Interludes, new beginnings and the smell of paint

I am full of the joys of spring today! The sun has been shining all day and more importantly I was free to go art material shopping and to work on some new drawings - a rare start to the week indeed.

Having left my studio earlier this year I am enjoying a little interlude at the moment. It's not nearly as traumatic as I thought it would be after 9 years of having a specific place to paint and whilst I miss the social aspect of working in an artist complex I particularly miss the smell of paint. I opened my paint box this weekend and drank in the delicious and slightly toxic smell of oil paints and had a massive pang of homesickness for painting. 

And then something quite amazing happened. One of those moments where things fall into place after a  a period of trying to move things on and not quite getting there...I (re)discovered acrylics. I've always said I hate working with acrylics - they don't really smell of anything for a start and they dry so quickly but that's also why they're so great! I hang my head in shame to all of my artist friends who have tried to tell me this so many times before. 

At the moment I am working on a series of work called "Paper Dolls" which is loosely based on the idea of the paper dolls I played with as a child; 

Also, I came across these beautiful drawings of Rodarte designs in Lula Magazine (issue 11) by Jenny Mortsell.

These are some of my drawings I did at the start of this project mixing patterned paper with drawing;

  

Below are what I am working on at the moment and they are either a duo or a trio (depending on whether or not I have the patience to complete a third). I imagine being almost identical that they are pretty impish pair and they certainly don't look particularly angelic. The clothes I have designed myself but instead of using patterned paper I will be handpainting the pattern. I look forward to having some to share very soon. In the meantime please feel free to leave comments, X