I actually forgot to update this blog at the time, so this is a late post heh. I finally finished painting Lily and uploaded her picture to DeviantArt.
And finally, I’ve returned to Etsy! My shop listings expired at the end of 2010 and I waited till I had art prints before I revamped it.
I kinda *squeee!*’d when I opened the prints for the first time. Like maybe I can almost be accused of art. Almost.
Oh and I’ve got a new jack russell mutt now. But I’ll post about her later.
Another digital painting – this time it’s my old golden retriever, Hamish. He sat by our halogen heater and the resulting light inspired me to turn it into a portrait. As usual this painting is for sale through my DeviantArt gallery [link].
I haven’t decided what to work on next, but it’ll probably be one of our other doggy friends – can’t have the cats having the numerical advantages hehe.
I forgot to blog this at the time, but I finished a digital painting of my cat Misty. As usual I created it using MyPaint software and my Bamboo Fun tablet.
You can buy prints etc over on DeviantArt [link].
I’ve been working on a series of cat paintings using MyPaint and my little tablet. The process is getting faster and I’m growing in confidence with digital art generally. I want to try using the Gimp for some art too, but I have developed quite an addiction to MyPaint. It just doesn’t get in the way of what I want to do. I’ve tried to do things the same way I would with real paint and brushes and MyPaint is really nice for that. I think the MyPaint work will help me work in Gimp because I’m more savvy about brushing and using layers. The last time I tried using Gimp I didn’t have a clue where to start š
So, without further words – here are some pictures of the artwork I’ve been uploading. You can hop straight to my DeviantArt pages by clicking here š
This is the first digital painting I did of a cat. I really didn’t think I’d manage to get the fur pattern right, but in the end I’m really happy with the result.
Here are the practice sketches I did in pencil before I started my paintings.
Yes, after a few years as a visitor to DeviantArt, I’ve finally registered and submitted a digital painting and a tutorial I made alongside it. So yes, you can call me a deviant and I’m not going to get offended.
You can find me and my artwork at http://wenchkin.deviantart.com/
My first picture came about by chance. I was looking through the source photos on DeviantArt, actually looking for a horse photograph and I found this ferret photo instead. Isn’t he adorable?
The digital painting I created was produced using a free program called MyPaint that I just love! Rather than going through a long and dedicated learning curve I was able to just paint. I wish all software was as easy to jump in with. If you want to look at MyPaint yourself (it works on Windows and Linux) the website is http://mypaint.intilinux.com/
Well the shawl kinda got turned into balls of wool again. The pattern I had in mind worked well with chunky fluffy yarn, but the finer wool I was using just felt a bit wasted on a plain knit centre and a pretty standard border. So Iāve re-balled the shawl yarn and itās in a stash of moorit, black and white wool to go into a new circular jacket/waistcoat Iām keen to try.
The new snuggleabuble jacket Iām hoping for will feature a really basic colour shading method Iāve used on a hat and my little scarf posted here. I have the three colours and I use centre pull balls so I can knit two strands together from the same ball, or from another colour ball. So I tend to do a few rows in white/white, then white/moorit, then moorit/moorit, for example. It makes for alternate ātweedyā looking bands and solid colour bands in the finished piece and saves me trying to mix accurate shade batches with my tiny hand carders. Drum carders are great for this though!
The jacket thing is worked from a centre with armholes worked in and should work really nicely with bands of colour working out the way.
The house is like a crafterās den just now. Darren is painting models, thereās a distinct smell of paint or glue depending what stage heās at, and Iām painting and varnishing polymer clay.
Spring is also kicking off in earnest here, the garden has flushed with green and fat fluffy bumble bees are boinking into the window and looking round for flowers. Darrenās on holiday for the next two weeks, so I decided to get some work done in the garden to get a new lawn laid and plant seeds for my containers. By summer I should have a lovely garden to sit and paint in or just relax after work.
Isn’t it funny how the first chill of winter gets you knitting?
I’m part way through knitting and crocheting a shawl that I’m using as the prototype for a new pattern. Essentially the centre triangle will be plain and then I’ll go to town with some crocheted edging. I also want to make up variation designs that are entirely knitted and crocheted.
I was going to sell the shawl originally, but the fine yarn is taking me too long to knit, and I’ve always made this style of shawl and then sold it. I figured it was time I made a really lovely shawl just for me. And the sheep who the fleece comes from is quite special. I have her mother’s fleece knitted into a scarf I now treasure so I wanted to have something from her daughter too. It’s funny knitting this shawl and seeing how similar it is to a scarf I made nearly 10 years ago! Fleece to me is a treasure when I have pet sheep, because I can still “cuddle” them when I don’t have them anymore. Yes, I’m a sentimental animal crazy crafte!
So here’s a pic of the work in progress as it sits now. This is undyed naturally coloured Shetland sheep wool by the way. I spin it in a way that keeps the colour variations in there, so that a solid “plain” bit of knitting actually has a subtle texture of its own. If my knitting and jewellery share anything it’s my love for showing natural materials in their untainted state whenever possible.
One of my “success first time” experiments with wire. I’ve been trying some herringbone weave around beads this week and wanted to see if I could make a bracelet using a single base wire rather than making separate wrapped sections and joining them. I wanted a wrist-hugging solid bracelet rather than one that moved or twisted.
I’m a bit disappointed that the citrine chips were too pale to contrast with the silver, but that’s something I can change later. The way it’s constructed, I can swap those beads out – at least in theory. I’m annoyed I didn’t buy some cloudy yellow resin beads to match the darker ones now, but polymer clay can make a nice faux amber so that might do the trick nicely.
