Illustration Friday - Entangled/Mixed Media Monday - Bedtime Stories

Princess Charming, loved a challenge! Even when she became entangled in the evil vines outside the tower she knew she would be fine, she always had another trick up her sleeve. Her Prince heaved a sigh of relief knowing he would be rescued very very soon! ;0)

'Letting Go'

I did this painting the other day, just chilling out listening to a bit of Norah Jones 'Come Away With Me', I used to listen to this album when I was pregnant with my first little man. The thought behind this painting is about letting go of the past and embracing the future. Not being scared of what's ahead and accepting that you deserve to be happy.

I painted this on MDF which I'm quite enjoying as a change to canvas. I used my texture paste and scraped some patterns into that using a tooth pic (as you can see in some close up shots). I used my inktense pencils and acrylic paints as well as my irridescant paints.

Just another experiment that I enjoyed doing, hopefully I can turn this into a nice pendant. I also got another delivery yesterday of more glass that's a bit bigger than usual I'm planning on using these for broaches. So watch this space.......:0)

Mixed Media Monday-Playing Cards

Well when I thought of this weeks theme the Queen of Hearts immediatly came to mind. So I decided to do an ATC which is the size of a playing card. I used my acrylic paints, inktense pencils, iridescant paints and some ink for this one. I found it a bit of a challenge to paint that small but I quite like the result it's something different from what I'm used to doing and I'd like to do more ATC's.

Illustration Friday - Music

Well this week I wanted to do something that wasn't a pretty young girl type picture, just for something different. So this little character came to mind. I don't know why he is so bottom heavy but I'm sure it doesn't put anyone off his conducting! :0)

New pendants just in time for Christmas

I've been very busy today making up some new designs and creating some new pendants. I seem to be getting into a more organised rhythm in making these and some of my newest designs I painted with pendants specifically in mind. I'm getting very addicted this!!!

I think I might try opening an etsy shop after Christmas when I have alot more stock, at the moment I'm just trying out some new ideas and glues etc....

Illustration Friday - 'Unbalanced'

This is a new design for my pendants. I used acrylic paint and irridescant paints as well as my watersoluble pencils. I felt like this composition is 'very unbalanced'. All the 'action' seems to be happening towards the bottom left corner. I shall post a picture of the pendants when they are finished.

Mixed Media Monday - I am Woman

Well I was really pleased when i saw the theme for this week as I have been working on a piece that I thought fit perfectly. I have had a request for a pendant with a Geisha girl so I came up with this idea. It is painted on packing wood which according to my husband is called MDF. He has a heap of these left over from when he was on an organised trail bike ride recently and they needed some signs. Apparently kitchens are packed in them and I guess they get left over. I found them a great surface to paint on as it was very smooth and flat which meant I could use a lot of different materials. I used my acrylic paints, water soluble ink pencils, texture paste on the the hair decorations as well as my iridescant paints on her kimono which I'm sure hasn't shown up so well in the photo but it really made the kimono look like it was made of silk material.

I had lots of fun with this one and look forward to making it into a pendant!

Some new pendants

Been having major issues uploading so I've been trying to do this since Thursday. Finally it worked!

These are the pendants I made for the lady who requested the portrait of her daughter. I gave them to her on Thursday she really liked them. I've been very busy making lots of pendants broaches hair clips and even a ring out of some of my work for Christmas presents so I shall post pics of those shortly.

Illustration Friday - Blur

Through the blur of her tears Clarey the fairy could see the others talking about her as if she weren't there. She didn't quite fit in and she wasn't your average fairy with her doc martens and tattoos, but she was a good fairy and one day would appreciate that, but today she hid in the corner and watched everyone else at the annual fairy ball.

I used my new pencils to do this one they are called 'Inktense' which are vibrant watersoluble ink pencils. I'm not sure if they are different to water colour pencils but I feel like they are a lot brighter than water colours pencils as ones that I have used in the past have been a bit wishy washy. I outlined it with a black pen. I bought these pencils with some of the money I made from my first commission, it was a very nice feeling! I also got another request from someone to paint their 3 children which is very exciting for me, it'll be a bigger task but since doing my first one, I feel alot more confident yay!!! Not sure when I'll start that one we're just in talks at the moment but I'll be eager to start once I get some photos!

Flowers

This is just an idea that I'm playing around with to perhaps make some pendants out of. I've got so many ideas buzzing around my head at the moment but my 3 year old has been very very sick this week so we're all functioning on hardly any sleep at the moment and when I try to draw it's really very bad, ah well he's hopefully on the mend now so I'll be able to jot all these designs down. I would like to experiment a bit more with drawing animals and work on some of my own ideas for a childrens book. So many ideas such little time in the day....... I guess it's better than having 'artists block' as I had that recently and it wasn't much fun. Sorry I'm rambling now....I think I need an early night ;0)

My very first commission!

This is the painting that I did for a lady that saw my work through my donation to my sons Twilight fair. She gave me a heap of photos of her daughter and I picked two out and did two sketches to see which one she would prefer. She ended up picking the one that I like best which was great. I just really liked the picture that she gave me as her little girl looked so whistful which is my favourite expression to paint. I don't normally do portraits but i had so much fun with this one I feel like it's still in my style. I also used some of that modelling paste on the trees and the petals which seemed to give them alot more oomf! I gave it to the lady today and she was thrilled, I was so nervous as I've never been asked to so something like this before or been paid. But I could tell she really liked it as she got goosebumps (you can't fake those can you? heheheh) and I was so relieved. I'm quite proud of this one and also offered to make a pendant for her out of the print and she said yes straight away!!! Hooray!!! Today I FEEL like a a real artist yee ha!

New canvas and Illustration Friday 'Skinny'

Well here is my Nicole Kidman inspired painting. I REALLY enjoyed doing this one. I used modelling paste on my background to give it some texture. I've never used that before and so really had fun with it. I had no idea how it would turn out but I'm really happy with the results and will definitely use it more often, I also used my iridescant paints on the peacock feather to give it some sparkle and some gold acrylic in the back ground.

I know it might be a stretch but I thought this would fit in with the Illustration Friday theme 'skinny'. Nicole may have been the inspiration behind the original sketch for this but I have drawn her as one of 'my ladies'. My lady definitely has curves where Nicole doesn't and this lady kind of reminds me of one of those that you might have seen back in the 1920's full of curves and not in the least bit skinny.

I've been so busy this week, I've actually finished my first commissioned painting. I really really hope they like it. I really enjoyed doing it and it's a bit different to my other work I've been doing lately. I shall post it on my blog after I've given it to the lady. So hopefully that will be Thursday.

In the meantime I've also been working on using some prints of my work for my new pendants. I had a delivery over the weekend of the new glass that I ordered as well as the bobby pins etc so I shall be working on those this week. These are the first few that I made yesterday from some previous paintings. I'm still working out the best way to make these so they are a bit of a work in progress. But I quite like these ones. I just find it really hard to take a decent photo of them I would like to try wooden pendants next as I'd imagine they'd be good to take photos of without the glass.

I'm also finishing up my painted version of my Nicole Kidman inspired painting. Hopefully have that done today. I think this one would make a nice pendant too!

New Canvas

This morning I sketched up an idea for a new canvas. I was inspired by a picture I saw of Nicole Kidman. I was watching some trashy tele the other day and they were talking about stars getting fashion wrong and used Nicole Kidman as one example. I had to disagree though as I thought she looked lovely in this dress. The dress I'm talking about is one that she wore to the oscars I think some years ago. It was a lovely greeny blue colour and she added a peacock feather. Anyway after seeing that picture the other day i couldn't get that image out of my head and thought that particular look she had would translate to one of my ladies perfectly. So stay tuned as I hope to start working on the canvas today. I also went into town and bought some texture paste which I'm going to try on this one, it's white and you can apparently mix it with acrylics to get some texture into your picture and you can paint over it etc. So I'm not sure where I'm going to put this but I'm going to experiment today. I also received my first commission yesterday. A lady from my sons school saw the canvas I donated and asked if I could do one for her but incorporate her daughter. So I'm going to use my light box so I can get a bit of a likeness but I'm going to do it in my style. This is very exciting for me and a cool project to work on as I'll be trying all sorts of new techniques. So I thought I would try out a few new things with this sketch in preparation.....hope that all makes sense

Marvelous Moustaches - Mixed Media Monday

Hi everyone the theme this week took me in a completely different direction. I thought I would try to include an animal in my work instead of a person this time and I quite like how it turned out. Owls have always looked very distinguished to me so it wouldn't shock me if I saw one with a nicely groomed moustache and an monical!!! Tee hee, yes I'm mad!!! ;0)

I used lots of different materials for this one, acrylic paint, iridescant paints, my new pastel pencils and my coloured pens. As well as a few little stars glued on!

A new venture......

Well I have been super busy!! Actually so has my mum as she has helped me laminate book marks and then picked up lots of goodies from the craft store like beads, for me, thanks mam!! I will buy a laminator in the near future as I really enjoyed making these bookmarks.

I have also been working on turning my art in something wearable and you might recognise some of my paintings in the pendants. These were my very first attempt at making pendants and I am currently waiting for more glass to arrive, squares, circles as well as bobby pins that you can glue the glass onto and rings etc. I discovered etsy and the suppliers on there and after dealing with a couple of dodgy people (who's products I'm still waiting for nearly 2 months later) I found a great supplier who is very prompt and consistent. I guess it's all trial and error when you're starting on a new project which you know nothing about.

So a while back I showed you a painting which I said I was donating to my sons silent auction at his school fair. Well I'm also going to donate 4 bookmarks and 2 pendants for their craft stall which if they get sold would be the first things that I have made that someone has bought, so far I'm giving them away as gifts.

Its very exciting for me heheheh.......you never know maybe one day I might be good enough to have my own etsy store????

I'm no photographer as you can tell from my pictures but i shall work on taking better ones in the future as these were a bit dark, it was hard though as you can't use the flash especially on the pendant as they just reflect off........

'Madonna?'

Well this morning I was rather productive, not only did I do my entry for Illustration Friday (last post), I also whipped this up. I bought some oil paints a while ago and haven't used them yet I guess it's because it's a bit more fiddley than the usual paints and it's a bit tricky with my 3 year old running around. But I do have some oil paint paper which is like canvas. So I tried my acrylics on this one.

I sketched this lady, not really knowing where I was going with it and for some reason I feel like I might have been chanelling Madonna......I decided to just use the paint for this one and resist the urge to go over some parts especially the eyes with pencil or pen and keep the painterly look instead......anyway I quite like the result and could see this one in a pendant.......

Illustration Friday - Fast

Well I think this piece has been created in record time. I woke up this morning and saw this weeks prompt and just sat at my work table and played with all sorts of materials. I used oil painting paper, some of the hand pressed paper with the petals in it, acrylic paints, coloured pencil, glitter and some stars. This is what appeared!!

The thought behind this piece is that this poor girl has slept through her alarm yet again and has to get moving fast or she will be late for work!!! Hope she makes it!

Playing around with water colour

This is just a quick sketch that I painted in water colour. Then I used some of my pens to add some detail. Just thought I'd post is as it was a bit different than my acrylic. I feel so keen to create at the moment but it's like I have a bit of a block, perhaps Illustration Friday will give me another kick start for the weekend?

I've also been working on some pendants I shall take a photo of them this weekend so I can show you what I've been doing......so much to do so little time, I wish I didn't need to sleep so I could sit up and work on my art while everyone is in bed and it's nice and quiet!!

'Waiting'

This is a new canvas of mine. I started with a black canvas and then painted in layers on top. I do like the feel that the black underneath gives the picture, it's like a dream like quality if that makes sense? For this piece I really tried to concentrate on my composition and background as well as trying something new like a building. I think I need to work on more buildings but I like how this turned out and I felt like I pushed myself. I also used my coloured liners to finish off the face and the blossoms as I felt they needed to look a little more detailed and it was hard to do that with the brush.