Alana

My latest painting......

Photoshop

I've been playing around with photoshop again, what do you think?

The Mouse's Tale

The Spider Queen.

She hides within the woods with only the spiders as companionship.

Her heart, long since broken, is held together by the cobwebs of her arachnid friends.

She will lure the fool hearty into her web only to give their hand to death.

Love can not only bring joy, but also sorrow......

The moral? Never play with a womans heart!

Star Princess

The little princess watches over you as you sleep, humming lullaby's to help you sleep.

Sprinkling star dust into your eyes to create all your most magical dreams.....

ROA Creates A Giant Lanticular in London

Is this AWESOME or what!?!
Now that's the sort of graffiti I'd very happily have on any of my walls! (Via HERE)

Dr Sketchy

I went to another local Dr Sketchy today featuring the amazing Leyla Rose & Missy Malone not only modelling but each putting on a performance. We were definitely spoiled!
If you go to their MySpace (I've linked for you), you'll be able to watch some of their performances.
*They are cabaret/burlesque performers so expect a certain level of nudity before going to their sites!

This one is my fave that I've done so far....

These ones below are from the previous Dr Sketchy's with singer/model/dancer Martini & illusionist Dee Christopher They were both great to draw too. Martini made some awesome poses & Dee put across a great feeling of moodiness. I rarely get to drew guys so it was great to sketch Dee Christopher.

3D Interactive Art

Another uni module over! Way-hey!

Hopefully I'll get a decent grade. I was planning on sharing my process with you all, but I never get round to it, so I'll do a quick summary!

I was at first inspired by Resurrection Ferns crochet covered stones, so had a play around with that (I did a few rough, uneven stones to make a contrast of textures, but lord knows where I've put them! I couldn't even find them to hand in for me final day!! Doh!)

I decided to make the pebbles out of air dry clay (I couldn't find any pebbles I wanted, I live in a town so it was difficult. I ended up going to a garden center & buy a sack full, I have one or two left... :/).

I came up with the idea of writing on the stones & leaving messages.....
That idea reminded me of cairns & standing stones, so decided to go down that route...

I don't know if you can see it very well in the photo , but I came up with the idea of having a spiral going over a cairn, to represent energy. Like a Cone of Power.

I went down to the workshop & spiralled a very long, thick piece of metal rod. As I carried it back to the classroom & though, "hey, this would be awesome hanging up, upside down!"

So I went with that. Thinking what a spiral of energy coming from above could represent I thought "Drawing Down The Moon"!

I was on a roll! I wrapped the metal rod with thinner wire & beading wire & some beads to represent energy I thought well there are 8 moons in a a cycle (full, waning, waxing etc etc) & I decided to add 8 crocheted covered stones to represent the moon, using silver thread to show lunar power grounding. A bit new age-y I know.....

& this was the outcome!

(There's a small stone, wire play piece in the background)

If I had, had more time I would of liked it to have turned & placed somewhere, where the viewer could stand underneath it....

Ginge is doing much better. Thanks to everyone who asked after him & sent their love.

There's nothing left to see of the abscess, only a bald spot. His fur is starting to grow back, but his face still looks a little uneven, not that it's effected his cockiness & pride!
As you can see he's still loving the camera....look at him trying to act like he doesn't know he's having his picture taken....I see those eyes! LOL!

Now uni is done for the year, hopefully I'll be a bit more active & you'll see me here a bit more.....well only if I survive Christmas shopping *shudder*

Creativity Breakthrough

On a much happier note, I finally got my work from an exhibition back today plus a cheque! With the center closing, reopened in another center without me being told, & just day to day life, I didn't get round to picking my work or poster up!

Doesn't it look great as a poster! :)

The cheque was from Breakthough, who used a piece of my work in their first issue of their magazine "Reflections". The letter attached to the cheque even says "keen to recieve more of your work....both magazine....coffee table book"!!!! *little happy dance*

Ok it's only £20, but it's a start & gets my name out there. Look at me a published artist!! LOL!

I'm SOOOOO freakin' proud of that little photocopy....I can see it keeping me going when I want to throw the brushes in!

Collographs

We made collographs at uni last Wednesday. I've never tried it before, but I really like the effect. Plus it was pretty messy & messy is always good!

First you need a firm base & then stick away.....I used masking tape, lace, fabric, pva glue etc

You then cover the whole piece with diluted pva glue & then a clear varnish.

Then the messy bit!

It needs to be completely covered in ink, (if you miss just the slightest bit the space will show as white on the actual print, so not good.).& then wiped off. It sounds pointless I know but you want a the ink to be in the spaces only. Some others at uni did some beautiful work but missed some space & so their prints were a disappointment.

Think of a potato print reversed. Instead of the surface holding the ink, you want the indent, the background, ink covered.

Once everything is dry you place it face down on a damp (so it doesn't rip & molds over the surface easier) piece of think paper & then put it through the press.
The press at uni is similar to a mangle, but keeps the paper flat, kinda like a printer....

The result is this!

I love the outcome, but feel the lace had too much ink, so I repressed it....


The lace is much better in this one, but I prefer the first print.

This is the stamp (can't remember what you call it) after it was pressed. It's quite pretty in its own right!


Plus I came up with a cunning plan.....my Mum has always suggested using my crochet in my paintings & while doing the prints I thought why couldn't I use my crochet it self as a stamp???

So over the past few days I've been hooking away, so watch this space!

Mono Print & Crochet

Uni started again on Wednesday.
I was a bit nervous, as it's a new module & new lecturer! But I needn't of worried :)
The teacher, Patricia, is lovely & shows a real interest in everyone individual style of art!
For the first time I was able to discuss my own work...where I want it to go. It was SO refreshing.
Considering there are other artists on the course who exhibit & sell their work I have been surprised of the lack of interest so far by the lecturers in pupils personal work. To me an artists work tells you SO much about the individual.....so many questions about a person can be answered by just looking into someones art.
Well that's what I think anyway.....

For this module I'll be able to create something that I want to create. Something that means something to me, instead of the heartless, soul-less work I've produced so far for uni. Work that I made to fit a criteria & not a personal goal.

We were playing with printing, mono prints in particular - something i hadn't tried before.
This is what I came up with.......

The face & flowers are mono prints, the hair pencil & background highlighter. None of us really had the best of equipment with us (we weren't told what we would need - very annoying), so we made the best of what we had.
Some of the work made by the others were fantastic!

Of course I've been hooking away.....
I finally finished L's Sackboy
I couldn't find a zip so I added a scarf & frying pan to make up for it.

I spent Easter at my fellas folks house so I thought I'd make a little pressie to say thanks. I ended up making three! A bunny & two chicks. I gotta admit they're cute!

I made them from the Tiny Ami pattern from the book "Amigurumi World: Seriously Cute Crochet" by Ana Paula.

This little dude I made when I was bored one night.

& I made this for my mate Ellie. Interested in Buddhism & loves to write! Hopefully she'll like it!

The chart I got from HERE for free.

Street Drawings......

You HAVE to check out the work of the artist Julian Beever!

Even if you're not a fan of art you'll be amazed at his work........

Can you imagine you're reaction to turning a corner in your local town & coming across one of these masterpieces???

Thinking Outside the Box

Just recovering from a cold & in the middle of writing my first of two essays for my uni course.

Jeez I sound like a artsy, fartsy, over articulated, had a dictionary for my breakfast & a thesaurus for my lunch, annoying twat in my essay!!!

You know the sort....you just want to slap them & tell them to speak English!

The things we have to do to get a degree!!!

So because of that I haven't really had time to do anything too creative..... :/

But in my surfing (I was looking for info for my essays if anyone asks!) I found these little gems!

The one above is in Perth, Australia.

This piece is called Fata Morgana, and was created by Ralph Helmick and Stuart Schechter in 2001 at Ft. Lauderdale, FL. It has over 16 000 cables are suspended from a framework attached to the ceiling!!!!!

Aren't they awesome!!! I love art that twists the way you see things....makes you kinda think out side the box & opens you up to more possibilities I believe.