Chalkboards

Well, things have been very quiet on the Art & Inspiration front for quite a while I know! I have been very busy with the biggest personal project I have ever undertaken in the form of The Waki Way motor home refurb, but I am still open to commission when required. So although I've not felt a sudden rush of inspiration to grab paint and brushes, a friend of mine at The Swan Hotel in Bedford asked me to design and paint their advertising chalkboards for their new bar area which has been a really enjoyable experience and definitely given me some inspiration for future money making!

I'd never done boards before but I'll try my hand at anything really so was interesting if not a little scary, as I didn't know what the previous board art quality was like that I had to outdo.I quickly got to researching the net for chalkboard artists and any tips they might have!

They wanted the boards doing for the Jublilee weekend so wanted the standard red, white and blue colours along with a swan featured somewhere on there of course! I thought the swan would look good swimming proud on the coloured waves with a crown on, and kept the rest of the design simple with bold white lettering. I also couldn't resist including the Union Jack on the arrow board, inspired perhaps by the beginning Dads Army!

Using the special chalk markers took a little getting used to but I soon got into it and they had enough of a colour range of pens to be able to get a few parts highlighted, though the large areas of red and blue took a while as those colour pens were quite fine nibbed so I just had to keep scribbling and shaking them! In all I had to do both sides of two A-boards and the large board next to the bar hatch itself, which took me three evenings after work including the first day of meeting and designing.

I'm pleased with the results, and The Swan staff seem to be as well which is the main thing (I just hope the 'shower-proof' pens survive our typical Bank Holiday weather!). My friend has asked me if I would be happy to do future amendments or any touch ups, and I know that I can only get better - especially with a bigger range of colours and some new pens next time.

So a big thank you should go to John Neal, whose chalkboard art videos on You Tube gave me so much good advice, and also to Andrew from The Swan Hotel in Bedford for giving me the opportunity in the first place! I couldn't ask for a better location for my first publicly displayed artwork! :)

'Cool Art' Cars

My latest art is inspired by my passion for modified motors and the unique or unusual and so I've launched a completely new website dedicated to creating 'Cool Art' and paintings of peoples own cars! Each picture is done specifically of the individual car, so features THEIR custom alloys and paintwork unlike other generic pictures of standard (boring) cars.

See my Gallery of cool cars on 'Your Car As Art' website.

My beloved old Peugeot 306 GTI 6

'Cool Art' refers to a drawing created along a perfectly straight line using an optical illusion to still seem 3D. They encourage warped wheels and other features to exaggerate the modifications, but of course can be as little or as much as you like!

'The Renault' 19 - my first cool art drawing!

The idea came from when I was looking for gift ideas for a friend who was opening a garage and I came across an old picture I'd done for fun many years ago of his old car (see right). It was a Renault 19 and barely recognisable from the standard design with many unique features and, like many motoring enthusiasts, was the love of his life at the time! So what better as a gift than to revive those old memories for him? Needless to say he was thrilled and it's now proudly displayed in his garage office, and the interest that it sparked got me doing many more of other friends' cars and now professionally!

So if you love your car or know someone else who does, or even if they just have some pictures of a mechanical 'sweetheart' from their past, I would be happy to help bring those feelings onto paper for all to enjoy! Go to http://www.yourcarasart.weebly.com/


Sarah.

'The Dreaming Space' Acrylic painting on canvas

We all need somewhere to escape to to find some tranquility. The Dreaming Space was created mostly from my imagination and by using a selection of images of these trees to help with the acuracy of the form and foliage.

The Japanese Maple is one of my favourite trees, I absolutely love the vibrant red so naturally I had to paint something with one featured at some point, and I’m sure there will be many more to come so watch this space!

My aim was to create a calm, peaceful place but with a creative energy and with this painting I feel like (if it was possible to climb into the canvas anyway!) I could sit beneath it's twisting branches and drifting leaves for hours on end. So came the perfect meditation space or somewhere to think and dream of what could be, hence the name The Dreaming Space...

I hope it brings some creativity your way, thanks for looking. Sarah.

For more of Sarah Hamer's art & craft items go to http://www.sarahhamerartist.weebly.com/

'Staring Upwards' Acrylic painting

Last Spring we visited the New Forest and my main memory from the trip was standing amongst the trees on the clearest night staring upwards through the branches at the stars. We'd stopped the car and was listening to the call of a Tawny Owl and the only other noise was the wind rustling in the Spring leaves.

I knew that my basic little camera just wouldn't do the scene justice, so instead I just soaked up the view and painted this from memory on my return! I hope it brings you as much peace and inspiration to look at as it did me at the time, until next time... Sarah.

For more of Sarah Hamer's art & craft items go to www.sarahhamerartist.weebly.com