Jessie Lilac Blog

I need to post this quickly so that I don't have to look at this picture again. It's scaring me !!! Halloween today and the first one in (how many years?) I haven't been requested to make bats out of black paper or pumpkins, or drinks made out of 'blood'. No costumes to dream up. I have a huge box of Halloween paraphenalia collected that my children have worn over the years, fake teeth, nails, black capes, witches hats. Last year the youngest looked more like a Goth than a sweet baby girl dressed for trick or treating, I might have guessed then that things were changing around here! So in memory of those bygone years, here are a couple of photos from my photo album... My two eldest when they were 11 and 10. Eldest looks a lot older than 11 in this picture, it's all that make-up!  This is my eldest and middle son when they were 11 and 8.  No, that's not me stood behind, I have a lot more meat on me than that. So it's pumpkin soup for tea ...

I'm feeling inspired by the lovely golden yellows that are around at the moment but I've yet to go on a nice autumn walk, I've been so busy lately. I'm still in the process of sorting out and redecorating bedrooms. I've finished the decorating in my youngest daughter's room  and she's already covering the walls in posters! It is her room after all so I don't mind too much how she adds to it. So far. In between room sorting I've been making paintings using old books as collage materials. This is something I've never done before because I've felt uncomfortable tearing up pages from books. There's been a lot of sorting and discovering going on in my house recently and I came across a stack of old books that were going to be thrown away anyway, so I rescued them from the recycling box to use for my painting! I love to see paintings made from all kinds of materials and for many years have kept a tin with bits and bobs, sequins and glitter...

The word for Illustration Friday is 'scattered'. Has autumn finally arrived? Guessing so with all these leaves a-fallin'.

My middle daughter and her boyfriend moved to Perranporth earlier this year and this weekend was spent having a lovely time with them there. We were so very lucky with the weather!  It was warm and sunny with flowers still in bloom, with dappled light through sunlit trees. We visited the nearby St Agnes beach. Can you see how my painting was inspired by her hairstyle? The rock textures reminded me of Lego. I love to be by the sea-side :) and I think someone else does too, although she wouldn't admit it! Such treasures, and I couldn't resisit drawing in that smooth sand! The day ended with a long walk along Perranporth beach. It was like a dream.

It's ok, I'm not alone, or lonely. I was thinking about how we artists are most often completely alone when we're making our art. I've taken part in groups where we've worked together but my best creative thoughts arrive when I'm completely on my own, immersed in my own thoughts. I know some people can bounce ideas off eachother and have amazing times at arty workshops but although I've enjoyed things like this, I tend to get distracted by other people and don't produce anything that I feel is my own, something that expresses just me. While I was expecting my youngest child, I came across the book by Julia Cameron ' The Artist's Way. ' I'd taken a couple of years out of my art degree to have the baby and I felt in desperate need of some creative input. One of the things she advises is to take yourself on an 'Artist Date'. This is a date with yourself, alone, visiting somewhere that makes your heart skip, that feasts your eyes. T...

 Here's the latest page from my sketchbook. I didn't have a plan for this image, I let it happen and evolve as I was painting. It started with layers of collage and acrylic paint, putting clingfilm onto the wet paint to create texture, (removing it when the paint's dry.) I drew the fish with a silver pen and had at first, a wishy washy watery scene. I felt as though it needed a person in the picture and before I knew it, this lady appeared under my brush! I wasn't sure what to do with her other hand so I tucked it behind her back.  When we work in this way, letting the image evolve, perhaps our unconconscious is revealed and looking at it now, several hours after I painted it, I'm quite suprised by her expression. At the moment, even   I'm  not sure what she was thinking! What does it say to you? Click on the image of the painting if you'd like to see more of the detail. ~~~~~~~~ I've finished my granny-square cushion! (middle one below)  I...

Just when I thought I had some time to get on with some painting, not decorating painting but real painting ;) the carpet was delivered for the bedroom . So I've been heaving and hoeing furniture from one room to the next, it's going to be lovely when it's all finished but I'm too impatient to wait until then to show you,  so here's a little peep of it so far... Like her older sister she asked for black walls. I do encourage self expression but I draw the line at black walls I'm afraid. (No, her sister didn't get black walls either!) I am nudged once again by the distant memory of having to paint over a dark colour. Not to be repeated! In between my bouts of furniture removal, I've been sploshing and stamping and doing all kinds of things with paint in my sketchbook... Yes I've been using my acrylics again. I'm hoping to do some more once things have settled down here. The house feels so different with just the three of us. I've had a ...