artforapurpose

Not forgetting the wildlife at Christmas

2011-12-31T06:53:00.000-08:00

Saw these wreaths for the birds on a stall in a Dutch village just before Christmas. What a fabulous idea! Would love to copy this for next year, but not sure I fancy having woodpigeons and squirrels clinging to my front door in an attempt to gather lunch. Perhaps the shed door would be better ...

Christmas at Osterley Park House

2011-12-05T08:02:00.001-08:00

Fabulous setting for a Christmas Craft Fayre - the National Trust's Osterley Park House. A grand building for grand people, decked out for Christmas with carol singing in the gardens. The downside was that the craft stalls were in the servants' quarters - so plenty of cold floors and few windows. Oh, and no food and drink - not even water - to protect the precious fabric of this historic establishment.

As usual, a last-minute panic from me that I wouldn't have enough to show, so some frantic late-night painting. All was well, though, especially once my colleague arrived on the Sunday to share the table.

So what was popular this week? People just love the Lazy Susans with the chickadees. Hardly anyone can pass by without giving it a whirl. We think we might one day put a show together dedicated to Lazy Susans.

The very small fabric and paint angels for tree decorations or card-making were very popular too. I'm sold out of those and will definitely make some more for last year.

A beautiful location, a very friendly bunch of people, and some lovely visitors. Next year I might sign up for all three weekends before Christmas.

And now ... a Christmas craft fair

2011-11-30T02:50:00.001-08:00

If you're anywhere near the National Trust's Osterley Park House in North London in the weekends leading up to Christmas, do drop in to visit the craft fair and enjoy some seasonal carols.

This will be my second "real" craft fair, and I'm nervously excited. I'll be there this weekend (3/4 December) and my colleague Maggie will be around the following week. I've packed up a great range of Christmas decorations and presents. Visit me to buy hand-painted and decoupaged wine glasses, wooden spoons and stirrers, baubles, card toppers, Lazy Susans, votive candle holders, shopping bags, earring boxes, clocks and much more.

Folk art painting takes time, so we won't have a huge stock under the table. It's going to be a "when it's gone, it's gone" sale. Do come and say hello if you get the chance.

Egham Royal Show August 2011

2011-08-29T04:24:00.000-07:00

My first real craft fair! Two days in a marquee sharing a stall with my teacher Maggie Curtis while the heavens opened outside.

In the pic are a selection of our hand-painted items. Bottom left is one of two Lazy Susans. The one featured here is painted with small birds and the other was covered with sunflowers. So many people touched and felt and whizzed that board around over the two days! Delighted to say they both found new homes by the end of the weekend.

Also in the pic a couple of papier mache tissue box holders which went to someone who knew exactly what they wanted. That was unusual - a lot of visitors stood and chatted and dithered. And we all know now that "I'll be back later" is code for "You'll not see me again"!

Also here you can see a black folder for Christmas recipes, a mirror and some notebooks with those birds again, sheep money boxes, painted glasses, a child's pencil holder, some decoupaged candles, candle holders and some Christmas tree decorations (and yes, I did sell some of those in August!).

You can see some of Maggie's art here too. The bird houses covered in garden flowers attracted a lot of attention. You can see here spring collection bowl on the top shelf as well, and a box painted in a technique that I'll have to get back to you on.

So how did we do? Not badly at all. It's a lot of work and certainly doesn't pay as well as my day job (as a freelance copywriter). But it is fun! The painting, the workshops, the taking part in the shows - all a great way of relaxing and meeting people.

I now need to get stuck into some serious Christmas painting. We have a stall booked for the 3rd December in Staines, Middlesex!

Mary had a little lamb

2011-06-22T06:08:00.000-07:00

I have a backlog of folk art painting to post on the blog. I think I've been waiting for the secret of good photography to suddenly come to me. It hasn't happened, so we'll just work with what we've got again!

This is a gorgeous project by Mary Jane Todd called Mary had a Little Lamb. I love the background colour (a mix of Decoart Americana Teal Green and Cool Neutral), and the design of the trees especially. It's all quite simple but really effective.

The trees are based in Avocado but Hauser Medium Green would do the trick. Then the shading behind the circles is in a darker green, and the highlighting in Sand.

I nearly gave this to a friend for her 60th birthday. Then my OH actually said he liked it - and he doesn't get decorative painting on the whole as it is a bit girly - so I'm keeping it.

Santa candleholders

2011-01-24T03:28:00.000-08:00

My holiday project. Candlesticks handmade locally (no two the same!). Maggie my teacher did the base coat. I followed fairly closely instructions by Vikki Nicholson (who doesn't appear to have a web site so I can't direct you to her fabulous work). Good enough that I gave them to a friend as a thank you for all the lifts. Must try harder at beards though.

Atchoo (is that how you spell it?)

2010-05-18T05:14:00.000-07:00

Papier mache tissue box holder, using a design originally for tins, by Beverley Kindred. Find this and many other free projects on the Artists Club web site.

I've had the box for a long time, and can't remember where I got it from, but I'll try to remember to make a note for this blog in future.

Altered art votive candle holders

2010-05-18T05:09:00.000-07:00

An altered art project just right for Christmas, summer barbeques, or any time you use candles.

Having gone to town big time with using paper napkins/serviettes on my bag decorating projects, I have a few spares (like several hundred!).

So I've taken some of the more interesting ones to turn plain glass votive candle holders and dishes into something more eye-catching.

As with other altered art napkin work, you take just the top layer of the napkin (there are usually three) and stick it to the back of the dish and the inside of the votive holder using something like Modge Podge. You need you glue to dry clear. Then paint over the back of the napkins with an appropriate light colour. I used whites, creams, pinks and blues, depending on the colour of the napkin. You'll need quite a few coats. Finally, seal with something non-flammable!

A toast to decorative painting

2010-05-18T05:01:00.000-07:00

Take a few wine glasses, apply glass primer, mix your paint with glass medium, and paint something fun!

I've borrowed this idea from a painter called NC Rick who had really gone to town on painting faces on all sort of glass. You may still be able to see their ideas on their Flickr site.

The faces are designed originally by Jamie Mills Price, and are a free pattern on her web site.

The glass and tile media are from Jo Sonya, the manufacturer of a wide range of decorative painting materials.

I mixed these with DecoArt Americana paints as used in Jamie's pattern. I was told that it would be better to just use products from one or the other manufacturer, but my choice seems to work fine.

A couple of coats of varnish will help to protect the paint, but it's handwashing all the way for these babies!

Somewhere to put all those pencils and pens

2010-05-18T04:36:00.000-07:00

Here I am adapting designs again. This wooden pen holder is decorated with elements from a design by Nancy Scott, published in the August 2008 edition of Paintworks magazine.This is a great US publication, full of projects for all level of painters. Sadly the exchange rate has meant I'm not subscribing this year.

The arty teddy bear was originally on a paint box designed by Beverley Kindred and available as a free pattern on the Artists Club web site. Just click on the Projects tab and you'll find plenty of free patterns.There are other good free patterns here too.

Scary times

2010-04-20T07:54:00.000-07:00

Have just signed up for my very first craft fair at the Elmbridge Music Festival at Esher Rugby Ground in Molesey, Surrey. Full of enthusiasm when I handed over the cash, now I am suffering a crisis of confidence. I have until 12 June to put together enough quality work to make a good show. Needless to say, with shaking hands it's tough to paint neatly. This week everything I've touched has been a disaster. Must take deep breaths and stop panicking ....

One for the boys

2010-04-01T04:08:00.000-07:00

It's my view that one of the few drawbacks of decorative painting and folk art is that most of the designs available are rather girly.

Theoretically, painting on useful objects lets you share the final results to family and friends - you have to really or you build up a huge collection of stuff under your bed.

However, when your family consists of a father, husband, two sons, three brothers, four nephews - and the one sister-in-law - endless flowery items just don't cut the mustard.

So I was very pleased when we started this project in my class. It's a wooden tray with a very liberal interpretation of Mont Saint Michel. The original design was by Linda Lock, adapted by my teacher Maggie Curtis, and adapted again by me to fit the space.

Notebooks and chickadees

2010-04-01T03:53:00.000-07:00

One of the pleasures of decorative art on useful objects is that it gives a whole new perspective on day-to-day shopping.
I found these plain brown notebooks on our weekly supermarket shop and bought the entire stock bar six - thought I ought to leave some for others!
I've used a baby chickadee design on these examples, and have others with flowers of various shapes and sizes. It's usual to credit the original designer of anything you paint (unless it's your own of course) but in this case I can't find the name. Apologies to the artist, and I'll update when I can.

Decorated boxes

2010-03-30T04:58:00.000-07:00

My husband's niece asked for earrings for her birthday. We found some delightful little butterfly earrings, but the card they were attached to wasn't very special. So I decorated a box, added some tissue paper and now she has an earring keeper box.
These are small papier mache boxes covered with texture paste. I have then added some petals from a silk flower, and topped the decoration off with a plaster fairy. Once everything had dried, I painted the whole box and decoration in a base coat, and then lightly brushed on two further colours to give a bright and shiny appearance.
Another hit!

My Toolbox

2010-01-18T08:00:00.000-08:00

Every aspiring folk artist rapidly collects a set of useful tools, such as pencils, liner pens, scissors, rubbers, cotton buds, cocktail sticks, sponges, masking tape and much more.

I've gathered my bits and pieces into a box that was orginally given away free with those part work magazines. This one once held art materials - one pen or paint collected every week if you continued to buy the magazine (which I didn't - I just wanted the box!)

On the basis that no self-respecting folk artist leaves a surface unpainted, I've painted "Lizzy finds a treasure" by Lydia Steeves on the lid of the box. I'm not a fan of twee, but I do like whimsy, and Lydia's collection of animal patterns definitely falls into this category.

The box is painted with Americana Decoart acrylic paints, using a wet on wet technique to create a "blotchy" background, and then following instructions, including remembering to shade and highlight to bring life to the painting.

Christmas recipe folder

2010-01-04T07:50:00.000-08:00

I collect recipes from the web and magazines, as well as having a shelf full of cookbooks. Christmas cooking is special, and I have so many different recipes for stuffings, cakes, pies and great ways to make sprouts edible, that I decided I needed a separate folder.

This is a standard file, painted black, with a simple holly and Christmas rose design, passed to me by my teacher, Maggie Curtis.

The lettering is again the cane candy design published in PaintWorks December 2009 magazine by Margot A Clark.

2009-11-23T03:11:00.000-08:00

Christmas 2009 has come at the end of a year of falling income, as for many of us. I was looking for something for my nephews, aged 6 and 4, that wouldn't cost a fortune, but would be used. (They have a wealth of toys from adoring relatives.)

These moneyboxes were just the thing I was looking for. I found the blank money boxes at a craft fair, offered by the MDFMan, and the patterns in a book by Plum Purdy, called "Warm 'n Wooly Friends". To finish the boxes I painted the boys' names in candy cane writing following instructions in the Christmas 2009 edition of PaintWorks Decorative Painting magazine. Final touch was a £2 coin in each box.

I'm told most sincerely that the boys loved them!

Painting on canvas bags

2008-02-18T03:15:00.001-08:00

This is a mixture of napkin art and painting, and is a wonderful way to use your creativity to make really useful art. I first learned how to decorate canvas bags in a workshop with Sharon Townsend, and I haven't been able to stop since! You can really let your creative juices fly with this one - there's no set pattern. I've got seaside bags, chocolate and wine bags, baby bags, cute and cuddly animal bags ...You'll recognise my friends out and about, as they all got a bag for their birthday last year.

A fabric and paint angel

2008-02-12T07:16:00.000-08:00

This angel is cut out of MDF and stands about 30ins (50cms) tall. She's a mixture of acrylic paint and paint on fabric. An angel after the style of Nancy Lenski

After William Morris

2008-02-12T07:11:00.000-08:00

Painted during a workshop led by the Australian folk artist Vicki Nicholson, this is a hardback photo album painted in the style of William Morris