A Boat a Day (no.185)

I decided to have another go at the Tea art today as I think it's my favourite medium ever now. :)
I used a quill and ink (and a brush) to add the detail this time, and started with canvas roll rather than paper. It worked a lot better than last time as the canvas doesn't absorb so much water. I have also decided to go for a close up view of the stern section of a boat as it's these little details I find so appealing.

A Boat a Day (no.184)

I've done a lot of boats on the computer using plenty of different styles and techniques. Today's boat is inspired by the vintage, pixelated genius of old school computer games. I found some graph paper in the studio and used felt pens and fineliners to create this very simple boat, using the squares as my guide.

A Boat a Day (no.183)

Today's boat has been made from the many baskets in my studio. I've had a naughty day playing computer games mostly. Though I have also done a fitting with Kelli Kaleidoscope which went pretty well, everything fits and looks hot. And she has put us on to some extremely girly things such as lace eyelashes and metallic hair chalk! I'm really looking forward to our photoshoot, I've got a lot of work today but it's going to be worth it. :)

Also as promised yesterdays interview is available on Youtube, so have a gander.

A Boat a Day (no.182)

Six months today!
Today's boat might not look so epic, but it is made up of the 5000 flyers I have just collected for the Easter Arnolfini Market. It's hard to envisage just how much 5000 is and even with the forethought of a wheelie suitcase it was hard work getting it all home!

There's a little video interview which will be up as soon as I can appease the Imovie gods and make it all shiny. (Probably tomorrow if I'm honest...)

So Happy Monday, I hope your day was as productive and forward-ho as mine has been.

P.S A while back I was invited to sing a few shanty's with Heg Doughty and the Wolf Chorus, well today they have released a free download of two songs, one of which being "Boat and I" which has to be my new favourite and the theme of the year :)

A Boat a Day (no.181)

Good Evening,

Today's boat is one of my Christmas gifts, this one is from Taz. Not a boat in a bottle, but a bottle boat! One day I will dye some sand and fill it up.

A Boat a Day (no.180)

I can't believe I'm just two days from the half way point and how much this Boat experience has changed my day to day, but more about that on day 182.
For now I've made a fingerprint boat, I've been working with paper a lot this year and stamping has become an important aspect of my design.

A Boat a Day (no.179)

Today's boat has been cut from paper, attached to wooden skewers and shadowed against the wall. I had a whole team to help with the filming. I've done a completely different shadow boat before, but I put a bit more time and effort into the movement if this boat.
Enjoy x

A Boat a Day (no.178)

Today has been full of excitement, this morning was spent playing with babies and dogs in the last of the snow. Then we had a little meeting about the photoshoot and tried lots of lovely clothes on people, its looking very cool right now.
So this evening's boat has been made of party food, special thanks to Nat and Tam for helping nibble the sails to size.

Oh and I got the flyer design for the Giant Easter market I'm organizing for Easter.

A Boat a Day (no.177)

It's very late, I got caught up with a rather epic game that is some sort of crazy hybrid between HARP, Dungeon Quest and well pretty much all the epic board games we have on the shelf. It was good fun, but I'm not sure what happened to Wednesday. So please excuse me for being so late with the boat, but it's a pretty cool one today.
This was a wooden kit for kids from Hobbycraft, I assembled and painted it today amid gaming and other making. I had plans for stripes but never quite got around to it. It's a fun easy kit and I would definitely recommend it, especially seen as it's just over £5.

A Boat a Day (no.176)

I've had a great evening out with some live music, drinking and great company. While there I made a boat with some hands. As you can imagine there is a limit to what you can do, but I think I captured the general idea and shape of a boat. Maybe if you go cross eyed you'll see what I was going for.

Enjoy x

A Boat a Day (no.175)

Today's boat is late because I thought it would be a great idea to do homemade Chinese, yummy but efforts!  I think I started cooking the rice at about 6ish, we ate at 9! Crazy right, and have you ever heard of putting flour in the fridge to chill?
So today's boat is made of uncooked rice, which was actually quite fun to sweep into a boat.

A Boat a Day (no.174)

With a little help from Tam and Spook tonight's boat was created with the tiles from a game called Wordrop. While Spook directed us we created boat and sea related words to build a rather abstract ship. The basic shape is there, and if your confused the words should help you out.
Also these pieces are blue and translucent and very pretty.

A Boat a Day (no.173)

It's still snowy, though slushy is probably a better description so I'm glad I thought ahead with my second attempt at a snow boat.
I built the first one on the ground, but I couldn't get low enough to see and the backdrop was mostly white, not great for photos. I built this one on the bench and used more sticks in the construction. The mast even has a spar and has been stabilized with pliable vines.

A Boat a Day (no.172)

I woke up this morning by Taz whispering my name through the door, like it was Christmas morning only instead of presents we have snow!!! Loads of it! Before even having tea we went out armed with gloves, furry boots, a camera and a kitty who has never experienced snow. I must confess we have snow here about once every 2-3 years so my snow-sculpting skills leave much to be desired! But here is my first attempt at building a snow boat. I think I might go out again in a bit and make another one for another day ;)

Oh and to add another layer of excitement it's day 172 which means I am 10 days away from the half-way mark!

Keep warm and have fun :)

(¯`¥´¯`·.¸.:¨Luna¨:.¸.·´¯`¥´¯)

A Boat a Day (no.171)

A bit of cubism for you today, something I've never really tried before as I am usually more swirly. I took the chance to play a little more with pencil shading, inverting the colours with each adjacent square, which didn't really work around the edges.

I have been told there is snow on the way tomorrow, which I am more excited about than I should be. Fingers crossed that tomorrow will bring a snow boat!

A Boat a Day (no.170)

Tea Art 

Last week me and Taz spent days making small heads and bodies to make into Steampunk Art Doll's, today we finally put them together, there are now six little people with weird and wonderful personalities ready for photographing tomorrow.

Today's boat was prepped last night, by sponging used tea bags onto good paper, I let each layer dry before building on it to create variation in tone. The boat is drawn in brown fineliner using the tea stains as a guide and for texture. I have come to the conclusion that I love working with tea, I mean it's common knowledge I love drinking it so I should make an effort to do more Tea Art :)

A Boat a Day (no.169)

Boat no. 169

I have spent today juggling cat's! Our kitten had to share his humans with Bill an older, just as cute cat, there was much hissing and bushiness in the tail. He's now stalking around the house, nose against the ground looking for Bill.
While all that was going on me and Taz had another day in the studio, sorting bits and pieces to keep and swap. Halfway through sorting a huge box of threads we made this.

A Boat a Day (no.168)

The doodle boats are always late as they are better if I don't have anything else I should be doing. There are a lot of defining shapes and pattern on a boat which I have tried to incorporate in a stylised way. I've also played with shading and hatching in biro, I always love how versatile a simple biro is.

A Boat a Day (no.167)

Another sketch today, this one is of my wooden puzzle boat (day 159) I'm still getting used to drawing whats there and not what I think should be there. It really has been a long time since I did any still life, it's one of those things they get you to do over and over at Art College until it becomes the equivalent to watching paint dry.
I think I might like to practice some more before I go out and find some real boats to draw.

A Boat a Day (no.166)

This Boat was inspired and initiated by a fellow 365 creator I met today. You can follow her Book 365 project on Facebook!
It is a wax dripping boat, with crumbled sugar water.
It was great meeting another person mad enough to make/do something creative everyday, it's an easy conversation starter and I got some impromptu fan boats which will be up very soon.

On a different note I'd like to say Happy Birthday to Nat and thank you for getting me out to a pub for the first time in probably a year :D

...And on another completely different note you should watch this it's pretty genius :) x

A Boat a Day (no.165)

There are a lot of things I have to work towards this year, it's January and I'm already facing the fact that I can't make any big plans until at least summer. One of the things I am doing this year is arranging a Steampunk Photo-shoot to showcase some of the jewellery we make as well as making a few clothes. It's pretty exciting and I've roped in a lot of friends to help out and make it really awesome. Me and Taz made a start on a couple of pieces today, using old clothes in weird and wonderful ways. A skirt became a mini waistcoat, a jacket became a skirt, the sleeves of which have been used to create a bustle. It's all coming together, if somewhat slowly.

For today's boat I decided to sketch the antique model of a boat and surrounding shelf, it's been a while since I've done any still life and I certainly need practice so I might draw a few of my boats :)

A Boat a Day (no.164)

Since spending most of Tuesday in my studio trying desperately to tidy it I haven't really been in there for more than a few minutes. Despite all our sorting there is still a lot to do, today's boat is made from the assorted nonsense that has gathered on my desk. As you can see there is quite a variety and after this Mess Attack it has all been put back where it should be. :) Tidying and creating.

A Boat a Day (no.163)

Evening, today I have been making a little army of bodies, yep that's right. Headless little rice doll's ready for embellishing (and having a head) that is pretty much all I've done today, and now I think I might be going loopy. I made the boat today from the scraps of felt I was using to pug the necks. I have made a felt boat before but the was flat and this has been stuffed with scraps.

A Boat a Day (no.162)

20 days until half way!!! 

Sorry just had to make that known as it's pretty exciting for me. Today I have been working hard both in the studio and out. My studio which is forever a bombsite has damp encroaching down the walls, so in a fit of panic me and Taz tore all the fabric out and ruthlessly decided what was to stay, what was to swap and what should just go in the bin (mostly tiny scraps I have been keeping for...something...) On top of all that I have been at my computer on and off trying to organize a Giant Market for Easter at the Arnolfini, it's going to be epic and is looming despite being months away.
Anyway, that's plenty of admin and promoting, 8 bin liners of fabric re-organized and ready for a craft swap next Friday, a boat and dinner done, now I can relax! :)

A Boat a Day (no.161)

Good evening,

Today I have been trying to sort through my collection of beads, to find the ones I use and the ones I should swap. It wasn't long before I got distracted and made this instead. I used small beads and wire and it is surprisingly sturdy.

A Boat a Day (no.160)

A Boat a Day no.160

Today I created a boat out of Magic the Gathering cards, it was fun working with a set shape and a very basic colour palette. The borders give it a cool cartoon effect and I liked using the island cards as waves. With all of these art attacks I have learnt that the bigger it is the better the detail. One day when the sun is shining (which may never happen in this soggy corner of the world) I want to do a really BIG art attack like Neil Buchanon back in the day...

A Boat a Day (no.159)

Good Evening,

When I started this blog in July it was to give Moon and Magic a face lift, I wanted to reinvent my style and take my love of Steampunk a little further. I had dabbled in lots of different crafts and my market stall was starting to look a little... schizophrenic. Starting this Boat a Day was a way for me to continue playing around with different mediums for my own enjoyment and focus my skills into a more coherent body of stock. Six months, a bucket of glue and 159 Boats later and I am definitely moving in the direction I want to go.
2013 has proved to be very productive so far. Me and Taz have gotten inspirations from somewhere, perhaps it's that new year freshness, or the idleness of Christmas that has given our imaginations a bit of a whirl and put an itch in our crafting fingers.

Anyway enough rambling, today I've been playing with one of those wood puzzles, I remember making a lot of furniture as a kid, but there was always something annoying, a broken tab or piece that wouldn't sit right. I've found a way to combat that, double sided stick-tape! So here is today's Boat.

A Boat a Day (no.158)

I have been making paper bunting all day, this was the last set made today and I have a few ideas to finish it off before work tomorrow.
Taz managed to find some sheet music with nautical lyrics too! The detail is old maps and I got to use my stamp-a-bet aswell :)

More designs will be on our Facebook page shortly.

A Boat a Day (no.157)

Hello,
Yet again I have been busy making things with Taz and Tam today which you will be able to see on our Facebook  page shortly...
This is my second attempt at making a Fimo Boat and this time I was WILL NOT BURN IT!!! But just in case I do, here is a picture before it goes into the oven :) It's super dinky, and quite different from the one I made last time. I am going to put a hole in it and turn it into a pendant for myself. I can wear it to my boat exhibition!

A Boat a Day (no.156)

Good evening!

Well as today is officially the first day of the Non-holidays me and Taz have been hard at work creating some fun new accessories, which you'll be able to see on our Moon and Magic facebook page shortly. Today's boat has been a little less creative on my part but way cooler! This is another of my fantastic gifts from my Mum (thanks mum x) a metal relief, I'm not sure what you would call this technique but it's really amazing.

A Boat a Day (no.155)

Today's boat was made within seconds of the New Year, it was one of those boats where I had to do very little while everyone around me created portholes and cannons out of empty party poppers, all I did was make the basic shape and the bowsprit.

Anyway I have come up with a few resolutions for this year, mostly they concern getting my business more out there, tidying my studio and perhaps trying to save money, pretty much the same as last year. But I have also written a random list of little things I need to accomplish which I shall flick through on random days and hopefully carry out and cross off throughout the year.

I hope you all had an awesome New Year and are relaxing and recovering. I recommend bacon, brie and cranberry tis a good cure for a late night!

Happy New Year, many blue skies for 2013

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