Now, where Was I?

Still managing to plod on with the coursework, life and a few other bits! 

I cooked another batch of Khadi papers. 

This time I soaked half in iron water.  Well I crushed up a load of my iron tablets and let them steep for a while before putting the papers in, but it worked! 

The other half I soaked in vinegar water.  Much paler which is lovely as they could still be written on.  

I have been pre cutting the pages to size using my decal ruler as I like the deeper staining on the edges.  If I make up whole sheets there is often a white line if I cut them post dyeing.  Can't be avoided sometimes though!! They will be make up into more books soon.

I have also been experimenting with some doggy portraits.  

Normally I run a mile from backgrounds and I spend an absolute age making sure every single hair is represented. I've taken a turn to trying much softer approach with backgrounds my old pastel tutor would cringe at!  All rubbed in and smeared, but I'm loving them!! 

It started with the Shona portrait I did back in March but don't seem to have shown you on here!!  This beautiful old lady was a much loved member of a group of Pointer owners we are in and she sadly went over the Rainbow Bridge.  I just had the urge to capture her for her mum.  I really liked the faded look I'd given her. 

This is of Willow looking out of my bedroom window.  

And this is a friends dog Hobbes.

They are on 9 x 12 inch paper but I've, again, done them very softly and loosely. I also want to almost make them generic. The thought is to see how they reduce into card size and, so far, they seem to do so very well.  Apart from really liking the effect the time taken is also a lot less!  As long as I have perfection in the eyes the rest can hang from them and I'm happy with that. 

On Monday I had a fabulous trip to London with my friend Karren to the Tate Modern to see the Georgia O'Keefe exhibition.  It was wonderful!! I really enjoyed it.  And there were plenty of her paintings covering all her styles over the years.  I had gone wanting to see her grading of colour and tone up close and it was everything I had hoped it would be.  Devine! I'm glad I bought the book to continue perusing at my leisure.  

This week also saw my interview on the new Workshop on the Web Tumblr site HERE.  Excuse the huge photo of me at the beginning, I think Fiona was a little carried away!! It coincides with the article I wrote for them on making the Forest Floor pieces in my last post. 

I've taken to writing a Todo list and carrying it with me.  It started quite long but I've managed to strike off a few things.  Unfortunately I keep adding so I think I will now go and peruse the list to see what I can get rid of!