Illustration Friday - Pattern

Well the paparazzi went wild when two major starlets turned up at the red carpet event wearing the same beautiful flower patterned dress! They did not look amused.

New Bookmarks

It has been a crazy week this week and this weekend in between two weddings and also working on this weeks Illustration Friday theme (which I'm yet to finish), I managed to draft up some new ideas for bookmarks, I really liked the last lot that I did but felt it was time for some new designs especially as Christmas is coming up in and this year I would like to make some gifts for my family. I'm also waiting for some supplies to arrive from the states as I would like to make my art into pendants. I've been wanting to use my paintings and turn them into something wearable for a while now and have just fallen in love with the concept of marble magnet pendants. So hopefully my supplies will arrive on Monday and I'll be able to start working on those too!!!!

The other drawing that I have posted today is a monster created by my 3 year old Riley!! I think he's going to want to start his own blog soon and insisted that I put this on mine as he has been watching me paint for a long time now and I think he's starting to get a little bit interested. :0)

'Rose'

This is a canvas that I think I'm going to donate to my son's school twilight fair. They said they would put it in a silent auction. I'm very happy with it. I had to restrain myself from adding eyelashes to her as I wanted to try something different. I had to slow myself down and spent a few days on this one instead of 1 as I felt like I would get excited and rush things the more I got into them. So this was an experiment in a few ways. I also painted layers upon layers of colour and used my fingers to do the last layer of the background just for something different.

Illustration Friday - Infinite

This week the theme made me think about how when we're young the possibilities for the future and what we want to be when we 'grow up' are infinite. At the moment my 6 year old would like to be a comic book maker, and my 3 year old would love to be a fire man!!! It's exciting to wonder what they will become when they are older.

I just did a quickie in my journal this week and used some acrylic paints and newspaper as well as pencil and had a bit of a play.

Pirate Lady!!

Last Friday it was 'Talk like a pirate day' and in honour of this special occasion my youngest's day care centre decided everyone should dress up like a pirate. So that inspired me to paint this picture as both my boys love pirates but you never really see a girl pirate so i thought I'd try and paint one. I took a picture of the canvas and also a scan just to see if there was much difference in the quality of the pictures. In the photo you can see more as the canvas is slightly bigger than A4 so was a bit harder to scan.

New journal page - 'inspired by summer'

This is a new page in my journal. Today I experimented with textured paper and newspaper for my background. I had lots of fun gluing and painting. It had me working in a different way from what I normally would and I felt also freed me up alot. Anyway here it is.....

Illustration Friday - Welcome & Mixed Media Monday - Round Elements

At first glance I may look a little bit lazy using the same piece for both challenges this week. But I honestly feel like they both work.

Firstly, Illustration Friday's theme this week is 'Welcome'. I did draft something else up for this theme but I just wasn't happy with it and I didn't have that 'buzz' while working on it. So I decided to continue with a painting I had already started. I have called it 'Cleanse'. It started with a sketch. Have you ever felt in life that sometimes you'd just like to wipe the slate clean, and start from scratch? When things just get too much? Life is wonderful and full of suprises, some good and some not so good. To me this lady represents someone that has been able to wipe her slate clean and start again, to be able to 'welcome' a new start!! Sometimes it's just a matter of letting go and allowing yourself to be happy. Personally I'm very very happy with where I am in life right now and wouldn't want to be anywhere else but unfortunetly I know that's not true for everyone.

Secondly, Mixed Media Monday's theme was to use 'round elements' in your piece. So with this one I tried something new which was to paint the sides of the canvas black. Then I used a lid from a plastic bottle and stamped the circles around the side and decorated them with round dots. I also used the other side of the bottle lid to make the bubble shapes on the picture. I'm really happy with this one especially the colours and my background. The lady is a little different than my others and I'm not quite sure about her but I think that she suits the piece. I REALLY love purple!!!!! I also used some iridescant paints over the top of some areas to give it some more sparkle.

'Cleanse'

This is a pencil drawing of a new canvas I have started. I've drawn it up on the canvas and hope to paint it tomorrow, I thought I would go for a more realistic face this time. Anyway I'll be posting up the finished piece soon.

My first give away!!

Thank you everyone who entered my giveaway!! I was so suprised that so many people entered, 8 not counting my mum! (sorry mum I'll have to make you one when you get back from your trip ;0) ).

I couldn't decide on just one and found that I have 3 bookmarks left so I decided to give away all 3. So this time the 'winners' are:
Annette Quirke
Shirley
Quilt works

If I'd had 8 I would have given away 8 heheheh I'm such a soft touch!
Thank you all for your comments it is wonderful to find out what motivates people to keep going. The artists I have met through blogging are all so talented and the styles are all very different, visiting your blogs just inspires me to try new things. So thank you all for your input!!!!
I have a day without the kids today so I'm looking forward to creating, I'm going to ignore the washing and start painting Yipeeeeee!!!!!

Mixed Media Monday - 'Time of day'

Well I thought it was about time for me to update my header as it's now officially springtime over here and my Autumn girl seems to be a bit 'old' now. So I've done a spring inspired picture and this picture to me would be the most beautiful spring morning when you realise that everything is coming back to life and it's finally warming up. Spring mornings are a great time of day!!!

This was done on canvas with acrylic paint, some stickers, and I also used the crackle effect. But I sometimes find that I just enjoy layering the paint on top of each other using the crackle effect. If I'd put the yellow slightly thicker then the crackle would be more noticeable. But I wanted to be able to still see the blue underneath. Anyway it was fun experimenting.

Illustration Friday - Strong

Hi everyone this week's prompt on Illustration Friday is 'Strong'. I had completed this picture which I'm making into a card yesterday, it's for my hubby as it's Fathers Day here tomorrow. I thought this would fit nicely with the theme. My hubby's bond is very strong with our two young boys and hope that this continues to grow through the years. Happy Fathers day Rick!!!!

xxxxx

My 100th Post and my first giveaway!!!

Hi everyone, well this post is my 100th post and I can't believe I've actually done this much art! Last year after pretty much ten years without drawing or painting or doing anything creative, (due to work, kids and being side tracked by life in general) I managed to get back into the art scene with a bit of help from my lovely cousin Clarey!! Clarey has written a book which she asked me to illustrate. This is still a work in progress but from starting to sketch ideas for the book I managed to open my mind and tap into my art in a way that I never have before. This is also due to the fact that I discovered the world of blogging. For someone who doesn't really have the time due to kids to do a full on course I have found that blogging has inspired me in ways I couldn't have imagined. I feel like I'm participating in a course every day just by visiting my blog friends and discovering new artists on the net. Participating in Mixed Media Monday and Illustration Friday have also been fantastic ways to get creative and keep being creative. I'm totally addicted to these two weekly challenges!

So in honour of my 100th post I decided to give away one of my bookmarks with the charms which I made a while back. All you have to do is tell me what keeps you motivated with your art!! I shall pick one that I think should receive my book mark!!!

You have until September the 1oth (one week from now) to enter! :0)

Mixed Media Monday - Stitches

Cinderella spent hours on her dress doing some very intricate stitching. She eventually made it to the ball even if she was wearing her wellington boots!!!

Illustration Friday - Magnify

This week I found the theme a bit of a challenge. It's a great word but I had too many ideas floating around in my head and then when I would try and put them to paper they just wouldn't sketch out right. So this was the idea I settled on in the end. Not the word exactly but pretty close.

The writing says 'Her beauty was magnified by her sadness'.

I used a rose stamp for the background to give it a bit of texture. Her hair is inspired by a friend who recently went that colour and I thought it would look great in a painting instead of the usual hair that I would do.

Normally for Illustration Friday I would do it in the style of 'children's art' but this week my idea took me somewhere different. I'm not really sure what you would call this but it is another entry in my new journal that I just started. Anyway hope you like it!

Journal page

Well I've been wanting to start my own journal for a while now after being inspired by lots of my blog friends. So last week I went hunting for a journal. Now I'm not sure what sort of book people use but when I went to a few art shops in town they didn't really seem to have what I was looking for. So I ended up buying a visual diary which I was told wasn't the greatest to paint on but I thought I'd take my chances anyway. What sort of books do other people use?

Anyway, I'm not sure if there are any 'rules' to keeping journals but I decided to start mine off with a piece that was inspired by the wild weather we've been having over here. A few nights ago myself and my husband and two boys were lying awake for hours while the power went on and off and we could hear the wind howling outside. Quite scary for the kids as we felt that the roof would blow off.

So this is my first attempt in my journal. Painted in acrylic paint I used that crackle paint effect as I was practising for my canvas in my previous post. I also used some coloured pencil and black pen.

Lady in red.....

This is a canvas that I have been working on for another couple of friends who've recently had a baby girl. (There must be something in the water over here as there are a lot of our friends who have had or are having babies.) I think I must have been inspired by Little Red Riding Hood for this one. I used the crackle paint effect again and this time I got a much better result. I'm going to varnish the painting when I'm happy that it's finished too. I'm just not sure if it needs something else? Or if I add anything will it over do it? Any suggestions would be welcome as I don't want to wreck it now...oh decisions decisions...... :0)

Illustration Friday - Caution

Tilly the tight rope walker had been performing her act for a number of years but each night she would take that first step on to the wire with great caution. Then she would perform the most amazing tricks, somersaulting through the air and landing back on the wire, it was amazing!

Flower lady - Canvas

(I also thought I would submit this to Mixed Media Monday as the theme is 'together'. I think my flower lady is longing for a partner but for the moment her best friend would have to be the butterfly).

Today I had great fun experimenting on this new canvas. I bought some Decor Crackle Medium, which is, if you haven't used it before this medium that you apply on top of your back ground colour then you paint over the top of that when it's dry and when your second layer of paint dries it creates a crackle effect. I think that my first colour in the back ground wasn't enough of a contrast though and I'm still working out how best to use this new material but this is my first try. I also bought some butterfly stickers from the craft store and thought I'd see how they looked on my painting. I have been inspired by many of my blog friends that have used these effects in their work so thought I would give it a go today. Does anyone know if a gloss varnish will work ok on top of the crackly effect?

I think I might try and take a photo of this canvas too as it didn't scan very well as it is slightly bigger than A4. It seems much brighter in real life and not as crisp in the scan.

Flower lady

This is just an idea that I had that I'm thinking of turning into a canvas. I quite like it. Spring is definitly in the air over here now thank goodness and I'm getting inspired by the little blossoms I've started to see appear around town. I can't wait for the longer warmer days and lots of playing outside with the kids!!

Pinocchio

Yesterday I made my son a costume for a parade they are having at school. They are reading and learning about fairy tales at school at the moment and so he wanted to be Pinocchio.

I don't think my effort was too bad considering I was battling the flu while I was making it. He was happy with it. His little brother wanted to get in on the dressing up so he insisted on posing with him in a photo. Shortly after it was taken Pinocchio went to give skeleton a brotherly hug but accidentally poked him in the eye with his gigantic nose......poor skeleton...Pinocchio was well intentioned though!!! :o)