cat face inspiration

Lots of spare time on my hands the last week or so,so I've been messing about with a new copy of Corel Photo Paint....


This is the starting point, my entry for the Folksy Maker Faire competition, not sure why it is so fuzzy.
Anyway taking a section of I did this lot of messing about.....













You can see the pictures much better if you click on them.

I love the colours in this, it looks like a silver cat which has been oxidised in coloured rain.
















This one reminds my of myriads of fires, lovely warm colours
















This just makes me think I wish I had the patience to do scraperboard, but its a bit naff in reality(scraperboard that is)... sorry to anyone reading this that does scraperboard, it just reminds me of those kits you got when young.













This one should sound like "TING", or perhaps just rustle like some christmas tinsel.
















I really like this , I have always liked black and white etchings and this reminds me of one.
















Ok this one screams "bath soap" at me, is this because I know subconsciously that the pattern a a sponge one? No, I think its the coloured background, sort of old soap colour.It's sort of old lady bathroomy, brass taps faded purple towels. It also reminds me of the view through a bathroom window.
Just smell that lavender..........










Now this one is supposed to be tiles, I blanked out the background as I didn't like the grid effect,close up it is a bit reminiscent of a roman mosaic, but the colours are too metallic.














This one is here because I liked the swirly fur pattern a bit like the swirls on my curly dog brooch. Its a reminder to self to try for this effect in real metal.














This one is also about the fur pattern, the trouble is it would take longer to draw....but the zig zags are nice.















This one made me laugh out loud, jackrabbit cat?

















And finally this one was just cute, like those fish eye lense cat photos you see. Asking to be used as the basis for a brooch, or maybe a pendant even? The ears are quite rounded with no sharp bits unlike a lot of the brooches. Watch for more variations on this theme....





This was the final product, inspired by this messing around,it was hell to photograph as it is so reflective,I kept getting shots with my hands and clouds etc in them . If it sells I'll do another with ears more like the sphere effect one above. The ears were smaller in this as it was "designed" in the shed the next day with out the above picture in front of me. I think I prefer the ears above, he does look a bit sad though.
I've also done a jolly pig-dog in this stylee.

Daisys

Everywhere you go at the moment there are wild daisys growing down the side of major roads. They are probably there every year but this year I'm doing more driving about and seeing them everywhere.



These I picked down by the river in the centre of Stoke on Trent. They have been in a vase in full sun in my kitchen for a fortnight now and are only just showing signs of age. I picked some roots up in the hopes that they will grow in my garden, They seem to have rooted , so fingers crossed.
So I made these new daisy inspired flower brooches.....





Yes the petals curl the other way on my brooches, this is because I think they look a little sad with their petals folded back.

Robots.........

I had a robot week last week,"real" work was very quiet and I've got a new torch to play with.I had to buy it because my old one has gone missing in the house somewhere after my husband borrowed it to use as a gas lighter for my big soldering torch.(whilst taking off a radiator). So here is the result............
He's not very big,about a couple of inches tall or maybe 6 cms, made from brass sheet, brass rod,copper wire and a couple of beads.
he'll stand on his own two feet as long as you dont put his arms at a daft angle.....The arms articulate (wonderful long word to use when I could just say move) because they are attached via bolts to the main body. His shoulders are made from electrical connectors.Does the use of an existing part make him steampunk?

This is the front view
and this is the back, you could view him the other way around if you want,


















the legs swivel.................................................and the head comes off

The question (or questions)now is of course would anybody want to buy him?
How much for?
Where would be the best place to list him (apart from my own shop of course)Etsy,Folksy,Dawanda or all 3 and see what happens?

whiskers up or down?

I came across a really cute video of a kitten sucking its paw the other day,and as I'd got a stinking horrible cold and cough and couldn't face going into the shed to do some work I decided to do some drawing/painting inspired by the cute kitten instead. I thought as well I would share some of the drawings enroute to a final painting............

this was the first , which after a bit of fiddling about changed to


but I thought this smacked too much of cuteness, I dont really like the idea of cats in nappies, a bit too disney for me , so



this was the final drawinng that became the unfinished painting that is here.

It wasnt until I'd finished that I thought it bares a cetain resemblance to the Puss in Boots of Shrek fame, this was accidental, I was wondering what colour to paint him when I thought why not ginger its a nice sunny warm colour as it was a nice sunny warm day. He does look a bit like he's wearing the orange version of the cartoonists swag/robber jumper....
What I cant decide is what to do with the whiskers,if you go to my facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/pages/Hollowbourne/111510052210161?closeTheater=1 you will find two versions of this, one whiskers up one down. In one he looks happy like he's just thoughtfully biting his nails. In the other he looks like he's been caught in the act of doing something he shouldn't have. Its amazing how a different direction can make one simple painting have two meanings . So what does anyone think? Guilty or content?

here are a couple of other variations
on a theme....one of these will be my
new cat booch, I'm not sure which yet.

ACEO cat and bird paintings

Quick blog to say that I've been doing a bit of painting for a change.
Smoe of the good people at Folksy have been doing ACEOs and as I have a few small paintings in my notebooks I thought I would list a few and see what people think.

I've googled myself out of curiosity a couple of times lately and come across "links" that mention my fierce cat painting that is on Dawanda, one site seemed to be sugesting you could download the artwork free, luckily it didnt work,or I would have been somewhat annoyed. The other ended up at a blank page with one of those "you may have got a virus, click here to check messages" ie click here so we can give you a virus! I hope nobody uses these pictures for nefarious ends.

Is it worth while trying to sell these?

cat inspiration

Is there such a thing as reverse inspiration? My cat Zip was wanting to keep an eye on the weather without going outside this week, and was sitting on this chair when I realised it was the perfect pose for one of my cat brooches....

And for once he didn't move whilst I went upstairs for the camera to take this.
Which I think show very well where the idea for this brooch came from originaly.

I'm not really sure which cat looks the most ungainly.

Perhaps some cats like snow..........

"there's something under here"


"maybe if I just roll around a bit...."
"I'll manage to catch it!"
"blimy this is deeper than I thought"
"ok this isn't fun anymore can I come in now?"I dont think this cat has ever been out in snow before, our other cats have refused point blank to go outside never mind running round like an idiot as Spot is doing here.