christmas break

I'm taking a bit of a break as I'm so busy with family and friends - back soon.

The T shirt, book and snowman themed pressies went down well :>)

Artists Christmas Cards

This was the final version of one of my cards.

Below are links to those who designed their own and left links in the comments for me:

Maree had the lovely idea of raising money for an animal charity with one of her card designs.

Jeanette did this lovely and very different card

Billie wondered what would happen if Santa's cat, who was scared of heights, hitched a ride :>)

and then designed another funny one - how many Persian cats have I seen with faces like that!

Gesa produced this elegantly minimalist card

Sarah produced this lovely Advent Calendar that opens a new window each day
and a Winter Solstice card

Ronell produced this delicate arrangement

Maggie made a 3D celebration!


A creative and inventive lot I'm sure you'll agree

Katherine did an interesting round up of free online art cards from various galleries

and don't forget the fun snowflake cutting programme for the child in you at Christmas :>)

if you made your own card and I haven't listed you, just send me a link and I'll add you to the list :>)

Dawn: Lavender, Viridian and Amber, acrylic on 12 inch canvas

Dawn: Lavender, Viridian and Amber. 12 inch canvas. Acrylic. Vivien Blackburn

Still in Christmas present mode! This is a present for my eldest daughter. She's moved into a new home and decided she wanted white walls and seascapes ..... a hint?????

I did this one from references you've seen before but decided to combine elements from several.

detail

detail

detail

The colours aren't showing up quite right in the complete image. There is more of that viridian/eau de nil green in the water. The clouds are a slightly more subtle colour.

Unusually for me, it's done entirely in acrylic - acrylic paint with some acrylic ink.

I may yet add small touches of white oil paint with a palette knife to improve the sparkle on the water and the waves. What do you think?

Instant Christmas cards - well almost!

card layout for printing on paper

What happens if at 7am you realise you've forgotten to organise cards for your class (who are lovely so not what I'd want!) - I like to give them one I've designed but I hadn't yet done it - and today was the last class of term and we were going out for Christmas lunch afterwards. 8>O

Publisher to the rescue :>)

I used on of the Sam illustrations and as I had no card left, printed it on paper and folded it twice. It worked ok :>)

Folded and signed as they came off the printer and done in time :>)

You can use word but it's not quite so easy to get the spacings right - it's really easy with Publisher. You can see the blue guidelines I set - these don't print.

I am so disorganised at the moment and juggling so many things. Juggling is not one of my talents. Hospital visiting ends today though with the patient getting parole - I'm off to collect him in a couple of hours. That should take some of the pressure off.

I bet you are more organised?

Christmas things update

I've just designed a mug for my son-in-law for Christmas with zazzle, featuring thjs digital image of my daughter.

I originally created a couple of versions of this image - one in colour and one in a limited palette. I mixed a photograph of my daughter and her belongings (much manipulated) with a section of a Dante Gabriel Rossetti painting. You can see the coloured version below. She is the one on the left.

I continued the mirror image theme, with 3 repetitions, the middle one flipped, so that it wraps around the mug.

And .... to go with his snowman book that I wrote/illustrated for Christmas, I've put illustrations from it onto an apron that Sam can wear for painting and a Tshirt.



Let's hope we like them all! I haven't ordered anything like this before - if I'm happy with the quality I may think of opening a Zazzle shop.

Sorry I've been absent for a while - family health problems cropped up again with a lot of hospital visiting - hopefully ok for now, though parole isn't until Monday :>) The cats will be very happy then :>)