Wednesday 12 June 2013

A COLLECTION OF CHALLENGES


The abstract watercolour painting above is my entry for this week's theme of BIRDS for Inspiration Avenue.  I was pleased when the blobs and dabs I dropped onto the paper turned into mythical bird shapes, and so I'm happy with it.

Jenn has chosen the unusual theme of BIZARRE for Artist's Play Room this week.  An interesting challenge that cried out to be a collage, so I let my mind go free and assembled a collage from torn and cut magazine pages.  The pages containing the mask and the words were collected and stored in collage stash years ago, so I apologise for not crediting the particular magazines.

What I find bizarre about collage is the way the pieces we choose suddenly combine themselves into an image we would never have thought of, which was certainly the case with the 'I want ... I don't want' collage above.

As the theme for Sunday Postcard Art is A JOURNAL PAGE, I'm also linking the 'Bizarre' collage above to Sunday Postcard Art.


For Take a Word this week we were challenged to use COOL COLOURS, and I chose blue and green - with a touch of red and yellow to add a little zing.  I find that painting watercolour abstracts with a free mind and no planning produces a painting in a fairly short time, and as with the 'Bizarre' collage above, it produces something really unexpected.  Don't ask me what this one means, I'm only the artist!

Click on the image to enlarge it so that you can read the words
I enjoyed searching my box of old photos for something connected with my family.  I have only about half a dozen family photos because sadly my parents destroyed everything except those I had filched from time to time without their knowing.  So I'm glad I was naughty enough to do that.

The theme for the Collage Obsession challenge is SISTERS AND BROTHERS, and I concentrated on sisters - my sister and me.  I realise for the first time that we never had a photo of all the children in our family together.

The photo above was taken when my sister was 7 and I was 3, 75 years ago, and was lightly tinted by hand by the photographer, though it doesn't show up too well on the scan.

The words round the edge were inspired by the old Beverley Sisters' song 'Sisters', adapted fairly loosely.  For overseas readers, the Beverley Sisters were a 1950s and '60s singing group of three real sisters, Bev, Babs and Teddie, who modelled themselves on the Andrews Sisters.

I wrote:   Sisters, sisters, there were never more devoted sisters,
               I am here to keep my eye on her
               She is here to keep her eye on me,
               Many folk have tried to split us up, but no-one can, nobody can .....

She did have to look after me while my mother looked after the younger children and worked to keep us when my father was missing and then a POW in WW2.  I was very mischievous so I was always getting into scrapes and falling from trees or fences, and my sister had to make me hide any bumps and bruises from mum.

Hope you like some of these pictures - I enjoyed making every one.  I'm so glad I found these challenge blogs - thank you to all those who put in the time and effort to run them.


I shall also be linking to Paper Saturdays and Paint Party Friday

19 comments:

  1. I love all your challenges this week but especially loved seeing your beautiful photograph!
    Those blue mythical birds look very oriental, I adore oriental art. Fabulous Jez!

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  2. I feel like I just went through a museum of modern art with your 3 innovative pieces, and that photograph of you and your sister is priceless. You were one cute little girl with all those blonde curls, but most importantly the love and devotion between both of you sister is evident in the way you posed. Blessings!

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  3. This is such a JOY, Jez. I went straightaway to enlarging and got a little lost in your pieces. I love your thoughts about collage and watercolour painting and especially found learning about your childhood antics a deLIGHT!!

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  4. Wonderful photo. I'm sure you are glad that you did take those few photos. I am fortunate in that my sister and I have oiur parent's photo albums. And, my mother liked to take pictures.

    Earl

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  5. Interesting bizarre. It was a hard one this week, I thought. :)
    LOVE the picture of you and your sister!!

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  6. Nice work this week, and the photo is a beautiful memory! Valerie

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  7. Visiting from CO-- very nice!!

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  8. thanks for taking part in my SPA challenge this week - your card is very creative!

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  9. Great challenges! Especially love the interaction of the birds in the first!
    ♥♥♥
    Happy PPF!!
    Mary
    Mixed-Media Map Art

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  10. All your paintings are lovely. I really enjoyed seeing the old photo.

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  11. All these are wonderful, the picture of you and your sister is precious.

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  12. Sounds like a good sister! You have so many challenges going I have no idea how you keep it all straight. Great stuff. Happy PPF xox

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  13. All of your challenge pieces are wonderful... I can imagine you as a naughty child... love that one...xx

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  14. I love these pieces you created...it's amazing that the paint drips turned into these beautiful blue birds! Until I read your description, I thought you deliberately painted them that way. I love the picture of you and your sister, and the story that goes with it. It's so nice to see the closeness between sisters. I have a brother, but no sister...it's not really the same!

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  15. Challenges do just that - challenge us! I love all your wonderful, but different art work for this week. I also love what you wrote about collage. The picture is so sweet - I am glad you were naughty too.

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  16. You made some lovely peaces. I am here by your link on paper saterday.
    Liefs, Melanie

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  17. Aaaaaw Jez which one are you in that old photo? I love stuff like that...we have only few family photos from that era and I really treasure them. Only one photo of my mum aged 3 I really want to paint it one day! Happy Paper Saturdays and so glad to see your art included! ManonX

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  18. Jez these are all so wonderful but I am mesmerized by that photo of you and your sister. My mother and her sister were the same...my mother being the older at seven and her sister also three...the were so close no one could ever come between them!! It was often a bone of contention when I was growing up!! The two of them would gang up on me... lol
    Great post!! Thanks for sharing...

    Hugs Giggles

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  19. I really loved all your paintings, especially the birds...and that photo is so full of memories and stories! Loved reading about it!

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