Puppet Making

Crafts is not really my thing but I love to do arts and crafts with the kids to get their imagination going plus it is a lot of fun too. Particularly as Christmas draws nearer I feel the need to create, makes things, paint things, make a mess type of thing; it brings out the child in me. 

To learn how to do this please visit this blog.

Sunday Sketch

I painted this on Sunday but am posting it now. Not my favourite twisted tree image. I wanted to do more of a winter scene but I did less tree and more trunk, I don't likey, However, I know how I will develop this lack luster piece.

I am not quite ready to paint these images onto canvas, I am undecided if  I will go this route but I have time and I am enjoying the process. The enjoyment interests me more at this point.

Artist: Patti Munro

Image: Artist Patti Munro Patti Munro, animation artist turned artist was exhibiting at my local art center in Port Moody. I witnessed her work a few weeks ago, the last day of showing. Sadly I did not spend enough time looking at her work but one picture struck me, the White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland. He was amazing, mixed media, with a real watch hanging from his pocket.  I love Patti's use of materials, they stand out. Her experience as an animation artist shines through, theatrical images and characters that are presented in a manner I have not seen before. Some of her work was a little disturbing, like the beach scene with dolls sunbathing on the beach with missing limbs. Nonetheless I would love to see more of her work as she progresses.  I am trying to find more information about her as a new artist. I hope she gets a website to show case her work. I want the White Rabbit.

Saturday Sketch Book

Latest twisted tree painting. Something dark and eery about it, perhaps it reflects my mood. I have finally bought a canvas to recreate one of my tree pieces but I am thinking I will do several, all of the same size. I think it might work well as a theme. 

Thoughts? 

Stephanie Matthews

Sunday Sketch

Another twisted tree. I am having fun painting these trees. The twists are inspired by Christmas candy canes that seem to be in every shop I enter. I also like how the black paper emphasizes the colour, it almost illuminates it. I think this is how I will paint the original, I will purchase a black painted canvas, I have not decided if I will use the gold pen or use white paint or another colour and I also have to decide on the background. I find the it so enjoyable painting the tree when it comes to the background I rush it but I also like a glimpse of the background with the black. I may add clouds. However, what I will do is paint another tree with more detail.

Happy Sunday!

Stephanie Matthews

You can Follow me on Bloglovin

I haven't really done a big push when it comes to people following me on my blog nor Facebook for that matter. But there are some positive people I love to hear from through my Twitter account who keep me positive and are not critical but they are real. I think because they are artist themselves who know the struggles for recognition. Since Google has made changes to how people follow I have also changed and the popular choice seems to be Bloglovin.

So here are a list of places to follow me:
Twitter
Facebook
Bloglovin
Google+

I am also on DeviantArt but I will add that later, once I have updated it.

So here is to my new followers.

Saturday Sketch Book

A mixed media painting I did on a quiet Saturday afternoon. Predominantly acrylics with Sharpie pens that formed the tree. There is a call for artists and the theme is twisted, so I thought I would start a few sketches to see what takes my fancy. My problem with my paintings, I am beginning to realise, I need to work on composition. Not sure why but in all my time during art and design study I was never taught composition. I understand their are 8 principles:

• Unity
• Balance
• Movement
• Rythmn
• Focus
• Contrast
• Pattern
• Proportion

It sounds simple but it really isn't. The picture has to flow and move the eye around to all the elements but when I am painting I do not consider this, I paint what I want without considering the composition. I have watched some YouTube posts to assist me, I have a vague idea of what it is all about.

The one thing that frustrates me about art is:  someone, somewhere has constructed rules so that the canvas is supposedly perfect and the one thing that allured me to art was that I thought there was no structure just wonderful images people can create using the imagination. It seems I was wrong. Shame because the rules constrain art somehow.

It looks like I have something to learn!

Stephanie Matthews

Not a Lot Blog

I don't have a great deal to talk about and even though some professionals say that it is best not to blog when you have little to say but I feel it is best to fill the large voids of posts that I have a tendency to do when I am busy with other things.

However, I have just started my Photoshop course which I am thrilled about; thank goodness I have learnt about layering and creating banner adds because Photoshop is not user friendly. Layering, masking, adding layers, moving them, deleting them, resizing images etc is just a mind fry but I had lots of practice on my first day so I think I can handle it.  Now I have to decide which version of Photoshop to purchase, it ain't cheap and they have released a cloud version that you pay month-to-month, I will not be getting that at this point. It will be useful when I want to retouch images, change colours etc, I also need to know how to create a design from scratch but I have not gotten that far yet.

I took my kids on Pro-D day to an art class at Port Moody Art Centre where they created puppets and a theatre which I thought was fantastic. Using pieces of cardboard, beads etc. It reminded me when I was a kid, making my own toys with things around the house. It get's their creative juices flowing and gets them thinking in ways that school perhaps restrains. As far as I am concerned art is great for everyone, all ages but especially kids; pictures are the first thing they are able to put on paper before letters and numbers, it is a way of expressing themselves, tell a story that they can't yet write in words. Next time I will get them in the clay class, I didn't work with clay much as a kid. Ironic really since I come from a city known for its pottery industry, with great producers like Wedgewood, Spode and Moorcroft. I interviewed a number of senior people at these places as part of my dissertation. Very interesting why some succeeded and others lost their way, it is not clear cut but it was well worth investigating. Gosh! I miss my university days where I was able to research and use my mind openly.

Here is to my Not A Lot blog!