My Creative Space

On Thursday morning this box arrived for me full of lovely Kniazeff silk paints. They were given to me by Rhiannon. Click on the link to see her lovely collection of fine art photos. Starrybluesky
I opened the box and felt like a kid in a sweet shop.


I have never used this make of paint before though I had heard of it. They have delicious french names like framboise and cognac and canard. I painted samples of the lovely colours onto a strip of silk and dreamt of what I might paint with them.



A few days ago I found this assortment of brooch blanks, pendants and a little pill box in the bottom of a drawer in the studio. I bought them probably more than 20 years ago! Some of them from silk painting suppliers and some for Fimo.

So here are the ingredients for my next silk painting project.

'Lavender Blue Dilly Dilly' at the Corner Gallery

See that little door on the left? That is the way in to the Aladin's cave of a gift shop then through another door at the back of the shop to the Gallery. Follow your nose as there are lavender smellies for sale. I park my car just around the corner and smell them from there.



'Lavender Blue Dilly Dilly' features the work of several artists and started last night with a lavender themed private view. We had lavender biscuits baked at Cocoa River a few doors away and lavender tea from Marks and Sparks.
One of my silk paintings is in the window. The rest of my paintings are grouped together as shown in the third photo. The other artists' work includes some large oils on canvas, watercolours and some stunning photographs.
When I arrived with my paintings on Monday morning and saw all the paintings I wondered how Jacky would fit them all in. When I came back later in the day it looked amazing. It felt as if the walls had been stretched. The different styles of work together make a lively mix.
My silk scarves are displayed on little easels behing the paintings in the window. (photo to follow)

My paintings below range in size from tiny up to about 28x 24in. They are mostly watercolours with one oil, one acrylic and 2 silk paintings.

The exhibition is on till the end of November. There will be a demo of lavender crafts on Sat 6th and I am doing a watercolour demo on Sat 20th.

and if you should visit don't miss popping in to Cocoa River afterwards.

The gallery is only a few steps away from Carshalton Beeches station.

Work in Progress

Mayfield Lavender, Woodmansterne.

Well I've done a lot of work on these since Friday. I may still add some finishing touches before framing them for an exhibition next week.

The painting above was started earlier in the month and has just had some finishing touches. The first layer was done using FW acrylic inks. I like the way these spread and mixed on the paper creating some interesting effects. I was a bit reluctant to work to over this with acrylics but it was only intended as a base so I took the plunge. The colours from the inks glow through the painting and create an effect that I would not have got otherwise. I will use the inks again both under acrylics and as a wet loose watercolour in its own right.

Friday Work in Progress

Here I am working on 2 watercolour paintings of the Mayfield lavender field. I started with the skies for both then worked on the building and underpainted some shadow areas in the trees.

Green Silk Necklace

I made this necklace by painting some silk in fresh woodland greens and embellishing with gold gutta swirly lines. This is combined with gold plated beads with a floral motif, some green glass beads and a vine leaf charm.

Silk Necklace

This is my latest necklace made with hand painted silk in Autumnal colours, with beads. The necklace is adjustable and ties at the back with silk rouleau painted to match. It is colourfast.
More details here in my etsy shop

Lavender Landscapes

I have been working on these two paintings over the last few days and think they are now just about finished.
The frames and mounts are ready and waiting. They are going to an exhibition at the Denbies Wine Estate at Dorking on Thursday morning along with some other paintings.