Other Artwork

Something New

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I was asked to road test some Ampersand Aquabord, a clay-coated panel for watercolour that claims to be acid-free and archival.  I thought I might share my experience working on it.

I am used to working on 300gsm hot pressed paper which is very smooth, I found I had to adjust the way I worked on the Aquabord, the clay surface as you would expect behaves rather differently.

The panel surface has some texture to it and required wetting out before you commence painting to release any air bubbles trapped under the surface.

I found my paint brush traveled quite smoothly over the surface of the board.

The paint tended to sit on the surface and did not behave like it would on paper. Where paint is drawn away and may spread as it absorbs into paper, on the Aquabord it does not. This makes you apply the paint differently on the Aquabord.  The fact that the paint sits on the surface means you can push it around quite a lot even after its dry. It is quite easy to build up layers of colours and you get great vibrancy of colour.

The nature of the surface also allows for amazing lift out. You can remove layers of paint to expose colours underneath or lift out back to the white of the board. This would be great for highlights and details like leaf veins. (see pics)

Being a board product no stretching or flattening is required as it is with paper.

Check it out, it's always fun to try something new.

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Other creative pursuits.

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I am a firm believer in a creative practice, by this I mean the pursuit of varied creative endeavours each informing and enhancing the other. In my case alongside my exploration of Botanical painting is my love of textiles, and within that another varied practice ranging through experiments with natural dyes, weaving, embroidery also creating and writing original crochet patterns.

The pattern writing came about as a result of having a young man with requests like " Mummy I want a bobcat to cuddle", I found there was no such pattern available so I set about creating my own. I discovered I loved the process of both the crochet and designing and writing the patterns. I also discovered I was able to sell my designs on http://www.ravelry.com/ and so Pinchyfinger Patterns was born.

http://www.ravelry.com/designers/kristen-okeeffe

Two pocket coin purse.

In the last month I have had a little break from painting and have been having fun creating and writing new patterns. It has also been a chance to use some of my naturally dyed yarns.

I have published my coin purse pattern and am currently working on my crocheted Lego man pattern. Pictured below are the prototypes. I made the red one first but I felt that the proportions were not quite right, so I made the green and maroon one, widening the body slightly, he is also made with a bigger hook that's why he's bigger. I really wanted the toy to have movable arms and legs like a real Lego toy, getting the legs right has been a challenge. I will make a few more tweaks before publishing the pattern.

Turmeric dying the yarn for Lego man's head and hands.

Turmeric dying the yarn for Lego man's head and hands.

 

 

 

The Turmeric dyed yarn is the perfect 'Lego' yellow. I will need to dye up some other colours to make the final toy for photographing for the pattern.

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