Fine Art & Crafts by Liz Campbell News

Gardening with creativity

Wed, 14 Apr 2010 07:11:53 CDT

I live in the cold north!! The Ottawa Valley in Ontario. Funny part of that is, that we have been warmer here this spring than some parts of southern USA. Spring has been much earlier that I ever remember it being. My hyacinths, daffodils and scilla are all in bloom. We have had really warm weather and I have actually planted 35 hills of potatoes, peas, spinach and lettuce. My bedding plants are all up and thriving and so is my asparagus. It is my favorite vegetable... Here is a picture of my spring blooms...

Where have you been...?

Tue, 13 Apr 2010 07:39:50 CDT

It has been a while since I have posted a blog but decided now is the time to start again... Part of my dilemma is that I have other things to blog about besides my art. That is why I have changed my blog title to The Creative Touch. It can cover a multitiude of creative endeavours. It has also been why I haven't blogged for a while. I was considering whether to do a different blog for all the other things that I do and decidesd that I would keep it all in one since everything one does can be creative, from gardening to fine art. Here is the problem. I have never been inclined to stick with just one thing. In my youth, I envied people who were totally focussed on one thing, whether it was being an artist or a dentist or an archeologist. They knew what they wanted. Me, I waffled. I loved gardening, knitting, painting, music, cooking, photography, crafts, and couldn't make up my mind which one I wanted to pursue so I pursued none of them. I thought I needed to focus on one thing. Now in my senior years, I can say that I am content to explore all of these creative avenues and more. So I will be posting blogs on lots of different subjects but all part of my creative exploration....Stay tuned....

ACEO thoughts

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 07:28:33 CST

I have recently begun creating ACEO cards. These are quite quick to do since they are so small. They can be done quite easily while waiting in a doctor's office, riding a bus, on a lunch break. The series I am creating, I am calling Noah's Ark. It is not because I am particularly interested in bible stories. It is because I am part of a L'Arche community in the town of Arnprior where I live. L'Arche means the Ark in French and so I decided to draw different versions of the Ark. Check out my link to L'Arche Canada if you are interested in finding out more about this wonderful organization. I will be posting more Noah's Ark items.

Almost Complete

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 10:07:03 CDT

This painting is almost complete. A bit more refinement and smoothing of color and I will have it finished.

Now that the drawing is complete, what do I do with it next? These are the steps that I take to finish a painting in colored pencil for framing:

sign the painting
fix it with a spray fixative for charcoal, pencil or colored pencil. Give it at least one coat but two is even better. Let it dry between coats. Follow the directions on the can.

Another colored pencil painting in progress

Sun, 27 Sep 2009 14:59:11 CDT

Here is another coloured pencil painting in progress. It is a small village in France again from my recent visit there. There was just so much inspiration. I am planning another painting tour again next summer.
As you can see, this one is done without an under drawing of grisaille . We'll compare the two when they are completed to see what the differences might be...