Posted by Suzie on Jan 8, 2010 in
Diary 
Angel Face
Happy New Year friends! I hope you’ve all had a wonderful festive season and break. We’ve had lots of fun both home and away, spending time with family & friends and enjoying the snow! I just wanted to share with you Angel Face. I know this is my first blog post in a while but she was actually created for Christmas, but with the general hustle and bustle it has taken me until now to publish her here! I’ve used a combination of media starting on a heavy water-colour paper which is fixed to board. On the paper I used heavy clear gesso which I stamped into whilst wet, and layered up acrylic paint and pencil. I’ve also colour washed and wiped back to reveal background detail and mute some of the tones.
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Tags: acrylic, angel, embellished, face, mixed media, original, paint, Suzie Rhodes
Posted by Suzie on Nov 17, 2009 in
Diary 
Girl with Golden Hair
I’m really getting in to painting girls again – I just love painting girls, and I love experimenting with mixed media. Here I started out with some left-over pink acrylic paint which I had previously spread about as a background on to paper. Then I applied some antique decorative paper from the inner leaves of an old book as the border around the face. Then I layered up using stamps, acrylic paint, modelling paste in the hair and pencil crayons. I ‘m pleased with this portrait. Autumnal shades yet a glowing warmth are right for this time in the year!
Tags: acrylic, antique, face, girl, mixed media, painting, Portrait, pretty
Posted by Suzie on Oct 31, 2009 in
Diary 
Lady in Blue Mantle
Here we have another sketchbook image done in the same layered technique of acrylic and pastel. I produced the image about a year ago in graphite and it has just sat there in my book which I was flicking through earlier. It just seemed to shout out “Paint Me!!”, and so I obeyed. I think it’s made an improvement upon the original drawing, but just wish I had photographed it before paint to show you. N’mind!
Tags: acrylic, lady, mantle, painting, Pastel
Posted by Suzie on Sep 16, 2009 in
Diary 
Amanda. 30cm x 13.5cm. Acrylic on MDF Board.
Meet Amanda! She is a good friend and a brilliant solo guitarist and singer. She wanted me to create something for her new home as she sets out on new horizons, so this is it!! I’ve stuck mostly to black & white as those are her favourite colour combo and tried to make it most like her – she loves her little waist coats and pin-stripes!
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Tags: acrylic, diva, MDF, Pretty Girl
Posted by Suzie on Sep 2, 2009 in
Diary 
Funny Faces
So, here is my latest piece. Illustration rather than mixed media. I just wanted to create something simple which would serve as promo material. It is a combination of acrylic and watercolour pencil on birch plywood. I am thinking of having this printed onto some nice organic cotton tote bags so please let me know if you are interested so I may reserve yours now!
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Tags: acrylic, Faces, Illustration, Leeds, London, London Eye, Manchester, school holidays, Tote Bags, watercolour pencils
Posted by Suzie on Jul 17, 2009 in
Diary 
Daffodils in Vase. Tissue, acrylic and gutta. 30cm x 40cm on MDF board.
Oh My! Nearly 2 months since my last post. So much has happened. I have purposely been trying to take life a little more slowly so made a conscious decision not to worry about my blog but to adjust gently to the move with a ‘come what may’ attitude. And so……. we came, and so did life and lots has occured. We got here in Derbyshire at the end of May, and it is a pretty place. I do love it here. The children are settling well into the Steiner school (with a few bumps along the way, but I think that is expected), and we too are adjusting as parents to the changes. I don’t for a minute have any doubts that we have done the right thing. Our kids seem to have become ‘fuller’ and so much more of themselves already. They’re growing well with their new challenges. Read more…
Tags: acrylic, Derbyshire, mixed media, Mother, painting, Steiner school
Posted by Suzie on Apr 27, 2009 in
Diary 
Pussy Cat Lover. Acrylic on Canvas.
In between house hunting, surveyor visits and junk-sorting, I’ve gone back to my girly roots. It’s been a long time since I made any pretty girls so figured it was time to re-visit, and it has felt most refreshing! Hand drawn and painted with fine-liner and acrylic paint on 6″ x 4″ box canvas – I am thinking of starting a new range similar to her. Also I’m thinking of maybe some boy themed pictures too, which will be a novelty for me! Read more…
Tags: acrylic, box canvas, girl, pretty
Posted by Suzie on Apr 22, 2009 in
Diary 
Fishy Collage Detail
Ever had the feeling that you should sometimes just give up on something? Well, that’s exactly how this painting went for me. There is a figure (a fisherman) who is the main subject of this painting but it went so wrong I feel a little embarrassed to show it so have cropped him out, ha ha!! Read more…
Tags: acrylic, collage, Golden Matt Medium, mesh, stitched
Posted by Suzie on Mar 20, 2009 in
Diary 
Tulips with Blue Glass.
Okay, just finished up on my most recent piece! I’ve experimented with crinkled tissue paper, glue, translucent and opaque layers, dimantes and even toilet paper (for the frame!!). I drew the lines on first with the black gutta and tissued over and started by blacking the whole thing (see below). Then it has been a series of acrylic layers, trials and adjustments to bring the whole piece together. I’ve learned a lot about technique through this painting – a lot about layers, about adding then taking away and just leaving a residue. I love how well the stencil turned out on the table cloth. Read more…
Tags: acrylic, authentic, Earth Hour, environment, gutta, inspiration, lights out, mixed media, painting, planet, tissue paper, tulips, zoning in
Posted by Suzie on Feb 25, 2009 in
Diary 
Beech Huts. Acrylic & Water Colour Pencil on 13mm deep MDF Board. 30 x 10 cm.
The sun shone today. The walls in our office were awash with lambent streams of light flowing in through vertical blinds. Lovely! Despite my headache (self inflicted from the previous evening’s pub visit!) I felt a glimpse of renewal. The heat gently soothed my aching back, massaging me internally. The blue sky was a welcome change from the dull overcast shades of the past few months. We even turned the thermostat down!! Maybe it was because of my new piece which I was just finishing up, that Sol thought she would pop in? Cheery and bright is this little experiment which is unglamorously textured ceiling paint on MDF (yet to be signed), worked into with acrylic paints and watercolour pencils. Painting on such a gritty surface has been a challenge for me (not least for my poor brushes!) but the affect is visually interesting. It’s got grit and it’s got depth. Oh, I love beech huts! I wished I lived by the sea. Oooh, I feel a Dido song coming on . . . . . . . . “I’ve always thought that I would love to live by the sea, To travel the world alone and live more simply. I have no idea what’s happened to that dream, Cos there’s really nothing left here to stop me. It’s just a thought, only a thought……….”
Beech Huts Close-up
Tags: acrylic, beech, Dido, huts, MDF, sun, watercolour pencils, winter
