La Jarrie Audouin .. Painting competition

July 2nd. Another painting in the streets competition in France. This time at La Jarrie Audouin. My fourth competition painting in the streets in France and another prize. A certificate, a 25 euro leclerc voucher and two books of my work to be published for free although I am not sure what the latter means. (I have won a couple of books and a sculpture before). 

Not bad for getting a soaking in the rain. Luckily my oil painting did not wash off although there was not a dry spot on it and I had to give up. I was rescued by a very kind frenchman named Daniel and given a lift to a bus shelter to dry off. The professionals had umbrellas, tables and trailers full of equipment. I am going to buy an artists chair with my winnings. Very glad to see my family turn up and take me home to dry off

Peacocks and Klimt Tree of Life

It must be my lucky month as I have won another prize. I joined the saa last month in order to give myself a few specific challenges as otherwise I procrastinate dreadfully about what to paint. I entered a collage competition and are one of the five chosen to win a small prize. Every little helps as I spend a lot on artists materials. Here is my collage and my blurb.

Peacocks and Klimt Tree of Life

Media: Acrylics, Mixed Media, Oil pastel, Watercolour
Subject: Wildlife
WxH: 38 X 52 Centimeters
My most unusual material used in this collage is Old Man's Beard or Travellers Joy (Clemati Vitalba). It is mainly hidden now amongst the flamboyant layers of cut-out leaves and shapes and glitter which compete with the finery of the peacocks. I have photos of the early layers showing the tissue foundation layer based on Klimt's tree of life with the old man's beard applied on the trunk which was painted with acrylics when dry then metallic oil pastels were dragged over the high-points. Finally sheer joy took over and the imaginative decorative layers of birds and butterflies fluttered in to hide the initial construction. Varnished to finish.

Mornac Sur Seudre Paintings in Oil and Acrylic

Back from France where I've had chance to relax, paint and think of Art. I love colour and the light over there encourages brighter colours on my palette. Here's a few completed oils and acrylics with a new one started and left over there to finish next time we visit. All were based on a recent visit to Mornac sur Seudre.

Morgan Evening on Poole Quay

Finished at last. Its big, 120cm wide, so it took a while. Painted in Pebeo High Viscosity acrylics over the top of a textured background. Actually underneath it all are two other paintings which I have rejected and covered over, re-using the framed canvas. The black frame cost £80 on first painting so I wasn't going to waste it. Don't know what I'm going to do with it now. Its too big for our flat!!! Its sitting in my studio in France and I hope the mice don't eat it. I rather like it so thats the main thing.

For those that know me you will see our family group, painted from my imagination and including the latest addition....

The first covered-over painting was an abstract entered for the John Moores Competition in Liverpool. it was selected for the judges in one of the stages so had to be delivered up there, but was rejected so had to be fetched back by courier.  It was too serious to live with in a small terrace so I gessoed over it. Together with material costs it worked out an expensive lesson and put me off entering UK send-it-away competitions. I prefer the French paint-in-the-street type competitions. People can watch you as you work too and they are fun.

The second painting was a serene view of Poole harbour which was ok but I got bored with as anyone could have painted it. You couldnt say that about this one. I have changed my signature since taking the photo to just Gabriella as it looked wierd.

My Celtic Animal Collagraphs and a few Cats

I love making small celtic animal aceos using up to 3 layers of cartridge paper which I score into and draw onto to produce the effects. One sealed with button polish these are intaglio printed which means I wiped the ink off the surface and used dampened paper to take the ink out of the lines and recesses when printed on my Sizzix Big Shot. Once dry they are coloured with Prismacolor crayons. I love the plates too as well as the prints.

Collagraph influenced by Vicky Oldfield

I first saw Vicky Oldfield's work in a gallery and I loved the effect of the textured line in her work so I decided to try her technique. As I didn't have any carborundum I used marble dust. She is featured in a video which gave me enough information to produce this small 'vicky oldield' collagraph using my sizzix big shot to print it. I had stamped some small roses onto tissue paper and decided to use them as chine colle. This was for convenience and I don't like the yellow colour choice for these but this was really only a learning exercise. I do like the white dots I made with a biro end dipped in ink.

It was fun and I need to work on some of my own designs now.

Collagraph printmaking...testing coffee grounds and paprika to create a textured line.

I like being able to make small aceo size collagraphs and I print them on my Sizzix Big Shot. I usually use layered card quite successfully but I wanted to try something new. I have used marble dust and volcanic ash with wood glue in the past to create an ink retaining line but I wanted to get a smoother effect. Carborundum is normally used for this and I need to order some but in the meantime I decided to try coffee grounds which Belinda del Pesco mentions in her blog.

I dried some used coffee grounds but they looked very granular and I wanted a finer texture so a quick search in the cupboard and I decided to try paprika..... here are the results, an added bonus is that the paprika also adds a redish colour...