Take a look at the artwork around my home

Apart from strong colours and interesting objects, I also like to have interesting pictures and artwork in the house.

I have created some myself, and the others are a mix of original works, limited editions and an off the shelf canvas. 

I look for unusual pictures, but prefer to paint my own. Unfortunately this is very time consuming and as with most creative things, I have to be in the mood.

Artworks serve as points of interest in any room alongside other interior design features, and as talking points too. Even though I've seen these countless times, I still enjoy seeing them each day and find something new to enjoy and engage with.

Tell me what you think in the comments. Have you done anything similar in your house? What's your favourite piece of art and why?

Glimmer of hope

This painting is enormous, it measures 55"x 80" I gave it this title as I wasn't in the best place at the time. I love a large, bold canvas as you can go on forever. Nothing is ever planned or sketched beforehand so things end up a bit of a 'mish mash' at times.

The clouds have eyes mixed into them which cry and sort of represent rain. The rain then falls onto the flowers which are faces on the end of stems surrounded by foliage. ( Note the David Bowie 'flower')

An experiment with a smashed vinyl record was stuck on, each piece has an eye glued onto it.

I threw a random lady into the mix on the right hand side. There are hundreds of buttons stuck around her, most of which belonged to my Nan who collected them during the war.

This was originally a printed canvas on a roll which was stretched over strips of metal that slotted together to create a picture. I bought it from IKEA many years ago, I think it had an inky pattern on it which I found unimaginative, so I painted over it. 

We have a loft conversion and the wall leading up to it has been opened up right up to the roof, so as you can imagine there is a huge expanse of wall. Once this has been given a lick of paint this artwork will be hung there.

Another one of my paintings

Another canvas of mine was created using an old duvet cover dipped in PVA glue, arranged in folds on a canvas and left to dry. 

I painted it all purple and then went over it using acrylics in various colours. I always seem to insert eyes everywhere, must be my 'thing'. 

I could never put my finger on a title for it, so it doesn't possess one, not really that important.

The female form

I've always been fond of the nudes in any medium, particularly the female form with all the curves. 

I picked this up from a little village fair in Grange-Over-Sands for £40 including the frame. 

It's a pencil drawing, but unfortunately the artist has been a bit too gentle as it's not very clear, a little bit too subtle.

My Mum was with me at the time and couldn't understand why I would want a naked woman on the wall!

Batik

This has a Picasso/childlike style using wax and water based paint. 

I wasn't really sure where I was going to end up with this one. As usual it ended up as a contemporary face, which always seems to be my default. More of an experiment really.

The Fringe, Edinburgh

We had a short break in Edinburgh while visiting The Fringe, staying in a gorgeous apartment just off Princes Street. 

Each day we passed a charity shop. The artist, who I guess was probably an art student, had some of her work displayed in the shop and this one jumped out at me. 

Her style was bold and simple using acrylics to convey a sinister mood. 

I'm always drawn to the macabre.

The canvas is large and wouldn't fit in the boot of the car, so we had to parcel it up and post it to our house. 

There was another canvas in the shop window with an evil looking fox lurking in the background which I regretted not buying. 

I phoned the charity shop when I arrived home but unfortunately it had already been sold. 

I wish I had taken the name of the artist as I would have liked to purchase more of her work.

However it was not to be so this remains a one-off in our house and a beautiful one at that.

Boba Fett

This is a numbered and limited edition canvas of a Star Wars icon, part of a series called reflections. 

My husband chose this. 

I don't really like it, but I have to let him choose some art occasionally (too bloody right - husband!) as all the input in the house comes from me. 

I zhushed it up a bit with a very old stripped oak frame which I simply placed around it.

Candie Payne

A fabulous artist from Liverpool who we bumped into at an art fayre in St George's Hall. All her work is very fine and detailed in pen and ink. 

I love the way she has cleverly incorporated little skulls, another fascination. She is also a very talented singer and extremely attractive, some people have it all!

You can follow her on Instagram, Candiepayne_artist.

Sinister

Being a big fan of The Baltic Market in Liverpool which is a little gem of a place selling vintage items, I found this beauty nestled in among some mid-century furniture.

This is another original, I suspect using acrylic paint. 

The room it is in has a Gothic feel and is painted black. This canvas goes perfectly with that mood and tone, thanks to a very talented artist who has managed to give off a foreboding aura. The eyes remind me of Mona Lisa as they appear to follow me around the room.

Having picture rails around the house is a big plus as I can just hang pictures around the house without leaving any marks on the walls. 

I didn't want to use a hanging picture chain so I used an old belt belonging to my husband and attached an S shaped hook from IKEA into the buckle and then hung it onto the picture rail.

An experiment using paint

I thought red paint may look a bit too gory so a combination of different coloured gouache is used to smear onto my model's neck and then I photographed her.

Aladdin Sane

A large, limited edition picked up from a gallery in the Lake District depicting the famous image of Aladdin Sane. 

Angel's wings have been added on top of the glass to give a 3D effect in a white iridescent medium. The top half of the body and neck have has been adorned in intricate black and white religious iconography.

The red and blue zig zag has been edged with a sparkly raised 3D effect paint and the diamond earrings have been glued on top of the glass.

I'm not a fan of bling so I don't particularly like the frame, but somehow it seems to go with it.

When I look at this, it takes my breath away because of my passion for Bowie combined with all the additional features. He remains such a big part of my life and this is a wonderful way to express that, I think.

David Bowie's album canvas

I couldn't resist this one. A bog standard canvas which depicts most of Bowie's albums. 

In the weeks before we got this, I was suggesting to my husband that we should get a big piece of Bowie artwork and he was really non-committal. The reason was he'd already bought this as a birthday surprise for me!

I have this one up in my kitchen on the wall where I prepare food so that I can glance up at it while cooking. I seem to see something new every time I look at it.

Paper Mosaic

I did this one many moons ago using squares of coloured paper to create a contemporary face, it was a bit fiddly. 

At the time I didn't have anything handy to stick the paper on to, so I used a piece of thin plywood which was the bottom of an old wooden drawer.

Goals for the New Year.....create more pictures!