Busylizzie Art

Ethel the hen…

Adorning the walls of my newly refurbished kitchen are some of my new “poultry” friends: Ethel the hen and Clive the cockerel, along with Susan, also a hen. Painted in emulsion directly onto the soft pear green walls, these charming characters bring a little life into the room!

We decided to revive our rather ‘tired’ kitchen by renewing our doors and work surfaces, replacing dark oak with painted cream, shaker-style doors and dull green laminate with a light oak block effect. Result – a light, bright contemporary feel. The beautiful eclectic mix of green and white ceramic knobs, we found at “Knobbles and Bobbles” via eBay and the chicken knobs at a little gift shop in Somerton, Somerset.

….and so I began to dream of chickens and bunting filling various spaces around the room….and the painting began….

First Ethel and Clive appeared in full colour – orange and red but quickly were over-painted in more muted tones to suit the rest of the kitchen…..

If you would like original hand-painted designs on your walls, contact me, to arrange a free consultation…

Chickens and bunting….

Finally getting around to painting at home, in the kitchen…. I am trying to tie together the soft pear coloured walls with the ‘dandelion clocks’ curtain fabric and my love of chickens and cockerels….

Here’s how it’s going… Bunting painted this morning and chicken & cockerel added this evening….around midnight!!!

If you would like your favourite things worked into a design for ‘wall-art’ – get in touch! This took approximately 2 and a half hours to paint in total….

Tour d’Ashmoor…

Members of South Dartmoor College’s Ashmoor Community Sports Centre using the spinning studio, can now literally follow the tour!!!!

The view of the finish line in a stage of the Tour de France has been ‘customised’ and painted by me, Liz, of Busylizzie Art….

The scene shows the road and cyclists heading into the distance, whilst the tour’s iconic sunflowers grace the foreground….

Hopefully this will provide more inspiration to those exercising on the bikes than the previously blank wall!!

These are our trees…

Mark-making and colour-mixing skills were the focus for the Busylizzie Art workshop sessions held with year three children at Hamp Academy this week as part of their Art Week….

Each of the year three classes had a half day’s input in which the children practised using pencil to create different quality lines, a variety of tone and 2D representation of texture. In groups of around 7 or 8, the children then cooperated to create 6ft tall trees with bark and branch detail in both graphite and oil pastel…

Leaves were then painted onto the branches and the nearby ground, with large decorator’s brushes, after mixing a range of shades of green and yellowy oranges….

These are some of the children’s trees!

What a variety of ‘looking’ skills, mark-making and colour-mixing skills are evident with seven year olds and how we need to provide regular opportunities to develop these creative and artistic skills!

Well done Y3 at Hamp Academy…. You were a pleasure to work with, thank you!

Tick-tock croc’ completes library wall-art…

Finally, after just over 30 hours of painting, the walls of the newly located school library at Hamp Academy, Bridgwater, are complete. Chosen by the children, classic and modern fiction books are standing up or lying flopped open to reveal their characters and settings, along with a significant quotation or famous ‘line’ from their pages…. Originally written by authors as divers as Lewis Carroll and Neil Gaiman, Dr Seuss and Roald Dahl, and illustrated by ‘masters’ such as Axel Schiffler, the colourful 2015 interpretations painted by me, Liz Hutchin of Busylizzie Art, certainly bring the library alive and give the children a powerful message about books and reading….

Take a tour around the walls:

Many thanks for taking the trouble to read this article…If you like what you see, and are interested in commissioning me to paint in your school, home, child-care setting – anywhere!, please go to my contacts page or leave a comment for me on here….

Stars for Constellation Project Complete…

The schools’ stars are all complete and hung on the maze in Goodlands Gardens. The tenth anniversary of Lloyd’s death was very aptly commemorated by the Constellation Project and SAV’s work with young people extended into Primary Schools by the star painting workshops organised and delivered by Busylizzie Art, under the ‘umbrella’ of Go Create Taunton.
So pleased and proud of our contribution to the future of this hugely important cause….

Hunt the ladybirds in Hamp Academy Library…..

Lurking amongst the books and book characters now adorning the walls at Hamp Academy, are some tiny aphid-eating creatures…..

Can you spot them????

Busylizzie Art teaching trainee teachers…

Busylizzie Art provided a day of Art Skills training for trainee primary school teachers yesterday and it was hands on all day – compiling a sketchbook of notes and practical activities, adding to it their own examples from the practical activities….

These soon-to-be teachers learned about the progression of skills necessary to develop confident artists first-hand, experiencing mark-making and colour-mixing activities for Early Years through to organisation of materials and understanding how the use of colour can create space in a picture…

These are just a few of the large scale trees that were created in the early part of the day….

After a rewarding day for Busylizzie Art, sharing art skills, some of the trainees gave up their own time to paint stars for #constellationsav and Stand Against Violence and what a beautiful job they did!!!

Peter Pan joins Alice, The Witches, Harry Potter & Co in the Library at Hamp Academy…

Day three of painting in the newly refurbished library at Hamp Academy, Bridgwater, has seen the appearance of more characters from the books above the shelves along with the children’s favourite quotes….

Peter Pan and a friendly looking dinosaur/dragon have joined the likes of Alice, The Gruffalo, and the Witches, emerging from the ‘books’ around the room…

Fox and snake have escaped from mouse and the gruffalo….

……and Alice noses in on the tea party….

There is room for one more book to be illustrated and ‘exploded’- I wonder what the children will choose?

If you like the look of my artwork, and have a project you would like to discuss – contact me to arrange a meeting!

Stars for Stand Against Violence Constellation Project…

Monday sees the start of two weeks of workshops in Taunton Primary schools facilitated by Liz of Busylizzie Art, under the umbrella of Go Create Taunton…

Children of Y5 &6 will be introduced to the Taunton based charity, Stand Against Violence (SAV) which was set up almost 10 years ago after the tragic death of then 18 year old Lloyd Fouracre. Lloyd was beaten to death in an act of senseless violence on his way home from a friend’s 18th birthday party in 2005. SAV was set up by Adam, Lloyd’s older brother, in the hopes of educating young people and preventing further needless deaths.

Ten years on, the work of SAV goes from strength to strength… The ‘Constellation’ project will culminate on September 25th with a massive maze installation on Castle Green, displaying 3,000 stars hand-painted by the children and people of Taunton and a stunning hand-painted mural on Tangier Way.

Workshops have been held over the summer at various locations in and around Taunton, but Monday sees the start of local Primary schools’ involvement as Liz, of Busylizzie Art , visits to create yet more stars over the next two weeks….

The boxes are packed and ready to go….

Roll on Monday – we have stars to be paint!!!