It's Art O'Clock - Miscellaneous Works

Miscellaneous works is a collection of works that fit under the banner of miscellaneous . Amanda has been working with clay for many years. These early examples of suns, moons and gargoyles were created 20 years ago in 1996. Some are one offs made with air drying clay and hand painted detail before being varnished with clear glaze . Others are stone cast from latex moulds taken from her clay original.

Whilst acrylic painting and clay sculpting are Amanda's core mediums, she is also very adept at working with paper mache for example. Here is a small selection of her early paper mache and clay sculpting work.

		The Clay Gargoyle

This early example of Amanda's clay work was created in @ 1997. As Amanda did'nt have a kiln to fire the clay, she used ' Das ' air drying clay. The whole piece complete with skull and rat was hand sculpted by constantly adding clay and carving and moulding until she was happy with the shape. She then allowed it to dry completely before painting it with water colour paints and sealing it with a coat of clear varnish. The finished Gargoyle stands 175mm tall by 125mm wide and 125mm deep.

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The Greek Vase

		When Amanda's daughter Tazmin had a homework project to create an ancient relic, she tasked Amanda to give her a helping hand. True to form, Amanda got a bit carried away with it all and produced this wonderfull imitation ancient Greek Vase standing over one foot tall ! She used a balloon for the main body, a jelly pot for the top section and a frayed plastic flower pot for the lower half. She then encased the whole lot in layer after layer of paper mache to create this amazing vase. Not satisfied with that she then hand painted the whole thing with acrylics and felt pen to decorate . It even has a fake chip in the rear of the top ring for authenticity. It serves now as a shining example of Amanda's inspired creativity and unsurprisingly perhaps Tazmin got full marks for her homework project !

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		The Frog Hat

The Frog Hat was another of Tazmin's homework projects that fell under Amanda's remit to assist with. The students were tasked with making an unusual hat that could be worn on the head at school and this was the result. The main body was again formed around a balloon with all the other body parts cut from card and again encased in paper mache. It even had a ladybird to one side of the lily pad and a goldfish on each side hanging on threads :-) .

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Ali G-Nome

Competition Winner 2003 ! In January 2003, Amanda entered this customised casting of Ali G-Nome into a competition organised by Ryde Youth Centre on the Isle of Wight. Entrants were given a plain standard cast of a common garden gnome to decorate however they saw fit. Amanda chose to build up her gnome with plaster of paris to create the Ali G look. Nearly 400 people entered and all the gnomes were displayed in Ryde County Library. Amanda won first prize in the adults section.

		Taken from Isle of Wight County Press 2003

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		Talent House Entry ...... ' Negan - The Walking Dead '

WWW.TALENTHOUSE.COM - 2018 Title .... ' Oh Lucille ' - 16" x 20" acyrlic on canvas. In 2018, Amanda saw a competition on the Talent House website to create artwork for Fox Studios, The Walking Dead. She decided to try a whimsical portrait of the character Negan. Negan's character comes across as having a wicked sense of humour as is shown with some of the classic phrases he utters with some style. He also has an obsession with his bat as a physical form of his beloved but dead wife Lucille. Amanda decided to use her own sense of humour to combine the two to produce this image of Negan with Lucille :-). Despite not winning anything against very strong competition from talented artists, she did get some very complimentary reviews and comments.

Corona Scream 2020		Corona Scream 2022

	One of Amandas favourite pictures has been ' The Scream ' by Edvard Munch, painted in 1893. The Covid-19 Corona virus has had such an impact on everyday life that Amanda decided to mark its arrival in history by painting her own version of The Scream. The addition of face masks and gloves and a few floating spores helps to signify the fear that has encompassed the world as we all strive to fight and survive the 2020 outbreak. Then, when 2022 heralded the end of covid restrictions, Amanda painted this updated version whereby the Scream and the mask has been replaced by joy and laughter ! Painted using acrylics on A4 canvas boards with full credits given here to the original artist Edvard Munch.

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		Somethings Go Hand in Hand !

On the 24th February 2022, on the orders of Valadymyr Putin, Russia invaded Ukraine and thus began a terrible era of war in Europe, the likes of which the world had come to believe would never be witnessed again. How wrong we all were, and this inspired Amanda to paint this picture showing Putin holding hands with Death amongst the rubble of a decimated city with a bomb in the background. In the foreground a young childs teddy emphasises the terrible civilian cost to this unholy war. Painted using acrylics on an A4 canvas board.

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