Instagram monthly round up: May

As many of you will know, I am a big Insta-Fan! I find Instagram the easiest way to share on social media, being such a visual person. Anyway, I thought I would start doing a monthly round up so you can all see what I've been up to all at once! It's pretty interesting seeing how I move on from one type of art to another... Colour schemes, compositions, and a little snapshot into my life as well : -)

If you're on Instagram and would like to follow me, my username is @lovelittlelyra

Hope you guys had a lovely May - here's onto June (my birthday month woohoo!)

- Emily (aka Little Lyra) xx

Drawing an elf

Afternoon Chaps!

T'other day I decided to try and film myself painting - with only my phone and a small tripod the experience was less than ideal but think I got enough of me sketching out her face to share : -) annoyingly, my phone stopped filming without me knowing it! I'm going to look into buying a camera to make more art in progress videos so if anyone has any recommendations please comment below.

Anyway, in my quest to learn more about video editing, I discovered a pretty cool edge detection filter I put over the video, which I think works well as my original lighting wasn't great so you should be able to see all the outlines much more clearly!

Enjoy - Happy Saturday!

Aaaand, here's the finished elf:

p.s. you can also subscribe to my YouTube channel to be the first to know when a new video is up ; -)

- Emily (aka Little Lyra) xx 

Hobbycraft Haul

Morning Chaps!

So, after sneaking off to Hobbycraft to stock up on some mediums before I start my new job on Monday (ahhhhh so excited!) the other day, I decided to film a Hobbycraft Haul vlog. Now, I thought people only did this with Primark purchases, but having looked on YouTube, apparently Hobbycraft Hauls are just as popular!!

I basically go through what I purchased and why, and hopefully some of the exciting new art supplies they are stocking will inspire you to try some out too : -)

Any video masters out there... It took over 5 hours to upload this onto YouTube, so if anyone knows a way to do that more quickly please comment below! (I literally just filmed the video on my phone, transferred it to my laptop and uploaded to YouTube without any editing...)

Ok guys... Enjoy!

See you soon, 

- Emily (aka Little Lyra) xx

Magical Monday (Tuesday!)

So, whoopise! I forgot to post Monday's Magical-ness on Monday because I was way too immersed in a couple of paintings I've been working on, and then suddenly it was bed time. For most people yesterday was a bank holiday, so figured Tuesday is the new Monday this week anyway!

Yesterday was my last "free" Monday of my month-long break from work - next Monday I will be nervously starting my new job, although I very much believe that Mondays from now on will be Magical, with no more morning dread!

So... Onto today's magical finds : -) Just as an FYI, I am not an affiliate for anything shared here - I'm just sharing things I love.

The music I'm sharing with you this week is a super favourite of mine, "We Move Lightly" by Dustin O'Halloran. I seriously love this piece of music and it's a fail safe for getting my inspiration fired up.

Talking of inspiration, I have had an arty fire truly lit up in my hear these past couple of days - I have been creating much more art journal-centric pieces, and some days have painted for 9 hours a day. Pretty intense, but I feel like I'm getting so much done with my time, it's so rewarding to look through the piles of paintings I've created over these past few weeks. My first share is with a huge inspiration to my art, Tamara Laporte's Willowing site...

Latest Life Book Inspiration

You hear me reference Life Book a heck of a lot, as it is a very large part of my creative life. Alongside Life Book 2015 (live, tutored on-line art course) I like to also work from on-line self study courses and Tam has tonnes to offer. Recently Tam had a 50% sale off all her self study courses, so I decided to buy Life Book 2012, featuring Tam's own lessons. Pretty awed to say, having started the course on Thursday, I already have completed 7 out of 13 lessons!! Some of my offerings will be below in my latest art section.

Willowing - Art Classes to buy

Magical Mab

Mab Graves is an artist I have followed on Instagram for quite some time now. A Magical pink-haired beauty, she creates fantastical, surreal characters that I just am in love with. Her subjects vary from popular culture to mythology and her big eyed girls are a style instantly recognisable. One of my goals in life (haha!) is to own something Mab has crafted at some point, as I just could gaze at her creations all day. She also paints surreal animals and UNICORNS, and this The Last Unicorn Cameo and bunny painting have to be 2 of my favourites of hers...

Mab Graves' Website

Comic Book Inspiration 

My final MM share is a film I watched last week that inspired me to start illustrating my own comic book! "After" (2012) directed by Ryan Smith is my favourite genre of horror-fantasy (although billed as a thriller) and has a strong graphic novel style. It basically is about what happens after 2 strangers are involved in a bus crash and are seemingly the only 2 people left in their small home town. It's not got a great rating on IMDB but I really enjoyed it. One of the protagonists creates comic books and it encouraged me to start playing around with a comic concept I had floating around in my head. I watched this on US Netflix, but according to IMDB you can watch on Amazon Instant Video for £2.49.

After (2012)

My new comic book

 

Latest artwork

Last but not least, here are the paintings I created over the past week...

L-R: "Veronica", acrylic on paper, "Honouring Your Past", "We Seek Not Rest But Transofrmation", last 2 are mixed media on paper, inspired by Life Book 2012. 

Left: "Not Real", inspired by Life Book 2012, Right: "Sun Angel", both mixed media on paper.

 L-R: "Sea Goddess", "Scare Away The Dark", "Comfort", all inspired by Life Book 2012, all mixed media,

Thanks for reading chaps, have a Magical Monday (Tuesday!) wherever you are! : -) xx

- Emily (aka Little Lyra)

Swimming through rainbows

I decided to do another work in progress video - can't get enough of them! There's something magical about seeing a piece unfold in a matter of seconds, when in reality it took hours! This is a 30 second video of different stages creating a mixed media painting - materials used: watercolours, ink, black gesso and gold acrylic.

Inspired by a rainy day and dreaming of swimming through rainbows.

Magical Mondays

A couple of months ago, I woke up to a Monday and felt a bit gloomy that it was, well, Monday. For so many people you get that “Sunday Evening Dread” and “Monday Morning Gloom.” Feeling a slight churning in my stomach and a bit ashen, I checked my social media, and the first post I saw was this picture:

It really resonated with me and hit me there and then, that Monday is only a day. But what a precious day. 24 whole hours of anything that could happen! From that moment on, I decided to re-brand Mondays as Magical Monday. Every Monday, I try to find something magical in the world and remember how wonderful everything is, despite the gloom that tries to descend.

Now… Load up this song by Passenger on youtube, and have this playing in the background whilst you read on – it’s a great song, and I start most days off playing it loudly as I find it completely inspiring and invigorating.

Welcome to Magical Monday, chaps! 

I will aim to share at least 3 magical posts to bring a bit more sparkle to the start of the week and will round off with a snapshot of the magical art I have created the previous week.

What is creativity?

Shared on my art group on facebook, this video popped into my newsfeed this morning. This chap is so dynamic and enthusiastic it’s pretty impossible not to get drawn into his words, gestures and wonderful thoughts on what creativity is.

Jason Silva on What is Creativity

Whimsical worlds contained in tiny flip books

This Japanese artist has created these stunning little flip books, and they have to be the best flip books I’ve ever seen! Through negative space and cut outs, Mou Hitotsu no Kenkyujo, has created truly magical moving illustration of strange and whimsical worlds.

Fantastical flip books by Mou Hitotsu no Kenkyujo

 FAE Magazine – a reference for future fairies

I’ve followed FAE (Fairies and Enchantment) on facebook for a fair while now, and decided to order their latest issue of their magazine as it just looked to magical to resist! I’m planning on using some of the big photoshoots as reference pictures for future artworks and I’m really looking forward on reading about the fairy fest by Brian and Wendy Froud. Brian Froud is one of my biggest inspirations in my art (see artworks below) so this was the hook for me! There’s also a feature on the new BBC programme, Jonathon Strange and Mr. Norrell, which I shall be watching the first episode of sometime today!

FAE Magazine Summer Issue - about

To round up Magical Monday, here’s how last week looked for paintings by me – I delved into more anthropomorphism with some sphinx-like beings and of course another mermaid : -)

Enjoy your day, chaps, and keep Mondays Magical! 

Behind the scenes: creating my miniature clay sculptures

I for one get very excited seeing other people’s work in progress shots or behind the scenes of how they are creating. Maybe it is my built-in nosiness or just the compelling inside story of how a beautiful finished artwork slowly develops and comes to life. As part of my own learning process, I like to take regular progress shots of paintings I am working on and various stages of my sculpting.

As a mixed media artist, I love that I am not tied down to one set medium and thoroughly enjoy a range of creative activities, one of which is air drying clay sculpture. March through April I was very excited creating quirky little clay sculptures I dubbed the “clayreations”.

Surreal and an intriguing mix of creepy-cute, these miniature figurines varied from time spent sculpting (the lambs took the longest) and I enjoyed documenting how they blossomed into “life” as I worked through several stages of painting them. I like to apply a layer of black gesso no matter what colour they will end up, as I feel it adds more depth to the finished piece. All my clayreations are finished with 2-3 layers of gloss as well, to mimic ceramic glazing.  

My inspiration for these pocket-sized pieces came from some sketches of anthropomorphic creatures and a weird dream I had about 2 twin mermaids, only one of the mermaids was not in the conventional sense! Most of my clayreations are currently available for sale via my etsy shop so please feel free to check them out and if you are interested in having your own clayreation commissioned, drop me a line in the comments.

Work in progress shots:

Completed pieces: 

Dancing in the silver birch forest

Inspired by watching BBC Young Dancer 2015 yesterday, I painted this loose and magical watercolour of a fairy-like being watching a young girl dance in the woods. I decided to take photos of the paintings as it progressed and turn it into a little tame lapse video to show people my process for it. This isn't always how I work so I will do some more over the coming weeks to share further ways I bring my imaginings to paper! I've done lots of dark wooded areas recently so thought I would create a more light-hearted piece, using the soft curves of a pirouette, hair flowing in the wind and my favourite tree, the silver birch as my muses.