Back From My Holiday & Design Team Announcement

Hey lovely peeps I'm back from my holiday in Rochester NYC.  I was there for an art convention with 26 other artist who I know from ATCsforALL.  We had a weekend of making and trading art - although I'm sure there was much more socialising being done than art as most of us had made our art for trading before we arrived in Rochester. 

Now onto the Design Team - before I left for Rochester I applied to Oak House Studio's call out for new Design Team members and while I was on holiday I received an email from Lynnda who owns Oak House Studio to say I had been successful.  Now to keep quiet about it for nearly 3 weeks has been really difficult - but yay now I can shout it out to everyone and I can tell you that you are in for a treat as the stamps and inks are just lovely and I get to play and get creative with them.  So don't forget to subscribe to this blog or get email notifications to keep up to date with what's happening and not to miss out on the tutorials/instructions I'll be posting.

Before I go here are some photo's from the art convention.

Huggles with Sarah 

Outside the Brainery with Cindy, Ann, Sarah and Karen

Collage of the art room and the artists 

Summer Of Colour4 Week 2

So it's week 2 of the Summer of Colour 4 challenge over on Twinkle Twinkle Like A Star and this week I've made a couple of pieces both of them abstract.  One is an Artist Trading Card (ATC) and the other is a larger piece where I started out with circles which were supposed to have been abstract trees but ended up being some weird and odd looking alien birds - or at least that's what they look like to me.  

This weeks colours were Teal, Coral and a Dash, Splash or Splodge of White.  The coral colour came out rather orange on the ATC but I think I've got it a better shade on the larger piece.  The only thing I couldn't do was get the correct shade of teal to come through on the photograph.

Coral, Teal and White

Abstract ATC

Abstract Alien Birds

Catching Up - Photo Heavy

It's been a busy week with lots of new artwork made for trade, to sell and collaborations.  Those of you who have been following me for some time will know my passion for challenges especially if they are art related.  Why do I join these challenges and put myself through the stress of coming up with something that would be acceptable?  Well it's mostly to stretch myself and see if I can make something outside of my comfort zone.

So my latest challenge started last week on Twinkle Twinkle Like A Star (also see my previous post) called Summer of Colour 4.  I came across this on facebook (as you do) and I knew I had to join.  The colour challenge last week was Aqua, Yellow with a dash of Pink.  

The first photograph shows what I did initially but I wasn't happy with it as it just needed 'something'.  The second photograph is the finished piece.  I'm much happier with that version.  I can't wait to see what this weeks colours are going to be. 

  

1st Version

Finished piece

Finished piece but upside down - I like it this way up or should that be down :)

The other items I made are some Artist Trading Cards for trading in a swap I am hosting at a gallery in Altrincham Manchester UK.  I'm a volunteer there and have been given the grand title of ATC coordinator.  I've found that ATC's are not so widely known in the UK and not something that is known in the art industry - the concept of "trading" art is not understood and 'artists' don't seem to be able to grab the concept.  I think it's a great way of owning an original piece of artwork and the best thing is it is open to everyone and doesn't require lots of expensive tools.

Here are a couple of the ATC's I made this weekend.  The one in the middle I made into a Father's Day card for my dad as they are the perfect size to put onto a card.

And finally I'll leave you with a picture of a canvas I finished this week.  It's not very big and the colour is more minty green than blue/green.  The hearts and 'follow your heart' are both made with air drying clay.

Apologies for the long post but I wanted to do a catch up.  I promise my next post won't be as long.  Hope you've all had a good weekend.

I'm linking this post to Handmade Monday over on Handmade Harbour and Creative Monday's it's been a while since I participated in any blog hops.