Painting a Mad Hatter Tiger

I decided to have a go at filming myself while painting, it was my first time so I was a bit nervous! I treated myself to a tripod for my camera and thought I'd have a go with one of my favourite subjects, a tiger.

I managed to attach my camera to a chair to keep it steady. I did discover the camera was in the way quite a lot and also my hand kept blocking the view as I was painting, so next time I might set it up a bit differently,  but in the end it wasn't too bad. I also knocked the camera a couple of times but luckily it isn't too noticable in the finished version of the video! 

I've speeded up the video and made over an hour of painting into just over a minute, wish I could always paint that fast!

Here's the finished painting:

Mad Hatter Tiger - Acrylic Painting

I've also made it into a greeting card:

Mad Hatter Tiger - Greeting Card

And a badge set:

Steampunk Tigers - Badge Set

So I have tigers everywhere!

I'm looking forward to another foray into filming soon!

Clare xx

Painting a Steampunk Tabby Cat

I had a bit of time to kill on Tuesday morning while waiting for the chimney sweep to come round so I thought I'd start a couple of new Steampunk inspired animals in hats acrylic paintings!

Its been a while since I did a new cat in hat painting so I thought I'd try a tabby cat in a leather flying hat and goggles, I've done a black and white cat and also a tiger in a flying hat and these have proved to be very popular!

Flying Kitty Greeting Card

Flying Tiger Greeting Card

I decided to take a few photos of my step by step painting so you can see behind the scenes of how I paint!

Here is the very start, I manipulate the image in Photoshop and have added a hat to the tabby cat (I don't really force any animals to wear hats, its all done digitally!) Here's my canvas at the very beginning - I hate working on a white canvas/paper so always paint the canvas first. For my cats I find red seems to work the best as a background colour.

I also always start with the eyes as I think if the eyes don't look right the painting will never work.

I try to cover as much of the canvas as I can working on every part blocking in the basic colours. 

I am gradually building up layers and refining areas. Again I like to get the eyes to be very clear and often exaggerate them slightly to make the face look cuter!

He is starting to come together. You can see the cat is a lot more refined than the hat at the moment. The hats and goggles are usually the last things I work on. Also you can spot my palette is an icecream tub lid, it keeps the paint wet for a bit longer and doesn't need cleaning off when I have finished!

Just about finished! I've added touches of gold paint to the goggles and a bit more detail all over. I love painting goggles and adding all the reflections in the metal!

Flying Tabby Acrylic Painting

Here he is all finished and ready to go off on a new adventure!

Clare xx

Steampunk Boot Wings

At The Asylum Festival

I went to the Asylum Steampunk Festival in Lincoln for the first time this year and had an amazing time (the biggest and longest running Steampunk Festival in the solar system!) I had heard lots of stories about the steep hill, cobbles and just lots and lots of walking over the course of the long weekend so I treated myself to some very practical boots with a comfort sole and memory foam. I loved my boots but thought there was just something missing so I decided to have a go at making some wings for them so that I could try and fly up that steep hill instead!

I had lots of wool fleece left over from making some cushions so decided to use that, also it is really thick and holds it shape well but very easy to sew too. I get my fleece from a local community scrap store called SCARF which is like an Aladdins Cave of fabric, paint etc perfect for making steampunk items. I found some lovely brass eyelets on Ebay and decided to have a go at making.

Purple/Pink Boot Wings

Here's the first outing for my new wings with the West Midlands Steampunk Assembly at the Birmingham Botanical Gardens over the summer:

 

I loved them so much that I decided I had to make some to sell too.

You can just spot some of my wings that I smuggled in under my cloak to sell at the Illicit Market at the Asylum!

Here's a quick look behind the scenes of the making of my recent boot wings:

A few wings all sewn and ready to be painted.

Painting a few highlights on the wings, I love my metallic gold and copper paints!

Adding my eyelets - I use a spare brick in the garden as a mini anvil!

Lots of finished wings ready to be bagged for sale.

They have been selling really well so I decided to make a few more and lots of the new ones will be available at my next Steampunk Event - Steampunks in Space at the Leicester Space Centre, 25 - 26th November.

I've also added a pair of wings to my bag below, I'm thinking of adding some to my hat too!

Lots and lots of wings!

I'm hoping that the more wings I add I should really be able to fly soon!

Clare xx

How to Steampunk a Giraffe!

Last year I went to Florida and had the most unforgettable experience of hand feeding a very friendly giraffe at Busch Gardens. I got so many amazing photos and knew that I would have to do a lot of giraffe artwork when I got back home!

 I decided I would have to paint a Steampunk giraffe to go with the rest of my animals in Steampunk hats series of paintings and started thinking about what hat would look best on a giraffe!

I decided he would have to be an explorer and after seeing my partners very nice new pith helmet, above, at the last West Midlands Steampunk Assembly's very fun expedition to hunt dinosaurs at the Botanical Gardens in Birmingham in June, I knew the giraffe would look great in a pith helmet and goggles!

A lot of people ask me how I get the animals to wear the hats in my artworks, I don't think many of them would be too happy with me dressing them up so I do use a little bit of photoshop magic before I start the artwork. I prefer to work from real hats as I can get more detail, to control the lighting and also sometimes wear them while painting so I an see what it looks like on! So I borrowed the pith helmet and took a few photos from various angles. I then put these into photoshop and added the pith helmet to one of my photos of the giraffe.

Here is what he looks like and what I work from while I am doing the painting. It is very roughly photoshopped (and excuse my thumb!) but I only need a rough idea and can alter things as I paint.

Explorer Giraffe - Acrylic Painting

And here he is, the finished painting! I think he looks very cute in his pith helmet and goggles!

Explorer Giraffe - Greeting Card

I also made him into a greeting card to go with my many cards depicting my animals in Steampunk hats!

Steampunk Animal Cards

I'm sure there will be a few more Steampunk inspired giraffe paintings coming soon and there may be a few more animals wearing pith helmets as they are great fun to paint!

Clare xx

Painting a Steampunk Cat

Titfer Kitty Acrylic Painting on Canvas

I love painting my Cats in Hats acrylic paintings and they have proved very, very popular! I thought I'd show you behind the scenes of one of my most recent acrylic paintings "Titfer Kitty".

 Here is the model for this painting posing with his best friend my next door neighbour's black and white cat Billy! They are always together and follow each other everywhere. I don't know his name yet as I'm still trying to work out where he lives but he is always in my garden searching for Billy to come out and play with him and I couldn't resist painting him as he is quite scruffy but still has a lovely face.

I decided to take one of my many photos of him and messed about with him on Photoshop putting various hats on him until I decided he just looked so right in a very dapper top hat and goggles!

I hate working on a white canvas so always try to get rid of the white as soon as I can. I thought he would work well on a red background. Here it is on my easel with a very rough pencil drawing to work from.

The next step I block in as much of the image as I can, keeping it very simple. He has a very cute smile here!

A few more layers and details added and he is starting to come together. A bit more work on the hat and goggles and then always the final touch of adding the whiskers!

The finished painting. The painting is resting on our barbecue as I find it has an interesting background for these paintings and I always try to take the photos in lots of natural light for the best effect.

 He also now features on a greeting card and should be in my new calendar that I produce every year around September time.

Titfer Kitty Greeting Card

Steampunk Animal Calendar

And will be added to the hall of fame of my many other Cats in Hats paintings!

Clare xx

Purple Steampunk Elephants!

Steampunk Elephant Collagraph Print

 
Today I decided to have a look at some of my older collagraph printing plates and do a bit of experimentation with them in different colourways. I really like my Steampunk Elephant printing plate with its cogs etc as it was great fun to design and make. I only ever printed it in a gunmetal grey so wondered what it would look like in my favourite printing ink purple!
 
Here is the printing plate just starting to be covered in a lovely rich purple ink!
 

 

The printing plate all covered in purpleness and being wiped to uncover the elephant beneath!
 

 
 On the etching press ready for the exciting part the printing!

 
Hot off the press - a Purple Steampunk Elephant!
 

 
Here is a sneaky peak at what is going on in the background when I am printing! My printing press is on the dining room table and even when Morpheus the cat is no where to be seen as soon as I start printing he appears to supervise and today to make a nest in my tissue paper!

 I think he liked the print although he was a bit upset I wasn't immortalising him in print like I usually do!

The finished Steampunk Elephant collagraph print looking good in purple!

 

 

Clare xx