Paint Party Friday and Sunday Sketches 'I'm the king of the pond'.....

 Hi guys, first up this week is a little canvas I worked on. I decided I wanted to recreate my frog princess in this mixed media piece. I used Japanese papers, painted over them with acrylic paint. I felt like it give the painting a bit more depth and texture and it was fun to do something different.

 I have added this little cutie to my shop as I think it would look lovely in a little girls bedroom :0)

 I really took my time painting the sides of the canvas too! :0)

 This sketch was another exercise I set myself, I wanted to play around with facial expression. This girl looks unimpressed with something ;0)

Lastly this is my latest piece in my frog series. 'I'm the king of the pond'....I'm sure I don't have to explain my inspiration behind this one? I painted this piece in gouache paint with some coloured pencil on top! :0) I really love how bright the gouache is, i would love to try it on watercolour paper next :0)

I'm finding my frog series a great source of inspiration, it's great to paint one of these when i'm lacking some inspiration or my muse has disappeared :0) They always make me smile too! ;0)

Hope you are all having a wonderful weekend and look forward to catching up on what you've all been doing!

Paint Party Friday/Sunday Sketches!

Hi guys

I've been combining my pieces for both challenges lately because I'm having a lot less art time at the moment with school holidays going on etc. So I think for the moment I shall be posting once a week like this just so I can keep up at least with the challenges.

So this week I have managed to create another froggy character! Today we have 'Marilyn Mon-Frog'!!!! :0) I'm already working on my next piece for the froggy collection and can't wait to share that one with you too! I think I might do a frog on canvas next :0)

 I had a right little giggle painting this one :0)

This next piece I was able to squeeze in the other day in between shuttling my little ones to play dates and generally keeping them out of mischief! I was getting very depressed just walking by my art table this week and not being able to sit down and work on all the ideas I've got rattling around my head. So I thought I'd practice creating some expressions with just the eyes and eye brows. I'm going to start working on a book that I collaborated on with my cousin a couple of years ago. I finished a draft version but we weren't ready to move forward with it back then I needed to work on my art. I think I'm feeling ready to give it another go so really want to work on my character creation and facial expressions :0) (no this book is not about frogs ;0) but perhaps I should think about that for the future ;0) ).

I really enjoyed this exercise!!! :0)

Ok best dash off it's time to take the boys to another play date!!!

Paint Party Friday and and an early entry for Sunday sketches

Hello everyone, I hope you all had a great New Years and have recovered. I wasn't too bad this week, we had a big party on the weekend even the kids stayed up into the wee hours and we all lazed around the next day. It's still summer holidays over here at the moment so I've been busy taking the kids to play dates, the pool and keeping them occupied etc. I've even managed to get back into my exercise a bit 2012 is the year I get buff (fit)....well I'll try anyway ;0)

I'm including these pieces as my Sunday sketches too as we have two birthday parties this weekend and the husband is dragging me to a car show eeeeeeek.....so not my thing but when he told me that there was an air brush exhibition as well I decided to give it a go. So hopefully next week I'll have some pictures to show you and I might even be able to get some tips!!!

Ok first up is another in my series of frogs. I really love drawing these little guys as it really gets my creative juices flowing, and I'm thinking up all sorts of scenarios for them to be in :0)

This one is 'Disco Frog'

 Move over Travolta!

This next piece is another of my experiments with the airbrush that I got for Christmas. I used the air brush for the skin, background and hair then added details over the top. I really do like the look of the airbrush it gives it a softness that I'm not able to get with a paint brush. I think though that it's going to take me a long time to be able to do details with an airbrush it really is tricky but I really am having fun trying new things!!!

Hope you all have a great weekend and I'll pop by over the weekend!!

Paint Party Friday - A new toy!

Hi guys I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!!! We had a lovely time down the coast!

 The weather was beautiful!

 The boys had a lovely time at the beach!

 Splashing in the waves with their grandparents.

 I even dipped in my toes! :0)

The boys collected so many hermit crabs, don't worry we put them all back ;0)

 I tried drawing a sand frog :0)

Hubby gave me an airbrush for Christmas. I've never used one before so it's been like learning to draw all over again! I've been watching videos on youtube and trying to figure out how to use it! I'm struggling with doing fine lines so really need a proper lesson I think. I do however love using it for shading and managed to do a couple of paintings the last couple of days and experiment with it!

 This one is on a canvas board and I really loved how it popped when I used the paintbrush on top just for the fine lines!!

 This one was a practice run, just on paper and I realise that the paint really bleeds into the paper I just couldn't seem to make a fine line.

 I have been meaning to paint this bag for weeks. I really love how the shading turned out I think it really gives it a soft quality! :0) I used the fine paint brush for the thin lines. I'm hoping that I'll be able to master this way of painting but I guess it take practice! :0)

Hope you all have a great New Years weekend and I look forward to visiting you all! :0)

Paint Party Friday - Frog obsession continues

Hi everyone, well Christmas is nearly upon us so I thought I'd better add my paint party Friday pieces before things got crazy.

My last post I put up some frog pictures as I've been obsessed with them lately, so many characters bouncing around in my head, so this week in between lots of Christmas preparation I managed to paint two more.

'Zombie' Frog must be my favourite! I had so much fun with this little guy heheheh. I'm a massive zombie movie fan so had a lot of ideas for this one! He's painted in acrylic paint and I've used a biro pen to outline him, I've never used biro like this before it works really well with the paint!

'Karate' Frog, I've used some inspiration from the original 'Karate Kid' for this one heheheh!!!


I wish you all a fantastic happy and safe Christmas and look forward to painting more of these little guys next week! :0)

Sunday sketches - Obsessed with frogs!

Hi guys!

After creating my ballerina frog t-shirt for a little loved one I've had so many more froggy characters pop into my head and started sketching them! I think these little frogs would make lovely canvas' for children's bedrooms and I plan on painting them on a larger scale!

First up I got a bit festive with 'Santa Frog'

This one is 'Princess Frog'

I've got some other sketches I've been working on but will have to paint those another day!!! I seem to be heading back towards the childrens art at the moment I love creating new characters :0)

Hope you are all having a great weekend and enjoying the lead up to Christmas, now that school is finishing up and my Christmas market is done I'll be able to come visiting you all again! :0)

Crazy time of year and Sunday sketches!

Wow is anyone else feeling swamped by the silly season? We've had Christmas school concerts, parties, end of year/school parties and yesterday my cousin and I collaborated for a Christmas market of our own. My cousin Clare is a hand bag designer who has a label of her own called Hforhandbag. She is an amazingly talented girl who is probably the most driven person I know :0). Check out her website if you'd like to find out more about her. We decided to collaborate and hold a mini market at my house. By invitation only. We set up in my back garden as it was the most perfectly sunny day. We had coffee tea and biscuits as well as jugs of iced water with lemon and mint to keep our visitors comfortable.

 Clare's set up looked fantastic on my deck and she had a wonderful shady spot! You can also see my spot in the background.

Clare and her beautiful bags. Click on the HforHandbag link above to see more :0)

My stall on the grass! :0)

We were so happy with how it turned out,  and had so much fun it was a really lovely day, lots of chatting, trying on of bags and jewellery with some soft jazz sounds in the back ground. I think we'll do another one of these in the new year for sure!!! :0)

I am so exhausted today and a little bit sun burnt (naughty me) but I'm looking forward to sketching up some new designs and ideas as the last few weeks have been spent preparing for our big day.

I have finished another t-shirt for another little loved one, this one is for 'Mermaid Sian'. My cousin's 5 year old is the most amazing young swimmer I've ever seen, she swims around like a little mermaid and really wants to be a mermaid one day :0) So I couldn't resist capturing that on her T-shirt!! I'm happy with how she turned out and even included her lovely little freckles!

Paint Party Friday/Sunday Sketches - Busy busy busy! Hand painted T-shirts

 Hi everyone, this week I've been working on my hand made T-shirts, if you didn't see my last post I am working on some hand painted t-shirts for some loved ones for Christmas. I did Queen Ruby! And the next one was this froggy ballerina for her little sister Willow.

 Apparently Willow (who is 18 months old) is a huge frog fan so I couldn't resist turning one of my frogs into this ballerina! It is painted with fabric paint then heat sealed to set the paint!

 I'm really happy with how she turned out and hope that Willow loves her too!

This next piece is for a friends little girl who is turning 5 'Bella' apparently loves My little Ponies especially the unicorn one so I couldn't resist incorporating that into her t-shirt. Bella is such a cutie I almost always see her with her hair in plats so I feel like she's turned out quite like the real thing :0)

 This one was definitely a challenge in so many ways but I really enjoyed doing it!

 I love all the bright colours I was able to use! I hope Bella likes her too!

My next project that I'm working on is a new canvas bag, this time I'm using my owls I've sketched the design so will work on that this weekend. I'm off to bed now but will catch up with you all in the morning! :0) Happy Friday!!!

Sunday Sketches - Christmas presents!

Hi guys I've missed a few Sunday sketches recently as we have been away at a family holiday and I also had a market recently.

Finally this weekend I've been able to work on some Christmas presents for some little loved ones. I wanted to make them some special hand painted T-shirts.

First up is my cousin's little girl Ruby, she is 3 years old and full of personality!! Her mum told me that she thinks she's a Queen so I came up with this sketch!

 She is of course the Queen of Hearts :0)

 I liked my sketch so much I thought that I would colour it in and perhaps use a print for book marks etc :0)

 Here is my finished shirt! I used fabric paints which I need to heat set with an iron tomorrow! I'm very happy with how she turned out!

 This ballerina frog is for Ruby's little sister Willow, she loves frogs at the moment and I have a nice black t-shirt which I think this little beauty would pop out on! :0) Can't wait to paint this froggy!!!

 This last sketch is for another little loved one! She is 5 and loves to swim and is amazing in the water! I've never seen a 5 year old swim like her before. She always reminds me of a mermaid so I've drawn this little mermaid for her and will colour her in with her beautiful dark hair and blue eyes!!!

I'm having so much fun with this project!!!

Paint Party Friday - The Romantics

Hi everyone, it's been a while since I last posted. We've been away at a family wedding, had a market as well as helping out at my little one's school, the lead up to Christmas is starting to get crazy already.

I'm now back into some kind of routine and I've been thinking about which direction to take my art next. When I started my art journey a few years ago (after a long break without creating) it was children's art and illustration that first caught my attention. Since then I seem to have gone in all sorts of different directions, jewellery, mixed media, figurative art. Lately I've been feeling the call back to childrens art. So after our weekend away I was inspired by all the love in the air at my little sisters wedding and created this piece with a few different characters that I've been playing around with.

'The Romantics'........

 I created some dancing frogs a while back for an Illustration Friday piece and I felt like they needed to be brought out to play again. This one really needed a moustache heheheh

 

 Really love the snuggly owls!

Ants in love!

I'm working on some hand painted T-shirts for some family members for Christmas so you should see some of these characters re-appearing :0)

I'm looking forward to catching up with you all over the weekend it's been a while since I've been able to blog surf etc and I need my fix! :0)