Bit of a different post today, but I just have to tell you about this new album I am listening to. First and foremost I absolutely cannot believe that I met this artist on my Level 2 art course last year. M is so amazing at her charcoal animal figures artwork – and then to find out she is a singer too was “wow this lady is too talented”. Malaya exhibited her art recently at West Acre Gallery alongside me, and I sold one of her pieces of artwork.
Honestly, if you love Blues-style music, please do go and give her a listen on Spotify. She has a few albums on Spotify, but I was notified this morning of her latest release and before even finishing the album, I am here telling you about it. The lyrics in these songs give me all the feels.
Anyway, I do hope you take the time to listen and that you enjoy it. Do let me know if you like it, I’m intrigued as to what you think.
Happy Listening
Donna
Disclaimer:
All opinions expressed here are my own. I paid for any products discussed. I received no payment and I am not affiliated in any way with any brand mentioned herein.
I’m taking the plunge again and exhibiting some of my art again at a local Art Festival. This time however, both I and my Husband are taking part and showing some our own art work, all of which will be for sale.
Swaffham Art Festival, has been running annually for the last 25 years, and has raised one excess of £160,000 in that time from the sale of art by Local Artists.
We are both excited to be a part of this prestigious event, and look forward to seeing all the other works available too!
I receive details of my children’s assigned homework via an app, they hate it, but I love it because I get to check they have done their work. Anyway, our son’s new art homework arrived, it goes without saying this is the homework I am most interested in. I am not going to lie, when this piece arrived I whooped and WOWed and exclaimed “I am so doing this homework!!”
I love doing my son’s art homework with him. It’s a fun exercise in creativity. This time we are to start with a template of a heart and brainstorm all the different ways we can make it look different. It’s going to be exciting to see what he comes up with for his piece. And I get to be a kid again myself, which is always a blast.
The homework is “Create an imaginative development of a heart drawing”
He can consider any form he wants, no matter how weird or obscure, wherever his imagination takes him. He has to consider form, shape, tone, colour, and even risk-taking concepts.
Heart Face
I couldn’t wait to get started, so after he went to bed, Hubby was playing on his X-Box and Daughter was texting her boyfriend, I put the TV onto Sky-Arts and sat down with pencil and paper, and this is what I created, I have no idea where it came from, what my headspace was doing or why it just developed on the page.
What would you make from a heart template? Let me know in the comments!
So yesterday I was at college for week 2 of the new course. And it was all about colour mixing. I actually heard and felt the room sigh when we all realised what it was about, however, I was excited because it’s something I really want to get into.
I have listened to many artists (Kellee Wynne springs to mind, I have even bought the course and not started it yet!) talk about the importance and benefits of knowing how to mix your own colours, using just the primaries. I have done it as part of a watercolour course a couple of years ago. Never really tried acrylic and definitely not with oils!
One thing I found out that I really didn’t know, was to use boiled water not tap water for cleaning the brushes etc, and to spritz the container with mist before and after loading with paint. The reason to use boiled water is to reduce the introduction of bacteria that will turn the paints and make them unusable and smelly!
So we spent the day, squeezing tubes and mixing a palette of 24 different colours, all made using just lemon yellow, pthalo blue, carmine red and white.
Mixed Paints ready to use
Let me tell you, the day was both fun, exciting and… Not going to lie… Tedious!
Yes, you heard me right tedious. What a boring thing to do for so many hours. HOWEVER I now have 24 colours mixed and ready to use in my homework, and for next week’s class.
I have learnt so much. I absolutely and So very happy to have done this!
We were given a base recipe to follow. I.e. “mostly” white, “some” blue, “some” red. “bit” of yellow. Squeeze the paints onto the palette, and go ahead and just mix until you have the colour you are aiming for, then also make enough to match the swatches and fill the pot.
The outcome is 24 pots of paint, all varying shades tones and hues, ready to use. And I have the knowledge of how to do this again. But more importantly, I can think, oh I like that colour I wonder what I need to make it, let me try this combination.
My finished colour swatches
My biggest takeaway from today – DO IT – just do the colour mixing, you will learn so much about the reasons colours look the way they do, the way colours are made up, and how much you can add to get a shade of colour you want, and when it goes wrong what you can do to “fix” it to get back on track!
Disclaimer:
All opinions expressed here are my own. I paid for any products discussed. I received no payment and I am not affiliated in any way with any brand mentioned herein.
I’ve recently taken a couple of free Facebook challenges that are focused on how to supercharge my Pinterest account. They have been enlightening, interesting and intense!
Watercolour Painting – Donna’s Creative Space
I have been learning to market myself on the platform, and as part of that, I have been spending a lot of time there, and not here or on my art! But in the long run, I’m sure it will be a good thing as it will help drive an audience to my blog, Etsy and other social media locations.
I am learning that it’s so important to pin cleverly, carefully, thoughtfully, regularly and with appropriate keywords to get my intended audience to see the pin,
I probably won’t do a big “rebrand” because I’m not a big business however I shall gradually change and alter things on the blog, and my social media to suit where I want to be heading as an artist with a brand style.
One of my key takeaways is that Pinterest is NOT a social media platform, it’s a Visual Search Engine, and so it’s vital to accurately get your point out there to the person who is searching for the item you want them to see. I am therefore learning a lot about SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) and Keywords (the words that draw the viewer into my pin) and the visual aesthetic of my pin needs to keep the viewer there and make them click the pin!
image from @theSocialgiraffe
Have I answered my starting question – I don’t know, but it’s definitely something for me to continue to explore to see if I can drive an audience to my Online presence, and specifically my Etsy store to buy my products!
So watch this space, and please feedback or any comments to help or critique where I’m going!
Facebook challenges completed were Supercharge your Pinterest. and Pinterest Growth Challenge with Meagan Williamson
Disclaimer:
All opinions expressed here are my own. I paid for any products discussed. I received no payment and I am not affiliated in any way with any brand mentioned herein.
