July 3, 2018 By Migglet (Edit)

This Charcoal Drawing, titled ‘Soulful’ is the latest Artwork to feature in my ‘Stylised Portraits’ category.

Some titles come to me really quickly when painting and drawing but at other times I can literally agonise over choosing just the right one. (More on the subject of troublesome titles in a future post!)

I probably ought to have called this little beauty ‘Self Portrait’ but had a sneaky feeling I might not have got away with it?!

I initially used a photograph as a basic reference to begin drawing from but, as I so often love to do, I soon put the photograph away and carried on working to see what developed.

I felt she needed nothing more than pure and simple Black and White on a Grey background, any added colour would have detracted from her simplicity and I hope that her eyes speak volumes.

Looking closely you may just be able to see the natural flecks, fibres and textures on the recycled paper I used for ‘Soulful’ and the rest of my ‘Less is More’ series.

I really do love these paper textures. They are clearly visible on my Original Paintings, Drawings and Prints in this series of artwork and add another dimension, rather than just a flat plain grey background. I would like to add that all the people who have seen this paper in the flesh have commented on how much they also love it!

*If there are any other artists reading this, I would love to hear your views on textured and recycled papers. Do you love them or loathe them? Please DO leave a comment at the bottom of this page, we ’arties’ are such a helpful bunch! If you’re not an artist, I would obviously also welcome your views and thoughts on this piece too! Different people have seen different emotions in her face, I would love to know what YOU see? 

For anyone interested, ‘Soulful’ is available as a Print in two sizes, A4 and A3 and available as a Print on Canvas in a variety of sizes. The Original Drawing is SOLD.

August 9, 2018 By Migglet (Edit)

It’s been a very busy couple of weeks for Migglet and the Summer Open Art Exhibition in the Arts Quarter at TAAG, Teignmouth in Devon is almost over. If you are nearby, you may wish to pop in and see the collection of work by numerous artists before the exhibition ends tomorrow, Friday 9th August.

There are many gorgeous things to see and buy in there.

I have fallen in love with a stunning piece displayed in the window at TAAG that was created with recycled bicycle wheels and beautiful pieces of coloured stained glass, it has been designed with a garden in mind and those cheerful little bright wheels would spin and dance so merrily in our terraced windy Devon garden overlooking the village! I’m a very tempted Migglet!

For the first time since I started painting, I have exhibited with a theme instead of a mixture of this and that (methinks that has probably reflected my Migglety brain during the past couple of years!?!) ….it has been a real eye opener being focused for once! At last I know where I am heading and that has helped me enormously! BIG phew!!

The Summer Open Exhibition has been a real success for me this year and the highlight was  getting a mention on twitter by a complete stranger who had apparently bought three framed prints from my ‘Less is More’ series that day and then taken the time to show me a photograph of them all hanging up on his hall wall that afternoon! I am still blown away by ‘Big Al of Devon’ for his shout out, what a lovely guy, that meant so much to me!

I have exhibited at TAAG during the Summer Open Art Exhibition and also at Christmas time for the last two years and have met so many interesting people there, many of them also artists…….and many others who are really quite ‘normal’! What a helpful bunch they have been from day one and I really enjoy stewarding there, meeting tourists and locals and I have made some truly special friends for life!

I have always loved meeting people and being creative is in my veins, so to be in a place surrounded by both is where I feel I really belong!

I am slowly but surely spreading my Migglety wings and, apart from the necessary occasional flapping and panicking I feel the flightpath is finally clearing, so make w

August 21, 2018 By Migglet (Edit)

Although I trust him implicitly, I am always extremely nervous when handing my Soft Pastels & Charcoal Drawings to my printer to be scanned because of the potential to smudge them.

Without wishing to sound like a big blousy drama queen, the smallest of smudges could ‘kill’ the facial expression on one of my portraits or animals, or ruin the lines of one of my dancers. It is possible to seal Soft Pastel artwork but, from my experience, I am positive that sealing them spoils them and dulls them slightly, the same goes for my work with Charcoal.

I think their vulnerability is what helps to give them life and ‘the edge’ too in a crazy kind of artist way!
My poor printer, he must be terrified of ‘committing murder’ to one of my pieces!

Only once have I experimented with sealing a pastel drawing and I most definitely preferred the ‘before’ version. I had ordered some black ‘velour’ paper from an online art supplier as I was itching to try something new…..I had innocently assumed the pastel paper was simply called ‘velour’ and would have a soft, velvety texture…..imagine my surprise when it turned up and the stuff was ACTUAL velour with a paper backing!!!! I didn’t know whether to draw on it or make a pair of trousers!

Anyhow, not to be beaten by the unexpected, plus the fact that it had been a costly purchase, I got stuck in and surprisingly I actually thoroughly enjoyed the feel and texture of hair I could create on the velour with my soft pastels…..Murphy the cheeky chimp was slowly but surely born and as I created his glassy little eyes I was so glad I hadn’t turned him into that pair of trews and I suspect he was probably also pretty grateful!

Murphy, bless his little pastel cotton socks, drove my printer completely round the bend as he was an absolute nightmare to scan apparently! The pastel dust was escaping all over the glass of the scanner and my printer was not enamoured with my cheeky chappy Murphy……..I suspect he had other names for him over the next couple of days, but thankfully he persevered and did a cracking job!

When I then took poor innocent unsuspecting Murphy to my framers, another fun episode began….allegedly! The framers also found a variety of names for him, none of them amicable, and they told me the only solution was to take him home, seal the pesky little blighter and then they would try to frame him again for me.

I brought the troublesome little fella home and sprayed him cautiously from a distance…..it certainly helped to stop his pastel dusty dandruff from escaping so dramatically but I just never felt his colours were as fresh and vibrant after that …….so apologies to my printer and framers, but I shan’t be making life TOO easy for them in the future!

Pastel dust is like fairy dust and it really does ‘get about a bit’ when working with it. A lot of artists wear masks as that dust can get right up your nose if you’re in close proximity to it too often……a bit like some people I suppose?!

The first time I used soft pastels a couple of years ago was for a portrait of my Grandson. I owned a small second hand set I had recently bought on eBay for a few pounds and was dying to try them out, so when my daughter asked me to create a portrait for her, I didn’t hesitate to make a start.

It was an instant love affair! That little blue eyed Fireman will always be so precious, the portrait AND the real, lively little version!

I have since purchased more and more pastels and admit to being slightly addicted to the beautiful array of rainbows in my hands.

I have worked on quite a variety of pastel papers, but time and again I come back to using Pastelmat®️, it ‘grabs’ the pastels without making too much dust and I can really layer the colours on. It is pretty unforgiving as far as removing the initial outlines goes, but once a piece is underway that’s no longer a concern and I can ‘play’ and build up the work at my pleasure.

Talking of playing, I had a huge amount of fun creating my latest Soft Pastel Drawing of this frightfully inquisitive (aka downright nosey) Moo Cow and for once had absolutely NO trouble thinking of a title………

‘ I heard that!’

The original Moo Cow sold in one of my local galleries and has happily ‘moooooooved’ into a new home but if you’re a fan of a nosey moo, art prints and prints on canvas in a wide range of sizes are available to purchase here . . .

Interestingly, I was chatting to a fellow artist last week and she told me she had tried pastels once but had absolutely hated them instantly. She couldn’t bear the feeling of them in her hands and said that all she could make was a big, powdery mess! She is a watercolour artist who works very neatly so I was fascinated to hear her opinion……personally I can’t get enough of them and my collection has grown alarmingly over the years.

Confession……

My name is Migglet and I am a Soft Pastel Addict but I promise not to snort them…….is it ok to do a few lines with them though?! 

I would love to hear if you LOVE or LOATHE pastels? Do YOU seal your Soft Pastel and / or Charcoal artwork? If so, what product do you use and does it dull your finished work?

Please DO share your experiences here with me? Artists of any level and experience are forever learning and sharing their experiences and any tips can be so helpful!