France, Spain, Italy, North Africa, the Middle East and Japan where they found inspiration. Others went on to depict scenes of wealthy Glasgow urban life; and some of the Boys turned to portraiture commissioned by rich industrialists in the city.

So as well as perusing my book, I've also been messing about with my own paints. Linda at Studio L3 has set us page 50 of Tim's Compendium of Curiosities as challenge number 29. It's called Weathered Wood Grunge. I was going to use my wood grain embossing folder, but I've done quite a lot with that already, so I decided on a folder which would give a background with the effect of old embossed wallpaper. I used Juniper dabber and Walnut Stain DI for this. The frames are cut with the Classic Frameabilities. The outer part is coloured with Versamagic and Memento and highlighted with Inka-Gold. Then there's a frame coloured with Gold dabber, and a third frame, again coloured with Versamagic and Memento. The swirl is grungeboard in Broken China and Vintage Photo DIs.

With family still in mind, in the centre there's a photo of a certain Minnie Mac (originally black and white) coloured with DIs, and this brings back a childhood memory of a fluffy little hand-knitted bolero in blue with yellow chicks knitted into the front, one each side. It was shortly after this photo was taken that my mother found that my hair was as is in the photo on one side, and short on the other. She then found a bundle of hair in the fireplace. Apparently I had given myself my first haircut. Thereafter I lost my lovely curls, and in their place came the very straight dark brown hair that I have today. So this piece is also for the Simon Says Stamp and Show challenge where the theme is Childhood Memory.

Compendium Challenge 28

Here we are in week 28 of Linda's Compendium of Curiosities challenge. For all the details, call in at Linda's Studio L3 blog. We all dutifully opened our books at page 57 and got stuck in to Tim's 'Colourful Layered Fragment' technique. Unfortunately the photo doesn't show the colours to best effect. My background is Bundled Sage, Peeled Paint, Forest Moss and Walnut Stain DIs with Tim stamps in Bundled Sage. I drew round the fragment in pencil, and then drew round on top of the pencil line with a Perfect Medium pen and embossed with Ranger fine detail gold. My lips are sealed on what I did with the fragment. For that you'll have to get a hold of Tim's book. I will say that the stamp used was one of my favourite Magenta ones.

Suddenly it's WOYWW

Suddenly it's Wednesday, again, and time for WOYWW. Click on over to Julia's Stamping Ground blog to find links to lots of workspaces, and enjoy a good old nosey.

Well, this morning on my desk is a book open at my January calendar pages, and beside it, a box of soft pastels. When I first started doing these, I made some templates to help me do the squares for the days. These are card ones, but I made some plastic ones too. Needless to say I can't find the plastic ones (shows how well I tidied last week), but the card ones will do as I plan to use the pastels in the squares. Most people do their calendar pages in advance, but I prefer to wait a couple of weeks to get the mood of the month. So far January hasn't been cold and frosty but rather wet and somewhat murky. But there's been sunshine too, and even on the not so bright days the birds at the bird table and feeders have cheered the day. This led to my chosen colours being those of the bluetits that swarm in front of my kitchen window swinging from the fat balls and peanuts, and carrying off black sunflower seeds to the nearby hedge where they crack the seed shells. These seeds are the favourite food of the blue, great and marsh tits, and they seem to eat them in vast quantities.

Also on my desk is a fragment waiting for some inspiration for the Compendium challenge. And in case you're wondering, what looks like a little book on top of the pastels, is a pad of stickies that I used for masking when making a card at the weekend. Well, I won't keep you any longer as I know there are lots of desks to be viewed. Happy browsing.

WOYWW

Yes, I know there's clutter in this picture, but I have done a lot of tidying since last week. Honest, I have. Some of the bits on the table are left over from the compendium challenge, and I plan to use them again today to make a card. The little wooden cube box had mulled wine spices in it, and I plan to re-decorate it, but in the meantime it is holding some inchies and tiny embellishments that I am going to use to make a card.

The real clutter is in the boxes that are sitting on the chair in front of the table. I keep sticking those scraps-that-will-come-in-handy-some-day in boxes, so this will be the final phase of my tidying. Going through all the boxes (there are lots of small ones on a shelf opposite my table in addition to those on the chair), deciding what to keep, and categorising what I keep, to make for easier future rummaging.

To see lots of workdesks in all their glory click the link and take a magic carpet ride to Julia's Stamping Ground blog. Enjoy the trip !

Compendium Challenge 27

This week we're on page 60 of Tim Holtz' Compendium of Curiosities trying out Distress Misting Masks. For all the details on the challenge and lots of examples of the technique, go to Linda's Studio L3 blog. Instructions on how to do the technique are in Tim's book.

I used Victorian Velvet distress ink, Blush Perfect Pearls, and Tim masks. The girl and text stamps are Crafty Individuals and the flower is a freebie from a magazine. The pink shading was done with Copic pens. I tried various settings on the camera to try to get the shine of the mica (with, as last night, the help of the cat). You can see some of it here, but I'm afraid much of it looks brown in the photo !

Sunday Stamper - Diamonds

You know when you're trying to take a photo, and you're trying to get the texture of the Black Soot Distress EP and the shine of the clear embossing powder on the diamonds to show up and the sparkle of the Diamond Stickles; and then someone comes wandering across your picture and just sits down next to your subject. Doesn't give a second glance to your handiwork.

But instead dreams of fat little mice.

On the left is my card for Hels' Sunday Stamper challenge.

Simon Says Stamp and Show

The latest challenge at Simon Says Stamp & Show is to use our newest stamp. Mine, acquired in a January sale, (I've been very abstemious, I'll have you know .... so far ....) is a set of Inkadinkado small square stamps of swirls and flowers. I fancied doing some cards with inchies.

For this one, the background card is coloured with Old Paper DI. The squares are cut with a hand punch. Some are cut from white card embossed in the Big Shot and highlighted with Scattered Straw. On others I used two of the stamps with Distress EP on white card heat embossed with either White Pearl or Ranger Superfine Detail Gold powder, and coloured with Antique Linen or Scattered Straw. The embellishments are a gem, a pearl, a charm and shapes cut from gold paper with tiny hand punches.

The first WOYWW of 2011

The first WOYWW of 2011. WOYWW? New to you? Visit Julia's Stamping Ground to get the lowdown.

Well, I did start to give the workdesk its 'deep clean,' but as usual got sidetracked and only did enough to create some space to work on the new Compendium challenge, and lay out a new set of stamps acquired in the sales ready for my next project, a card to be made from inchies. Then I completely obliterated the space by placing the basket on the table. That's there because I'm going to have a sort through my sewing stuff, and put the most used items in here. Have concerns about this as one of the cats seems to have already sussed that it makes a cosy bed. On top of the acrylic block you can see one of my most used tools, the unravelled paper clip, for de-blocking the nozzle of the Glossy Accents bottle.

Happy WOYWW !

CCC 26

This week's Compendium of Curiosities Challenge set by Linda at Studio L3 is from page 45 of Tim's book, and is Rusted Grunge.

I've done all but one of my challenge pieces in this shape, so I thought perhaps I might make this one the cover of a book or a box to keep all the pieces together. I used the woodgrain embossing folder with Brushed Corduroy, Frayed Burlap, Walnut Stain and Crushed Olive DIs. When it came to doing the Rusted Grunge, I used the DI as per the instructions, but don't have EP in that colour, so had to use Tea Dye. However, it still looks reasonably rusty.

This gives a closer view of the effect.


Thank you, Linda, for another fun challenge.

Happy New Year and CCC 25

Well, I think I've been a bit carried away with this Christmas and New Year lark, and have woken up only just in time to do my Compendium of Curiosities Challenge number 25. For full information on this, zip on over to Linda's Studio L3 blog. It's page 34 in the Compendium and is entitled Scribbled Stain Distress.

I've used Broken China, Stormy Sky, Faded Jeans and Tumbled Glass distress ink pads, and Broken China, Faded Jeans, Tumbled Glass and Peeled Paint distress re-inkers for the technique. I'm still in Christmas mode so the stamping is from an Inkadinkado set I've just got in a sale, and a Tim snowflake stamp using black Archival and Broken China DI. And seeing as the theme's still Christmassy, I couldn't resist a shiny star and a few puffs of Sea Glass Glimmer Mist.

By now I've eaten almost all of the the chocolate and Christmas cake, and it will soon be time to face up to the New Year and the consumption of a healthier bill of fare. Until then, I'll enjoy the remaining cake and choccy, and wish you all a New Year of Happiness, Health and Contentment (which includes many hours resulting in inky painty fingers, of course).