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Here’s the other mixed media piece that I began when I was having fun with fluorescent acrylics the other day.
I’ve grown to love the little sparkles of gold or silver that show through once all the painting is complete. I’ve saved this tissue paper wrapping (coral with silver leaves) for years – do you do that too? have something you never want to use? But those fluorescents put me in the kind of mood to just use it anyway!
I’m not rating this as one of my all time fave’s but you might like it 😉
Oh dear, well today isn’t Monday is it? Sorry about that – I’ve been off ill but I am here today with some fluorescent colours to put you in the mood for summer!
This painting all began with a desire to play around with some new fluro acrylics. I did two bases – I’ll show the other another time because there’s already a tonne of photos here.
I did give this a bit of thought before I began collaging onto it as I knew I wanted to put birds on a tree.
I used my Basil Ede book for some bird reference.
Then it began to get complicated as I painted in some leaves and flowers. I quite like the spontaneity of working like this but when it doesn’t work out as expected, the reworkings can become quite time-consuming, as was the case here.
I played around forever with the balance of light and dark and when I look back now, I kind of like where it was at here but of course if you’re using acrylic there is no going back and so in the end all the fluro colours got covered.
Funny thing – I can’t remember when I last used red in a painting! Overall I’m happy with these spring birdies but it must have taken a week of too-ing and fro-ing to get it just right.
And I love these little snippets of close up painting – the shiny bright gold dots….
The layers of textures and dainty flowers.
And I’m always a sucker for a pink blossom flower and/or a bird – it is Spring after all.
It’s done and dusted now. What a slog though! When last seen the bird was close to being finished and I painted in the plant pot that the orchid was sitting in, sat back and thought ‘why would a potted orchid be sitting in a tree in what looks like a rainforest?’ – the narrative was all wrong. It had to go.
This hurt a bit. I had decided in my mind to do it but it was a few days before I could bring myself to. The gremlins were nagging ‘you’ll make it worse’ etc etc.
And then once I’d done it, I didn’t have a clear idea of what to do next. I could see the space created but wasn’t sure what to fill it with now. So I side-stepped the problem and spent a day painting foliage in my sketchbook just to see what came about. And sure enough a little leaf painted with a favourite paint brush appealed enough to create the look of ferns growing in the undergrowth.
I felt like the bird needed a focal point so I added some butterflies and a white wash to knock them back a bit and here is Songbird all finished.

By the end of reading the book I felt like it had been like meeting a charismatic, enthusiastic, warm person at a dinner party and wishing she was your friend and inspiration for ever so that you could keep her input and creative encouragement in your life.
The book has clarified some of my thinking, sparked ideas and replenished my creative drive. My takeaways: smile, breathe, go slowly, try to enjoy every stage from beginner to over worked professional and turn up to work everyday and make beautiful art. Oh and that there are NO short cuts!
I read Lilla Rodgers book recently. Initially I’d held out because one can only take so much self-help!
I’ve done my share of online courses (really super-great and mediocre) and been easily susceptical to reading artist’s blogs and then buying in to the need to purchases their ebook or paperback.
Usually these purchases are the result of my search to find out How To Do It. i.e. how to be a success, sell some work, make some money. Some.
So as soon as I read the sub heading of Lilla Rodgers I Just Like to Make Things: Learn the Secrets to Making Money While Staying Passionate About Your Art and Craft, I was puzzled – surely there can’t actually be a book that tells you the secret to making money or we’d all buy it and live happily ever after.
So in the end curiosity got the better of me and I did buy it, happily read it from cover to cover and though sadly I did not have the secret to making money revealed, I did get my art soul spruced up in the process.
I’d have lapped this book up a couple of years ago but I’m further down the self-employment road now and the pot at end of the rainbow still seems just over the horizon.
But for now it reminds me to have fun with my art, be creative, take chances and do new things and that there is no quick route or fast track to success (and that’s from an agent’s mouth.) The overriding tenet of the book is to work hard, build good relationships, keep at it and create beautiful work.
It spurred me on to swapping watercolours for acrylics, paper for canvas and planned observational drawing for instinctive layering and imagery by chance.
And I’ve got to tell you I loved every second of making this work. I took it slowly, pondered but didn’t over think and reminded myself about the importance of staying open to new ways of working, hearing inspiration any where and seeing it everywhere.
On a Sunday the Flower Market becomes the Bird Market.
We weren’t sure whether to expect the best (alive) or the worst (some dead French culinary treats.)
But it was the most charming little market of twittering, fluffy, cheeping birds ever.
I was totally charmed by it all and if I could have, I would have bought a handful because they were so adorable and such lovely colours.
It looked like you could just turn up and sell any bird you may have. Groups of men stood round their cages, shaking hands and chatting.
It was quite a contrast; all these macho men selling these delicate little creatures!