Friday

Another beautiful day and I managed to get 5 encaustic paintings done this morning. I really love the results that encaustic art gives......I must do them more often.
Here is a watercolour aceo that is on ebay at the moment...it finishes on Sunday and already has multiple bids..

Thursday

Today I went to the hobbies and stitches exhibition in Cardiff. We got up early and caught the 9.45 am train. Arried in Cardiff and first stop was a nice cuppa and a visit to the toilet...lol...
We had seen all the stall within an hour, so we had another cupp and then went round again. I bought some nice paper punches, some pinflair glue and a Debbie Moore cdrom for making bags and boxes....I love making bags and boxes !! I also found a lady doing encaustics on fabric and what fascinated me was her tiny iron. I have the regulation encaustic one which costs about £20...for a long time I have thought of getting a spare in case mine broke (this is my third one)...or in case someone wants a lesson. The lady very kindly told me that it came from M&S and was only £5.
I checked out the internet and sure enough there was the iron ...£5....that is now on my shopping list....always good to have a spare.
On the train coming home there were signal problems and so we sat on a non moving train for over 20 minutes, so we were very tired when we gone indoors.
Now I can sit and enjoy my goodies !!!

Here is another painting....one of the ones that I did over the weekend.

Wednesday

well WOW...what a beautiful day....the best day all year....we had no summer and now that winter is looming, we get the hottest day !!...weird weather.
I spent a lot of today reading through my new art magazines and book from the SAA. I feel very proud to say that I am now a member of the SAA (Society for all artists)....feels like a feather in my cap.
I also wrote on the Folksy forum about a friend of mine who bought an item and the sender didn't even bother to enclose a business card or a Thank You note......just a little compliments slip would have been nice. I always enclose my thanks and send emails keeping my customer informed of progress....
Here is another of my paintings

Tuesday

today has been a really beautiful day and at last the gardener arrived.....5 weeks late !!! We had given up hope of ever seeing him again. The garden is far too steep for us to manage any more and the grass was nearly 18" long !!!!   All looking lovely again now......
Hubby took me out to KFC for lunch and to be honest that will do me now...I will just have a snack later.

I took some pics of yesterday's paintings and here is one of them

Monday

another day of painting.....sometimes I just sit here staring at the paper and not knowing what to paint. Thank goodness I bought some nice art books on holiday....lots of inspiration.....
This little cartoon is on ebay at the moment but someone already wants to buy it and has emailed me about selling it on a BUY IT NOW....so I will see if I can do that for her.

here is the picture.....

Sunday

Yesterday it rained all day...today has been nicer ...I thought I would paint a bit of tropical sunshine for a change....

Saturday

Had a nice lie in as usual and watched the Encaustic art show on Create and Craft...picked up a few new tips...mainly about what colours to put and where on the iron....really enjoyed it.
It has rained all day and is very grey outside....nothing changes does it.....
I managed to paint 4 aceos this afternoon and also took pictures of the ones that I did yesterday.
Yesterday's ones were done in acrylic because I put too much paint on the palette and hate to waste anything.....ever tried getting paint BACK into the tube??

Here are a couple of the ones I did yesterday..

Thursday

When I was on holiday last week I bought some lovely shimmer acrylic paints. So today I decided to see what they were like...they are beautiful. You paint them on top of other paints of a similar hue. I get in such a mess with acrylics,...they are all up my arms, hands and on my clothes...lol...Never mind, it was fun....
Here is the finished effort...measuring 5" x 7 " in size...

Wednesday

Today the sun shone......I have contacted the Guinness book of records....lol
On Monday I sent to Barry of Wakes Waxes for a new tip for my stylus for encaustic art.....It arrived this morning...how is that for amazing service !!!...Well done Barry.
I have just listed two more encaustic painting on ebay.......I love encaustic paintings.

Here is another of my aceo watercolour paintings..

Tuesday

It has rained all day today and the heating is ON....brrrr.
I managed to go shopping...got soaked and then came home and painted three new aceos....
Now all I need to do is to take some photos....
Here is one that I did over the weekend

I haven't painted a mermaid for a long time, so it was nice to do one for a change. If you want to see any of my paintings that are for sale please check out my two online shops..
http://www,folksy.com/shops/teabreaks   and http://www.etsy.com/shop/teabreaks

or I have regular listings on ebay. You can find these by going to my website  http://www.gweddusart.co.uk/  The website is a static one so only the ebay link works.....click on the ebay link and it will take you to my latest work that is for sale...you might be able to pick up a bargain  !!

Tuesday

Missed Monday...had a very busy day with meetings and catching up on the washing from our holiday.
The winter is rapidly approaching and it is cold and wet....nothing new there then...just like the summer !!
I have ordered a new stylus tip for my encaustic art. The one I had is all bent and buckled and is not soaking up the wax properly. It also doesn't draw very well ......I must try not to drop this one on the floor !!!

Here is another encaustic from me

Sunday

well most of the washing is now done......always a lot when you come back from a holiday.
I managed to do some painting today and did two more aceo landscapes. I am hoping to list an item a day in my folksy shop   http://www.folksy.com/shops/teabreaks  and also in my etsy shop  http://www.etsy.com/shop/teabreaks
The Christmas buying season will soon start so I need to have plenty of paintings ready for listing.
I will also list on Wednesdays and Sundays on ebay....
to find my ebay listings, click on the link on  my website...(sorry the other links don't work, but the ebay one does!!)  http://www.gweddusart.co.uk/

Here is another encaustic painting that I did before I went on holiday..

Saturday 17th SEPTEMBER

Well, home at last from my holiday and luckily the weather stayed fine...not a drop of rain, despite the forecast.....
I bought some nice art books, some canvas boards and some lovely shimmer acrylic paints...now to get back to work.

Here is another encaustic painting

Sunday

This is my last blog for a week as I am off on my travels, leaving my family to house sit ......
I hope to have a nice rest and then come back with lots of artistic ideas.....

Here is another encaustic painting

Saturday

I had my usual lie in today and my new artbook arrived in the post....brilliant postman knew not to knock the door on a Saturday and popped it in a hiding place for me.....
I sat in bed watching the fabulous Michael Bossom doing an encaustic art demo. Thrilled when he said that he would be back in two week's time....brilliant....(note in diary...)
Off on holiday on Monday.....kids (adults) staying to house sit for us.....

I will post again tomorrow and then not again until Saturday 17th...in the mean time, here is another encaustic painting.....created by spreading melted wax across specially treated card.....

Friday

Friday is here again. I love Fridays because I know that tomorrow I can have a lie in. On Create and Craft tomorrow Michael Bossom is doing a demo in encaustic art.
I LOVE encaustic art....I shall be watching....probably in bed...lol....
I actually had some time to myself today and so I did 6 encaustic paintings.....
Here is the first one

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Thursday

well another wet day and I had lots of shopping to get done.....luckily we didn't get wet loading the stuff in the car.
There is still a lot of discontent going on on the Folksy forums...I hope it soon blows over.
Tomorrow I hope to find the time to do some encaustic painting...I can only do this when I know that I will have a minimum of 1 hour uninterrupted time as it takes time and space to set up.
watch this space.

In the mean time, here is another watercolour aceo

Wednesday

today was a busy day as I was on duty at the Age Concern Day Centre. My hubby and I are trustees/directors and as the manager is on holiday we are taking it in turns to be there.
On Folksy, there is a bit of an uproar as Folksy are changing the rules. They are insisting that some things which are not considered as completely hand made will no longer be able to be listed.
As an artist, this doesn't affect me in any way, for which I am grateful. They are however going to start charging listers VAT which means that sadly I will have to increase my prices a little bit. A lot of the crafters are delisting and leaving Folksy, which is a great shame. I do however understand that some items are just "put together" rather than completely crafted.
Here is another abstract that I did yesterday.

Tuesday

It was blowing a gale this morning and I had to go outside in the rain to get the dustbin back....TWICE !!
I  have spent most of the day scouring websites and admiring people's work.....
I managed to paint three more aceos ready for listing but need to take pics first.
My son is here staying and tomorrow one of his mountain bike friends is also arriving, so along with my daughter and hubby, the house will be full....all of them grown ups !!

Here is the second abstract that I painted yesterday...

Monday

Monday again....all the local children are back at school. Mine are all grown up so it makes no difference to me. The rain is still here...will it ever stop.....
I decided to try my hand a abstracts again, so here is my latest effort......I wish I knew where to start,
However a kind artist friend has given me some ideas which I will try out......watch this space....

Sunday

Today started off as a beautiful day but now the heavens have opened and the rain is pouring down.
We went to the Range to get some peanuts for the birds and I spent some time in the art section. I got a tube of pink acrylic. I want to paint some pink blossom but although I have red acrylic and white, they just mix together to make a pale orange.  Much easier to start off with some ready made pink.
I am not quite sure when I will start the painting but at least now, it is here ready and waiting.
Here is another of my tiny paintings. These will be available in my ebay listings next Saturday 10th. You can access my ebay by clicking on the link on my website.

http://www.gweddusart.co.uk/

Saturday

Today I managed to get another aceo waterfall painting finished. They seem to be very popular and are selling well on ebay.
As I am typing this, one of the quirrels in the garden is looking at me through the patio doors....he won't go away until he has TWO peanuts in shells in his mouth. He is very clever and turns them around so that he can carry two at once. If we only give him ONE, he just sits there looking at us.
It is pouring with rain and the poor squirrel looks like a drained rat !!.................................
OK...he is fed now and happily running down the garden fence with his stash.
We were going to go to the Range today but have deferred it until tomorrow because of the rain. We are going to get a sack of MORE peanuts....that is my excuse ....because I shall be looking around the art section....such a lot of temptation......
Here is today's waterfall painting

and here is the 5x7 acrylic one that I did yesterday...
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Friday

It was a bit chilly this morning but by midday the sun had come out and it turned out to be a lovely afternoon.
This morning, I managed to do two aceo paintings, one of which you can see here. This afternoon, I ventured to do something a bit larger. A 7x5 Acrylic painting....I got paint everywhere. I need a lot more practice with acrylics. I have a beautiful white plastic tray that I use as a palette. THAT cost me 75 in Poundstretcher.....I am the last of the big spenders.
I want to practice more abstract work but don't quite know where to start, despite having an abstract book with 65 lessons in it.

Here is one of the aceos that I did this morning....

Thursday

Life can be a real mystery. I see artists who paint pictures that I would think were done by a 5 year old and yet they sell loads more than I do....mmm....art is in the eye of the beholder I suppose. I have to realise that there are all different kinds of art and we can't all like the same things. A learning curve for me.
The sun is shining, although it is chilly......signs of winter.....

Here is a new painting from me....