Poppy builds herself a huge Insect Hotel

My granddaughter Poppy wanted to make an insect hotel but decided she wanted a big one. Dad cut out the wood and of she goes. She has some little bird house lights to attach and also wants to add a sign. Love the fact that she doesn't sit with her eyes glued to her phone,  in fact she thinks they can be very annoying. Wonder what she will be when she grows up? Think mum helped a little too.

Febuary New Moon, Moss and Yorkshire Puds

 Tired boxes that my daughter was going to throw out and decided to paint them with Annie Sloan paint

 I think they came up a treat

 Lovely to see some colour at this time of the year

 My grandson took this photo as he thought it looked spooky

Pampas Grass soaking up the sun

Yay I can now say I have mastered the art of Yorkshire puds with the help from Jamie Olivers easy peasy  recipe

 These two pheasants were in deep discussion walking through my back garden, my DH thought they would have gone well with the yorkshire puds :(

The moon got caught on my tree

Grandson again as he thought this looked ike a grasshopper, and you know what I can see it, can you?

€2 Chair a pot of Paint and a lot of Elbow Grease... Tada

Saw this chair a few weeks ago in a brocante (French Secondhand shop)  and thought to myself how nice it would look if it had a little TLC spent on it, but decided I had enough on my plate for now and anyway I don't need it.  3 times over a period of about a month the chair was still there and waiting for a new home, and I am sure it finally begged me on my last visit (like chairs do) to save it. I was one step ahead though, because unbeknown to me my brain had already decided what I would do with it colour wise but no idea on the seating. The seat is in perfect condition well sprung and very comfy.. bonus!

So I went and asked how much and if it was going to be more than €15 forget it.... €2 later and it was mine, and so I left with a big smile and the chair, well wouldn't you?  It has two castor's on the front, and I don't really see what purpose they serve, and a fabulous carved front panel. After a lot of sanding I gave it two coats  in a mat Linen and used a heavy cotton with blue & white stripes and dotted with  pink peony roses. I didn't have a trim that matched the material  so I decided to make a swag effect round the bottom edge. Turned out pretty well and was fun to do and I made a little lavender sachet out of a scrap that was left over, well I would wouldn't I:) Have you revamped anything lately? would love to see it.

******"State Of The Art" ****** Chateau Dumas Giveaway 2011

When I see a finished painting I’m often mystified as to how the artist got there so I was delighted when painter Joan Lawson sent me these stage by stage shots of her “Walk to the Chateau” painting.

Joan is teaching two painting classes at Chateau Dumas this September and I can’t wait! Maybe you’d like to win a place in our Chateau Giveaway? Thanks again to Chrissie for inviting Joan to reveal her painting methods here.

This sketch gives me the basic composition as well as the tonal structure. Interesting to work out the perspective of the building in the background. I like the slow lazy approach in this image, you don't want to enter the painting too quickly! I love working in red pastel pencil on this rough paper.

I washed raw sienna over the entire canvas and began to block in loosely. Not sure about the blue/pink sky though. Keeping the colour strong in the foreground and soft in the distance, but I'll need to think about placing the warm/cold blues to enhance the distance.

Blocking in a little more solidly now, I'll keep the colder greeney blues to the distance, and put the warmer ultramarines and purples to the foreground. I definitely prefer the yellow sky! I must keep the distant trees soft...

I just need to strengthen and darken the foreground with some lovely reds, and put foliage on the tree to the left. It helps me to think of the muddle of foliage on the right as overlapping flat shapes, like flats on a stage set.


Thanks, Joan, you make it sound so easy!


Lizzie


Like to win a place on Joan’s Painting workshop?
See http://www.chateaudumas.net/ for details of the courses ( sorry 18-25 September is full). Please leave your prefered cousre in the comment box of the blog to enter the giveaway – the winner’s name will be announced on 1 April on the original blog post  here http://bit.ly/hDCR2S .

Feature Interview & Giveaway by ArTrend

I was delighted when Monica from ArTrend here on Etsy contacted me and asked if I would do a feature and a giveaway for her. She is giving a beautiful watercolour of three penguins signed and dated by her own fair hand. Value $25 So here is a little into her life and love of Art.

I was born in Naples, southern Italy. I lived in my native city until I was 
18 years old and then I moved to Miami Beach Florida where I  now  currently live with my husband Larry .

I graduated at the F.Palizzi art institute in Naples, Italy in 1998 where I learned and practiced many different painting an sculpting techniques. Art has always been a need for me, the need of creating with my hands, with passion and experience in different artistic media.

My inspirations are almost always part of my dreams, even if like I said before my interests usually influence my finished artworks but also I love to admire other artist’s pieces and sometimes see my own interpretation in their work. I love nature, art and travel, and these interests often influence my finished artworks, giving my pieces a sense of another place or time. It’s funny how we all view art in different ways and how personal feelings can influence not only the artist that creates an artwork but also the person that is looking at it.

My favourite artist without any doubt has to be Gustav Klimt. I also love all the great French impressionist and Italian masters but if I could choose a piece of art to hang in my house I will probably get one of the artwork of the 99fears collection created by Nedko Solakov

Here I am painting on glass and the solvent (pure gum spirit, turpentine) gives me a headache after a while, so I have to mask up.

If I could have one wish it would be to have my family closer in order to spend the holidays  and some quality time with my loved ones.

Some of my hobbies! We all have them right!
I don t have kids yet, so… my dog Maya is my baby! I found her last Christmas at the shelter here in Miami Dade and when I am not busy between my day job and my dream job I love to spend time with her!

She follows me in all my activities; she goes kayaking, running, biking, and most of all plays soccer! It’s true!



Well Monica sent me so much wonderful 
information and lots of photo's and I am sorry I could not add them all here. Anyway lets go and find these penguins a new home. 

How to enter:
Please follow my blog and  visit ArTrend and see some more of her beautiful art, heart an item, shop or both:)
Enter as many times as you like so if you tweet or face book this then add your name again. I will pick a winner with random.org on the 5th August and post the details here. So thanks everyone and thank you Monica for such a great giveway, good luck.