Friday 28 November 2014

New species of moth released on the world

At last I've photographed these little cava moths so I can release them to the world.
You'd think that someone who liked pure wool wouldn't be that into moths, but I like the little fellas, no really!
These extra special ones - Lepidoptera Cavacus - are a new species found in Spain, especially during the summer months, as the label says. 
I made them from upcycled sardine cans, cava corks, cork toppers, fabric, wire and beads.
They're available to order here in my Laura Davies Art Etsy shop 



Sunday 16 November 2014

Long Hot Summer

Hi peeps, well, what a long hot summer we had in southern Spain? Thank goodness things have started cooling down a bit, my head was frying!

I think I may have fallen into a bit of summer madness and my 'art' took a back seat whilst my knitting took over. 

All you knitters out there will not be surprised at how it can become all-consuming. I mean there's the soft and squishy wool, the colours, the patterns and then, the most important part, the knitting. But in that heat I hear you cry? Strangely yes, when many of my knitty friends were laying down their needles and hot footing it to the beach, I hid myself in the cool of indoors and clickety-clacked away.

I'll be blogging about this a bit more over the next few weeks now my head has cooled. But for now suffice to say hi and welcome to my new persona as KnitaFrolic. I even opened a shop on Etsy under that name, take a look if you like unique hand made accessories.


And here's a taster of what this knitting nut was doing all summer...







Tuesday 29 April 2014

A unique voice

Since moving to Spain and changing from Graphic Design, where you meet the needs of a client/brief, to Fine Art, where you answer your own 'brief' it's been a steep learning curve for me.
Identifying what I'm good at and also what I'm trying to achieve/say through my art is still an ongoing process. It's very hard to shake that external client/brief training!
One thing I have found is that I have to release my trained instinct to create art that I think will have wide appeal, and go with what moves me.
For the last 7 years we've been building an earthship, an eco friendly home that we're eager to move into. We're at the final stages of the build - doing the wall and floor finishes - and it's here that I think I'm beginning to find my passion. In using the natural materials, from the quartz rock that is abundant on our land, to the mud, I've found that this love of creating beauty from natural, local elements is where a part of my passion lies.
I guess it's been with me for a while I just haven't found a way to incorporate it into the more classical media of art. I still love drawing. I also love fibre crafts such as knitting and sewing. So how to incorporate all these things into one cohesive style. My one true voice that I will be happy to explore for years to come?
Well, I'm working on it as you can see from the pics below.
Over the years I've collected hundreds of bits and pieces, from rusting metal, to old wood doors, to feathers, lace, fabrics, wools, all sorts of things that are filling up my studio and other areas of my home.
Maybe this year I will finally find a way to turn all these elements (or at least some!) into pieces of art that reflect my one true voice?

The above images show collages onto agave wood using prints of my own images and other elements, both natural, such as the inside of a chumbo leaf, and manmade, such as the lace.


This image shows print experiments onto wood and fabric. Not sure how they will progress, but it's all part of the process, the not knowing!

Thursday 20 March 2014

Copper Moon Kittens

Inspired by a few other Instagram artists I had a go at using copper metallic paint. As you probably already know if you've been to my web site cats are my fav animal, so they are the main subject for this painting which has a slight fantasy edge to it.
I started with a pencil sketch which I then worked into using charcoal and pastels. Then came the fun part with the metallic paint.  Would like to loosen the style up a bit so on the next one I may use watercolour or acrylic splashes. May also focus on the cats faces to simplify the composition.