Painted Shoes

A while ago I bought these white canvas shoes from Primark for £1. I bought them because they're white - a blank canvas - and because they were £1, so if I screwed up my decorating I hadn't wasted too much.

I decided to paint the shoes using the same techniques from my abstract experiments. I used whatever fabric paints I already had, plus paintbrushes and things to print with. 

I went a bit colour crazy. At first I thought it was a bit too much, and thought they might look better with just one base colour all over, like just the pale blue. But now I'm warming to this design.

I didn't have a plan going in to the painting. I just kept adding things and saw what happen. There were a few parts I didn't like so painted over and luckily fabric paint allowed me to do that.

I don't know how weather-proof these shoes are, but you shouldn't be wearing canvas shoes in the rain anyway!

Mark Making

All that abstract painting fun I've been having has reminded me of a mark-making project I did during my art foundation course at college.

We had to start by making samples of mark-making using lots of different techniques and materials. Things I used included paint, ink, chalk, charcoal, wax resist, masking tape and Copydex.

Then we had to take a few of our ideas and make them into bigger pieces using photocopies and layering.

 I made copies of my other samples into a little book. Some of the letters of my name have fallen off though since all this stuff has been stored in the loft for years.

I cut shapes out of the pages to frame the mark making samples in interesting ways and to make all the pages different.

This is a fun way to get your mind thinking more abstractly and to try out different techniques without the pressure of a finished product.

Abstract Postcards

I'd had such a good time creating my abstract painting on canvas I decided to create some small pieces. I painted on book pages, coloured paper, and on a couple of 'paint your own postcards', which are postcard sized pieces of watercolour paper with the postcard lines and stamp square printed on the back.

Here's what I came up with. Like the canvas, it was a chance for me to try out different techniques and find out what worked and looked good.

Working on the five pieces at once was a good idea as it meant I wasn't impatiently waiting for something to dry so I could add the next thing, I just worked on a different piece while I waited. 

My favourite of the five is the pink one which was painted on a postcard. Because of this I thought it should have a greeting so I used Letraset to add some letters. 

For this piece I used a colour wash, I sponge printed over sequin waste, doodled with a biro, used a handmade square stamp and a heart stamp and I even did some finger painting.

I've got a few ideas floating around for what the other pieces could be used for. Any suggestions?

Attempt at Abstract

Have you guys seen Alisa Burke's blog? Her art is bold and colourful and wonderful. She has a distinct style that is very different to mine, but I love it and wanted to have a go at something similar.

Abstract painting does not come naturally to me (in A level art we had an abstract module and my attempt was embarrassing!) so I looked closely at Alisa's work for inspiration and a few technique ideas to get me started.

This wasn't it! This is just the canvas that I used. It used to hang in our porch but it got faded and my parents didn't want it anymore so they gave it to me to use. The gold swirls are raised so the first thing I did was scrape them off.

Then I gathered some conventional, and less conventional, tools to work with, including pens, a wooden fork, sponge, paintbrushes, old rubber stamps I'd made, a cotton reel, a Nandos card. Not pictured is sequin waste which turned out to be my favourite thing to use.

I decided working on the floor would be best for this potentially messy project. I laid out some newspaper and then set out my tools and paints. I used acrylic paint and some interior paint tester pots that I'd picked up at the Scrap Store.

Here are a few photos of how I started. I didn't have a plan, I just tried different things. It's fun!

This is what I ended up with. I think the small additions of pink and blue make all the difference. As does printing with the sequin waste which you can see on the right.

I printed with a shot glass and pens, I dripped water from the top, I scraped paint with the Nandos card.

I'm not sure whether I should use this as a background and paint something like a flower on top, or just leave it as it is.

Re-painting

I did this painting over 2 years ago when I was on my foundation course at college.

It was a development piece to practice a technique.

My work at the time was all about close up views of part of the body. This is the inside corner of the eye. But it's a bit weird and I have no need for it any more. It's not the sort of painting I want up on the wall.

So I painted over it.

I went a little abstract and just had fun making marks with paint and pens all over it, and you can still see some of the original painting underneath which I like.

Then I painted my face on top which looks like it's coming out from all the chaos.

In other news, I've been featured on Craftzine for the first time. So exciting!

Check it out here.

Also, if any of you are Instructables users and would like a 3 month pro membership then just leave your email address in a comment and I'll send it your way.

I've only got one to give away so the first commenter gets it.