MATCHING SUNFLOWER EARRINGS - SUNFLOWER DESIGNS

I made these earrings from sterling silver to match the pendant design in my last post. 

SPECIAL COMMISSION:
a customer asked me to design a pendant for her sister's 60th birthday. She said she had been looking for something special for the occasion in silver but could not find what she wanted. She told me her sister loves sunflowers. Well - she had definitely come to the right person there then!

I asked her for some general jewellery pictures of what she did like and some photos of items she didn't like and asked her to explain why she liked them or didn't like them. Working around her preferences & dislikes, I designed the pendant from the last blog and these earrings to match the pendant.

I was fortunate to have a completely open brief with which to work & only the sunflower as the constant - a designer's dream! I am not exactly short of personal photographs of my favourite flower too - the sunflower! I adore sunflowers at all stages of the day & am intrigued by the way they follow the sun. Using my own photos & ideas, I created a few different designs and started to work, making alterations as I went along. These were the result of many hours of patient work in the studio.

Sunflower commission in sterling silver

Check out my jewellery blog at 

http://jill-bluecottage.blogspot.co.uk 

to see my latest commission in sterling silver rather than in oils!

I designed & made both the pendant and chain.

I am awaiting my hallmark silver stamps from 

the London assay office so that I can hallmark 

my own work.

Watercolour landscapes

Just practising with watercolours for fun - these are 12 inch by 16 inch.

1. Late afternoon snowy scene in Winter.

2.  Windmill and fens - late afternoon.

Oil Painting

Hi everyone!
It's quite some time since I updated my blog on this site as I've been busy designing jewellery items on my blue cottage jewellery blog  http://jill-bluecottage.blogspot.co.uk  but it really is about time I updated the activity on the painting front with my recent oil paintings.

Approaching Xmas I thought I'd do a couple of seasonal pictures with snowy scenes and one with a bunch of poppies in a vase. They seem to have been well received with offers from several people to purchase them and an invitation to join the Northern Artists.

I'm really pleased with the comments on Facebook about my first ever oil paintings; especially from Eunice Knott "stunning", Julie Nash "very nice work" , Janine Crook " I'd be interested in buying something like this Jill! It's really good! x" & Seddon Mary "This is a really good painting, well done!" and the 14 other comments. It is lovely to receive some positive comments and to be asked to paint some more for people to enjoy.

1.   This one is my favourite because of the colours and the scene. I love  
      walking the dogs through the woods especially when it's snowy.   
      This painting reminds me of the time we went to Finland in December with
      the thick snow, the clear starry sky and the serenity all around.

                         1.

 

 

2.    I thought I would do a daytime snow scene too to experiment with the different colours needed to do this. One of my favourite times of the day when doing photography is the golden hour - that hour when the sun goes down but before everything goes totally dark. I tried to capture this hour in the painting and I'm pleased with my first attempt. It seems to have been very well received by the Northern Artists & my Facebook fans with one person offering to buy it.

 

2.

 

 3. This is my first ever try at painting any flowers in oils. I'm pleased with the 

  overall result and the use of turquoise in the leaves - which I did wonder

  about  - but the idea seems to have received great comments.

 

3

 

 

If you like my work and would like to discuss a commision or a copy of one of the images you like, then contact me please on my blog e-mail:

jill@sunflowerdesigns.co.uk

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Are you selling your work?

I was pleased to be asked this week whether I would be happy to sell some of my artwork - the large Urban Decay mixed media canvas and the Sunflower screen print piece. Up to now I have been simply painting for pleasure & personal relaxation but it was very flattering to be asked this. The answer is I am happy to sell my work if anyone asks, so drop me an e-mail if you are interested.
Thanks!   

VAN DYKE PRINTING

I spent a great weekend in March with John Brewer printing with Van Dyke Brown chemicals which have since been sitting in my fridge. I did some blue cyanotype prints too but personally I think the Van Dyke Brown prints are more effective as they have character.
I want to do some more of these as I think that using some old photos of the family would work really well or even using modern ones of the girls and making them look like they were taken in 1920s! The ideas are endless! However, I'm lacking a UV light at home. Does anyone have a spare one to donate to me? Artist in need!

St Peter's Church - Belmont (double exposure print)

Castlefield, Manchester with the web from a children's playground ride
(double exposure print)

Moor Lane railway bridge with Bolton gasometer
(double exposure print)



On exhibition - June 2012

SCREEN PRINTING

On exhibition - June 2012

I have had a fair few disasters wrestling with the screen print bed! Finally - when renting out a proper screen bed at the Hot Bed Press in Salford, I managed to make some lovely prints of my favourite flower - the sunflower - from a photograph I took in Portugal. It worked this time & I've framed it and put it on display in the studio.


               

sunflower screen print