Hi, I'm Andrea, and I'm interested in creatures and plants both wild and tamed, and people of all sorts. I only use a compact digital camera ,as I love being able to get it into a back pocket, and not have to cart heavy kit about. I carry a Panasonic Lumix TZ series, binoculars and a hand lens almost everywhere.Most of my outings are with the dogs so I only use point and shoot.
I am getting the hang of Photoshop, thanks to some very kind folk on RR!Â
I have a wildlife garden in Bournemouth, Dorset, in the UK, and spend a lot of time there . I retired from teaching art to teenagers a while ago.
I'm now getting some good results with my digi compacts; it took me a while to make the switch from my old film camera, an 1960 ish Pentax Spotmatic, but the mistakes are much cheaper! Â
I have 4 lodgers, 3 dogs and a parrot who, as at 2017, I have had 40 years.
I has so far had 19 dogs, mostly rescues.
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Comments (21)
kaward
The Acanthus leaf is on so many medieval stone pieces so it fits the ancient book style so well too! So too the asp and anchor! They would have loved an aphid for a change I bet! An amazing look into your mind! Top Class artwork!
jayfar
Actually, Andrea, an attractive and awesome attempt at an 'A'
giulband
Beautiful painting !
greyone
Your creativity knows no bounds. Awesome work.
MrsRatbag
Amazing A, and I give you an A-plus for talent and creativity!
Mondwin
Fantastic work my friend!!!Bravissimo! :DDD.Hugsxx Whylma
Juliette.Gribnau
I love it
Faemike55
Very beautiful artwork
pat40
Beautiful work
bebopdlx
Really cool work
helanker
A for AWESOME. It is absolutely fantastic :-)
jendellas
Like it, so colourful.
auntietk
A is for "Andrea is Absoltely Amazing and Awesome! This is glorious! I was thrilled with the original, but this is above and beyond my wildest imaginings. I can see how those old monks could get so elaborate with those manuscripts. One thing leads to another and to more, and it's hard to quit! I'm looking forward to seeing the next installment in this series from you. Marvelous!
irisinthespring
Fabulous work, love it!
kgb224
A + for this outstanding A art work. God bless.
wysiwig
And now our odd little A is all dressed up for a costume party. Superb work.
Mark-David-Rogers
This really lifts the spirits, beautiful colours and a great design too. Well done.
anahata.c
You added stuff, lol! Not just color, but all kinds of little creatures and eyebrows and whatnot. (Someone should do a "W" for "Whatnot". What a silly word that is!) Terrific in full saturated hues. And you added insects, acanthus (I know you wrote it all, but I'm trying to find them myself!), an anchor, little dots (I assume those are the aphids?), and I don't see the asp---sorry! I can't find it, but I often can't find things that other people fine--but I do see the Amanita. Actually, in a style like this, the asp could be several of your cable-y designs. You added big spoke-y eyebrows to the uppermost eye. And the reds and browns and greens and blues are luscious. I agree with the above comments, this is marvelous, Andrea. Wonderful to see you draw, and then re-draw. You don't know what a party your creativity is. I've looked forward to each of your letter series, because we get to see you draw. And this is another wonderful entry. Ok, on this whole letter-art thing: Doing letters as art is tough, isn't it? I have to push myself half the time. It's a real challenge! It stretches me, but when I start, I think, "how will I ever come up with another idea"? I assume you did lettering in your earlier days? When you sold things, had shows, etc? Maybe also in your studies?Most commercial artists had to do their own lettering at one time or another, because they couldn't afford to go to a typesetter. This was before computers, of course. (Oh if we only knew...) So do you remember when press-type came out? We were all thrilled as hell when it came out---until we had to USE the damned stuff. I never appreciated letter-spacing, kerning, leading and all of it, until I had to do it myself---with press-type. I never got the right spacing, ever. I thought it would be a cinch: It was maddening. We used non-repro blue graph paper---remember?---so we could line up the letters properly. But mine STILL looked like a ransom note, with 400 different styles. I hated it. And then, when desktop publishing came in, some of us got "Fontographer" and tried to make our own fonts, thinking it would "save time". My god...I learned so quickly more how much goes into a single letter design than I ever dreamt. I began to appreciate, in ways that courses couldn't explain, how the great typeface designers thought, felt, worked...And, when I looked at a great typeface then, I'd swoon. It's an art so many use, but so few think about. (This is a variant of Helvetica---fine for reading online, but not a very nuanced face.) So while my typesetting was awful, I learned the world from having to do it. And if you did calligraphy (I just have a feeling you did), you know the slow methodical art that is, and how you put so much music into a single design. That's what you've done here, it really is an illuminated letter, replete with creatures, vines, imagination, play, all of it. I'll say what I said in your B upload, and what I've said in Tara's gallery (about you) and what I've written to helle: If you come up with these dancing rollicking results, with all these styles thrown in---including bows to the Book of Kells (which Koosie loved, btw---one of his gifts to me was a CD of the entire manuscript), you haven't wasted a minute. You can take your time with these---anytime you do another, I'll be thrilled. Oh---and I love the clawed foot, here; and, in red, it's the Bomb. (An american youth expression I hope you've heard...meaning it's the best. The bee's knees. The cat's pajamas. Well kids don't say that, but you get the meaning...) Wonderful reworking of an already wonderful letter ballet.
danapommet
A beautiful face and red clawed foot and I think that you have a blue field hockey club in there too! I grade it as an 'A'!
dochtersions
Hallelujah, this is FANTASTIC!!!!!
Rhanagaz
Yes, great improvement, Andrea. Great imagination!! :o)