Creative Inspiration etc.

Hi Everyone
It's snowing today, just ! Big flakes but very lightly. I'm not getting a good photo so it's just the words today. We are being warned every 15mins on the radio to be aware of the weather ! so, we will see what happens. Its lovely from my desk. I must add, Ive also been out for my run, it was great out in the woods too. A little 'sloppy' underfoot but the sun was out and the air very 'crisp'.

I'm going to do more painting today. I didn't do much yesterday, Richard was around and we went out for lunch - lovely cheese soup. Anyway, it's work today.
I've been reading a new book (another Christmas present) called Creative Thursday. This book is about 'inspiring'.



I'm using it to inspire me to 'get onto' another creative level. What I mean by that, is to develop my style and make me more aware of what I should spend my time doing (for my own development). I'm taking a chapter each day or so and coming up with something from each chapter. My first thing is understanding what I want to say in my paintings. I already know its a mouthpiece to get a message out (of me) usually something I need to let go of. I do think I need to go further with this and use the process more effectively. Often, I'm not sure where to go with a piece if its not quite saying what I want. In know this sound all very vague - I guess that's my 'fog' at the moment. One other thing I saw while reading the first chapter is a little figure



I'm always wanting to paint little figures and not doing very well. So, I'm going to practice using this. I love it. I want to make something like this for my style. Something I can recreate and use often.

I also wanted to share this great painting, I saw it in a restaurant last summer and again it's a great inspiration for my own 'house images'. I'm not sure who the artist is ? I must find out and will post here when I do.



I love the feel of the whole composition.

Now for my next die cut piece. Today, is about a few thicker cut dies. I'm using the bigger machine 'Big Shot' for this one and a couple of different size thick dies.
I've gone in the bin for some paper envelopes and some corrugated card.



I've chosen three dies. A star shape, some hearts and some tags. Each die is a different size but the thickness is the same and called a 'thick cut'.



They all work in the same way as the thinner dies but obviously cope with much thicker material such as card and fabric. I will cover a range of materials which can be used with die cutting later in another episode.
Here are the cuts from this exercise.



The card is a single cut but the paper hearts and stars cut two layers at once.

Here is a view of the cutting dies showing the thickness which illustrates my point about dealing with thicker materials.



The blue die is a basic tag shape with three tags in different sizes.

It's Friday again, must stop saying I can't believe that's another week gone !!
However, it's true.
If there are any questions about die cuts, please feel free to ask. thanks for the positive emails about these little episodes.

Bye for today, have a good weekend.