Pictures from my Sketchbook

I keep a copy of these body measurements close by when I'm sketching at home, I jotted these down quite some time ago and are used as a rough guide only. They act as a reminder as to the dimensions of  an average body!!
You can get a lot more detailed charts by searching online for 'drawing body proportions'

A rough guide to Body Proportion

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Here are a few sketches from my  'People' folder.

I used this position for my Summer Fairy. In the second sketch you can just see where I altered the arm position and a slight tilt in the head. The sketch starts off as a scribble and when I see the line that is right I keep that and erase most of what I don't need.

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Summer Fairy

A lot of my scribbles and sketches are done on loose paper and I keep them in a folder, this makes it easy for me to keep the same or similar subjects together. I often refer back to old sketches as well as keep adding new ones.

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Here are a few more, some more successful than others. I like to keep some of my 'not so good' sketches so I can see where I went wrong and what I need to correct.

I love the stance in the centre sketch.

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Jan x

F is for Fairy

It doesn't matter to me how it is spelt it all means the same, whether it be fairy, faery, faerie or any other spelling, to me it's magical, enchanting and charming. 

Did you know that the word 'faery' originally derived from the Latin 'fatum' or 'fata' meaning Destiny, Enchantment and Fate? Fatum/Fata developed into fee (french) and the English fay or fae. Now this isn't me being clever, I gleened this information from one of my most favourite books, Good Faeries-Bad Faeries  by Brian Froud. 

As the title suggests Fairies are not always the sweet, gentle, helpful creatures we usually imagine, they can be mischievous, disruptive or even evil.

Other names we can use for the Faery Folk are sylph, spirit, elemental and pixie.  Brownie, elf, sprite and nymph. Gnome, goblin, gremlin. Siren, imp and leprechaun, these are just a few that can be used for the different classifications of Faries. We have the Fairy Godmother the Tooth Fairy and even Fairy Rings.

I often paint Fairies in my artwork, not in the same class as Mr Froud but I get great pleasure from doing these paintings.

Autumn               &               Springtime

Summer                      &                      Winter

Some of my commissioned Plaques

 I love Wooden Fairy Doors too, they are the doorway to an Enchanted Kingdom.

Do you believe in Fairies?       I do and it's often been said that I am 'away with the Faeries'!

All my Plaques and Paintings are either for sale or can be made especially for you, you can contact me by leaving me a message on this blog, through my Folksy Shop or my Facebook Page

Also check in on Wendy's Blog for a look at lots of other great bloggers or even join in on Handmade Monday.

I'm off now to play at the bottom of the garden, I'll be back soon with the letter G

Jan x

Two of my favourites things

I've had a busy week thus far but except for a couple of plaque orders I haven't done any painting.

I have had my sister and my mum visiting for a few days and its been really great, we live 220 miles apart and we really don't see enough of each other, thank goodness for phones I say.

So instead of showing you something new I've made I thought I'd show you a couple of my favourite things, toadstools and ammonites.

These are beautiful, I don't know what type of wood (or seed pod)? they are made from or anything about who made them, I bought them at a craft fair many moons ago and love the shape, colour and texture of them.

This is something I made when my children were small, it is made using air dry clay and painted with acrylics. The tops of the toadstools are made like little cups and  they balance on the stalks. I have lots of toadstools around the house and garden, I adore anything faerie or mystical related.

This ring was a Christmas present from my husband x 

I love ammonites and as soon as I saw this I fell in love with it.