Sunsets, silhouettes and a painting

I always feel a rush of excitement when someone loves my work enough to commission a painting. It's a joy to work with customers trying to interpret their ideas and come up with a design that they will like.

The painting above was for a wedding gift and needed to have thistles and shamrocks in it, combining the bride and groom's Scottish and Irish heritage. I can't share the whole image yet as the gift hasn't been given! The sun I finished in 23.5 carat gold leaf so that it glimmers when the light catches it.

I always have my camera to hand for I love taking photo's and many of my paintings are inspired by the photo's I take near my home here in beautiful Dumfries and Galloway. You might have guessed that I love the gloaming, sunsets and silhouettes, quiet times and magical moments.

I love to take a moment to sit quietly in the garden at this time of night to listen to the world softly settling down to sleep. it feels like I have stepped into another time, another place. Just the sort of place for me to conjure mystical images to work into my paintings.

This last photo was the view I caught on my way back from home one evening, driving along the coast road, it was so dramatic I just had to stop and try to capture the light!

This is one of the things I love about living here in South West Scotland, the light and the sunsets, and every day when I drive along this road I feel so blessed to live here

I wonder, what do you love about where you live?

Telling the Bees, a foggie toddler

I am loving spending time in our garden just now and try to find some time each day for pottering and planting and pruning, there is always so much to keep me busy.

After two years tending what began as a wild patch, the garden is  finally coming in to it's own and each nook and cranny holds delicious splashes of colour and tucked away gems. I find gardening such a peaceful and healing pastime, the growing of things, fingers buried in the soil, listening to the bird chirruping in the bushes. (This year our blackbird is feeding three babies!)

 We have so many more bees now too, humming among the blooms and I find myself talking to them as I work, calling them by the Scottish name - Foggie-toddle, a name used in Deeside - ‘Fog’ meaning moss or grass, and ‘toddling’ is meandering with a gentle sound. It suits them so well!

In Celtic folklore bees were thought to be the wisest of creatures, messengers between worlds. There is an old Scots saying 'Ask the wild bee for what the druid knew'. The old highlanders believed that the soul of a person left the body in the form of a bee once a person had died or whilst they were in a trance.

I had the perfect excuse to study my wee bees up close for a new commission that came my way earlier this year. A lovely customer of mine all the way from the USA asked for a painting for a dear friend, a glass artist who makes bee & honeycomb necklaces,  isn't this stunning!

The painting was to include bees, honeycomb and daisies, so I took lots of photos first to inspire me, then began sketching and very soon an idea bee-gan ( sorry couldn't resist) to form. 

I wanted to capture the bee close up and have a hint of the honeycomb behind filled with a delicate blend of honey colours and lots of splashes of gold ink to highlight.

I am rather pleased with the final result and love the way the gold catches the light. I'm also happy to report that my lovely customer liked it too when it arrived safe and sound over seas.

I have just added 'Foggie Toddler' to my Etsy store as a limited edition print.  Each print is hand finished in gold ink - you can follow the link here.

Well I'm off into the studio to carry on working on a new exciting project which I will share very soon.

Oops I nearly forgot to mention  - the winner of the Butterfly bunting giveaway was KJ Sutcliffe from the sweetest blog 'I live, I love, I craft, I am me', congratulations!

A Wedding Present Blessing Tree

My latest painting commission ~ A wedding Present Blessing Tree

I have loved working on this piece, commissioned by a customer,

a wedding present for her nephew & godson.

This design combines lots of elements I love, entwined trees, a Celtic Blessing, 

and sumptuous glowing gold

I often look back over the workings of a design in my sketchbook to see how the piece unfolded, and am inspired in new & different directions.

Creating is an organic process for me, I sit & doodle & an idea will take shape on the page as I pull inspirations from my memories of things I discover on my walks, from music, words & poems I hear.

The finished painting with the words of the Celtic Blessing running around the sun. And a first for me, I managed to upload my first ever  (a wee bit dodgy in places) video me doing watercolour washes over the tree trunks.

 

(You can see another wedding commission design I did a while back

based on the Scottish thistle  here )

Celtic connections, an album & a logo

I am so excited to be able to share with you at long last
a project I was working on back in Summer 2011.

About that time, Mr O (my musician) was recording a 2nd album
of traditional Celtic music at Unit7 studios, Bladnoch,
with his sister, renowned composer & fiddle player, Marie Fielding
and their long time friend, accordionist Duncan Black.

 I was asked to design the logo for the label Rumford Records.

Marie wanted a celtic feel for her newly set up record label,

from the many designs I produced, and I did get a little carried away,

the design below was the final one chosen and used.

I also had the fun task of taking cover shots for the album.
At the end of a long & tiring session in the studio,
these 3 inspiring musicians caused endless laughter
as we tried out different poses outside the cottage.

 and finally after all their hard work, the headaches & the smiles
I am pleased to present the end product
Tribute's 2nd album.

For more information Rumford Records has a facebook page here
the album itself is for sale over on Maries own website here.

Owen also has his own reverbnation page  here 

 & facebook musicians page here.

All in all a fun project to be involved in

& fascinating to see the creative process of an idea coming to fruition.

A Scottish thistle for a bride to be.

What a lovely design job this was, working with a Bride -to-be.

Coming up with a design for her wedding invitations. 

Being Scottish she wanted to incorporate the Scottish thistle

and used the thistle colours in her wedding theme .

I wanted to create an emblem for them

including both the bride & grooms name.

I loved working on this design. The form of the thistle

 was a good one to play around with design wise.

I'm so pleased with the results

 and thankfully so were my clients too!

I did get quite carried away and came up with lots of design options.

It's a design I will most definitely re-visit

to work up into something more.

Here's wishing the Bride & Groom a wonderful wedding day!

 

Until the call . . .

All is delivered. Designs, information, samples! So, for now

i shall pick up my brushes & loose myself again in painting

O

Until the call.

Hoping i will hear a "yes " when i lift that phone to my ear

the suspense. I sit thinking, how i came to be doing just this,

branching out into wedding design, not what i had in mind.

(Though i really do love doing it, altogether love weddings )

My own wedding design last year, here & here

led to comments, complements, recommendation

so, i thought maybe its not such a bright idea

to look a gift horse in the mouth when starting out

i'm so hoping for my very first "bride" to design for .

a delicious excuse to doodle & draw flowers & lovely things

The above started life as the this below

early/late bird . . . . .

such a ridiculously early time of the morning

even the birds will very soon be waking

yet here am i,

frantically putting finishing touches to my portfolio

from my own lips are uttered the famous words

next time -i will be more organised

next time - i shall not leave things till last moments

but, at last, I am now proud owner of

a range of wedding stationary designs

and . . . (eeek)

in not so very many hours
i am of to visit my very first
(working for myself full-time) client
. . .at best i am hoping that they may think my work looks ok
though my lack of sleep may well cause me to look a fright
(my excuse, i seem for some very odd reason
to work so very much better under pressure!?)
off to sleep.......................