I’ve been reviewing the past 12 months and evaluating my favourite work.
Best 9s are a great way to do this. Here are my Best 9 of the year. Work that I feel pleased with as they broke new ground in terms of skills and technique progress.
It’s been great to apply art to commercial illustration briefs and to monetise my practice, as above.
Here are my painted Best 9. A real break through this year was the workshop that I did in Rotterdam with Helen Dardik. The techniques Helen shared, and the products she’s uses, are a real revelation. With practice and care my painting skills are building.
Fabric and Textiles Best 9 – I enjoy the colours and textures that I create on fabrics. Florals and birds were key themes of my work in these mediums this year.
Here’s to 2020. I’m excited to see what emerges this year. I hope your have a great year.
Please like my post, if you do. Thank you so much.
I created this design as an online and offline greeting. A still illustration with photographic and digital art, and also a gif with flashing fairy lights.
The design swops Santa’s sleigh for a sports car based on my favourite car design. I originally made the car in cut paper for this ‘Going to the Seaside’ Paperart piece.
Santa is joined by a little white dog, who is enjoying the ride, and a small festive robin.
The little white dog features in that artwork and those who’ve been following my work will know is the character Sam, who I’ve also painted for the Children’s book – The Dog Who Wanted To Fly
Sam – Copyright Kim
I chad created the Santa for commercial Christmas illustration I was also working on…
Using the design I created a limited print run of just 10 Christmas cards. Then my printer stopped working.
I added sparkly details with gel glitter pens and sent the fleet of greetings to family and close friends.
I next went on to bake this design in Gingerbread. See this story here…
Click on the image to see the gingerbread version of this design…
Once created I felt that the robin on the picture needed to ice skate. So I added skates and made an animated gif. A little winter sport fun for my favourite festive bird.
Wishing everyone a Happy Christmas. Thank you so much for the support and to everyone who has read, Liked and Shared my work. It means so much.
Please Like and Share this post, if you wish to. I’m keen to reach as many people as possible to brighten their Christmas.
Here are my latest illustrations and paintings. So loving creating at the moment.
The next task in #illustrationworkshop is a book cover. I thought that as I’m intending to create a book that I should use this prompt in this way.
A family gathering is always a lovely creative opportunity.
Summer Party themed illustration – developing the flower painting and trying out words and other items with the new paints and techniques.
Spot illustration for a magazine article about holiday/summer book recommendations.
Painted in watercolours and the elements brought together in @pixelmatorapp on my #iPhone
I like how this has come together and creating the woman for the glass.
Lovely time painting on location @renishawhallg with my little buddy. There are so many delightful flowers to choose from, some aren’t really in a place to stop and paint.
I’m pleased with how the floral art is developing and enjoying the paints.
I was pleased with this painting as it was a significant development on my previous painting on location at Renishaw. I like the energy and looseness of this piece though.
It’s this kind of work that o like to hold in mind and rest my subconscious on whilst trying to go back to sleep.
We’re getting the Folksy shop ready for the busy festive shopping time so if you’d like an original artwork for your loved one you can buy them here.
The tennis club needed a certificate, so keeping consistent with the illustrations I have done for club posters, social media posts and children’s colouring sheets I drew the club trophies, some are almost 100 years old, and a banner to start the build up to centenary celebrations, to create a certificate template.
I’m developing the drawing stage for my my next illustrations, I’ll share them when completed, but if you’d like to see the process and stages then pop over to my Instagram.
Thanks for spending time here, hope you’ve enjoyed it.
I’ve really enjoyed creating in August. The month started off with the Helen Dardik workshop in Rotterdam which was beautiful and inspiring. The month and art has flourished from there.
I created an illustrated map, an instructional illustration for #PortfolioClub, an illustrated Recipe prompted by Flow Magazine’s book 50 Ways To Draw Your Beautiful Ordinary Life. I also created a party invitation book cover and stitched/painted self portrait.
I added new items to my Folksy shop as we start to get ready for the busy festive period.
To learn more about this latest work follow these links❤️
Years in the making, and hundreds of tiny details in paper, but I’m pleased to have completed my Brighton inspired Seaside Arches.
In a big move forward for me I am, for the first time, offering three paperart originals for sale in my Folksy shop. (Act quick before I change my mind).
The British seaside inspired this piece. I tried to keep to a limited colour palette, which is tricky as I love colour so much. The steam train is arriving at the seaside where the arches are a tea and ice-cream cafe, a beach paraphernalia shop and a boutique with pretty dresses, hats and handbags. The picture captures a warm sunny day with brightly coloured bunting being tousled by the warm, salty sea breeze.
This time the small white dog Sam is joined by my new little four legged friend, thanks to www.BorrowMyDoggy.com, with both wearing neckerchiefs.
There’s a deckchair and beach towel available for anyone wanting to imagine themself into the pretty seaside scene. Hmmm memories of happy days by the sea.
This winter scene is influenced by gingerbread houses, ski trips to the Alps and Russia, my love of ice skating and a chocolatier selling from a street booth I spotted in Lisbon. There’s a shift in the scene from Autumn trees into winter and the cosyness of festive lights.
Going to the seaside is all about breaking away from the norms and city to race eagerly towards the seaside, the East coast of England in this picture, the shores of Lincolnshire and Norfolk. A pretty cottage awaits the family’s arrival with a fun big wheel and ice cream van to cool down after some sunny time on the beach.
People always ask how long the pictures take to make but I’m never counting the hours as I find a happy space in cutting and placing each piece of paper to build the picture. It can be almost meditative. I most like to do this work at the table in our garden but it’s rare for sunny days still enough to work with such tiny pieces of paper; they can so easily be carried by the wind, but those rare days are magical.
More images and detail about these artworks at my Folksy shop.
I’m going to be bringing my paper art skills together with the fabric design techniques I’ve been exploring to create some cut paper fabric designs. There, now I’ve said it here I’ll make it happen. Watch this space and see more at my Instagram feed.
As a small sofa-friendly project over the easter weekend I decided to embark on a small embroidered portrait of the little dog that spends some days with me.
I found a high res picture that really showed the detail, and began first to represent the darkest areas gradually and carefully colour matching the different tones with embroidery silks, and representing the different textures. I took a drawing in silks approach, using drawing techniques that I use in life drawings.
I was pleased with how the embroidery began to take on his likeness and reflect some of his character. I added a paw print, from a picture I captured of it whilst walking during a snowfall.As I liked how the portrait looked in the embroidery hoop I decided to turn that into the frame, giving it a collar effect using a football boot lace (ssshh!)
The little dog is a lhasa apso with a lovely coat and sooo cute. He’s a great little guy who it is fun company.
The little dog’s owner was really pleased with the picture and how it captured the detail of his face and coat.
This is not the first cute dog that I have had the pleasure of capturing in art, I previously used acrylic paint to illustrate a children’s book about a white dog called Sam who wanted to fly.
Its been a pleasure to share this story and its fab to have you here, please share my site with friends who’ll enjoy it x
I write my blog as story by story I’m logging my creative journey and writing my book. If you’d like to read the chapters as they are created you can follow this blog. It’s presently a small and select group but it would’ve lovely to have you join us. 😊
“My latest paper masterpiece, “Hot Days Eating Cool Ice Cream”. It is pretty with details and interest, always something more to see and packed with pictorial love from corner to corner.”
Read the full story:
I often have an idealistic view of what an event will be like. For instance say to me garden party and instantly an image conjures of pretty bunting flapping in the wind, smiling faces, beautiful colourful tablecloths, bright blooms, pink lemonade with ice glinting in the sun, gorgeous dresses and a cloud leisurely tracking across a vivid blue sky. My idealism can often lead to the reality being a little disappointing. I had seen this as a trait that was negative, that I was being naive and childishly silly.
But I have realised that it is this ideal world imagination that is the magic that can make my special kind of art.
My growing number of paper cut creations, finely crafted like a self-made jigsaw, come from this visual idealism.
Best seen in their original form the pictures are intricate and unique. In their creation is a calm happy place for me, one where I am in that sweet spot between consciousness and subconscious. Piece by piece, thought by thought I cut and stick to form a whole that when I step back I wonder how that came about.
When I was a youngster I would get frustrated that my art did not look like I had envisioned. That I could not recreate on paper the picture that I had in my head. But my paper artworks never start from a whole vision, it begins like a building, first the walls go in place, then I furnish the building with pretty furniture from my imagination and add personal items that belong to the imaginary owners, curated over their lives.
Ta-Da… My Latest Picture Revealed
I very recently completed what I feel is my latest masterpiece, “Hot Days Eating Cool Ice Cream”. Like the earlier smaller (A4) Beach Huts, Allotments and Ski Chalet (all in the strip above), it is pretty with details and interest, always something more to see, but this new piece is A3 and packed with pictorial love from corner to corner.
I created the Ice Cream artwork with new colour understanding after studying the relationships between colours. As a result it really pops off the page.
So here it is for your visual consumption. Have a Flake with that.
Hot Days Eating Cool Ice Cream – Copyright Kim
Hot Days Eating Cool ice Cream is a design made entirely from pieces of paper cut into shapes to make a bright, colourful work of art. The design feature an ice cream cafe on a sunny day. The ice-cream maker also sells the delicious ice creams out and about in the sparkly ice-cream van.
Two girls are at the cafe to enjoy ice-cream and a small white dog trots by to in the hope of a little chocolate or sweet treat.
In the distance people enjoy the fun and thrill of a rollercoaster ride and a plane flies overhead to spread the work about the wonderful ice-creams.
This is my first paper cut work that prominently features people. This was a challenge, at first I painted people and cut and added those, but later recreated them in paper and am happier with the paper characters.
Here are some details from the picture… (watermarked).
Of course Maltese Terrier Sam, as in each of the paper-cut pictures, is there – Copyright Kim
And now the fun starts on creating canvases, fabric and products which will take the picture out and about and on the move in the world.
Hot Days Eating Cool Ice Cream – Copyright Kim
I am seeking an art agent or art business mentor/manager to assist my art out into the world. Please share my post so that it can find its way to the ideal person to help.
If you’ve enjoyed this post here are related posts to feast your eyes and imagination on. Enjoy!
The collar up option for heavy rain is quite David Bowie/spacey.
