Tag Archives: #parosart

in the vibe

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It’s been a very busy time since I got back from my 2 trips to Athens. Yes, you read it right. Two trips. I got back home and had to go back. Nothing bad… Just stud duties for my little man, Vincent. We wait in hope to hear if he’ll be expecting a new brood of puppies!

Meanwhile since I got back, I put a lot of time and energy into converting my bedroom into an art studio.

I’ve been sleeping on a single bed in the living room since mom was here this summer and I got used to it. I live alone, I don’t really need a QS bed taking up all the space in the only bedroom. My house is always a studio all the time anyway, at least with a dedicated room for it I can see my kitchen table and can usually cook without having to remove art projects from the stove top.

When mom comes back in summer I’ll add a single bed to the bedroom and work around it. At least I’ll still have a space to do stuff and not have to put everything away so mom can cook and we can eat.

I also streamlined my space and mind. Mainly my mind.

I decided that I’m way too scattered (aren’t all artists?) but I’ll never get anywhere if I don’t concentrate my energy on one, or maybe two things. Wishful thinking maybe, but by putting away a lot of my other craft stuff I can concentrate on painting. Acrylics and some mixed media. And maybe some watercolours or pastels.

I’ve kept my felting stuff at home but put it all away into a cupboard (my wardrobe really) and taken all my craft stuff to the container for safe keeping. I believe think hope that by doing this I won’t get sidetracked and I’ll finally be able to have that exhibition I’ve been wanting to have for such a long time.

And it’s not like I have forever. Once mom comes at the end of May, I’ll have to put away all large work and go back to things I can fit on my small desk in the bedroom.

We do what we can with the space we have…

Other than finally being able to paint, and FINALLY getting my mojo back, I’m starting Art from Trash workshops next month and trying very hard to encourage everyone to join in and create their own stuff to enter into our Art from Trash competition to be held in June.

Lots of work. But my main focus right now is my own work, which runs a close parallel to my art from trash interests… the series of paintings I’m working on is all about the trash people leave around the island.

I’ll share images soon. For now I’m just glad to be feeling it again.

z

painting #3 in a series

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I finished the 3rd painting yesterday finally. It had only been sitting on my easel since before Christmas and I’d barely touched it.

Feels good to have it done finally.

Now a new canvas is sitting on my easel, in the living room (ie my studio) starting at me accusingly as I sit and felt, or do nothing.

I have some ideas of what will go on it, but so far all I’ve done is prepared the canvas. Better get my paints out again as I also have a cat commission to finish by next week.

For now the newest painting is hanging in my bedroom and I love it there.

I have no idea where I’ll hang the next paintings I plan on doing will do… I am fast running out of wall space. Not that I had a lot to start with…

I’ll have to think of something.

Meanwhile I continue to work on STUFF.

The felting workshop I did this week went great. We all had fun and got something to show for it at the end. It might only be a needle felted BALL, but hey, its the start of something great! You gotta learn the basic technique first and that’s what the first beginners session was about.

Next week we’ll add colours and attach parts to make the ball into something more interesting.

Then I have to plan my second beginners workshop series and add in an advanced one for those wanting to take it further.

Such fun.

z

busy with my etsy shop

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Etsy sale for the month of January 2025.

I have been absent but that seems to be the way I roll lately.

I roll out of bed, walk Vincent, have coffee, get online, do minimal housework, walk Vincent, do some errands, roll onto the couch…

However, despite my seemingly endless nothingness, I have been busy needle felting. The couch has become my new workstation. As you saw in my last post, I have been infected with the needle felting bug again.

I have been spending almost every single evening with a pointy weapon in hand, stabbing at innocent balls of wool with wild abandon.

And experimenting.

So far, here is the first lot which I have managed to put up for sale in my store:

They look so cute in a group.
Bird lover and bird watcher fox.
A fisherman Jack Russell terrier.
Shy, tea drinking hedgehog.
A rabbit with his morning coffee and newspaper.
Shy teddy bear with his bunny rabbit.
And of course you’ve already met the little rat with his heart in his hands.

You can see more pics and details of each of these guys in my store.

My store has been very quiet lately, so it was time to put selected items on sale and promote it more, so please visit and share it with friends. I offer commissioned work – paintings, remade dolls – wall art for a nursery, felted and papier mache sculptures… all kinds of things.

This is a hard but wonderful time of year. I have the time to create, but no regular income. I’m loving the time at home and being able to experiment and play, but having to juggle bills sucks. Luckily, I have tons of art and craft materials on hand thanks to my inability to stop buying it! I think I have enough to keep me busy for MONTHS.

z

christmas stones

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So, there I was, sitting at the kitchen table, a mess of art and craft stuff all around me, wondering what on earth I should do. I didn’t feel like putting the last strokes on the large painting… Afraid to finish it? Afraid to start a new one? No idea why, but there I was…

I had a pile of stones remaining from the project I made for a hotel this summer among the things I needed to sort, pack up or get rid of, and thought ‘why not make some Christmas stones?’… I had the gift bags, so why not?

I made two types – some with Christmas designs and colours, and some with silver and gold foil.

I’ve been going a little crazy with the foil lately. I’d never worked with it before so it’s been fun to experiment. Stones aren’t the ideal items to foil as they aren’t at all absorbent and the glue takes forever to dry… however, I’m really pleased with the way they look.

I even tried the foil on one of my little air-dry clay bowls and it came up nicely.

For the little bags, I created a stamp for the foil stone bags, stamped them and added a touch of gold foil which makes them really pop. For the more Christmas themed stones I used stencils to decorate the bags.

I think the presentation of these stones is really up there. I hope they sell as stocking fillers or small gifts this Christmas.

z

stitches and driftwood

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I have always loved stitches where you don’t expect them – in wood, on paper, etc. When I found this bit of wood on the beach, with the big crack down the middle, I thought it would make a great project to ‘stitch up’.

After giving it a thorough clean, I drilled tiny holes for the wire as well as using some of the old nail holes to create the stitches. I added some raffia, a rusty heart and some dried lavender. It might not be a statement piece, but its sweet and I love it.

I love making something out of things I find on my walks and using bits and pieces I collect, finally giving them a purpose.

This was one of those quick and easy, ‘don’t think, just do’ projects I love cause they come out of the blue and are finished in no time at all, yet still give me that feeling of having achieved something special.

z

painting #1

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I’ve begun working on a series of paintings for the exhibition I am planning next summer. I thought I’d share the first one to whet your appetite.

This is the painting which gave me the inspiration for the series. I love old buildings, the falling down, crumbling walls, the rotting wood, the paint chipped doors and windows. The whole abandoned feel of them. It’s something I photograph every time I walk the small streets of the islands (or Athens, to be honest).

I’ve always been drawn to the juxtaposition of the old and the new in its ugly forms – beautiful decaying buildings for instance, with modern day graffiti on them is one of my favourites.

Or, as in this case, the beautiful patina of the old door and cracked walls with the discarded cola can and cigarette butt.

In an experimental mood, I added a little silver foil to the tin can make it stand out a little more. Not the neatest job, but its rubbish anyway, right?

I love this piece and hope others do too. I’m excited about this series of paintings that show the beauty of days gone by against the ugliness of today – the effects of too many people and not enough care about the beautiful places we live in.

And, as usual, this is painted on a recycled canvas.

z

two shiny schnauzers

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Another commission to share today, one which took me forever to do. I mean, I started them fine, back before summer… but then it was summer. Busy with grooming and mom being sick and visitors and all sorts of busy summer things.

Up to that point I had only done the structure of them, ie cardboard, masking tape and wire so I needed to move onto the clay or papier mâché part. Since the buyer didn’t want these finished in fabric, I decided to use air dry clay for the whole thing.

And I’m glad I did cause I love the way they turned out.

Given the brief for these guys was ‘something easy to dust’ I opted to spray them with white gloss paint, something I’d never done before as a finish for my work. But I’m really happy with the result.

What do you think?

z

dizzy – a commissioned dog sculpture

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This is one dog I especially loved doing. He belongs to a friend of mine and he’s a beautiful boy with a lovely personality and serious ball addiction.

He’s some kind of terrier mix with huge ears and a crazy coat.

Here is a close up of his face and those massive ears.

And a little 3D visual.

So, how did I achieve that coat you ask? Well, I thought the best thing for it would be to use gauze. I raided my medicine cabinet and took out some gauze which I dyed by soaking in coloured water: the black was diluted acrylic paint, and the tan was… you guesed it! Black tea!

I then cut up the gauze strips into sections and laid them over the figure in a way that matched Dizzy’s colouring and the direction of the coat.

I then brushed the gauze to loosen it up and give it a more ‘hairy’ appearance.

It worked out pretty well even if do say so myself.

Mind you, the coat is not soft and flowing. I had to fix him with PVA glue to make sure he stayed intact, but he’s a sculpture, not a toy, so I figure that doesn’t matter.

The friend that commissioned him asked about his eyes. I don’t do eyes on my dogs. I’m not really sure why, they just seem better that way. Maybe its because I don’t feel I can do them justice this way, not like I can in my paintings. Maybe its cause without eyes you can project your own eyes onto them, your mind automatically fills in the blanks and imparts the emotions that you want to see in the figures.

Maybe I’m full of crap. But I’m the artist, so I have creative license. Ha.

z

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Funky Junk Upcycle Ideas 753

a collection of painted stones

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Things have been busy lately. Hectic really. I seem to always be going on an errand, grooming a dog, returning from an errand, cooking,shopping for groceries, trying to keep the house clean, and still getting in a swim now and then!

And on the afternoons when I’m not too busy, I sit at the kitchen table and play with paints. It’s a good way to de-stress. If you can find the time… preferably not late at night because then I can’t sleep cause I’m wound up.

I’ve been inspired now and then to try something new just for a change.

So, here are my latest painted rocks. Above a very painterly donkey. I’d gotten the idea to use an old book I’d been given to decoupage a couple of stones just to see how they would turn out. I used larger rocks for these and its not perfect but I kinda like it.

Below is a cat treated the same way…

Next the tried and true octopus, but trying brighter colours and more contrast. Not sure I like it, but its not too bad.

I had to redo this cat cause the watercolours I was using on all my marble paintings doesn’t work so well on rocks. It’s now much better.

I also thought I’d try a couple of very graphic style stones…

These I really like. I love the stark contrast between the black and white.

So, I need a bit of rest before I gotta get up and greet visitors coming to see mom. Who is getting better all the time. She will soon be back to bossing me around.

z

more on fridge magnets

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I think I mentioned working on half the kitchen table. Not much space, but enough to work on smaller projects like fridge magnets and rocks. Since I still had some wooden shapes, I’d gotten on Temu, I decided to go ahead and finish them all. I also found I still had some magnets, so I was able to finish them.

I used acrylic paint to do these, and a very very thin rigger brush to get the fine lines.

I love these little plant magnets, though I’m not thrilled with the mushroom ones…

I love the cats too and am thinking I need to do more of these. Maybe a little bigger. Maybe as coasters as well…

Remember these?

This is what they look like now. The evil eye, a very popular theme in Greece. Much better.

I had some more of these round flat pieces so I did some more simple colourful sea urchins.

Remember these?

Now they’re starfish. Or they could be urchins if that’s how you prefer to see them. But they’re not. They’re starfish.

I had a few more of these half rounds so I made more stylized urchins. I think I prefer these 3D ones, but both are nice.

Lastly, remember these fish – the top ones were made using the wood burning marker and the bottom ones were decoupaged.

This is what they look like now. Much more fun!

I’ve ordered more wooden shapes, some of the same and others in different sizes, not sure what I’ll make when I get them, but they’re fun to work with!

These little magnets are cute and make great little presents of the ‘stocking filler’ sort.

z