a first...

Never been asked to do a 'Grooms' Card before (didn't even know there was such a concept!!!)

As I wasn't too sure what is/was required from a Grooms card, and given that my other cards are VERY flowery and girly!!, I decided that I would do a painted version of the Grooms buttonhole... which apparently is going to be a Sea Thistle or Sea Holly....

so, after some very dodgy initial sketches, this is the finished article...

Sea Thistle 2015

watercolour on paper

I'm quite pleased with it as it goes... not too girly.. but ties in nicely with the other thankyou cards, and a little more 'special' as its painted in watercolours rather than with coloured pencils.

hope they both like it.

Now onto the final part of this commission 'bundle'...

1 large and 1 small 'tree' for the wedding guests 'fingerprint' guest book/print....

hope this turns out ok!!!

Thank you, thank you, thank you....

One of my friends is getting married at Easter, and has 'commissioned' me for some bits (its instead of a traditional 'gift' - I find it sooooo difficult charging friends for work!!!)...

So the other weekend we had a little 'commission brief' meeting and agreed on the following order/package:

10 thank you cards (1 not to have any wording on it) - similar to my other flowery card designs but pretty much got carte blanche on how they're designed
1 grooms card (to include a Sea Thistle - which will be his button-hole and in the Brides bouquet)
1 A3 size 'tree' for the 'guest book' adult finger prints (leaves)
1 A4 size 'tree' for the 'guest book' children finger prints (leaves)
and a selection of pinks/blues/greens finger ink pads (and wipes!!)

Thats a fair amount to get try to get done before the end of March!!! (especially when art work is a 'hobby' and you actually work full time!)

So this weekend, and knowing I had absolutely no plans or secret Valentines admirers even remotely on the horizon, I set about completing the 'thank you cards'.  It was a very odd being  quite an anti-Valentines Day person, to be designing 10 individual 'Thank you' cards Wedding guests, full of pink hearts !!! 

It might have took me longer than I planned, but with a big pot of tea (being kept nice and hot thanks to the home made tea-cosy I made on Friday night - I have mentioned that I have ZERO social life at the moment!! - I finished the last one last night....

very pleased with them, and can't wait to post them (after the Easter Wedding) on my art page on the 'other' networking site!!!! :  but, here, just for any one who reads this page, here's the 10 thank you cards...

today I start work on the 'grooms' card....think this one might be a watercolour painting rather than coloured pencil....we'll see how it goes.

Getting ready for 2015

I found myself today in a lovely (and infrequent) position.  I had a day off work and no other appointments or engagements to attend for the entire day.  A whole 24 hours with nothing else to do other than please myself! 

With rubbish 'Festive Season' daytime television on in the background I spent a few hours this afternoon making a selection of Birthday cards - I've got 4 friends birthdays in the next 25 days!!  I made quite a few last year for various people and various reasons and they seem to be well received.

One's already been popped in the post (hopefully it will get all the way to Barry, South Glamorgan (in Wales) ready for my friends birthday on 2nd January.

One will be coming with me tomorrow night to my friends New Years Eve party, so I can leave her card for her, her birthday is on 4th January.

The remaining two will be coming with to work on 5th January - one will be a belated card for one work colleague who's birthday is tomorrow, and the other will be for another colleague who's birthday is way off on the 25th January!!! 

I'm hoping to get some more time to myself on Friday (I'll be waiting in for some deliveries) and I can make a start on the 3 birthday cards I need for the beginning of February (seems crazy to be planning to make them so soon but once I'm back to work I rarely seem to get much time to sit down and get things done....maybe I should make better 'to do' lists and timetabling part of my New Years resolutions for 2015 !!!

I think this last one is actually my favourite, I may well be a design I'll repeat again...I think its the subtle metallic pencils that I particularly like....shame I don't have a wider selection of colours...but its not too great a problem or disadvantage.  Will add to the 'simplicity' of them.

Remembrance Sunday

It's Remembrance Sunday here in Blighty, and its a lovely bright, dry brisk November day.  I've not been to a Remembrance service for a few years now, and this year was going to be no different - my Dad is laying a wreath at the Remembrance Service at Canterbury Cathedral for his old Regiment, but I'm not even going to watch that this year.

But as its a 'centenary' I thought I should really mark the occasion in my own way.

So, with thoughts of our recent few visits to the Tower of London to see Paul Cummins' 'Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red' installation I drew out this little sketch ... had only put a picture of it up on my 'social networking' site when an Aunt messaged me asking for a copy...she's getting the original popped in the post :-)  

in response to Paul Cummins Installation currently at Tower of London

A mighty Shard of steel and glass

splinters heavy skies of grey

pierces rainclouds full of mournful tears

on this centenary Remembrance Day

Summers' English roses

long faded and with bowed and shrivelled head

face towards the Tower

with its 'Bloodswept land and seas of red'

Eight hundred thousand Commonwealth lives

(a poppy for each) to attention stands

filling and devouring the Towers

'green and pleasant land'

So on this centenary Remembrance Day

we can see each of the 'Glorious Dead'

and remember the lives given and lost for this

'Bloodswept land and seas of red'

by Louise Page 

5th October 2014

re-use, re-cycle....

Its been lovely weather here again in Blighty, and to eek out every ounce of it, I've been coming home from work this week and going straight out into the garden..to water the plants and have a little wind down from the day, and then sit in my very own little bit of heaven on earth with a cuppa tea and think creative thoughts!

It was while enjoying a bit of 'thinking time' that I've decided to do a 'little' painting for the John Millest Exhibition that they will be holding where I work. 

But what to use for a canvas...I'm all out.

Then in a moment of frugality, I remembered that I had a portrait study painting I'd done while at uni, that had been busy languishing propped up against the studio wall for over 4 years!

So, tonight, as another gloriously warm, dry Summers evening beckoned, I dragged out the canvas and set to it with some good ole white paint....needs a few more layers to go, but its supposed to be another lovely day tomorrow and I'd rather deal with this painting than do boring 'indoor' housewifey stuff!!!

old study portrait of my friend Amy...

2 coats of white paint later....

There's something very ethereal about the old portrait in this 'white washed' state...something quite charming yet disarming in that veiled gaze.... wish I'd stumbled on this while I was at Uni!!!! might have helped!?!

Henri Matisse - The Cut-Outs...a visitation!

I'm currently in the middle of taking 2 whole unbroken weeks off work, during what is hopefully something resembling 'Summer'!

As Per, I'm having a 'staycation' and yesterday was my 'day out' - off to the Ole Smoke with my Mum for a bit of culture.

We started off out day with a leisurely stroll from London Bridge station down to Tate Modern, down back streets, passed The Golden Hind, The Clink, The Globe (so much to pass in such a small space!!).

We arrived at Tate Modern 10 - 15 mins later and stopped in the cafe for coffee and cake half past elevenses! Our pre-booked tickets for the Matisse exhibition were for a 1.00pm entry, which, after our little sit down, gave us enough time to do a recce in the book shop and a little stroll around the artist room in permanent collection - currently Alex Katz.  We'd seen a little exhibition of his only a year or so ago at the Turner Contemporary in Margate (which is not too far from home but bizarrely takes longer to get to that it does London!?, still, thats public transport for you!).

Tickets collected and in hand, off we popped to see what The Cut-Outs had to offer.

A hour and a half and 14 rooms later I had idea's for my own work popping & bouncing around in my head (Mum on the other hand didn't want to see another algae shape again!).

My Mum is so good to take to these things...she'll like/dislike pieces & will always tell you why - she'll happily stand there and challenge the merits of work - why is one deemed 'better' than another...what does that 'mean' .... what is this one supposed to be about....
She pointed to one 'cut out' from Matisse's Jazz book (a joy to see in itself) and gave a shrug & a wave of a hand...'whats this one then? whats it got to do with circus? not sure if I like this one'...I replied with 'I'm not sure what it is...but I like the pattern...look at it properly....what does it 'feel' like',

and then suddenly, an exclamation and a knowing 'oh I see'....oh look, mum said, it a trapeze  act...look, there's the swings, oh and see...the safety net is there...and those shapes are the trapeze artists .... that must be 'trapeze' in french (Les Codomas - I looked it up when we got home....its not french for 'trapeze', but is the family name of a well known trapeze act of the time....and that is why I love taking my Mum...she's happy to dislike, and when challenged, just as happy to explain why/what is causing the dislike and to look again, to really 'see' the image and work out issues she has with the work.... doesn't mean that if and when she resolves these points that she goes on to 'like' the particular piece, she still didn't 'like' Les Codomas' as much as she liked 'that horse one over there', but at least she takes the time to learn about the work.

As usual, we laughed at the people with the hand held 'guides'...I hate HATE HATE those things...people stand with their noses 12 inches away from the art work but spend the whole time looking at the image of it on the 'guide' device with heads down and listening to someone telling them about the work...invariably they'll listen & look at the device for a minute or so, then, when all audio has finished, give a cursory glance up at the actual work for a second or so, then shuffle on to the next piece like little robotic lambs!!!!  Drives me bonkers!! how about having a nice long look AT THE WORK...jotting any notes or comments down in the little paper guide you always get...seeing if there's anything there that answer any questions you have...and then if necessary...and if you enjoyed to the work/exhibition and what to know more about what you've seen..maybe even buy the Exhibition catalogue...or even another book about the artist...learn...find out for yourself...make your own mind up...challenge yourself to find out if your opinion/thoughts/reflections marry up with those of the artist...did he/she convey what they wanted...do you agree with what the 'art said' - how does your opinions of the works compare to those of the artist and those of the gallery curators?? 
Take a step or three back and compare works with others in the room...or better still...view the room in its entirety ... has the curator guided you through the work...usually this is done chronologically and you see how work developed...(lol it was at this point my Mum declared that he 'stuck to what worked for him...oh look ... another room full of algae shapes!)  
we've yet to discover the significance of 'algae' shapes...they were certainly predominant ... but I have my exhibition catalogue to read through and other books on Matisse that I can research to find out.  It may be nothing, but I'll probably learn more about this period of his life  and his work of this time than if I'd just shuffled along with the other brain-washed herd of electronic gadget holding masses.

oh...and we also popped into the BP Portrait Award 2014 at the National Portrait Gallery...we both enjoy making our annual pilgrimage to this exhibition...and every year I come out of it saying...I could do that, I'm seriously going to enter it next year....I never do...but this year I mean it!!!! :-)

oh...and as well as the Matisse exhibition catalogue I also bought this amazing Dot-to-Dot book...just waiting for the sunshine to re-appear today and I'm off to sit and relax in the garden with the pencils!