Sharon Golding Designs

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 ...