Counting in Cumbrian

 And (by far) the biggest of the recent projects, an illustrated picture counting book about a flock of enterprising sheep fighting the powers that be, while providing instruction in Cumbrian numbers, which are a) mostly all that's left of Cumbrian and b) hilariously weird. ('Eighteen,' for example, is 'tethera-bumfit.'). It's not, um, commercially available (yet), but if you need a copy, let me know and I'll put you on the list for if/when it gets properly published. Here's the cover :

...and then my favourite pages, the grumpy shepherd and her grumpy dog: 

...and the sheep dyeing their shorn fleeces in the barn (notice the red steel beam support in the back, a nod to my engineer father, for whose birthday the book was a gift): 

I have no idea whether this project will ever see the wider light of day beyond my parents' bookshelf, BUT innumerable lessons learnt, too many to count, about illustration in general, about how gouache paints behave, about planning out the pacing of a children's book, about trying to consistently draw characters in different positions and emotional states. Oy. Many, many lessons still to be learnt. 

Heron standing on rocks; grisaille and enamel painting on glass

 These are, fingers crossed, the first two panels of a sixteen panel project in which I definitively void any warranty that might possibly be left on the French doors going out to the garden. Many thanks to Diego Tolomelli at Studio Iko in Lago di Bolsena, Italy for his mentorship, friendship, and delicious risotto, as I tried and get the hang of grisaille painting and enamels, while unerringly selecting his most expensive glass to break and making as much of a mess of his studio as I possibly could. 

Pseudo Roman (sort of) mosaic (not) tabletop (to be)

Previous attempt at actual mosaic table top for outdoor table went pear-shaped a while ago (learning points: glass gems do not stick to tile adhesive, peacock feathers turn brown under resin, resin is a hideous messy thing which you should not attempt in large quantities without at least three people to help, plus it turns yellow and cracks outdoors) SO trophy boyfriend recently cut me a brand new circle of marine ply to paint up with acrylic paint, which is (hooray) much cheaper than mosaic tessarae, and we went from this:  to  to to  to...

yay finished 4' diameter table top! 

I will post a picture of it when it is all dry and in situ on the stump outside - it has to cure for a couple of weeks inside, before it gets a couple of coats of varnish. Eventually it will have a piece of tempered glass to protect it (purchased this morning from nice dude off Craiglist), et voila! Now on to one of the million other unfinished art projects... 

Indian miniature finished (two years later...)

 

This was done with dry brush gouache on vellum paper treated with tea, burnished with a conch shell. I do not have the reference for the source image, unfortunately. Some liberties were taken with the pattern on the saddle cloth, colours, etc - definitely not quite true to the original, and as per usual I painted more things gold than were, um, strictly necessary. 

And portrait of la not-so-p'tite also finally finished (actually was finished over a year ago but just now getting round to posting it)

Oil on board with five million layers of glazing as  I changed my mind endlessly about the background....

 

Portrait of la not-so-p'tite in progress.

 

Stained glass painting (copy from (I think) cathedral in Mexico City)

Painting stained glass! I have so many pictures of random church stained glass in my photos that I don't even know where most of them were taken at this point, but I -think- that the original for this is in Mexico. What I learned: it takes a long time and I really want to buy a kiln but they're really expensive. 

  
                all in pieces, ready to assemble....                   ... and assembled ready to solder!

Indian miniature animal painting - online class through the Ardington School of Crafts

 

Stuff I learned: burnishing the hot-press watercolour paper after doing a tea wash with a conch shell (!) gives it a very shiny surface which does not absorb much water, so that you get more intense colours out of your subsequent layers of gouache (which you can also burnish!). 

There's a half-finished horse & rider in the pile on my desk which I may or may not get around to finishing... 

Mural for the Garrison

Recently completed mural for the Garrison in Piedmont - the mandate was "foliage with three framed beetles." 

Finished mural!

Below is the preliminary sketch I did, which (astonishingly) was enough for them to give me the go ahead to just start painting on their enormous dining room wall:

Lessons learned: standing on ladders to paint is hard. Buy a massive tube of green oxide paint ahead of time. It is possible to tie yourself in extensive knots over how to paint a lit lightbulb against a white wall. 

Closeups of the finished beetles: a stag beetle, a crimson beetle, and a tansy beetle. 

Announcing new official website!

Hello shiny information superhighway! I am now set up with a slightly more formal, definitely more organized website, where I will post any new completed artwork. I will still (I think) post here from time to time stuff that it is in process, but completed work will now go .... drumroll.... HERE!