all that glitters...

So the final week of my challenge came and went! It was a great experience and has given me confidence and structure that I don't think I would have gained, certainly not that quickly. Day 23: Gouache Day 24: Ink Day 25: Pastel Day 26: Acrylic Day 27: Acrylic Day 28:Acrylic Day 29: Pastel day 30: Acrylic Most of the pictures from this series are available for sale. If you are interested, please message me for details. So now for a short time to reflect on what I have learned and where I want it to take me.  You can follow my progress here, or on instagram @hrequineart

It is well recognised amongst those that know me, that I have a very limited attention span. I am so easily distracted, it's embarrassing sometimes! My latest distraction artistically is watercolour. I never set out to become this engrossed in this medium, but confess to be completely captivated by the freedom of expression it gives me and the fact that I can work quickly, which with my limited attention span, is always going to be a winner! I take influences from what I see around me and my watercolour sketches are a great way to experiment, so I couldn't resit a quick sketch of the new boy in the barn this week: The wonderful photographer, Lisa Mardell has given me permission to paint her pictures.  Her work can be seen at http://www.photographybylisamardell.co.uk/ and I have taken the opportunity and have really enjoyed it. Here are a few inspired by her Wild West series. For more regular updates, follow me on instagram @hrquineart

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!