Showing posts with label mixed media. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mixed media. Show all posts

Monday, 17 October 2016

Scrapbooking packs, Etsy and behind the scenes art studio

This week I have been making colour co-ordinated scrapbooking packs to put on Etsy and I didn't realise how many lovely things I have in my boxes, they have inspired me to be more organised and I plan on a day of sorting soon to make it easier to find things in the studio. 



I really enjoyed looking through all my collection of things like papers, buttons, photos etc, I have been collecting for about 6 years now and hardly look through them unless I am doing a project


So this was a lovely way to discover them, I love colour co-ordinating and seeing what works together well. Imagine being an interior designer, that would be so cool, collecting samples, swatches etc and making a vision board.


I discovered things I totally forgot about like this vintage cigarette card that was sent to me in a blog swap about 6 years ago!


I finally made a bright and bold one, even though I love colour so much I tend to shy away from bright colours in mixed media, thats pretty interesting seen as though my studio is bright and bold and I adore it.


A peek behind the scenes, I don't think sometimes people realise how long it takes to do one listing, you have to source the items or make them, then you have to set up an area to do the shoot, then you have to take photos, get the lighting right etc, then upload to the computer, edit them, and then do the listing and them promote them to get them seen, don't get me wrong, I love doing it and enjoy the process but there is more to it than meets the eye ;)

Mr Delightful is working on my website to get it running better with an in built shop and my newsletter sign up on there. (Or if you can't wait you can sign up now below). So I can crack on with the next part of my artistic journey.



Love Dotty xx

Monday, 1 August 2016

A day in the life of an artist

I am so nosey and love looking at other peoples 'a day in the life' stories, so I thought I would share my own with you.


Some mornings I really make an effort and make a super good and healthy breakfast and then other days, I really want to get into my work and make jam on toast, I know I shouldn't really eat bread as it makes my tummy swell, but I love it so. This is Hovis doorstop bread, its super thick (not very healthy) and is yummy with dairy free spread and cherry jam, I drink decaf tea, mainly Clipper and have hemp milk.


Each day is super different and I don't really have a plan as such but each day I try and do some work on my business which includes learning, I flit between Leonie Dawson, Kelly Rae Roberts and Lucky bitch, today was a lucky bitch day and it was so good learning about manifesting money in 24 hours, as its a video I listened while I prepped my canvasses.

I was painting larger canvasses today, I start off with the rainbow coloured background, I love how I blend the colours so they seamlessly flow into each other, it takes a while but is worth the finished look. I use a mix of acrylics and emulsion.

Then I stopped to take notes from the video while the canvasses dried. I browsed on Pinterest for a bit, while I had coffee and a couple of bits of Green and Blacks orange chocolate, I think I'm addicted! Then the Riverford organic box delivery arrived.

It's pretty cool getting the box because you never know what is coming from week to week (unless you look on the website) and dinners are often made up on the spot because of it, I think I am swapping back to Able and Cole though as you can do your dislikes with them.
The veg and fruit is always really nice though from both types of boxes.

I did some social media updates and had a look at instagram, then started doing a couple of mixed media canvasses for a fair I was doing at the weekend.
I love doing mixed media, I love the glue on my fingers and never knowing how a piece is going to turn out.




I did something to my camera and it went all blurry so I stopped taking photos at this point, I made garlic tomatoes on ciabatta with salad for lunch, played cards with the boys for a bit, did some more online research and posting, spent a while cutting out images from magazines, I am making a collection for a rectangle canvas I am doing of Alice falling down the rabbit hole. 

I also read a bit more of Kelly Rae Roberts flying lessons, I am up to the blog part weirdly! 

I ran in and out about 5 times through the day, sorting the chickens out, they squawk really loudly when laying eggs and if seagulls fly over!

We walked the dogs for a bit, as they was getting on my nerves barking at horses going past the house and then we we came home it was teatime, I normally make tea but Mr Delightful is a great cook and often does it if I have a lot of work on, I also make the boys wash up every night alternately except Sunday night where it's our turn, they also sweep the floor and wipe down the sides, we put this in place a few years ago and it is so helpful to me. 

After tea, I checked facebook and had a chat to my friend on it for ages, I also posted some photos on instagram ( I have two accounts one for Dotty Delightful and one for our other business naked wild and free and have to keep up with them, I finished some of the paintings while half watching a film with my youngest son. 

I snuggled with the dogs and fell asleep, waking up at 3am, cold and annoyed I didn't go to bed earlier!.

The only regular things I do each day are feed animals, collect eggs, take a skullcap infusion for my nervous tension, make dinners, check facebook and instagram and drink copious amounts of tea and 1 filtered decaf coffee, say "I'm hot" and "my back hurts" a lot.

Love Dotty xx