MATS BOOTCAMP MAIN ASSIGNMENT - PART 1

Monday saw the arrival of our main assignment for Bootcamp in our inboxes and the brief is to design journals. This gave me the perfect opportunity to concentrate on completing another piece for my website homepage: flowers in vases for the journal cover. I wanted to design a vase for my flowers with a Springtime theme to complement the magnolias.

We’re lucky enough where I live in Devon to occasionally spot little yellowhammer birds darting around. They seem to be shy little birds and so often it’s just a glimpse of their yellow underbelly, but they’re quite unmistakable. I find them absolutely captivating and get really excited every time I glimpse one! Sadly though, they’re on the endangered ‘red’ list here in the UK as their numbers have been declining rapidly in recent years. So, I decided a yellowhammer it was to grace my vase which obviously had to have a vintage feel to it!

It’s actually got me thinking that I might quite like to get into the ceramics room and hand-paint some porcelain, because I’d rather like this vase to grace my own home! The Blue is a deep ultramarine, another colour I have tended to use little of in the past and have fallen quite in love with!

I also had a play in photoshop with my original magnolia design and spurred on by a dear friend, created a repeat pattern.

Next, I will be concentrating on putting this image onto a journal cover and creating some hand-lettering for it, so off to work I go… but I’m nearly there, you never know I might actually have this one ready to submit early, which will be an absolute FIRST for Mats Bootcamp!

Etsy On the Horizon ...

It has been absolutely sweltering hot in my little studio and since my windows don't actually open I have been slowly melting, add children's school holidays into the mix and the result is not a lot has been getting created!  However, I have been managing to rework some of my existing images in the cooler evenings while mulling over the idea of preparing to open an Etsy shop in the near future.  For now, here's my little folk tin with an update all of its own, including a new background!

Under The Sea

I've been getting a little bit carried away with my underwater themes of late... perhaps it's all this hot weather we're having!  I've just been taking a class with Stephanie Fizer Coleman over on Atly on Texture and Pattern in Photoshop.  It's opened a whole new world of texture in my illustrations and in this piece I've been trying to incorporate some of what I've learned.  I really like the depth that the textures add to my layers when I'm digitally collaging hand rendered pieces.  In the meantime, my workload is piling up while I've been getting so absorbed and I've really got to get back to finishing that mermaid journal!

What You Seek Is Seeking You

This months Bootcamp was to design a journal cover based around tea and particularly tasseomancy, the old art of reading tea leaves. I've been really into painting portraits lately so decided I wanted to focus my work around a fortune teller. Many moons ago I used to quite enjoy reading tarot cards and so my gypsy fortune teller, is based on the 2nd card in the Major Arcana, The High Priestess. She's intuitive, empathetic, independent and has a wonderfully balanced equilibrium. The quote I've used: 'What you seek is seeking you' was written over 800 years ago by the well known mystical Persian poet Rumi. In todays world of violence and uncertainty, it seems more important than ever to keep hope alive and remember the incredible importance of our spiritual journey, a healthy soul and our connection to everything and everyone! Quiet moments of contemplation seem so hard to come by in our fast paced lives. It's important to give ourselves some sacred space, whether that be a walk in nature or curling up with a cup of tea in a candle lit room. Quiet reflection recharges us and that in turn my friends, allows us to focus on kindness to others. Here's a link for you to check out the Mats Bootcamp February gallery.

Ode to Virginia Woolf

Virginia Woolf the great lover of words and considered a prominent author in  modernist writing during the 20th Century.  She's attributed to being one of the pioneers in the narrative mode of writing known as 'Stream of Consciousness', a style we're quite used to reading in today but utterly groundbreaking at the turn of the 20th Century.

There is a nod in the background of my portrait to Bloomsbury, a group of intellectuals and artists of which Virginia was a key member.  I am just embarking upon reading the beautiful Penguin Clothbound edition of 'Orlando', written in 1928 and one of her lighter novels intended as a portrait of her enigmatic lover Vita Sackville West.  

Sadly, Woolf suffered with mental illness throughout her life and committed suicide in 1941 at the age of just 59.  But she lives on inspiring others through her brilliant works which have been translated into over 50 languages.

MATS Bootcamp - Aretha Franklin & Her Bag of Bling

And the bag belongs to ... Aretha Franklin!  It's a bag full of opulence and glamour fit for the Queen of Soul herself!  I have to confess, this is an updated version, as I did repaint Aretha after I submitted my piece, because I was in such a rush to finish in time I really wasn't happy with the way she came out originally!

So, the first month of Bootcamp is a wrap and as usual I have learnt an absolute tonne.  There's something about having a deadline to meet and actually posting your work into a gallery that pushes you beyond all your expectations.  Not to mention everything you learn from the Facebook community where fellow Matsians generously share their tips and knowledge.  On Monday our next mini assignment will be revealed, which I wait for with great curiosity and anticipation.

In the meantime why not check out the marvellously inspiring Gallery of Bootcamp Art, I think there's over 600 pieces of work to view.  It always amazes me how different everyones interpretation of the assignment is!