Sunday Sketches!

Hi everyone, I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. I've been drawing heaps but not able to post with lots of visitors and parties happening. Things are calming down a bit now so i thought I'd share my new pieces with you all at Sunday Sketches.

I was spoiled rotten for Christmas and was given lots of new goodies. A whole new heap of coloured pencils as well as blending sticks, woodless graphite pencils etc so I've been doing a bit of experimenting.
These first 3 drawings were done just before Christmas, I wanted to experiment with different skin tones and experiment with space :0)

 'Blue'.......

 'Iris'.......

'Red'......

This next picture was my first experiment with my new skin tone pencils. I'm now able to create better skin tones with my new pencils :0)

I'm really happy with her skin tone :0)

Next up is a quick sketch I did with my new woodless graphite pencils and blending sticks. I'd never used blending sticks before so really loved playing around with depth and shade with this one.  :0)

Last but not least is a piece I did yesterday. I felt like drawing a Geisha :0)

I had fun with this one and worked in a bigger size this time A3.

Oh one last thing I forgot to share is a commission I worked on a while ago before Christmas.

Sorry for the long post I didn't realise just how much I hadn't shared with you all :0)

I wish you all a happy and safe New Years and look forward to seeing all your new creations in 2013 :0) x

Paint party Friday and Sunday Sketches

Well my obsession with coloured pencils continue, I know these pieces aren't paintings but I really wanted to share with you what I've been working on. I'm so passionate and excited about perfecting my portrait work I don't think I've been this driven artistically in a very long time. It's a great feeling.

 'Funky Fairy'

 'The Mermaid'

Experimenting with background and profile for this one.

'Windswept'

 'Fire starter'

This one remains without a title but I was experimenting with skin tone and use of space.

'Rainbow'.

I've also been experimenting with my artwork and using it in otherways. I've become so addicted to Vistaprint! I love seeing my designs on new things and the bags especially have become very popular. I have a few left in my etsy shop.

I've been designing new business cards, and even tried using my design on this mug which I love!

I now  have limited edition postcard style prints of two of my ladies available. Will be adding them to my shop very soon.

This is a close up of 'Rainbow' printed on my new cotton tote bags! Love how the colours came up!

 These bags are so cute and have proven to be very popular in my shop, only have a few left! :0)

Sorry for such a long post today but I am really excited to share with you what I've been working on! :0) I've also finished my commission which I will be able to share with you after Christmas and I've been really busy finishing building and painting sets for the school concert next week. I'm hoping to get some nice pics of my pieces on stage for you to share! :0)

Looking forward to catching up. :0)

Sunday Sketches

Hi everyone,

Well the weeks seem to be flying by now I can't believe it's nearly December!

The weather is warming up nicely over here now and it really feels likes summer is almost here. I've been busy at work preparing for the end of school concert. I'm loving how my job as the artist in residence at the boys school is never boring. I'm now in the process of making sets and helping with costumes for the schools big concert at in a few weeks time. I've made a castle for the white witch in Narnia, the lampost from The Lion the witch and the wardrobe and I'm now in the process of making chimney sweep brushes for the kids for a Mary Poppins routine! :0) It's a lot of fun!

I've also been busy with a commission I'll be posting after Christmas as it's a present for someone but I have had some time to do another pencil drawing.

I called this saucy little minx 'Eve'........

I look forward to seeing what you've all been up to!

Paint Party Friday and Sunday Sketches, continuing with pencil!

Hi guys, well what a week it's been. I've not been that well. I've had some sort of bad allergic reaction to a facemask that I used last week so have felt like the elephant woman all week. Taking antihystamines which really knocked me around and trying not to rip my face off. I'm not sure what is going on with me at the moment I seem to be developing allergies and hayfever which I've never had before. I've been hearing that this spring season is really bad this year. So can't wait til that passes.

I did however manage to continue with my pencil drawings and have been experimenting with space, and composition as well as challenging myself with teeth and hands.

So here are my pieces for this week:

First up I tried to challenge myself with this pose which had a partially opened mouth as well as some hands. I'm really happy with how she came out. :0)

Her hair reminds me of flames in this one! :0) I really enjoyed working on this hair! Love the colour combo!

With these last two pieces I was experimenting with the use of space and composition! I really enjoyed working on them both.

The last one I named 'Mother Nature'.....

I'm also excited to be able to share with you some new products I'm working on. I received these in the post yesterday. I've been checking out a printing website and have started experimenting with using my art work in different ways. These are the first of my new t-shirts. If you are interested in purchasing a t-shirt like this or would like to see another of my designs on a shirt then just let me know through my blog or you can email me through facebook :0) I'm very excited about where this new line of artwork is taking me :0)

Looking forward to seeing what you've all been up to this week!

Paint Party Friday, Sunday Sketches and a bit of a new direction

Hello fellow art lovers. I couldn't post last week as last Friday we had our school's annual Twilight fair and this year I was put in charge of the face painting stall. Face painting isn't really something I've done a lot of except for messing about with my own boys. But I managed it, 4 hours of really busy fast face painting, I was absolutely exhausted afterwards and didn't realise just how tiring it is! :0)

This week I've been able to relax a bit with my art and I decided one day to try something different. I've started drawing while I watch tele again and I must say that I find it so relaxing! I'm really enjoying it. I've been trying to challenge myself by playing around with a bit more realism and it's been great to push my boundaries. So here are the new ladies I've been working on this week!

 Here is my first girl, I wanted to keep my surreal or fairytale style in there but make it more real at the same time. I think that I was staying in my comfort zone a bit and even though I was a bit nervous about attempting something new I'm glad I did.

 This second girl is actually a portrait of a friend. She asked if I could do one of her in this style and set me a challenge......

 I'm really happy with her as it really does look like her! :0)

 This girl was more of an experiment and trying to work from a different angle, side views intimidate me a bit and even though this isn't a full on side view I felt that this angle was a bit of a challenge.

 I'm very pleased to say that she sold just hours after a drew her when I posted her to my facebook page so that was exciting! :0)

 This last girl was the biggest challenge of all with her upturned face, something that I would never have tried to tackle in the past but with each piece I'm finding my confidence.

I'm happy to say that I've found a new exciting direction with my art which I really wasn't expecting to do but I guess it goes to show even those playful little sketches can really make a difference :0)

Hope you are all having a good week and I'll visit soon :0)

Paint Party Friday and Sunday Sketches

What a crazy week, work has been very busy, we've nearly finished our papier mache convict busts. My house has been upside down as we decided to redecorate my eldest sons room as he was in major need of a makeover and I've been struck down with hayfever for the first time ever! :0( now I know what all you poor souls have been going through all this time. I've also been suffering from terrible dermititis on my hands which I think is related to the hayfever! So it's been a very long week.

Today I'm off to do a market, this market is a new one for me and very popular in the centre of town so fingers crossed! I'll let you know how I go.

Here is what has been keeping me busy this week!

These are the finished convicts, the others just need to be painted I'm so proud of the children and the hard work they put into their pieces. They had an assembly yesterday where the kids got up with their convicts and talked about the person and what happened to them and showed their masterpieces off to the rest of the school :0)

Next up is a piece I painted for my little sister, her and her hubby have just had their first baby. I wanted to do something special for them and based this painting on some photos of a trip their took to (I think it was Bali) where they stayed for a week at an elephant sanctuary and volunteered to look after them. It was a very special trip for them and they have a big lovely of elephants. They loved the painting :0)

This is a painting I finished just the other day, little blue cherub in oils! :0)

 I really enjoyed painting the eyes!

And last but not least here are some new products I'll be taking to the markets with me today. I have been wanting to try to use prints of my paintings as greeting cards and have just received my first two in time for the market! I have 10 sets of each just to see how they go but have big plans to use more of my work like this :0)
Right best dash off and get ready eeeek! Have a great weekend guys!

Paint Party Friday - Babies babies babies, school holidays and my baby's birthday!

Hi everyone,

I really wanted to post this week at Paint Party Friday and catch with you all. I've been so busy with my own two boys as it's been school holidays so it's been lots of projects  as well as creating two new pieces for some new members of my family.

First up here is my second painting on wood that I finished last week, I'm really happy with her and just have to figure out the best way to varnish her:

Now I'm pretty confident that my cousin doesn't see my blog (she follows me on facebook) so I'll post the painting I made for her new little man. It's winging it's way to Scotland so I hope it arrives safely.

I made a special canvas for his bedroom :0)

I really enjoyed working on this one as it's not very often I get to paint for boys! :0) I chose a deep canvas for this one with nice big edges so I prettied up the sides. I normally go for canvas' with very shallow sides so this was a nice change. I also incorporated some mixed media by using Japanese paper for the kite and wool for the kite strings. I hope they like it :0)

Oh next up I have to show you this new beautiful diary I bought whilst we were away on holiday down the coast a week or so ago. It was a definite indulgence but hubby insisted I deserved it! :0) It's all hand made and hand stamped leather! Bought from a market! I managed to paint a lady inside already! :0)

I called her 'Seline' :0) I can't wait to fill up this beautiful diary with lots of work! :0)

I also had a new niece arrive in the family last week, my little sister had her first which is soooooo exciting! I'm currently working on a painting for them which i shall share with you next week! Hope you are all having a great week and look forward to seeing what you've all been up to! :0) x