~These Hands~

This was a particularly unusual drawing for me. It was for a school project last year that I only just got around to photographing. Our goal was to take a few magazines and collage images to then replicate through a different media. Knowing me I had to make this complicated. Hands are one of my weaknesses, and I thought it was time to tackle drawing them. 

The end product I am very happy with. It's A4 in size and done with watercolours, and is for Sale~ <3

Have a good one guys~

~Amy.

Little Vega

These are some gorgeous shots that my brother took of my first bronze sculpture "Vega". She's about 30cm tall. Solid bronze. Brown and green patina. She is for sale. <3 

Have a great day~

<3 Amy.

~ Painting a day ~

I have been taking part in a little project with some wonderful people, that Jubly-Umph has organised.
Jubly-Umph is an absolutely gorgeous little jewellery shop that sells tattoo inspired rockabilly goods, definitely hit up the link and check her out because they're gorgeous.
These are the three pictures I've done thus far. It's nice being able to challenge yourself and attempt themes you wouldn't usually. It's also given me a chance to work on my illustrative skills and tattoo-like lines.

Day 1- Furor in a Flower <3 - Watercolour ~Sold~

Day 2- Cogs, Cupcakes and Creatures of the deep - Watercolour ~Sold~

Day 3- Haunted House - Watercolour - For Sale <3

Day 4 is Cthulhu/Occult looking forward to drawing a luscious lady with some tentacles~

Have a great day everyone <3

Amy~

Deer and Doilies

I was thinking of a way to write a big description on how copper etching is done, which is what these two pieces of artwork are~ But I was never really good with explanations, and I don't really know my stuff very well, so I will link you to a girl who does: Bridget Farmer, I only just stumbled across her blog and her artwork is gorgeous, a lot of little cute birdies <3 But yes that's her little tutorial on how to plate these things up, I'll leave my art to speak for itself.

"The Day" - Etching - 2011 - For Sale

"Tea Party in Kristina's Woods" - Hand Coloured Etching - 2011 - For Sale

<3 Until the next time 

Amy~

Bronze Casting

This is Véga. She's my antlered girl, like the ones who appear in many of my paintings.

I do have better photos of her in her finished form but I really wanted to show you guys the behind the scenes of making a Bronze figure, because the process is absolutely amazing.

Hopefully I can explain the process in non-Amy-babble :P . THe process is with the casting is to create something that when you put it in the casting mould, and put it in the kiln, it will melt away leaving just a hollowed out form of where your figure once was. After sculpting your figure in wax, which in my case took foreverrr cause I was never happy with it. You need to "run" it up. Which is creating a series of air vents that the air can escape when you pour the bronze into the mould, because if you don't, the air is trapped and parts of your sculpture won't turn out.

I missed a few in between steps and thats because its very very messy, you take your wax figure, balance it very carefully in a tube, and pour a dry mixture of ludo (still am unsure on what that actually consists of :P), brick dust, and plaster, and water together around your figure until it fills up the tube and engulfs your figure. Put that in the kiln at an insane temperature until all the wax and bits and bobs completely melt out, you have yourself a little mould you can pour the bronze in~ In which you get a result similar to the pictures sandwiching this block of text :D

^ This is my little one here, its actually rather big. 

The next step is to crack it open, I used a combination of sledgehammer, and dropping it repeatedly~ It seemed to do the job.

 I felt like a bit of an archaeologist cracking open an ancient relic from the dirt. It was so much fun <3

Please excuse the face, I smile crooked. It was really nice pulling her out of the powdery mess, and seeing she actually turned out~

My quick improve grime removal with a stanley knife before blasting it with the Karcher water compressor.

In which she started to shine and actually look vaguely similar to my original wax. It's so rewarding seeing it get to that stage, though there were sooo many rough edges to smooth out, where there was bronze frilling. Easily fixed with a chisel and a hammer and an angle grinder~ After fixing all of those I hit it with a sand blaster and that got away a lot of the dirty bronzey areas and she started to shine a little bit.

It was a hard choice but I decided to patina her in green. I thought the rustic antiquey bronze look just felt right, so with a concoction of surprisingly easy to find household cleaners and plant supplements, I petina-ed her Brown (see photos sandwiching this post~

And then in the green~ These are just crude photos of her just sitting, fermenting in the sink. I will update soon with very nice photos, that my brother took (he's amazing at photography~) 

Til next time. Have a great day

<3 Amy.

Chisholm Open Studios - Opening Night

Last night was my art school's Open Studio opening night <3 Together with amazing company, great music, cheap wine teamed with absolutely gorgeous art from some of the most keenest upcoming artists. It was a real hit. I was really surprised to see so many people rock up and it was a really successful night <3 Here's some of the photos I've managed to scour off my brother and my grandfather of the night.

Speeches <3

Winning an award <3 I was so chuffed

Surrounded by friends and family~

I owe a lot too my teachers this year~ It's been a learning curve <3

My artwork on the walls~ The black and white one sold on the night <3 

Looking at all the sculptures~ The guy in the far back is my brother, the blondie is my sister <3

The Band~

My headpeice~ Will post better pictures later <3 They are for sale

 My sculpture~ Will also post a better picture. Also for sale~

My bronze sculpture, will post work in progress, and better photos.

The little red dot there was the highlight of my night~ Sold <3

Myself and my deer. Probably the epitome of my artwork in that exhibition I'm very proud of that one~ And it usually takes me a bit to be proud of something <3

I really hope you enjoyed my pictures. More posts to come soon

<3 Amy.

ALSO~ Please feel free to drop by the exhibition, I'm not too sure how long it will run for, but definitely in the next couple of weeks or so it should be open~ Please have a bit of a wander. A good time to buy cheap art from possibly soon to be famous up and coming artists~ <3

Deer: Work in progress

This deer is my pride and joy, it has taken me a little over 2 months worth of class time, and even for assessment I didn't have it completely finished. Luckily for assessment I could just hand in the half finished piece and submit it as just the idea~ And thankfully for my end of year exhibition my sculpture teacher allowed me to take it home and finish him off~ Here's a couple of work in progress photos from the very beginning~ I'll post the finished piece in my next post <3 Have a great day everyone 

<3 Amy

In wire stage without legs, ears or tail.

Wire form completed~ Created by spot welding wire together~

The beginning of attaching the patches of material onto the wire frame after placing the fairy lights inside <3

A tester of the finished product, I got a little teary when I saw it shining there. I wasn't sure what to expect when I turned the lights off. <3 Finished product in next post.

Til next time 

<3 Amy.