Hypnotic Heart Owl

'Hypnotic Heart Owl'

© April 20-21st 2016 by Shiloh Moore

8"x10" Pastel and Watercolour on Paper

I was trying to sleep and a quick sketch of a heart faced Owl came to mind.  

I wanted to experiment with watercolours and pastels.  I first drew the owl using white oil pastel seen below, then put a layer of bright watercolours over it.

'Hypnotic Heart Owl'

© April 20-21st 2016 by Shiloh Moore

8"x10" White Oil Pastel outline on Paper

I love the effect! 

SpiralDragonfly

 'SpiralDragonfly'

© 23-27th March 2016 by Shiloh Moore

16"x20" Metallic Acrylic, Nail Polish and Posca Pen on Canvas

One of my very best friends was recently married.  It's always hard when I can't physically attend such special events, rituals and occasions.  But I still wanted to mark it with a gift.

I have had the background painted for 3 years now, (though I forgot to take a photo!  Too late now!!!)  Then a year ago when they became engaged I knew exactly what I wanted to paint.  My friend's partner is an entomologist and my friend loves spirals.  I love dragonflies, simplified drawings, and spirals, so I could see exactly what I wanted to paint.  I was so extremely, critically ill at the time, and it seemed like it may be an eternity until I may be able to do a large picture like this - I can usually only handle small pictures, and for a long time I was not even able to do those.  But this Easter, (appropriately a time of new life,) just a couple days after the wedding, I was able to do it!  It turned out exactly as I imagined, though there were the usual problem solving issues to bring it into fruition.

Today they visited and I presented it to them.  We had a wonderful time together xx  I hope they treasure it as I treasure them. 

Zentangle Part 1: Dove

"Zentangle Dove"

© 2015 By Shiloh Moore

31/5/15

I haven't done any new drawing or painting in almost a year.  I've had a crazy time with my health and most of the time have not been well enough to create, plus I have not been feeling particularly inspired, so I did not want to push it.

One of my awesome doctors recently gave me an 'important prescription' - a colouring in book for adults, to gently get me back in the zone, with no pressure, and to just have fun.  The next day, another friend recommended I google 'Zentangle Art' and get into awesome creative doodling.  I've never been much of a doodler - I have mind blanks and put too much pressure on myself to not make a mistake!  But I thought I'd give it a try.

So my first attempt I used the outline of my doves in 'Be Free' (ByShi Blogpost Feb 12 2012) which I used again in 'Dove Tree Mandala' (ByShi Blogpost Sept 23 2012).  

I was not well enough to sit for long to do this, so I lay on my side and drew in the way I illustrated in my post 'Living With ME and FM Series - Lying Down' (ByShi Blogpost Jan 18 2012).

This was my first attempt at Zentangle and I thoroughly enjoyed it.  Later that day I tried 'Zentangle Part 2: Dachshund', which I will upload soon, so stay tuned!!!

Girl With Kitty

'Girl With Kitty In Bed' 

© 2013 by Shiloh Moore
 A5 Watercolour and Pitt Pen on Paper

I did some drawings of a girl with her kitty, both lying in bed and standing up and active.  A lot of my friends with ME have kitty companions and their kitties are incredibly special to them, so I wanted to capture that.  This is the drawing of the girl with her kitty in bed, in colour (above) and just with the pitt pen (below.)  I wasn't too happy with how the purple in the watercolour came out, but I didn't have the energy to redo it and it's just an exercise for fun, not to be paid, so it doesn't have to be perfect! 

'Girl With Kitty'

© 2013 by Shiloh Moore
A5 Watercolour and Pitt Pen on paper

And here's the girl standing upright holding her kitty.  In colour (above), and the outline using Pitt Pen (below). 

'Girl With Kitty'

SpiralDeer+Bird

SpiralDeer+Bird

14" x 18" Mixed Media on Canvas

copyright 2013 by Shiloh Moore

I continued my Spiral Animal Series including:

Spiralbird 

SpiralKittyLove and

SpiralDaschund

This deer and bird were inspired by Kaiser Craft's 'Hummingbird' collection of papers.

It feels great to have been able to paint again.

SpiralDaschund

'SpiralDaschund'

copyright 2012 by Shiloh Moore

completed 3/10/12

12x16" Mixed Media on Canvas

I love dogs and I have two special friends who super love Daschunds, so I did this with them in mind.  They are a particularly cute breed!  

I did this in a similar style to 'Spiralbird' (August 2012) and 'SpiralKittyLove' (Sept 2012,) using acrylics and pen and Alison Ellis Design papers.  I think this will complete the series.

Namaste Girl

'Namaste Girl'

copyright 2012 by Shiloh Moore

4"x6" Watercolour and Pitt Pen on Paper

I have been fascinated by the Indian greeting 'Namaste'.  I love the meaning I once read of 'The divine in me acknowledges the divine in you' as a greeting on meeting or parting.  

I also love drawings and paintings of girls, so I was doodling and came up with this one.  She greets you with respect, with love from her heart.

SpiralKittyLove

'SpiralKittyLove' copyright 2012 by Shiloh Moore

12"x16" Mixed Media on Canvas

Started 6/8/12 completed 16/9/12

I love animals and pets.  I have a lot of friends who have gorgeous precious kitties and I wanted to create something dedicated to their wonderful furbabies, continuing in the style I used for the painting 'SpiralBird'

I'd like to show you the development of the painting:

1) Firstly I was doodling until I had an idea of how I would express what I wanted to create: 

2) Then once I had an idea of what I wanted to draw I developed that picture:

I could envision the final product already and knew all the steps to take, but it took time doing every following step, and I had to pace myself so I didn't overdo things physically.  So it took 10 days working on it bit by bit (and banning myself from working on it more than was physically healthy for me.)  I was itching to get it done and see the final product, but I had to contain my enthusiasm and practice patience, and work on the piece bit by bit, only when able.

3) The next step was to put the coloured background on the canvas.  I used pearlised purple acrylic paint with hints of other colours seeping through (secret technique I love: using a squeegie!)

4) Then I painted silver paint onto some bubble wrap and then printed it to add some silver to the background:

5) I then ripped and glued on some of the gorgeous paper that inspired my colour palette, one of the beautiful papers in the 'A Formal Affair' scrapbooking paper range by Alison Ellis Design (copyright 2011).

6) Then I photocopied my final cat drawing and enlarged it.  I cut it out and placed it on the canvas using repositioning tape to keep it secure but not glued down, so I could draw the outline of the cats onto the canvas (another technique would be to trace or use carbon paper but I chose this technique as it was quite simple and a carbon outline could be difficult to see on the shiny dark surfaces.)

7) Then I drew the outline with a permanent marker:

8) Then removed the paper drawing:

This is what it looked like:

9) Then I painted the cat silhouettes in silver:

10) And finally, I drew on the kitty faces and the spiral/love heart design to the bodies of the kitties using permanent markers:

Finito!  Sending spiralkittylove out there to all those cat lovers! 

Spiralbird

'Spiralbird' copyright 2012 by Shiloh Moore

11" x 14" Mixed Media on Canvas

Completed 26/8/12

I found some beautiful purple paper with silver scribbled sheet music on it, by Alison Ellis Design scrapbooking paper.  I wanted to use it in a mixed media painting.  I thought of using it with a bird so the music was bird song.  I drew a simplified image of a bird and I imagined it with spirals coming up from the bottom.  

I played around with pearlised coloured acrylic paints for the background.  Then added some silver spots using bubblewrap.  Then I glued on the scrapbooking paper.  Then I drew on the outline of the bird and it looked like this: 

Then I filled in the body with silver and it looked like this:

Then I drew on the spirals and Spiralbird was complete!

The Tree of Life

I wanted to make an image of life with intense colour, and intense shadow and beauty. I used flourescent colours in the background (which look much brighter in real life,) and in the foreground did the deep shadow of a stylised curvaceous tree using spirals and leaves in circles. Beauty can come out of darkness, even when it seems impossible when you're in it.

Acrylic Flourescent Paints on Canvas, with Nikko Pen Foreground.