Sunday Sketches - Having fun! :)

Hi everyone, thank you so much for your advice last week about what to do with an artistic block. I am feeling so much more relaxed about the whole art thing this week. Even though I've been struggling with a horrible bug over the weekend I still managed to do some sketching. (Can't believe I've managed to make it this long in the term with out catching something off the little ones). I decided to buy a new journal and some new watercolour pencils a couple of weeks ago and managed to make a start on it this weekend.

Even though I have the arty block I decided to think about what I loved to draw and what makes me happy and it's always been the big eyed girls so that's what i focused on this weekend and it does feel good to draw again.

This first piece I called 'Turn the other cheek' I love drawing ladies and flowing hair :)

 This next piece is called 'Why does it always rain on me?'.....I am hoping that these sketches may lead me in a new direction.....

Last but not least this lady is called 'Ruby Rose' and is inspired by an Aussie celeb......

Just getting something on paper and not putting too much pressure on myself has helped heaps. I'm looking forward to visiting you all and getting more inspiration from you all :)

Artistic block!!!!!!! Argggghhhh!

Dealing with a bad case of artistic block at the moment but managed this sketch over the weekend. I think it's because I'm working full time now my weekends are precious and so I want to do as much as I can but put too much pressure on myself to pump out the work in a shorter space of time. Anyone got any tips on how to deal with an artistic block?

Red

This is my Illustration Friday piece for this weeks prompt which was 'Red'. Trying hard to find my art mojo again I am feeling the artistic block big time.......just got to get back to a good routine.

A fresh start!

Hi guys well I've had quite the break from blogging in the last few months. I have still been creating and posting here and there to my facebook page but I'm afraid that I lost my mojo a bit towards the end of last year. It's been a tough few months and I felt that I just couldn't keep up with my usual artiness. We had a death in the family at Christmas and just a couple of months before that my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. So needless to say it's been a bit of a whirl wind last few months where I didn't feel my usual arty self. My mothers diagnosis is good and this year will be a very tough one for her but we are blessed with a positve outcome and have to keep our heads down bums up and just get through it.

So I would like to share the art that I have been doing since I last blogged last October. Well not all of it but some of it at least! :)

First up is something very personal. I decided to get a tattoo not long after I found out about my mum, in support of what she is going through. I also wanted to share the message about vigilance and the reminder that we need to be aware of our  bodies and any changes that you may find as well as going for regular mammograms and pap smears etc. So I designed this tattoo which I wear on my wrist with pride.

It's of course the breast cancer ribbon with a little twist of my own.

Some of the other things I have been working on getting to grips with watercolour and mixed media and trying a bit of zentangling!

Also this year I have started a new full time job which I really enjoy but has been quite challenging but very rewarding. Phew!!! I'm working as a teachers assistant in a special unit assisting children with Autism. I am looking forward to using my art skills to assist with the creative side of things. I have already discovered that we have some wonderful young artists. :)

Lastly I decided that I will start participating in Illustration Friday again. I used to do it every week when I first started out on my blogging adventure, it was a great way to get the creative juices flowing so that is what I hope to do again. Below is my entry for this weeks word which was 'Spark'....I hope to catch up with you all again over the next few weeks and get back to enjoying blogging again :)

Wow! It's been a while.....

I just realised how long it's been since I updated my blog. And it certainly has been a while. I haven't had much time for blogging and even my own art lately due to work commitments and commissions that I have been working on. It's all good just life seems to get away from me sometimes and I realise I need to take a breath and do some art and blogging for my soul. So I apologise for my absence.

I have been working on a giant fibre glass cow called a 'Picasso Cow' at school with a team of wonderful  children but I cannot show you pictures of that until we have had competition day then I can tell you all about it. I have had another Pink commission which I was very proud of and I have been busy with school holidays etc. So I don't want to bombard you with everything I have been working on in the last couple of months so I'll just show a select few.

Firstly this is on of my commissions that I finished, it was of two sisters and has since been framed in it's new home and looks lovely all framed up! :)

This is just a quick painting I did that is close to my heart, it is a portrait of my uncle who is no longer with us but I had an urge to paint one day :)

I have also been very busy stocking up my etsy shop with lots of new goodies, many are handmade pendants, made from prints of my paintings. You can click on my etsy link to the right of this post if you'd like to see more :)

This is the latest Pink commission that I was asked to do......

I think she looks so great in a frame! :)

Last but not least is something I've been playing around with today. I decided to have a go with my air brush which hubby bought me a couple of Christmasses ago and I'm ashamed to say I haven't really used it much mainly because I didn't have the right paint and I didn't know how to use it. So we bought some good paint and I had a big play with it today. I had so much fun. I'm no where near able to use it properly yet but I'm happy with what I accomplished today. I used the airbrush for the skin tone then used a fine brush for all the little details on top and added a bit of my drippy style that I like to do on top. This is a portrait of Miley Cyrus. I'm looking forward to using my air brush more often! :) Happy Friday everyone!

Frogs and zombie killers! :)

Hi Guys,

I have been kept very busy with work and commissions etc but managed to work on a couple of pieces of my own too.

First up I felt like working on something a little different after completing two portrait commissions back to back so I decided upon some cute frogs! I had some black paper so wanted to try out my prisma colour pencils. I enjoyed working on the black as it really makes you work differently. The colours popped really well on there too!

 Of course I had to play around with my water colours and frog idea too, I went over the top of the paint with pencils at the end just for something different!

 Last but not least I went and saw 'The Worlds End' with Simon Pegg and Nick Frost in last weekend. I really love those guys and their movies, I really enjoyed the film which got me thinking about one of my favourite movies of all time....'Shaun of the Dead'.....no matter how many times I watch it it still makes me laugh! :) This painting is called 'You've got red on you! '........

I have finished a commission this week but I can't share that with you until the new owner has receives it! Happy Paint Party Friday everyone!

Paint Party Friday

Hi guys,

First up I apologise for the long post, well it's long as I have lots of pics to show you. Well I've been so busy these last few weeks as I've picked up extra days at work at the school I've had back to back commissions and I'm getting ready for a Burlesque Bazaar so I've just been posting the odd photo of what I've been working on to my facebook I'm sorry I neglected my blog.

So here are a collection of things that have kept me very busy in the last month or so:

First up I have done some drawings and paintings of different expressions as I wanted to work on improving my portraits. This is a young Sean Connery :)

 Next up is Miranda Hart! I LOVE her and her show and really enjoyed painting her quirky expression! :)

 This next pencil drawing started off as a pic of Angelina Jolie but I got a bit carried away and she turned into something else :) but I still like it!

 This is a portrait of a friend of mine that I painted. She is so photogenic that I couldn't resist putting her in one of my paintings.

 This gorgeous beauty was a commission for a lady who loves cows!

 Here are some beautiful art works by the kindergarten class. Last term i worked with them over quite some time and we concentrated on blending techniques with the oil pastels and how to use them properly. I also introduced them to abstract art with this Kandinsky inspired lesson where they created their own concentric circle pieces. They really had a ball with this project and I was so impressed! They all look fantastic on their classroom wall together!

 In the next lesson we created a 3d piece using our Kandinsky circles, the kindergarteners folded the wings and stuck them on to the paper. These turned out wonderfully too!

 There are some wonderful artists in Kindy!

 Love the colours in this last one!

 Here are a couple of portraits that I have made which I've turned into prints for my upcoming Burlesque Bazaar!

 I've also been playing around with painting glass.......

 Here are some bottle cap pendants that I made using prints of my recent work!

 I'm so happy with these! :)

 Last but not least is my latest commission! I had sooooo much fun with this one!

Phew!!!!! As you can see things have been a bit crazy busy for me lately but I wouldn't have it any other way! I love what I'm doing! :) Hope you are all having a great Friday!

Paint Party Friday, Changing it up a bit! :)

Hi guys,

Well it is freezing here now we are officially in winter while the rest of the world are going on their summer holidays. Ah well. I've been sitting in my warm cosy art area and busy creating!

Here is what I have been working on this week.

 First up is this 'Frida' inspired painting. I didn't have her in mind when I painted this but I felt like I must have been channeling her when I looked at the finished product :) She is part of my burlesque collection :)

 This is a new sugar skull piece that i have added to my sugar skull inspired collection :)

These last two paintings were done in the last few days. I felt like tackling something completely different and have had a lovely time with these beautiful creatures! :)

I also have available to order these cute deluxe tote bags! I like how it's completely different to my usual work!!! :)

Hope you've all had a good arty week :)

Paint Party Friday and Sunday Sketches for this weekend!

Hi everyone,

Well I have been absent from blog land for a little while this time because I had to have minor surgery on my finger last week. Luckily it wasn't my drawing hand but it still slowed me down a bit as I was in quite a bit of pain which wasn't very nice, which also made it impossible to type. Almost back to normal now so I have been able to work on some things this week.

 This piece was done just before I had my surgery. I wanted to play around with putting my artwork on a black background. I actually prefer the cropped version below though :)

 I'm working on a series of Burlesque inspired paintings in preparation for a Burlesque market that I have decided to do in August. I met a lovely Burlesque lady on line from my city who told me about this market and suggested that i give it a go. I went to check out their last one a couple of weeks ago and it looked like a lot of fun! :)

This last painting I did for a special family member who has just moved into a new house, I thought she would like a special painting for her room. I have painted her her in dream place. This little 6 year old already knows what she wants to be when she grows up. A fashion designer living in Paris!  I really enjoyed working on this one as I hadn't done a canvas for a while and it wasn't just a close up of the face which made it more challenging :)