Thirty Paintings in 30 Days - Day 4

Mixed media on altered journal - Thirty paintings in 30 Days - Day 4

(Close-up)

Wow! another days challenge done. I am happy. This little mixed media painting is done on a altered old book. I love painting on them. The paper is so nice to work on. I prefer old books over the shop bought sketchbooks. I have used here my rust dyed fabrics, vintage lace, some hand stitching and acrylic paint. Day 4 - Thirty paintings in 30 Days done.

Dreaming about India and Slow Stitching

 I have already started counting my days. I am dreaming and this dream is soon going to come true. Our tickets are booked and yes! We are going to India during the summer holidays.

I am so excited and looking forward to go to India and visit my family. This time of the year Delhi is quite hot but we will go from there to my sister who lives in the most beautiful part of north India called Manali. And she runs her resort called Zahir Adventures. Here is the link if you are interested in having a look.

Anyway, as I am thinking and dreaming of being in India already, I just had to pull out some of my mothers old saree's which she kindly gave me to use in my work. I feel very lucky to have all these treasures and by making something out of my mothers old saree that she wore  is my way of holding on to my memories of India and my family. It is hard at times to live out of your own country but we learn, adapt and I have got immense love and support here in England and have made lots of good friends too. Some of the families I know here now are like my own family.

I have also pulled out these lovely gifts from my mother too. She bought them from Manali last year, when she went up to my sister. I am so excited to visit her, can't wait.

But while I am waiting, I just thought to make something from all my treasures from India.

I have also included my rust dyed cloth, which you saw in this post here.

The yellow piece of the saree is so fragile, that it keeps ripping as I stitch it. I remember my mother wearing it when I was a little girl.

This is how it looks now, and it is so special to me that I want to keep it in one of my journals. So its part of one of my charity shop bought old hard cover books now. I am happy and going to stitch maybe something else, with my rust dyed cloth and some vintage lace I bought, from the charity shop as well.

Old books and New Paintings

 Old books make me happy when I find them in charity shops. They really make my day.

Yesterday I added three more books in my studio. To tell you the truth they can be found in almost every room in my house.  Maybe I should keep them all in one place, in my studio.

I love the cover of this book and the paper inside is nice and thick too.

This book now has such a beautiful painting of the Queen and some illustrations inside the book are worth framing. Hmm... Might do that one day.

For a while now these old books are my art journals. I really like to paint on them. Some of the pages are so lovely to work on. But I never spoil an existing illustration.

 Moving on from the old books now I have another finished mixed media en-caustic painting on the shelf above. The painting on the left which you saw while it was still work on progress is now finished.  I also mentioned in my previous post about health and safety working with hot wax.

So, I wanted to try cold wax medium for my next painting. Yes a lot of experimenting going on in my studio. And that's what it is all about I guess. Trying new mediums and techniques until you find the right one for you. Now cold wax medium can be safely mixed with oil paints and doesn't need any exhaust or fan in the room. Still, good ventilation in the studio is always better anyway. So I am still working on my mixed media paintings more or less effortlessly...sometimes adding oil, wax, emphera or even a vintage piece of fabric.