Folklore and Fairy tale art exhibition invite.

This May my paintings and giclee prints are being shown in this wonderful art gallery, Obsidian Art.  While we were there, we had a look around at all of the beautiful art and felt a connection with the other artists here. I could have looked around for hours!  Please visit Obsidian Art Gallery whenever you can and feel the magic of every single art piece.

This exhibition in May is of 'Folklore and Fairy Tale'. 

Website:  www.obsidianart.co.uk

Mersea Island, Swans and crazy beautiful House Boats.

Mersea Island is a wonderful place to be by the sea and it's local to where I live. It is just under an hours drive through the essex countryside and being careful of the
high tides, you can take the road over the estuary with a view of all the wildlife and the salty mud flats. I remember coming here with my grandad when I was a girl and watching the swans fly in home.  I loved the salty breeze and big skies with the quiet sandy beach. Colourful beach huts lined the edges of the creamy coloured, seaweedy sand and the soft sound of the waves lapping the shore. I always filled my pockets with beautiful seashells and driftwood to take home and display on my bedroom dressing table. Later to sketch and draw the memories of our day in the sunshine.

We found the old house boats along the beach and stayed for a while drinking latte coffees  and watching the gulls over head riding the wind and gliding down to the water's edge.

These boats were beautiful, some old and shanty style and others with their own wonderful gardens and wooden pathways.

This one fallen into the sea!

On the way home we could tell it was going to be a stunning sunset.  An hour later, I ran to the top of the hill near to where we live and managed to capture the last of the big red sun and moody light.  The feeling was so peaceful and still with an aura of magic as the great sun went to sleep.

Today has been a wealth of memories of childhood and a heart filled with inspiration.

New Giclee prints of fairytales and folklore

During the long Winter months and icy cold nights I created a few new paintings inspired by folklore and fairytales.  By the end of February, I longed for the first signs of Spring after a beautiful 'Snow Queen' english Winter.  The first snowdrop flowers and crocus arrived, showing their faces to the sun.

Crystal and Amber by Amanda Clark 2013.

By the Blue Moon by Amanda Clark 2013.

Moonlit Tale by Amanda Clark 2012.

Luna by Amanda Clark 2012.

The First Snow by Amanda Clark 2012.

Shea by Amanda Clark 2012.

These original paintings are for sale and giclee prints will be available very soon . I am working on a new website for my original paintings and giclees so you will be able to see these and more in a few weeks.
Please contact me with any enquires, email:  amandaclark@hotmail.co.uk.

Painting 'A New Day'

Gemma's painting titled 'A New Day'.

Last month, I was contacted by a lovely lady named Gemma. She commissioned me to paint something special for her.  So in this post I will show you the start to finish images of how I created this original painting.

I made a sketch of the ideas that Gemma had for her painting.  She wanted to include, a hare, badger,fox and a deer with the standing stones next to a stream along with my usual style of landscapes.

I applied three layers of gesso on board , sanding lightly between coats to create a smooth top layer. I used acrylic paints for this painting and started with a light wash of colour for the sky and background hills.

For the foreground and trees, I painted a wash of blues and purples.

While adding layers of colour on the landscape, I started to add, 'Mr Fox', adding details around him like the trees and branches.

I added details of grasses and wild flowers with the deer and standing stones.

Towards the foreground, I painted the badger and on the other side of the painting, I decided the hare would look much better if he was running in the other direction from the sketch I started with.  This created a much better flow to the painting.

After adding the final details to the trees and grasses, I completed the painting by adding the crescent moon to the dawn sky.    Here is the finished commission for Gemma. 'The New Day'.
I finished the painting within one week and let it dry before varnishing and adding a little amount of mica in the tree tops.
 Gemma is picking up her painting today along with 12 greeting cards that I made for her from the painting.

I will be posting on facebook too if you would like to visit my page there, just follow the facebook link on this page.  
Copyright belongs to the artist, so if you would like to share any of these images, please contact me first. This is also Gemma's special painting so do not use without permission.  Thank you.

Frosty days and yule.

These past days have been a mixture of frosty days and other times it has rained and rained creating the usually tranquil streams and quiet rivers to flood into the fields. We have so many floods here in the UK now. Today I have heard there are 500 flood warnings.
I am wishing for snow so we all can have that yule time and Christmas magic.  Whether floods or snow the roads are difficult to pass so we may as well have our sledges and have some fun.
The widened rivers have at least brought a few egrets close and they are a beautiful sight!

Walking in a frosty woodland, gathering ideas for how to decorate inside my home for yule and christmas.

Inspiration for new paintings.  The way the grasses look as empty stalks and the seeds as empty shells. Trees catching the light of an early frosty morning.  Bright stars against a deep inky night sky.  The blues, indigos, muted greens and greys.

Nature looks like it is frozen in time.    Ice making everything sparkle in the soft sunlight.  The time of year to celebrate the re-birth of the sun and after the 25th December, the days start to get longer.

Cosy and warm by the fireside with trinkets and stars and the feel of fairytale magic in the air and a new year ready to begin, carrying within it's wings, hope, love and joy.  I remember these magical days as a child and hold the memories close to my heart.

Wishing you all a wonder-filled Yule, Christmas and New Year and may all your dreams and wishes come true.    Lots of love.

A Free Greeting Card with Every Art Print Ordered.

Here is just a little note saying that until the 22rd December 2012, I will be giving away a yule greeting card with every print ordered from my etsy shop.......and a great big thank you for everyone for supporting my dream work with art and illustrations and the beautiful work of fairytale!

You can now find me on pinterest. Come join me here and on facebook.   Much love to you all.

Fairytale Landscapes

   Since my last post, time has moved along so quickly and it  has been a wonderfully busy few months for me. I have been painting new 'Fairytale Landscapes', selling original paintings, prints and greeting cards and I haven't had much time to spare to write on my blog page or finish the book I have half created.  After this busy season, I shall return to writing and illustrating again.
Thank you to all you friends and followers, and people who have kept me busy making and packing for the etsy sales of prints and cards.  You will soon have new prints to see.
Here are a few paintings I have been working on lately. 

'Sky of Angels' by Amanda Clark

 Inspiration for this painting comes from the incredible weather we have been having lately and  I was watching late one night, clouds moving so fast across the sky, it seemed as if they were flying to peoples aid.  They resembled 'Sky Angels'.  In the U.K, we have had so many floods.  Europe, America and other places near and far having terrible storms.   There is a story for children in my heart that I would love to write one day. A tale of our beautiful mother earth. Tales like these may be myths of our time one day.

A collection of new paintings.

A shop order for greeting cards.

Last weekend I shared a art and craft stall with my friends, Amanda Sheldrake and Sarah Turpin (Amber Caspian Art).

While I was there, I worked on three paintings so people could see how I added glazes and layers of colour for the back grounds and then the detail.

By Amanda Clark 

There is talk of snow here for next week.  We will see!