My Art Endeavours

22/05/2108 - .... because I didn't have enough colouring books I bought a new one.

This one is all about fairies! It's lovely, can't wait to make this book full of beautiful, colourful, fantastical fairy creatures. This is my first go. She is a sort of floral, natural, forest dwelling nymph. I'm really happy so far.... just need to finish her headdress.






















16/8/17 - Finished piece! Lots of colour! Happy with how it turned out - took a while to get all of the flowers done!

New page with no colour yet - let's see what it looks like by the end of it. This page is a double spread. I'm going to do one page in pen and then one in pencil and see the difference. Pen first! There's a lot of hidden detail in this one - could take me a while.

12/8/17 - So not updated this as regularly as I had hoped to! Or at all for that matter. I've done quite a lot of colouring on and off over the last 2 years, collecting way too many colouring books and letting sit in a drawer for months! I've taken up colouring a lot more in the last month. I've been doing it in the evenings to keep my fingers and my mind busy to stop me from snacking.

I recently visited a friend, who is also one of my bridesmaids and a fellow colourer... and she was systematically colouring through her adult colouring book.... page after page...... which is a weird concept for me. As I'm a flicker througher and pick the picture I like best to do next, but her book looked AMAZING! All the colour and creativity was stunning and the fact that it was every page - a feast for the eyes! I had serious colouring envy. So, I have taken the first book that I ever got to colour.... the book that all the pictures in this blog post are already from and I'm going to work through it a page at a time..... it will probably take me forever to finish..... if I ever finish it but I do find it really relaxing and it stops me from creeping to the kitchen for naughty snacks. Helps with my anxiety at times too..... when I'm stressed - my colouring book is a God send!

Here is the first page of the book...... nearly completed. Just a few more sections to go.

I also completed the picture in the post below from 2 years ago! I must have finished it just after posting and then never got round to posting it. So here it is!

This book will be a challenge and I'm going to try and not skip pages.... even if they don't really take my fancy. Stay tuned for more arty pics.

Megan xx

14/06/15 - I'm putting the date as I will hopefully be updating this entry regularly with progress pictures. I will be posting the updates at the top of the page so it will read chronologically down - most recent post at the top. Hope that makes sense. 

I don't know whether to do all the flowers the same colour of to have them all slightly different? Any advice anyone? I love how this is coming along, the pencils make the picture look really soft and natural. Very pleased so far.

06/06/15:

I finished it! It took me bloomin' ages but it's done. I love it! So much detail in there that at times it made my head hurt colouring it in. 

Now to do a design in my new colouring pencils that I've mentioned before! 

Which out of these two designs do you lovely readers suggest I do next? 1 or 2?

1....

2....

25/05/15 How I spent my bank holiday....

I spent it colouring! Wahoo!!

....and I got a new set of pencils for some of the designs which need to be a little be softer than the pens. Hoping to use them on my next design maybe - will be posting a decision blog when this one is done. 

09/05/15 - Enjoyed a Friday night in with hot chocolate and Tim Minchin on the telly.... oh, and my colouring book! I've said it before and I will definitely say it again! I have a 40 year old soul instead of my actual age of 22.

My Wild Night In! 

05/05/15 - Got a few more little bits done yesterday. Still wasn't feeling brilliant and was finding it hard to concentrate. Think I've recovered properly now so should be able to get more done this week.

I love the difference between the two halves of this page! Can't wait till it's all done. 

Really coming on, I think. Still a long way to go though

02/05/15 - Not been feeling well today. Sometimes haven't even had the concentration to colour. Got a little bit more done though. Nearly half way - need to hit the sheets. I am SO tired!

01/05/15:

More colourful fun! Second project already more fun than the first! This design is so intricate! I love it. 

30/04/15 - So, after chatting to a colleague/friend today about my next project and having a flick through the book we came the decision that I should start a completely different, third, design. This is it:

There is so much detail in this one but I am going to leave the background white so that the individual sections stand out even more. 

Love how this flower is put together, there are so many sections that it allows for really intricate colour work. The only thing is, it throws my OCD out of whack as all the petals have an outline (that is pink) apart from one. It really wound me up for a while but after adding some more details around the flower, it isn't so noticeable. 

Got some of the surrounding detail sorted whilst waiting for Ballroom to start. It's such a gorgeous pattern! I love it. Can't wait to see how it all turns out. :D

29/04/15 - FINISHED! What do people think? Any good?

DONE

So, which one do people like more? Left or right? I can't work out which one I like more? 

I was away with the school this week so got to spend some down time with my art book. This is how far I got. I'm so close to finishing. Tomorrow I think I'll post two new designs that I'd like to do and ask which one my lovely readers (yes, that's you guys) decide which one I should do.

So close to completion

25/04/15 - Got another 'circle' coloured in all the different squares today. Got one more circle and then the corners to do. I love how relaxed I feel when I'm doing this. It's the ultimate time waster but it's brilliant.

It's getting there!

 24/04/15 - Been doing a lot of doodling this evening! Not feeling 100% so I am tucked up in bed with a movie and my colouring book. Very relaxing. Here is how my current piece is looking at the moment.

Getting there!

23/04/15 - I recently bought a colouring books for grown-ups as a time wasting/creative/therapeutic activity... and it is brilliant!

The Book!

I got it from a company that sell books at my work called The Book People, but you can get books like this online and in some stationary shops.

Seeing as I am now hooked I thought I might post my progress through the book on here, ask opinions on my next page and colour schemes etc. I am feeling particularly creative at the moment and am really enjoying working on my first piece in the book.

The First Piece

I really liked the way these ornate blocks are laid out, there is quite a lot of hidden detail that I hope will really jump out as I fill more and more of it in!

Stage One Done!

All the squares completed and some of the middle stars are filled in to. I love seeing how this is all starting to fit together. Still a lot of white on the page to work through though! Loving this, really glad I bought it.

It Didn't Do What It Said On The Tin!!!

I suppose I should start this post by stating clearly that I am not someone who has must emotional attachment to their hair. If you do, this post may unnerve you slightly - just so you know!

Ever since I can remember, I've had friends and family, my sister especially, who freak out when they have to get a hair cut. They can't cope with getting too much cut off, or changing it's colour. You could suggest highlights but actually asking whether they had considered changing the colour would just tip them over the edge. This is in NO WAY a bad thing. I can completely understand it, people see your hair every day, you have certain 'looks' that you can do which make you feel confident and attractive. Peoples hair can define them. This is well and good.

I am not one of these people. I am someone who has a very short tolerance for the way their hair looks. Since the age of 16 I have changed my hair colour more times than I can count and it's style a fair few times too!

The most radical cut started the whole thing off. I was 16, it was just after prom and I was just really bored of my lovely, long, thick hair.... so I had it all cut off. Straight away from waist length to a pixie cut in one sitting. I gave my hairdresser a heart attack when I presented her a picture from Frankie from 'The Saturdays' and said 'like this please!'. Genuinely, she turned white and asked 'Are you QUITE sure?'
'Oh yes, it'll be great, go on!' So she did!

I went from this...

To this....

And from then, my hair changed a lot. I've been blonde, brunette, highlighted, nearly black, postbox red, plum, purple.... and then back to a plummy red recently. I grew my hair out back to about waist length, had a full fringe put in.... loved that....

FRINGE!

.... grew that fringe out, had a side fringe put in, grew that. You get the picture - I get bored. 

So Christmas 2014 was another of these incidents when I got bored! I got all my hair cut off again (not quite so dramatically this time) 

and then I died it Black Cherry Red..... and today.... I got bored again..... Yeah, I know, I have no staying power when it comes to my hair, it's a problem. I'm working on it. 

Anyway.... I wanted to go lighter because it's the summer and everyone likes to look like they've dipped their hair in lemon juice and caught the summer sun.... all that jazz. Because of this, I picked a lovely light brown colour to start off my summer transition. 

This is the box....

This is the colour my hair went....

I'd forgotten what a hard colour red is to shift! Will have to let this fade for about a month and then re-dye it the same light brown colour again.

Some of you, I'm sure, will be yelling at your computer screens 'just go to a salon, get it stripped, start over'.... there's no fun for me in that! I quite like making a little project out of it. It took some of the red out of it - my hair is more brown than it was but it's no where near the box colour yet. Let the project begin! :D 

Random blog I know but hey!

Check in with y'all soon

M xx

Marble Painting - A Rainy Day Craft

Working at holiday club can feel like a drag sometimes, especially when there is a thunder storm grumbling away outside. This kids get grouchy because they're stuck inside and the staff get frustrated because the kids are bored and acting up.

Today, however, I came across an ingenious craft activity that kept a whole of kids entertained for ages and it takes no time at all to set up, do it, or clean up! I love it.

It is *pause for effect* Marble Painting!

All you need:

• A4 card (white or coloured, it's up to you)
• Paint (of any colour)
• Marbles (or anything round that you can get covered in paint. I couldn't find marbles today so we used wooden beads for necklace making at worked just fine)

• OOOOO! And something to put the paper on that will hold the marble in - we used baking trays. They were ace and really easy to clean. 

All you do:

• Lay paper on tray.
• Dollop, spinkle, dribble paint onto the paper in various places. Don't use too much in one big slodge like I did to start with, it doesn't look as nice for the finished product. 
• Choose bead/marble/rolling implement and roll it around however you like. Flick it, move the tray around in your hands or just push the bead with your finger. As long as it's rolling around and picking up the paint, you are doing it right!
• YOU ARE DONE! Leave to dry. 

It really is a simple as that and you can get some really lovely abstract art from it. 

Here are a few results from today's experiment. 

So there you go, very groovy creations with very little effort. Once your done wash trays, marbles and hands with warm, soapy water. All clean, all done and some new fridge art.

Job done.

Check in soon

M xx

Bank Holiday Beauty - Volume 2

Welcome back!! Thanks for sticking with me through my natural ramblings!

So, at Wisley they have a tropical greenhouse where they grow all sorts of random stuff and today they were growing a hippo!

Just having a casual dip in the greenhouse pool! 

Also, in the greenhouse is a heap of orchids and it's one of my favourite parts of a Wisley trip. As it's kept so lovely and humid in there they grow pretty much all year round and agian, Wisley throw some awesome plant DNA together! 

I always think orchids look like they are about to eat you!

Another green flower - so weird. I can't work out whether I like it.

Love the colour combination of this flower.

Look at it's little pouch. Makes me think of a milk maid for some reason and  I'm not sure why.....

Add caption

Mother Nature is so cool - all the stripes and spots. The sheer detail in one flower is incredible.

It's Mushu!  'Dragon, not lizard.... I don't do that tongue thing!'

PINK!

This is my favourite orchid of the bunch tonight. So beautiful.

Dancing ladies, like the flowers from Fanatasia!!

Weird and wacky! A Jade Vine? Looks like the flower equivalent of a Banana plant.

Of course, a purple flower to finish, 'coz I like purple the mostest! 

Here are a selection of other pictures that I was really happy with over the day. I never fail to marvel as what nature can do! It is so impressive and so beautiful.

Hanging hearts. Really sweet.

Makes me think of a cockerel.

How mad is this plant! 

There was a robin flying round the greenhouse and he stopped long enough for me to snap this. 

Having a nap on the bank of the lake.

My 'what I call' classy shot.

So that about sums up my Wisley visit. I went a bit shutter mad - these are only a handful of the 150+ photos I ended up with. I get a bit snappy happy when I get to Wisley as there is so much detail and delicate beauty to work with. If you've read to the end of these two blogs, then thank you! I love getting page views and knowing that people are reading my stuff. Even if it is all a bit rambly and nonsensical. 

Check in soon

M xx