Sharon Golding Designs

 Life for me is about staying alive, keeping active and learning new things. Latest thing to catch my attention is sewing.  Never really a sewer (or should it be “sewist”?) in my younger days, I find recently a strange draw to the sewing machine and fabrics.  Well, to be perfectly honest the fabric came first, became a bit of an obsession even, so once I had a fair stash I really needed to use it.  Enter the self learning of how to sew. I’m starting with simple things first, a pillowcase.  What can be more simple? Straight stitching.  Not a problem… I thought! My dolls are all laying around waiting for a new wardrobe of clothes, grumbling about their lot, but tackling a pattern is not yet on my agenda.  I’ve had to talk them into being patient. ;). First things first, straight things… simple makes that will be completed fast to keep my interest alive! Choosing the fabric for my new pillowcase is my first task.  Out comes the stash. Several hours l...

Artistically, I am blocked, my mojo has deserted me and I can’t seem to bring myself to do any of my hobbies.  Recent events have contributed to this, but I really want to get out of this funk. I decided to try small steps, no major works… just playing. After the doll obsession (which seems to be ongoing!), I feel the need to get back to my art.  Drawing, watercolour, pen & wash.  These are where I started and where I want to go now… to soothe my soul. Quirky house in moleskine sketchbook  These are just for fun, nothing serious, nothing finished, just quick sketches.  It feels so soothing.  I’m getting some practice without letting myself get caught up in detail or stressing over how it should look.   Contour drawing  I took part in some online workshops in Sketchbook Revival and it helped enormously.  Now it’s finished it’s hard to get the same enthusiasm back.  But I’m determined to try. If you have any tips on how to smash throug...

 Acrylic painting on canvas board, Straw bales. This reminds me so much of home, our old house, where we were surrounded by fields and after the harvest the straw bales in the fields.  It was such a lovely peaceful place and we had a clear view over the fields to watch the beautiful sunsets. Anyway, back to the painting.  With this one again, I did the simplistic drawing, then blocked in, followed by the refining and detail. “Hay Bales“ acrylic on canvas board 16” x 12” Not quite finished yet as I need to lighten the background bales a tad and strengthen the foreground shrubbery on the right. Feeling quite happy with this one. Hope I have inspired you to have a go at painting.  Remember, three colours, three brushes and three steps.  It’s so easy.  The colours I used are Ultramarine blue, Alizarin crimson and Yellow ochre, plus Titanium white.  You can mix all the colours you need from these and create a very harmonic painting.  Look out for my pa...

 Hello everyone! Thought I would have a play with mosaics once again.  I’m self taught and have only made a few projects with mosaic, but it’s a very satisfying craft and quite easy to do. I have an old wooden cabinet in my bathroom that I wanted to brighten up and to mosaic seemed a really good option.  I cleaned up the top and proceeded to design the mosaic.  I wanted to keep with my nautical theme in the bathroom and designed a fish for the centre of my mosaic.   Before grouting Grouting done!   You can’t tell from this photo but I added a little pale blue acrylic paint to the grouting which really seems to harmonise the whole piece.  Just got to clean up and give it a rub up.  I’m very happy with the finished piece and it’s so much brighter and cleaner than just plain wood. I hope I’ve inspired you to have a go with mosaic. I’d love to see what you make, if you’d like to share.   It’s really satisfying and quite addictive! See you soon. ...

 Hi All This week has been busy on the craft front.  Mostly little experiments and ideas at the moment, oh yes, I’m full to bursting of ideas!  Just not enough hours in the day. This post will be about the bits and pieces I’ve been working on this week. Firstly, an update on my sewing themed linocut.  I’ve refined the design, made the needle look better and had a general tidy up. Still in need of a little more work but it’s getting there. Sewing Linocut Next I worked on the little flower rubber stamp.  It needed more definition, so I outlined the centre and marked out the petal separations.  What do you think, better? Flower stamp The sewing box is still a work in progress, but here’s the original box with a new lid cut out as the old one was rotten and beyond repair.  I have the hinges, etc to reattach.   Sewing Box Project Will bring you updates on this as they happen. Finally, some pieces from my art course:- Ink & Wash   Ink line draw...

 Hello everyone, sorry I’m a little late with this post. Well this week has definitely been a printing week.  I have once again succumbed to the lure of linocut printing! I wanted a design centred around another of my hobbies, sewing.  I am upcycling a sewing box (which I will publish here later) and am considering using a linocut print to decorate. Having arranged some sewing elements - scissors, thimble, button and needle - I drew the design directly on to the Lino. Then I used my Lino gouger to cut away the area that was not part of the print - the part I cut away is the negative space around the design elements. As I am completely self taught in the art of linocutting I am not sure if my technique is correct, but it works for me.  At this stage I am reasonably happy with the result.  I had finished cutting and was happy with the linocut, so I tried a trial print to identify areas that needed more work. At this stage I felt either too much ink was used or I n...

Linocut Printing What a joy to discover something new, unique and beautiful in my craft skills.  Only a beginner at present but I'm loving what I have discovered so far.  Linocut printing.  Draw the design onto the Lino block, then cut away the negative space with the special tool, a sharp gouger which has different heads for different thicknesses. I enjoyed designing this bee and was delighted when it printed out so beautifully.  I must admit it took a couple of sessions to complete as it can be tiring on the hand and this was quite a large design.  But it was well worth it and I was very pleased with the result. I hope you like it too.  If you’re considering trying it out for yourself, go ahead, you won’t regret it! Best wishes Shari

Hello again,  Shari has been busy once again with painting a landscape.  It’s as easy as 1-2-3 … 1. Draw 2. Block in and 3 refine.   Of course after the refine there is something else needed and that is finding the One Thing.  That’s where we review the painting and look for the one thing that will improve the painting.  Live with the painting, keep it in sight each day and keep looking for the One Thing.  Eventually, it will jump out at you and niggle you so much that you have to fix it.  That’s when you figure out how to fix it and voila! Your painting is finished. Waterlily Lake   With this painting I had used a photo reference as a starting point.  I had drawn out my shapes on the canvas with thinned oil paint.  Then I blocked in the big shapes.  Having refined and put in the detail I was not really happy with the result.  So I set about finding the One Thing.  Of course there is more than one thing needed to fix this ...

 Hi Everyone, Shari is back in the room!  Well, in the blog anyway, 😂. I have been trying my skills again at the handmade rubber stamps.  I have designed a flower stamp and a logo for Sharon Golding Designs… just the initials. Having bought a supply of rubbers, I got out the gouger again and set to work.  After drawing my design and transferring it to the rubber (back to front so that it comes out correct when inked), I started removing the negative space around the design with the gouger.  Care must be taken especially close to the design as one false move could destroy the whole piece.  So if you do try this yourself, remember to take your time and remove just a little at a time. Using the gouger to remove the negative space around the flower design Taking care not to remove any petals from the design. After a while I used my trusty penknife to remove more rubber enabling the design to stand out. The penknife used with care flattened out the cutaway sect...

 Hello again, So many people have told me that they can’t paint and they wish they could.  My answer is Yes you can paint you just need to start.  So I’ve decided to show all you beginners and doubters how to do it.  It’s as easy as 1, 2, 3.... 3 paints, 3 brushes and 3 steps.  Just follow my lead. For the purpose of this demonstration I will use acrylic paints, but I will be using them like oils.  That is virtually straight from the tube with minimum water.  It’s easier using acrylics because you only need water to mix and they dry quicker than oils (sometimes too quickly!). To prepare the basics you will need are:- 3 paints:  Ultramarine Blue; Alizarin Crimson and Raw Sienna   (We will also be using Titanium White And  our Hero colour, Cadmium Yellow - use sparingly, this is the colour that will give our painting oomph!) 3 brushes: Large, Medium and small 3 steps: Draw; Block in; Refine. Two jars of water... one for mixing and one for ...

 Now here’s something interesting.  I was playing around with polymer clay with my grandchildren, just showing them how you can make things like jewellery and Christmas decorations then bake them in the oven and hey presto! You have something that lasts. I then started getting out some scraps of sterling silver and here’s what I came up with.  To make it even more resilient and hopefully long lasting I coated the clay with clear resin.  I’m quite pleased with this and will make it into a pendant. This is the front with the diamond cut into the silver And here is the back with the polymer clay coated in clear resin. What do you think?  Any ideas that could help?

Today I did some enamelling using copper and brass blanks.  Have you tried the Efcolor enamels?  They’re lovely.  You just sift powder onto your metal blanks and bake in the oven on a low heat for about 5-10 minutes.  Here are some of the items I have enamelled.  I’m going to make them into jewellery, earrings etc. It didn’t take long and it’s possible to add layers and rebake. This is a closeup of the yellow and red.  It’s quite enjoyable to try different colour combos and I shall definitely be trying more of this. I wonder what is involved in proper enamelling?  It would be fun to try it if I could, although I believe a kiln is needed which is quite an expensive item.I may look into courses for after lockdown.  It’s always fun to try new things. All the best Shari x

 To follow or not to follow?  That is the question... Will it be worth your while?  Are we compatible?  Read on and find out.  If you are slightly crazy, with a quirky sense of humour and are into all creative arts then we may just get along.  This is me and I make no apology for being me.  I’ve been around a while and I have learned a lot about life.  Have I led an interesting life?  I would say yes... in that I have always gone my own way and done my own thing.  I love life and I love the little miracles that fill our beautiful world. Ok, so introduction over and let’s get down to what this blog is all about.  I want to share with you the things that I am passionate about.  To show you how I do things and what to me is important in life.  I hope we can find some common ground, some passion that we share, because I would love for us to start a friendship and to share our thoughts and beliefs, and maybe even discover a lit...