Lovely Christmas Things

 Here is one of my new decorations for the tree this year, obviously it HAD to be heart shaped!

I've tried to be 'thrifty' this year and had a go a making my own Christmas wreath;

With home-made dried oranges;

....and bunches of cinnamon sticks;

My other major project was a fairy for the top of the tree, and I didn't pay a penny! Everything I used was just laying around the house. Here is a list of items I used believe it or not...A bamboo stick, toilet roll, copper wiring, hair pins, carrier bag handles (un-twisted made beautiful wavy hair), ribbon, feathers (yes they were just in one of my drawers), bra padding and beads off a broken braclet. Ta Da a beautiful fairy!

Rebecca x

Finally, my name up in lights!

Ok, this was our first attempt at capturing sparkler writing,
demonstrated beautifully by my mum;

I had the idea from a newspaper cutting my mum gave me, explaining how you could take photos of fireworks and sparklers creating not just an instant image of someone waving a stick around, but with a slower shutter speed you can record something way more special!

  

My hubby even had a go, showing that he can spell his name! My step daughter was more creative, starting with her name (which obviously needs to be written with the letters back-to-front), then a star with a firework in the background.

 

 And for the piece de resistance...the whole family lined up;

Rebecca x

Beachcombing for eye catching subjects....



'The Huts'



'Breakwaters'

'I'm Waiting...'

'Concentration'

'Lunch Queue'

'Ready to sail'

'Paddling'

'Flying in'

Rebecca x







Anything beachy...

....And I'm there! Here are some pics I took while my Ward family were having fun at Frensham Ponds, Surrey. A beautiful sailing lake surrounded by sandy coves and sand dunes, no heart shaped pebbles there but plenty of photo opportunities;

Rebecca x

Keeping it in Focus...

The easy option is always just to press and shoot and you can get some good pics just by doing that, but now I have a camera with the ability to focus manually I wanted to experiment with how you could make pictures slightly more interesting by blurring different parts, here is what happened that day....

                                                                                                                                                                 

Rebecca x

© REBECCA WARD 2010

Weekend Project

Bored with my pine table and chairs I decided to paint them this weekend! The table had its long, skinny legs painted 'english man on the beach' white and the top was sanded down to within an inch of its life and buffed up again with natural wax. The chairs were layed with matching paint and then because I don't like anything ordinary, a scarlet heart has been added to each chair, finished off with a layer of varnish to protect from scraping bottoms.

I'm very pleased with the results....

 

Inspiration at last!

Last week my mum gave me a picture she had seen and thought of me. The photo was a beautiful evening sky with clouds swept across the sky, the trees in the foreground silhouetted against the illuminated sky. An image that would be fun to try to imitate to see if I could make my clouds as wispy and dramatic as the photographer had captured, so out came all my paints and brushes and I found a couple of canvases that would be perfect, I decided on the smaller one to make the picture more intense.

An hour later I was staring at this newly started creation, numbed and slightly lost as to how to continue, I had lost the flow of the picture and knew I wouldn't be happy if I continued. Kettle on and chocolate in hand I decided I needed to just paint and not worry about the outcome, so I put the other picture on hold for now, grabbed the larger canvas and the following picture was born!!

Waves on the beach

                                                                                                        © REBECCA WARD 2010

Now for the Arty bit...

For some reason I have always been drawn to oil on canvas. I like paintings you can get lost in, that can tell you a story without using words. All of us probably own at least one picture in our home that makes us smile or compels us to look at it for a couple of seconds every time you walk past. For me, I own several pictures that my Granny painted, each one holds different but precious memories of a great lady who loved to paint. Most are of beautiful scenes leaving to you to imagine that you could close your eyes and jump into their world like Mary Poppins and the chalk street pictures. I imagine what thoughts and feelings my Granny would have had as she painted, when I am working on a canvas I feel as though time is suspended while I create my new world.

This is one of my canvas paintings and is simply titled Wave;

                                                                                                  © REBECCA WARD 2010

 Sadly, I haven't painted anything for a while now and I am hoping that my blog will erase my 'painters block' and instil some inspiration!

Snow Romantic

We always wish for a white Christmas and then when we get it we're all in chaos! I lurve the snow and can't get enough, I'm straight out there with my camara seeing what I can find. This year the snow was amazing and I had great fun when I went to the Devils Punch Bowl at Hindhead, Surrey.  Luckily I have a vehicle that will drive almost anywhere, so armed with my entire ski outfit, my new Canon camara and most importantly some chocolate, (well you never know!).

Below you'll see a selection of my pictures; a snow covered holly leaf, magnificent icicles hanging from a hut and I've also sneaked in a picture from my recent skiing trip to Les Arcs, where there was even more snow to satisfy the photographer within!

Holly Leaf at the Devils Punch Bowl

                                                                                                   © REBECCA WARD 2010

Icicle View

                                                                © REBECCA WARD 2010

                                                                                                                                                  © REBECCA WARD 2010

Ski Lifts in Les Arcs

                                                                                                                                          © REBECCA WARD 2010

 

The First Chapter

Today, I spent the afternoon with my close friend, Colleen. Over a much needed cup of tea, we discussed where my future was headed. Once again I find myself in-between jobs and wondering what to do now! For not the first time I am unsure which avenue to take now, my passion is painting and photography but I am self taught, haven't been to art college or had any training and have no idea where to start.
Colleen is one of those friends who inspires and makes you think about life in a completely different way to how you have ever considered it before. So, several cups of tea later and the answer....A BLOG!!
The plan....to write about my love of oil on canvass and beautiful photos and display them.
The future.....watch this space....

                                                                                       © REBECCA WARD 2010