Monday, December 27, 2010

5 more digital works.

Hi! I hope you all had a great and festive Christmas filled with joy and love! For the first time in over a hundred years we had 2 white Christmases in a row teehee. I love the snow don't you?!

I have been really busy this afternoon, I finished of 5 digital paintings I have been working on for a couple of weeks. And I have been fiddling around in ArtRage2 a digital painting program I heard about at LMM (Loving Mixed Media) It's quite unique, you can achieve real life painting textures. I'm not quite sure if I will use it a lot, I have a demo version and If I like it enough I will buy it, it's only 20 bucks! That's really cheap for a digital program.

now back to the digital paintings created with PSP X2.


Seraph



Clementine



St Theresa



Angelica



Journey



Have a great day and play!

Love Lydia

Monday, December 20, 2010

My first altered doll!

Hi there!
I've been working on this before I got the flue and since I'm feeling a whole lot better I got to finish it. This is made with an old dollhouse doll and toilet refresher, those with that gelly kind of scented blocks in them. I don't know how you call those in English. I just cut a window out of it, primed and painted the whole thing. On the inside I painted it silver and glued fine black netting in. The doll was primed and painted as well, and I used crackle medium on both of them. Then I wraped around some wire and embellished it with small chain and charms. I had no theme in mind when I started this, I just went with the flow and can say I really like altering dolls, you can bet I will make some more!







Have a great day and play!

Love Lydia

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

2 more digital paintings

Hi there!

I still don't feel well, although it's getting a little better everyday, the flue monster still keeps me company and makes me see strange things LOL I have picked myself up from bed to play with Paint Shop Pro again with the next digital paintings as a result!


Reach



Serenity



I have been asked numerous times how I make these paintings and if I would like to share my knowledge, I'm so glad that I can teach instead of learn! So I'm working on a tutorial on how to make these in Paint Shop Pro X2... stay tuned!


Have a great day and play!

Love Lydia

Friday, December 10, 2010

2 more digital paintings

Hey peeps!

boredom, the flue and all the amazing responses I had on my digital painting I posted yesterday on different forums and community's made me go and make a couple of more digital creations.
I really like them, I'm even thinking about making prints out of them for sale. And I'm sure I will use them in my artwork somehow, as a collage image or transfer!


See



Believe




Have a great day and play!

Love Lydia

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Canvas collage and digital painting

Hi there!

I've got some things I wanted to share with you, I've been coming down with the flu and feel terrible, but I have 2 things I've made these before I got sick. The first is a vintage collage I made on a canvas that's 30cm x 40cm I'm quite fond of how it turned out, it has a nice grungy feel to it and the poëm finishes it all IMHO.




The second is a digital painting I've made with several copyright fee images in PSP. I like it! This will make a great transfer image.


Dream




Have a great day and play!

Love Lydia

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Running around in circles

Hello peeps,

I know I haven't been updating a lot lately but besides all the trouble with the devorce of my parents, my boyfriends and my birthday and the hollyday's I'm waiting for a few orders I made! YAY new stuff to play with ^o^ I have been painting and I I wanted to share the MM painting Running around in circles. This one is made with funfoam, netting, wallpaper and acrylics. I made this because I love circles and sometimes you just feel like you are just running around in circles don't you?!




Have a great day and play!

Love Lydia

Saturday, November 20, 2010

As I have mentioned before, I'm going through a tough time and it inspired me to make 2 pieces, it seems making art can be healing. Or at last a way to express my feelings. My parents (mom and stepdad who maybe isn't my biological dad to me he is my dad!) are getting through a horrible and ugly devorce, with out getting into the details, they talk through the attorney and their financial person. My mom is in a shelter and left my dad with all the financial problems, they have to sell the house, neither one of them can pay the mortgage. I love them so much and it hurts me so much even though I'm an adult, my save haven is gone if you know what I meen. I'm the only one of their (step) kids (they don't have kids together) that has a good relationship with both of them, so I'm the person who they come to if they want to know something about the other and that was killing me, so I told them both that I cannot be stuck in the middle of their (financial) problems and that hurt them although they do understand. I feel so guilty, but I don't want things come so far that I have to choose between them. I'm fighting a depression and I have to choose for me and for my healing and this was not helping at all.

The colours stand for the hurt and pain and the love I feel for both of them (red and orange although you don't see the orange that good on the picture) The strings are all connected because I felt they both were pulling on me. I think you can imagine why they are black ;-)



This one represents the blackness that I felt pouring over them (and me), the colours I used stand for the favorite colours of my parents. The black is crackled because well.... they are cracking up in every sence of the word.




Have a great day and play!

Love Lydia

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

When life gives you lemons....

I wish I could squize them in lifes eyes but that's wishfull thinking I'm afraid. I'm going through a tough time and don't have that much time to create lately but I have some things I'm working on when I can. So I hope to show you something new in the next couple of day's!


Have a great day and play!

Love Lydia

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Meet amalia

Hi hi!

This is a piece where I used gesso, tissuepaper and mosquitonet pieces to create texture, painted over it with acrylics and sponges. The image is a homemade stencil I made from a public domain image, this is the first time I actually used a stencil. I don't know if I will use them often, I don't have spraypaints and I used acrylics and a sponge to make it but I really do think that it would look a lot better if I used spraypaints. Who knows... maybe I will buy some in the future ^o^





Have a great day and play!

Love Lydia

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Falling into pieces

Hi there!

I've been playing with puzzle pieces again, I love the depth they give in this piece. I used gesso, acrylics and colourwashes. I love how they drag and drip the underlayers away, leaving their colour! This was actually inspired by the colours I saw when talking a walk in the woods, the autumn colours are so beautiful! Although this looks nothing like the pretty red and orange coloured leaves. It looks more like rust LOL. I like it anyways ^o^




Have a great day and play!

Love Lydia

Saturday, October 30, 2010

Some digital ATC's

Hi again,

I wanted to share some digital atc's I've made this afternoon. I love playing with Paint Shop Pro, I have been for years and it never gets boring! It's a nice break from getting my hands dirty with paint LOL. I used tons of grungy brushes and photo's of myself although they are not recognisable as so.






Have a great day and play!

Love Lydia

Rising Comet

Hi Peeps!

Another headache and a thousand pictures later I've given up to take a good picture of this new piece, it doesn't do it justice at all! The blending is much more subtle than I can capture on the camera...... I HATE THAT! I've tried everything I know, take it on different places with good light, different settings on my camera. The colours are much more fibrant! the only thing that is like on the picture is the comet itself...sigh The comet is made with plaster and acrylics, as is the rest of the painting.




Any tips on how to take a good picture are more than welcome!


Have a great day and play!

Love Lydia

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Just an update

Hi everybody, I've got nothing to share with you today... but I am working on 3 different canvas boards and one of them is again with plaster... and I found a way to make it act with acrylics the way I want it to YAY. For example "the sun" is done with a background made with plaster and then I painted yellow over it, when that was dry I painted darker oranges and reds over it, and before that was dry I whiped it of with a wet cloth so the yellow comes back on the raised area's. My problem was that if I wiped a bit to hard the yellow came off too and you see the white of the plaster. Now I've just painted gesso over the plaster and then the "undercolour" thats adhering better to the gesso than the plaster which makes my whiping life a bit less frustrating! So stay tuned ^o^

Have a great day and play!

Love Lydia

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Think outside the box

I have another canvasboard to share with you! This is something I had in my head ever since I have been playing with the chunky's and the creditcard. It did turn out oke but I have found I love texture of some sort in my works because I feel this piece is a bit boring without it. It still turned out the way I wanted, I'm just becoming a texture junky I guess LOL.





Have a great day and play!

Love Lydia

Monday, October 25, 2010

The Swamp

Hey all!

I've got some new stuff to share with you teehee ^o^ This piece has gone through sooo many, I started out with making some clay pebbles and put plaster in a syringe and pushed the plaster out of there as if my life depended on it, it's hard work LOL After that dried put about 10 (>.<) layers of acrylics in all colours of the rainbow before I decided to cover the whole thing up with tissue paper, it still didn't look right to me so I threw another 3 layers of green acrylics and .... hey.... I'm starting to like it, that's when I went with the swamp theme, I added yarns and inks to highlight and darken surtain area's.





It turned out nice I think! I'm beginning to like plaster more and more it is so versatile, and it does give an amazing texture! In combination with loads of acrylics it cracked up on me, how cool is that!






Have a great day and play!

Love Lydia

Saturday, October 23, 2010

The sun

I got my camera working and I've tried so many ways and places to capture this work and I just couldn't do it right, arrrrg! The photo was a big challenge since it has a gloss finish, so in the garden I finally got a decent photo although it's nothing like it is in real life, such a shame when you can't make a photo that captures the work!

I made the background texture with plaster and palletknifes, the sun is with the eggshell technique with a golden finish. I do like it though but not gonna play with plaster on a whole canvas ever again, it gave me headaches! the acrylics just didn't act the way I wanted. and so did the eggshells, some absorbed the paint and some just rejected it. Oh well... now I know what doesn't work for me LOL.





Have a great day and play!

Love Lydia

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Artist Play!

Hi All!

I finally got some representable pictures of one of my latest works. This one is so special to me, I had soooo much fun making it and it's the first time I did a piece with found poetry (for those who don't know what it is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Found_poetry ) And all these words came from one single page, how fun is that! I did so much on the puzzlepieces, I have painted, gesso/tissue paper, wire, musquito net (it gives a great texture!)buttons, stamps, hotfix, markers and the rounds on the background are made from wallpaper samples and my round colluzle. I think it turned out oke, it's not a masterpiece but to me it IS what art is all about! What do you think?






Have a great day and play ^o^

Love Lydia

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

2 abstract chunky's

I'm still waiting untill my camera's batteries are charged so I can show off some of my latest canvasses. But I can show you 2 of the chunky's I've made. The first one is made with gesso and tissue paper and then painted over it with a creditcard then sprayed some colourwash over it.
The second is made with lots and lots of layers of acrylics and I painted them with a creditcard, I overheated some of the paint with the heatgun to get the little bubbles. I really like the texture you get when painting with a creditcard, I will definatly gonna use this technique a lot in the future!







Have a great day and PLAY!

Love Lydia

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Play time!!!

I've been playing around with different types of techniques the last couple of days and it has been fun and a pain in the butt! But most of all it has been a great learning proces. I've been playing with plaster on canvas and the famous eggshell technique by the amazing Gary Reef from www.lovingmixedmedia.com The plaster is not something I will use again I'm afraid, it makes amazing textures but acrylics do not like it that much which can be interesting I guess, but a big pain for me. I also don't think I will use the eggshell technique although it did work for me, I guess I need to try and try again before it's a great addition to my artwork. I will take some pictures and upload them as soon as I have the time.

Have a great day!

Love Lydia

Friday, October 15, 2010

The basics

Like I said before I'm such a newbie when it comes to art, it's so complicated if you just started to dive into all the techniques of placement and shapes! Mostly I just play around with images and colours but I never knew about the basics, which is stupid really, you don't start driving without knowing how to do that. LOL oke that could be life threatening and art isn't that dangerous (I hope!) but you get my point. I found this video that helped me understand the basics, some of them I already knew but I've learned from this video so I wanted to share it with you! Thank you Mark Mehaffey!

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

My first real canvas!


I'm no canvas virgin anymore YAY I've had some online help with finishing this one and I know it's not a great piece but I like it! I've had some tips about the main image, it's getting snowed under by the paper doilie flower and the beads. That's the great thing about learning from more experienced artists. I'm so happy with people that take the time and efford to help us newbies out!

Another try

Yesss another try to make me a blog that I hopefully will update more often than the blogs I've had and died slowly over time. The reason that I wanted to create this blog is to share and document my journey through mixed media art. I've been walking around the art world and want to make my own artworks, and show how they are made.

Love Lydia