all that glitters...

A winter sunset I actually like the days between Christmas and New Year. Christmas is done, the planning, stress and everything that goes with it is finished, I am off work for a few days and finally have time to come up for air and clear my head. It's a good time to reflect on the year gone by. So much happens and is forgotten in our busy lives, so its nice to have a chance to revisit and mentally digest everything; the good, the bad, the ugly and to realise how far I have come and how lucky I am . Whilst it's human nature to remember the bad stuff, it's so important to remember the good and to turn what you thought was bad around into something positive. From this reflection, I can set my goals for the coming year. I believe very much in constant development and evolution. Stand still and this world will leave you behind. Listen, learn evolve and grow! I will endeavour to record some of my progress here as well as my Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/hrequin...

As ever, I'm always looking for new techniques and ideas to experiment with. I have been playing with a few different ideas recently. I wanted to try to recreate the look of cameo jewellery in a painting, easier said than done! Here is my first attempt using both acrylic paint and watercolour. I have also been playing with collage and finding myself very influenced by the change of season. Autumn is certainly here. The piece that I am currently working on is certainly influenced by our current Autumnal foggy, misty weather....I will share it when it's done. To see more of my work, stop by at facebook.com/hrequineart

Yes, Autumn is pretty much here. The days are getting shorter, the leaves are fading from green to gold, and the breeze is fresh. Another summer is departing and leaves me wondering where on earth the time goes! Then I look back to the Spring and it feels like a long time ago, so I think it's just a sign of how much we seem to pack into our lives that makes it feel like the time evaporates. This watercolour was inspired by one of my sunset rides. I love how the light turns everything golden and my horse seems to enjoy it too! Wherever you are, I hope you can find time to enjoy a sunset or two this week. Heather You can follow me on facebook: www.facebook.com/hrequineart and instagram: hrequineart.

It's funny, I was a salesperson for 17 years but self promotion just doesn't come easily to me. Still, necessity breeds action (or something like that), so in addition to my ramblings here, I have a facebook page for my art: www.facebook.com/hrequineart and I have joined instagram as hrequineart. Feel free to visit, like, follow or whatever. Meanwhile my collections All that Glitters and Silhouette are available. They come mounted and framed and ready to hang for £35 + delivery. This is Sapphire - My thoughts are now turning to my next collection, plus I have a commission to get busy with, but first a little special canvass I think! Watch this space to see what I do with it. :)

Art is... For me, an emotion. A feeling. Here's a thought; What other species greets a fellow with. "Hi, how are you?" There is a phrase in every language for this. So from the dawn of communication, or at least some early point, humans were aware of each others feelings and emotions. Not only that, but were interested in them, albeit it for empathetic or mercenary reasons. So art is a way to express and share our emotions. How does a painting make you feel ? A picture, play, movie, song, or dancing all provoke some kind of emotion within us. The artist is portraying their emotions via whatever media they use and sharing this with anyone who cares to partake. So what emotion am I portraying with the above picture? Well, I am happy to leave that to your own interpretation :)

Yes, I know it's only August, but the nights have already started to draw in and forward planning is a good thing, so here is a preview of what I have in store for the autumn. The"All that glitters" range will be available on my website from September. Priced at £35 for a framed original, just in time for Christmas. I am really excited about these and a new series "Silhouette". Here is a preview of some of my favourites from both:

This week, thanks to enjoying some discounted bottles of iced latte, I thought I'd do something different with the empty bottles. Following the excellent tutorial from Gabrielle Pollacco, I altered the bottles. It was an easy, fun project. I thought I would share my step by step photos to show what I did with the bottles. First, I took the labels off, washed and dried the bottles, then added 2 coats of gesso to each. When the gesso was completely dry, I gave each bottle 2 coats of a pale yellow acrylic paint. When the paint was dry, I went over the necks, base and edges with brown ink, smudging it and blending to give the paint an aged look. Next, I mixed a watery blend of brown and black acrylic paint and splattered the bottles, using a dry brush dipped in the paint. I stamped randomly around the bottles with black ink before adding my decoupage from the first edition Rose Garden pad, plus some of my own had made flowers and tied ribbon around the neck. Et Voilà!

Just a short, sweet update this week as I have had to work (day job) for 6 days in a row, so this is my one day off before I'm back to work tomorrow :( Still, I have made time to finish a couple of wip's so I feel that I have accomplished something! These are 2 more in the All That Glitters series. These are such fun to do. Twinkling water colour backgrounds, bordered with texture paste. The horses are painted in gouache. I love the contrast of the shimmery background and flat mat subject. It shouldn't work, but it does!

Mid summer! My favorite time of year. All the blooms are in full swing. The meadows are full of poppies, dog roses are flowering and raspberries are ripe for picking. I guess that's why my palette has been influenced by pinks, reds and greens this week. The week's medium of choice are the Derwent Inktense Blocks. A wonderful birthday gift :D, along with some other inks and texture paste. Meanwhile, I am not so delighted with the gouache experiment, things didn't really go the way I'd hoped, so I changed direction with it. The oils have now come out to see if they will give me the look I'm after....

Well, Blue-Silver is finished and framed. Next project is a little different and hopefully taking me closer to the vision in my head of what I am trying to portray in my work. The aim has always been to capture movement and grace. Meanwhile, I find myself doodling in my journal whilst I wait for a layer of paint to dry and rekindling my relationship with firefox as my browser since chrome is driving me crazy and won't recognize my scanner grrrrrr!

Butterflies! Well, it is summer and sometimes a diversion from a tricky piece of work is needed. I'm using my h2o's again. These paints are so easy to use and so pretty, I am a bit hooked. May try an equestrian picture with them next if I ever finish my current portrait....

Playing with twinkling h2o watercolours is great fun whilst waiting for the layers of my current work in progress to dry

Not sure where it will take me, but I will post my meanderings. You are very welcome to join me. This week, i have been introduced to Gouche and re kindled my affair with glimmer mists...