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Sunday 16 March 2014

New month - new art journal

Hi everyone,

It has been quiet on the blog front but I have been busy. As Spring is starting to bloom and the evenings are becoming lighter, I have started a new art journal and painted several new canvases this month.

R and I also decided to start an Instagram account called #andyandrachael where we try to post daily photographs of projects and things that inspire us. Please feel free to check it out if you are interested. We would love to see you there...

Here are a few photographs of the journal so far:




As you all know, nature is a big source of inspiration of mine and this has crept inside the journal











I was really inspired when I revisited the paintings I created on Flora Bowley's ecourse Bloom True last year and this double page spread reflects that inspiration.

                       

This source of inspiration continued further last weekend when I added to some new canvases  It felt brilliant to be working on canvas again and to watch how they are developing (as well as getting messy!). Lucky for me, my wife is very supportive when I am in the painting zone!!! 




Hope that Spring is inspiring you too.

Andy

Sunday 9 February 2014

A Roaringly Good Time

Hi everyone

As promised, here's the post about what R and I created for our nephew's fifth birthday. He asked for a 'Dinosaur' themed party and that is what the family endeavoured to create. As a surprise, we created treat boxes and party hats, a banner, food labels and fun straws to match this theme.


 

We took a basic party hat design and used the shape for the cones and added a stegosaurus tail to the back of the hat. They were a big hit.



We were asked to think about designs for party bags but we wanted to do something extra. R and I worked hard on creating a layout and then manipulating it to create our treat boxes.


Whilst we were making them, I have to admit there were a few renditions of the 'Jurassic Park' theme tune!



We created four different designs: a Stegosaurus, Triceratops, Ankylosaurus and a T-Rex. We used the same colours as the hats, and added a support in the form of a tail on each. There were twenty five children at the party so we made thirty of these little monsters. They were filled with treats like chocolate (dinosaur) eggs ready for the children as they went home.

Hope you enjoyed seeing our creations. Will attempt to blog again soon!

Andy





Wednesday 5 February 2014

Painting gifts

Hi everyone

Hope you are having a good week? It has been a while since I last posted, for which I can only apologise. Lots to do and no time in which to get everything done. You know the syndrome I am sure! Because of my time constraints connected to work, my wife R has set up an instagram account for us so we can both post what we are up to if I cannot get to the blog. I am now trying to make a conscious effort to be a regular blogger.  

As a start, here at last, are the paintings that were given to the family at Christmastime. I hope that you enjoy seeing them.




This cute Bunny I painted for one of my young nieces. She is only 1, and loves bunnies. The more astute of you will recognise the canvas that I created for the Lilla Rogers course. It needed modifying and a good home.



The pirate ship and squid painting was created for my eldest nephew, who has just turned 5. (I will show you the 'surprises' we made for his birthday next post.) I was really happy with the 'split' level effect.



Our eldest niece, who is 7, got this little beauty. She is fairy mad and a massive fan of yellow, so the logical thing to paint was a yellow fairy castle! I wanted to create something different from the classic 'Disney castle' look so I opted for a more woodland feel. 



This seascape was given to my mother-in-law. She wanted a tranquil image that looked like a seascape but still remained abstract. This was a totally different way of working for me. I had never done anything like this before. The other paintings were developed from the layering techniques that I acquired from Flora Bowley's course, but this was a new way of painting for me. I am happy to report that she loves it!

Another post is on the way. Hope that you can join me then.

Andy