1 Year, 52 Paintings - Goal #55 Masterpost

After completing 52 paintings inside 12 months - goal #55 on The List - I figured it might be easier to create a masterpost to display everything together!

Here are my 52 paintings.
I've sorted them into categories, but have numbered them according to the order I painted them in.

Clicking the thumbnail will take you to the post containing that painting.

Fanart
01. Teatime in the Forest	02. The Colour of Music
03. Smoke and Mist	29. The Visitor
30. Picnic	31. Gee Up!
35. Giftart for friend	38. New Year at 221b
50. Steve Finn and the Cute Lamp

Little Deer Daydreams

Visitors to this blog may have noticed the tab at the top, 'Little Deer Daydreams @ Etsy'.
The curious may have clicked on it to find it led to an empty Etsy shop. Oops?

My Etsy shop has been much neglected over the past six months (did my listings really expire last Summer?!)

At last, I have revived the store, renewed some listings and widened my product range!
Previously all I tended to sell was necklaces...

Some were more simple, like the wire-wrapped pale amethyst pendant above, whilst others were chunkier, such as the hematite, smoky quartz and snowflake obsidian necklace below.

A Dress for the Winter

A couple of weeks ago, I blogged about my goal to make three items of clothing from patterns.

Yesterday I finished sewing this dress! Getting pictures of it was a nightmare, mostly involving rubbish lighting and my face. (Anyone else manage to pull awful grimaces when they try to smile on demand?!) But I did manage a few reasonable ones, with help of my family.

The dress is made from a pattern Burda Style 01/2015 issue, style 105:

The magazine included two 'views' - one with chiffon (seen above) and the other with batiste and embroidered tulle.

My goal is to stick to the patterns. I did make a couple of changes, but still within the bounds of 'using the pattern':

Self Portrait with Catbeard

Self Portrait with Catbeard, January 2015

Self Portrait with Catbeard
This is it, the final painting for this goal:

055. Create 52 paintings in 1 year.

All the others have been posted, though this is actually #46.

I realised that I hadn't attempted a self portrait, in fact it's a topic I usually avoid. So I thought I would paint one, but with a difference. Well, if people can take photographs like this, I sure can paint this selfie!

The cat in the painting is Alfie, who tends to follow me around (and trip me up) and sleep in my room and get hair all over my clothes, so it only seemed right to include him in the picture!

I discovered through this image that hair is not as easy to paint with watercolours as it is to 'paint' in Photoshop (no surprise there, really). It was also difficult to mix my hair colour, which is currently a reddish brown!

Still, I like this as it's a bit silly. :)


Well, that's the goal done and dusted!
I'll eventually make a master post with all 52 pictures as thumbnails linking to their corresponding blog post. For the time being, you can browse the paintings by checking out the tag for goal 55.

A Blank Page (or Art That Isn't There Yet)

Now I've completed my goal of creating 52 paintings in a year, let me tell you: I've spent hours staring at blank pages, knowing there is an image there.
Art involves a lot of invisibility, starting with a blank page (and sometimes a totally blank imagination, argh!)

Very rarely do I have a precise idea of how the finished piece will look.
I may have decided to include certain elements or colours, or wanted to evoke a particular emotion, but that's it.

Eventually I put on some music and get on with it.
Last time it was asobius, so here's their music video, 'Starlight'. It's bouncy and happy.

Music always helps to jog my brain into creativity.

Soon enough, by putting pencil to paper (gasp!), the 'Invisible Art' starts to appear...

Traps & Suggestions

Today I'm sharing four new paintings towards the following goal:

055. Create 52 paintings in 1 year

This includes more suggestions, so is a mixed bag of subject matter!

Inside, January 2015

Inside
Originally this one was going to be quite different, but once I'd drawn the person in the box, I thought to add a hand closing the box--and a box in the person's hand.
Unfortunately, in my wisdom (hah!) I picked up a fineliner when I'd finished painting, and outlined the person, which ruined it somewhat. This was one of those paintings where I didn't quite know when to stop.
That aside, I'm pretty pleased with how the big hand turned out, particularly as I tend to struggle with drawing hands.
I took inspiration for this piece from the feeling of being trapped inside oneself, by oneself, and the despair, fear and lack of control one feels over it that only makes the situation worse.
Medium: Watercolour on watercolour paper
Size: A5

Cheerful, huh?!

These next three are on much happier topics.
They're actually the last three I painted for this goal (yes, I've finished!) but I'm choosing to post them first. As I was stumped for what else to paint, and had already bothered Facebook for ideas, I decided to bother tumblr instead.
And quite helpfully, gained three suggestions:

Thank you, tumblrites!

So here goes...the tumblr suggestions...posted in the order I painted them, rather than the order they were suggested.

Angels, Asking and the Arkenstone

With the start of the year, I've been continuing with my reading goal:

050. Read 3 books per month for 1 year

I started on this goal in July, so now I'm 7 months in!

Here's what I read in January, as usual marked out of 5 according to my overall enjoyment of the book.

Good Omens - Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman (5/5)

I've read this before, but after listening to BBC Radio 4's adaptation during the festive season, I decided to read it again.

The antichrist has been brought into the world to start the apocalypse. The angel Aziraphale and demon Crowley, who have an Arrangement and quite like the world thank you very much, set out to find the antichrist (they lost him) and stop the apocalypse happening.

This is an entertaining book with lots of typically British humour, clever plot devices and a whole bunch of lovable characters. Yes, even the antichrist. It also has Queen references.

I may or may not have dug out Queen's Greatest Hits after reading this book...

The Art of Asking - Amanda Palmer (5/5)

Some may remember that I blogged about Amanda Palmer's TED talk of the same title a while ago. This book is like an expanded version of the talk. In it, Amanda explains how by simply asking (and trusting), she has made some great stuff happen. I can't put to words how fantastic and inspiring this book was, not to mention interesting, but I didn't give it five out of five for nothing. I'll definitely be reading this one again. You should read it too.

The Hobbit - J.R.R. Tolkien (4/5)

This was another re-read. The last time I read it was around 2000/2001, when I wanted to wade through The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings before I saw 'Fellowship of the Ring' at the cinema (I didn't).

The Hobbit is about a small and hairy fellow named Bilbo, who is a hobbit and goes on an adventure with a bunch of dwarves to reclaim treasure and the under-mountain halls that were lost to a wicked dragon. There's also goblins, elves, men, and more.

What you won't find in this book (unlike in the films) is female characters. Seriously. I didn't realise until I saw a mention of it online, and having read the book again, have found it's true. Women are mentioned, but they play no role in the storyline.

I'm half inclined to deduct a point for that, but gender of characters aside I enjoyed The Hobbit. It only gets 4/5 because it took me a while to get into the story.

And that's it for January! I finished the last book on the 12th, and am now giving my brain a break from reading until February arrives!

Suggested Scenery

Whilst I post pieces for my painting goal here, I also share them on a particular art group on Facebook. Recently I grumbled a little about lacking in inspiration, and had some great suggestions from other members...

(Have edited out userpics/surnames because privacy rocks)

So, I took those suggestions and got painting! Thanks girls!

Mourners of Mountain Moon, January 2015

Mourners of Mountain Moon
Terry (who also blogs over at Write.Create.Connect.) suggested falling snow, or a girl with head bowed and a single tear.
Alright, so I didn't get to the falling snow part, but from her suggestion, I ended up with this!
I tried to use very pale colours for the skin and tears of the characters. Originally they were going to be flower-like, but I decided to go in a different direction. The mountain part really happened because I'd just finished reading The Hobbit (which I'll blog about another time) and my brain was full of the Misty Mountain!
Some of my moon craters ended up a little wonky but overall this turned out better than I expected.
Medium: Watercolour on watercolour paper
Size: A5

Sewing Me, Sewing You...

Recently I added a new goal to The List:

089. Make 3 items of clothing from patterns

Alright, so this is another goal that doesn't really involve Going Out And Doing, aside from the initial buying of fabrics and notions.

What this goal will do is 'Challenge my Self' and 'Enhance my Skills'--two more reasons for starting The List.

Curtain Skirt at Unfortunately Oh!
Click image to see tutorial! :)

When it comes to sewing, I'm very lazy.

I don't use patterns if I can help it, and when I do, I don't stick to them. Once I have the basic shape around the neck/arms, I tend to guess my way to the end.

Pathways of the Mind

The mind is a curious thing. It brings us dreams, discovers links between otherwise unrelated things, and of course chugs along merrily as we go about our daily lives. Scientists have devoted their lives to understanding the mind, whether in matters of psychology or neurology. They have tried to discover the full extent of the mind's power, and unlock the mystery of imagination.
When we let our imaginations run wild, there is no telling what our minds may come up with, nor how ridiculous and nonsensical it may appear.

Which is why the theme of this art post is Pathways of the Mind, and comprises of a nice big helping of surrealism. 

A Stage of Consciousness, January 2015

A Stage of Consciousness
A figure dances on a checkered stage, hemmed in by rock and riches. Nearby stand two structures of unknown origin, as more hover in a red sky, and all this seen from the mouth of a cave. But the dream is ending, and the scene slowly melting away.

I painted this to represent that point in slumber when you are caught between dreams and awakening--when you are conscious that you are dreaming, but powerless to affect the dream, or immediately wake from it.

Medium: Watercolour on watercolour paper
Size: A5