Box & Bears

Since Christmas I have been struggling a bit with artists block - I've wanted to paint but inspiration has been hard to find.  Last week I needed to paint something, anything, so dug out this wooden box that has been languishing in a corner for far too long and painted good old Otis the bear on it.

 First I painted the whole thing black using acrylic paint, then mapped out the picture with a light blue pastel pencil.  Originally I intended for the picture to extend over the bottom of the box as well, but as the work continued, I realised this would have been too much.

 As the background was black, the light colours had to be gone over a bit more than usual but I like the shadows & mood having a black background creates.

Also discovered that the white acrylic pen I have writes beautifully over the background - must remember that for signatures in future.

Once the box was painted and varnished, I lined the inside with a quirky little cotton print covered in a fish print - well, a bear's gotta eat!

This didn't last 24 hours - sold!

On Friday I went to Unravel, the yarn & knitting show - not been for a couple of years as my yarn stash could be used for a stall in it's own right, but after weeks of working hard at home I thought I could do with a day out.  Whilst there, I bought a cute book, Mini Knitted Safari, with patterns for teeny tiny wild animals.  Of course the first one I tried was a bear....