Glitz and Glam

You know, half the time when I post here, I apologise for being quiet. This time, as I sit up on my bed (with a twinge in between my shoulder-blades) I'm not going to do that. Firstly, I've been working flat-out at my part-time (more like full-time during summer) job. Not only is my student loan this year a little less, but there's a chance that I may not have a job during my final year of university. The company that I'm working at will be bought out at the end of this month, so I have been working there while I still can. I'm looking on the bright side as I've had two and a half great years here and I'm sending my CV out to employers, but I'm also sad, as I really do like my workplace.

Secondly, alongside working at my job I've had a very busy and creative summer. I have a lot to tell!

This Saturday is the Tea Party Club's 5th Anniversary event down in Charing Cross, London (it's not the political sort of Tea Party, it's the frilly dress sort). As detailed in a couple of posts below, I'm going along, and have been helping out by doing a little artwork. I've now done a bit more, but this is something completely different and something I'm very excited to reveal.

If you've known me for ... uh, five years, you might remember my first A-level canvas piece, and you'll know my huge love for Gustav Klimt's work. For the pieces below, I've gone back to this way of working, of playing around with mixed media and just having some real fun with it.

Without further ado:

"Frivolity" - mixed media, 10 inches x 10 inches

"Opulence" - mixed media, 10 inches x 10 inches

"Intricacy"- mixed media, 10 inches x 10 inches

"Intricacy" was the first to be painted, and the one that I submitted for the Gothic and Lolita Bible (GLB) Illustration competition, in association with the Tea Party Club's event. On the day of the event, three winners will be picked and published in the Gothic and Lolita Bible! I leaped at the chance to enter, and given the style of the Tea Party Club and the GLB, I didn't think that my usual cartooning would suit it. I chose instead to paint something, and something crazy at that. What else to suit the fussiness and frilliness of Loli than a piece inspired by Klimt, whose paintings are the epitome of affluence?

I found that I'd enjoyed doing the piece so much, that I wanted to do at least two others. At the same time, there was a call for artists to bring some of their work to the event for an exhibition nearby. I took it as a sign that yes, I should do more, and "Frivolity" and "Opulence" were created, both of them more crazy and busy than the last! I will be bringing all three pieces, framed and ready to be shown, to the event. I'm really quite nervous, but excited.

Some of the media used are: watercolours, needle and thread (normal cotton sewing threads and metallic decorative thread), shards of mirror, Daler-Rowney Pearlescent inks, Sakura glaze pens, normal fineliner pens, and beads. I used masking fluid in-between layers of paint, and worried at many stages that the paper would buckle. It held up perfectly, though, and had no issue with being framed.

(Intricacy is upside-down, I've just noticed. Ahem.)

And, because I feel I should give them a shout-out: PictureLizard is who I bought the frames from. They may be only clip-frames, but they are custom made, and got to me well-packaged within a matter of days of ordering - which is excellent, given it was relatively short-notice. They're well-made and arrived with their own clips and instructions on how to frame the piece correctly. They also apparently have a print service as well, which I'd like to try out at some point.

Bring on Saturday!

Also, if you haven't already: Like my Facebook page! Once the page hits 100 likes, I'm going to host a giveaway - not for a silly cartoon, but for something useful, that you can make use of for your own creative endeavours. Your mum probably taught you that it's nice to share, so be nice and share this blog with everyone (and keep that box of chocolates all to yourself)!