Illustration Friday Burning and Sunday Sketch

Hi guys,

I'm a bit late with both entries this week but we finally got our computer back last night all fixed, and I was working on this new piece so wanted to share. I took some progress shots too as I quite enjoy seeing it from beginning to end!

When I saw the theme for this weeks Illustration Friday I'd already sketched the idea out onto the canvas so really wanted to get it finished, I really like how it turned out :0)

I've also included a shot of a couple of paper mache boxs that I have started to paint, I've just done the undercoat at the moment but plan to paint them with my current obsession with my figurative work so stay tuned, I've been uploading more pendants to my shop and busily making new pieces for my next market. So busy but really loving it, hope you're having a great week so far and I plan to visit lots of blog friends soon as we're back to our brilliant fast computer yay!!!

What a week!

Well its only Tuesday and we've had a bit of a shocker so far, the other day our computer died and then within an hour our nice new oven did too. Thankfully we have a laptop so I'm able to still check in on my blog friends and also work on some new prints for pendants in time for the markets this weekend. I'm really getting a bit nervous about it all which I know is silly as i've been working so hard on my paintings and pendants for so long now it's about time I did something with them. I guess I find selling online alot less scary than dealing with people in person. But I'm sure that it'll go well this weekend and I might even enjoy it ;0)

This new painting is called 'Dancing til Sunset' and I'll hopefully be making a new pendant out of it tomorrow, I really love the colours in this one so pretty :0)

So tomorrow I'll be making up some last minute pendants, varnishing some paintings and hopefully getting things ready for the big day eeek! I'll take some photos to show you this weekend!

'Riding the wave' and Sunday Sketches

Hi everyone, hope you're all having a fun Halloween weekend, we don't seem to celebrate it in Australia like others in the states and UK etc but I've decided that next year I'm going to host my own halloween party! The boys would love it, and seeing how much fun all my blog friends have I want to join in next time :0) we've had a few trick or treaters over the last few nights and the boys got a real kick out of that!

This weekend I've been working on some new paintings to add to my market and to make some pendants from. I've got lots and lots of sketches in my sketch book and I've been buying canvas' of some different sizes. This one that I'm posting today I've called 'Riding the wave' and I've included a few progress shots so you can get an idea of how I work, I must admit I struggled a bit with this one.

I loved the sketch but when I translated that to a painting I found that the figures seemed to become a little lost in amongst all my energetic swirls. So I played around with the colours and I think this is my finished product! I do find that if go away and leave my painting for a while I feel like I can come back with a fresh perspective, so it's a cuppa on our deck I think!!! :0) Happy Halloween everyone! :0)

Oh and before I finish check out what the hubby just bought for my market next weekend. I've been wanting a bust for ages, and these two are really going to help make my stall look that little bit more professional. What a lovely thoughtful hubby! :0) And the little cutie in the middle is Tink (Tinkerbell) our new dog! She's making herself right at home, we got her for a foster dog website a week or so ago and she's settling in nicely!

'Moon Dance'

Here is another piece that I have painted to add to the collection that I'm planning on taking to the market.

I have been so busy making more pendants and plan on making more from the prints of these paintings, I'll give you a sneak peek very soon.

I'm thinking that I might add my collection to my etsy shop as well :0)

Finally my commissioned painting is finished!

Hi everyone, I'm so excited to finally be able to show you my finished commissioned piece. I was asked to include the 3 children and was told that the girls would get such a kick out of being mermaids so I decided to go with 3 separate canvas' that can either be hung together or in their seperate bedrooms. With the little boy I decided that rather than make the poor thing a merman I thought a bit of humour might work well. So I decided to have him playing with/getting a hug from an octopus heheheh. I really enjoyed working on this one, it was very time consuming in that I wanted their faces to be perfect and I wanted to work in lots of detail, that it was very different from my other work that I've been doing lately. It was a nice balance I think.

The group shot was hard to take as it had a gloss varnish over it and so was hard to take a photo in the sunlight but I just wanted to show how it would look hung together, the individual shots show the colours much better. I used iridescant paint over the girls clothes and tails to give them some extra sparkle and I also used texture paste here and there.

I'm very happy with how they turned out and was very pleased when my client picked them up today, she was going straight home to hang them :0)

'Midnight Temptation' and Illustration Friday 'Beneath'

I think this piece that I worked on this week fits the Illustration Friday theme of Beneath! The two figures beneath this tree are being tempted but which one do you think will succumb?

I used some texture paste on the tree to make it stand out and the paint is acrylic. I really enjoy this style as I just run with my idea and see where it takes me, the name of the piece just comes to me as I work on it. I start with a sketch with no paticular colour or design in mind and I find it takes on it's own personality as I work on it.

It's really good for me to work on these paintings in between this big commission that I've been working on as the commission is the total opposite, detailed, and very well planned. I'm about to start on my last piece of the 3 paintings and can't wait to show you when it's finished.

I've had a couple of exciting days on the jewellery front too, 6 sales in 24 hours!!! So exciting! I love selling 'my babies' as it's so good to know that they are going to be worn and enjoyed and it gives me good reason to make some new pieces.

This painting will be varnished with two layers of gloss varnish as that seems to really make the colours pop! Then it's going in my shop!!!

Tomorrow I'm off to town to spend some of my art vouchers that I got for my birthday in my fave art shop!!! Yipee!!!!!!

'Immovable' and Sunday Sketches

Well this week I got side tracked from my usual routine of coming up with a piece for Illustration Friday. But today I finally go time to sit down and work on a painting that had been in my head all week. The word for Illustration Friday was 'Immovable' and this was the image that I sketched days ago but never got to paint in time. It was sketched on card board and I was going to paint on that but I decided that this idea needed a canvas and I'm glad i went with that.

I think it's finished, and I'm thinking that once it's varnished I'll put it in my etsy shop. Soon I'll be stocking my shop with new pendants and new paintings so watch this space!

Star Gazing - Illustration Friday (My first piece since my big trip)

Hi everyone well it feels so good to be back, I'm still busy setting up my new art space but once it is finished I shall post a few pics as I love looking at other peoples art areas so thought you might like a look at mine.

I finally sat down last night and painted, it had been over 6 weeks since I'd really drawn or painted and it's funny how rusty you feel when you've had a bit of a break, but I really enjoyed it and I'm quite happy with how it turned out. The theme for Illustration Friday this week is 'Star Gazing'. I've had this image in my head ever since we went to France, we spent a week there, mostly in a rural area amongst the prettiest villages I've ever seen but the hubby and I were lucky enough to spend the day in Paris by ourselves while my wonderful brother and his beautiful partner watched our boys. I was very taken with these beautiful balconies that were everywhere especially in the city, they'd be brimming with pretty flowers, and I could just picture myself sitting out there watching the world go by. I think Paris is a very beautiful city which really surprised me, but those old buildings with these cute little balconies really did it for me :0).

So for illustration friday this week I decided to paint a pretty french lady sitting out on her balcony at night watching the stars..........I miss Paris ;0)

A couple of little ones......

'In Bloom'


'Precious Moment'

Hi everyone, this weekend amongst the packing for our trip etc I managed to paint these two little ACEO's. They are in acrylic and are the size of a playing card. I bought a packet of ready cut ACEO cards for acrylic paint a while ago and found them again the other day while I was packing. I'm desperately holding off on packing up my art stuff but by bit it's getting packed away so I'm making the most of every minute I get to paint.

These two are titled 'In Bloom' (pregnant lady) and 'Precious moment' for the mother nursing her baby. I'm loving this type of art and exploring where it will take me, I found it really helpful to work in this small size to try out a few ideas and would like to make them into canvas paintings eventually. I think I could also make a really beautiful glass pendant from both paintings so I shall get on to that. Tomorrow I'm hoping to get the camera back off hubby to take a picture of the two pendants I made from my recent paintings in this style, they really look eye catching as a pendant. So stay tuned as I'm hoping to post that up tomorrow. Happy Sunday everyone!!! :0)

Little Red Riding Hood

Today I decided to try my hand at illustrating a piece from a well known fairy tale. When I started my blog last year I was really interested in illustrating childrens books and that is what got me into my art again. But over the last 6 months or so I have been concentrating on making my jewellery and pendants. Now that our big trip is fast approaching I'm having to pack up my art supplies and I'm not really able to order any more glass etc til I come back. I think this trip will be a good time for me to think about new ideas etc as I'm taking my sketch book with me so hopefully I will be inspired by all the sightseeing we will be doing.

So anyway here is my little take on Little Red Riding Hood, I'd like to try another fairy tale perhaps do a series. I painted this in my journal and wrote a little something to go with it.

Illustration Friday and Sunday Sketch 'Early'

This weeks Sunday sketch is one that I have done in preparation for my piece for Illustration Fridays theme which is 'Early'.

This cute couple must have been up all night talking on the beach as they now watch the sun rise.
I found the sunrise quite challenging but I enjoyed it. I've been so busy lately that this was the first real painting I've done in a couple of weeks. It's just a little canvas but I really liked the size for this challenge.

Dragonfly Girl

Hi everyone well it's been nearly a week between posts. I've just been so busy this week with all sorts of things but I have been working on this painting as well as lots of other ideas for upcoming projects.
After some conversations with a lovely blogfriend last week I was reminded of my love for dragonflies so I thought I would try to incorporate some into this piece. As you can tell I really love painting whimsical pretty art but I would like to branch out into others and also perhaps start painting animals etc and not just people, I've got all these ideas in my head and I'm fast running out of time before our big trip so perhaps I'll sketch them down on the plane as I'm taking a sketch book with me. I think it might do me some good to take myself away from my paint and canvas' and to just sketch for a while, I can't help painting as i just really love it! I'm thinking of putting this one in my etsy shop once it's been varnished!

Illustration Friday Cocoon, Sunday Sketch and Mixed Media Monday 'Mothers'

UPDATE: Well it seems that this piece also fits this weeks Mixed Media Monday challenge hurrah! I have to say this is currently one of my favourite pieces and I really enjoyed making it!

Hi everyone, well this weekend I combined the two challenges as I had already done the sketch for this painting. Mothers day is next weekend over here and I wanted to do something to celebrate this occasion. This year I have already seen a family member and a friend welcome a new baby to their home. I have another friend who is due later in the year as well as another family member expecting his first. It's all go go go! All these new babies reminded me of those early days when you are struggling for any scrap of sleep you can get, and can sometimes feel overwhelmed. But there are also those precious moments in the wee hours when you hold your little one all wrapped up in a cosy cocoon of blankets and feel very content. New borns often remind me of little grubs when they are tightly wrapped in the cocoon with just their little head poking out heheheh. I sometimes miss those moments and almost feel like doing it again....almost heheh I like my sleep too much now! ;0) So happy mothers day to all those mothers out there!!