60 Minute Makeover

Ever wanted to know what it is like to be on TV? Well thanks to our fantastic artists Kris Hardy, who did a stint on the TV show 60 Minute Makeover, we can tell you! Here is what he told us about his experience:

‘60 Minute Makeover was so much fun; I did 15 shows with them over two series. Basically, I'd speak to the designer a week or so before the show and they'd tell me what sort of thing they wanted and colour scheme etc. I'd have to make sure it was something I could paint within the hours filming, usually a simple city scape or an abstract. Then while they were filming and doing the makeover, the designer would come out and I'd do my little piece to camera while painting. It was great, I love being on camera and painting to an audience – and it was really cool to watch it back when they aired the show!

I met loads of great people and it was such a good experience, from doing the work on the show itself to the catering that was put on. If I did two shows on consecutive days we would stay over. I did two shows in south Wales; we stayed over in Cardiff, and had a fantastic show on the first day. It was June and was a burning hot day (which wasn't ideal for painting in acrylics, as they dried instantly). The house was next to a large stream so on our dinner break we all went for a paddle and tried to soak each other. It was one of those days that sticks in your mind and you think 'this is my job... I wouldn't rather be doing anything else'. Then we stayed at a really nice hotel in Cardiff, with a fantastic restaurant, all courtesy of a pre-recession ITV! I got to treat myself to a gym workout, as, if I'm not painting, I’m in the gym. We all then went out into Cardiff for a night out, it was definitely up there as one of the best days of my life so far, it was really good fun.

 

Working on my own all the time it was nice to have that feeling of belonging to something. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't change working at home for anything, especially now I have a 7 month old son, but it was nice to feel part of something. A bit like the feeling I get from working for Artistic Britain’.

 

Kris Hardy is a very talented artist; if you want to view more of his artwork go to Kris’ section on the Artistic Britain website www.artisticbritain.co.uk/KrisHardy or his own personal website www.krishardy.com  

Winter Wonderland

It’s almost Christmas, so here at Artistic Britain we are getting into the swing of things with these fantastic Christmassy images that we found on our We Love Winter Pinterest board.

Finger Painting

Forget painting with your fingers how about painting onto them! We love these handy creations which look ever so realistic.

They were created by Guido Daniele. He originally started painting onto hands when he was hired by an advertising agency to do some body paintings of animals and it grew from there! Guido was instantly taken with the idea: "I researched each animal in depth to see how I could transfer it to a hand, and then set about bringing it to life". He spends about three to four hours painting each one and says that the hardest part is not the painting itself, but rather having to watch his paintings be washed down the drain and disappear on a daily basis.

We think it is a great way to combine art and innovation onto a canvas! Here are some of our favourites:

Creative Street Art

We found this amazing article about street art and it inspired us to do some research into creative street art. There are some amazing, innovative ideas out there and these are some of our favorites.

This is a great example of extremely realistic perspective street art! 

A creative way to make a boring stop sign fun. 

A miniature exhibition - awesome idea.

This is amazingly innovative - we would defiantly have to look twice.

So fun!

Excellent use of perspective art - this building actually looks crumpled! 

A fun way to make the everyday extraordinary! 

Perfect Pastel Pallet

Who loves Pinterest as much as us? We are obsessed with it! What a great way to share ideas and inspiration.

We adore these neutral creams, baby peach’s, dusky pinks and chalky blues which have all inspired this perfectly pastel palette.

Soft and subtle shades are the ideal way to ease yourselves into the cooling winter months. Add a hint of color to your interior space or winter wardrobe to brighten up the dulling days.

http://pinterest.com/pin/356206651747023760/

http://pinterest.com/pin/356206651747023761/

http://pinterest.com/pin/356206651747023762/

http://pinterest.com/pin/356206651747023763/

http://pinterest.com/pin/356206651747023765/

http://pinterest.com/pin/356206651747023766/

Celebrities Paint for Charity!

Today we have found out about The Willow Foundation and their amazing charity auction 'Stars on Canvas' which is happening later this month and wanted to share this with our lovely followers!


The Willow Foundation is the only charity in the UK to provide positive and life-enhancing Special Days for seriously ill 16 to 40 year olds.  To date, Willow has provided more than 8,500 Special Days for young adults living with life-threatening conditions including cancer, motor neurone disease, cystic fibrosis and Huntington’s disease.

Stars on Canvas is an art project where hundreds of well-known names from the worlds of art, illustration, sport, music and entertainment come together to create their own, one-off canvas.  All these canvases will be available for sale online at ebay, and exhibited at Maddox Arts in London.
 Mo Farah

A wonderful collection of art - Good Luck with the Auction!

Amazing blog - check it out

Here is a link to a blog being written by our gorgeous design placement students Jess & Cat - lots of ideas for colour and design trends, things they like and also more info from them about our lovely brand Artistic Britain.

http://jesscat12.blogspot.co.uk/

Keep up the good work girls!

Our Website!

Here is a link to the sparkly new website!
www.artisticbritain.co.uk

Our Team

A very excited team on launch day!

We Have Lift Off!

Well, sorry for the slight delay in posting this exciting news, things have been busy, busy, busy here in the Artistic Britain offices but WE HAVE LAUNCHED!!!!

It was a very exciting day in the office on Friday, the champagne corks were popping and there were a lot of very proud and happy faces (as well as few tired ones!)

www.artisticbritain.co.uk is now live so spread the word!

You can also follow us on Twitter @ArtisticBritain and you can like us on facebook so please, if you like British Art then tell everyone all about it!

We will be bringing you updates on the website, new products, great offers and other arty bits and bobs so I hope you will enjoy our blog.

Lots of Love - The Artistic Britain Team x