I just love participating in DUST swaps! I was very slack with my partner this month though, just like I have been with this blog and with lots of other things – I’ve been so busy lately! I didn’t forget her though, and I hope the set of wearable art jewellery I sent her made up for the slight lateness.
My swap partner was Carol from Neca’s Nic Nacs, and she definitely looked after me! She sent a lovely set of note cards, some Christmas ornaments, and my favourite, a gorgeous knitted hat. I’m going to have to wait a while before I can wear it though – we’re moving into the warm, humid, summery weather here in Queensland.
Many thanks to Carol for being so patient with me! Please check out her shop, as she has some lovely goodies there!
Last weekend I was lucky enough to be one of five artists participating in an exhibition at the Richard Randall Studio Gallery at Mt Coot-tha Botanic gardens. While I wasn’t able to sell any paintings, I met lots of lovely people and sold some of my wearable art pendants.
My art on display at the Richard Randall Studio GalleryWearable art pendants and watercolours
On the second day of our exhibition, we did some artist demonstrations. It was great to be able to spend a whole day painting without distractions. I painted outside for a while watched over by a curious bearded dragon who seemed to be posting for a painting.
Working on a commission at the Richard Randall Gallery
As always, I was very inspired by the work of the other exhibiting artists, which I think is the best thing about exhibiting as a group.
Many thanks to those who stopped by to have a look at our paintings!
I recently ordered from Etsy a set of vintage book pages:
According to the seller they are from 1889 and 1899, so I was very excited to receive them in beautiful condition!
I finished my first artwork featuring one of these vintage pictures today. The title “And Spring Arose” was inspired by the following poem:
And Spring arose on the garden fair,
Like the Spirit of Love felt everywhere;
And each flower and herb on Earth’s dark breast
rose from the dreams of its wintry rest. ~Percy Bysshe Shelley, “The Sensitive Plant”
And Spring Arose
I really enjoyed working on this piece, and I look forward to seeing what I can come up with for the other pictures.
I was very grateful yesterday when the overcast sky managed to hold back the rain for The Handmade Expo.
It was a quiet market for me this month, but I really enjoyed meeting the new people who came along to have a look at my little stall, and of course enjoyed seeing my regular visitors. Many thanks to all of you who stopped by and said hello!
I won’t be at the next Handmade Expo in October, but I’ll be there in November and December – perfect timing for those wanting to grab some Christmas presents!
Me with my newest painting at The Handmade Expo
I’m now enjoying a break from my day job (school holidays!) so I intend to get lots of painting done! I’m working on a couple of commissioned paintings, so I’ll keep you up to date with the progress of them.
P.S. I’m wearing my brand new Kellie Christie necklace in this pic – I can never resist going and spending my profits at other people’s stalls when I’m at The Handmade Expo (even on days like yesterday when the profits are non-existent)!
I slacked off last week and didn’t post anything for the “dessert” topic, but I’ve definitely made up for it this week! (Actually I did create something for the dessert theme but wasn’t happy with it so didn’t post it.)
I went a little nuts with this theme, and created not one but 5 paintings! I’m thinking of doing a few more and making a calendar of proverb paintings. What do you think?
Great Oaks from Little Acorns GrowAbsence Makes the Heart Grow FonderBloom Where You are PlantedVariety is the Spice of LifeIt Takes Both Rain and Sunshine to Make Rainbows
I hand-wrote the proverbs onto the paintings after the paint had dried, using black ink and a calligraphy pen – one of the old fashioned ones that you dip in the ink. I was very relieved not to have any major ink-blot mishaps on the paintings (although I got lots of ink on my fingers)!
In the meantime, here are some beautiful items from around Etsy which fit into the colour scheme:
1. I’m happy to say that we’re moving out of scarf weather here in Queensland, and into beautiful spring! But for those of you in places which are still a bit frosty (or moving into the colder weather), this gorgeous scarf would be perfect! I’m tempted to get one for myself and stash it away for next winter. Very feminine and pretty, it was hand crocheted by Ayca in gorgeous pear-coloured mohair blend yarn.
2. I made the mistake of searching for “vintage” in my quest to find a really great chocolate brown item for this post. I don’t know why I do it to myself! I invariably find gorgeous shoes that DON’T FIT ME. I swear I found about 6 pairs of shoes I absolutely loved but none of them were in my size! My favourites of all were these vintage chocolate brown suede heels from Folie A DeuxVintage. Trust me I would be buying them intead of posting about them if they were in my size! Incidentally, Folie a Deax means “a madness shared by two” – although I think more than two of us share a madness for vintage!
3. I love butterflies, so I couldn’t go past these beautiful Burgandy Victorian Butterfly earrings by Tigerfli. They’re quite large earrings but would still be very light to wear. Big and bold yet still dainty and feminine. They look fantastic on, check out the pictures in the listing.
4. These South Sea Shell Pearl earrings by Realisation Creations are most definitely pretty in pink! Elegant and pretty, they would make a beautiful accent to any outfit. I love the little extra touches in these handmade earrings like the pretty gold swirls on the earwires.
Many thanks to Heidi and Adriel from Two Happy Stampers for providing the inspiration for this post! Stay tuned for a painting using this colour combination… I’m thinking about combining it with this week’s Illustration Friday topic, “Dessert”. Hmmm…
I’m excited to be involved in a few special events over the next few months.
Next weekend on Saturday 11th September, I’ll have a market stall at Soulful Spring Sounds. I’ll be selling my handmade jewellery and original artwork – although I must admit it will be a challenge staying with my stall instead of wandering around listening to the great music and drinking wine! I’d love to see you there – I’m sure it will be a great day.
I’m also really excited about participating in the Summer Salon art exhibition at the Richard Randall Gallery, Mt Coot-tha Botanic gardens on the 6th and 7th of November. It’s a wonderful historic gallery with great character and charm, and I’m exhibiting with 4 talented artists whose work I really admire.
I’ll be at the gallery in person on Sunday the 7th of November, where I’ll be working on my latest painting (whatever that is at the time). Come on down and say hello, I’d love to meet you! As the gallery is situated in the beautiful Botanic Gardens it’s easy to make a day of it.
In the meantime, you can see me at The Handmade Expo on Saturday 18th September, Saturday 20th November and Saturday 18th December. Unfortunately I won’t be able to make the October market, so if you can’t wait for the November market, send me an email and I can post your goodies to you!
This week’s topic over at Illustration Friday is Immovable. The first idea that came to me was stone – but then I got to thinking that even stone isn’t really immovable. Sure, it might take a long time but even stone is worn away by weathering and water. So that was my inspiration for this painting – stone being worn down by water:
Please forgive the horrible photo – I took it at night without flash so it’s pretty grainy. I’ll try to upload a better version when I get time to take a good daylight photo – but that probably won’t be till the weekend and I didn’t want to miss out on Illustration Friday!
One of my favourite books of all time is First Light by Richard Preston, which is about the Hale Telescope (and is a fascinating read for anyone interested in astronomy). One of the passages that stuck with me was this:
“There is a saying among those who polish astronomical mirrors for a living that an optician never finishes a mirror – you take it away from him.”
I think that pretty much sums up how a painting like this is for me – I can’t guarantee the picture above is the final version because every time I walk past it I think about adding another brush stroke here or there, another layer or another detail.
I managed to remember to take pictures as I went for this one – here’s how it looked as it progressed:
Because, seriously? I’ve had enough of winter. I’ve always been more of a warm weather girl. I love the way everything seems to come alive in the warmer months. The sun is up longer, people are out longer, and I get to wear nicer clothes (I get heartily sick of covering up everything in a big coat in the winter time).
So, even though it’s not *quite* spring yet, and the winter westerlies are still blowing strongly and sending the kids at school crazy (what is it with kids and wind?), I though I’d share with you some Spring Etsy favourites:
From left to right and top to bottom:
1. Inspired by the new green leaves and fresh buds of Spring, this pretty necklace is called “Spring Talk“. It’s one of the many beautiful jewellery designs from KuroNeko – I couldn’t resist adding several things to my favourites list!
2. These pretty pink and green earrings from Treasured Lily Designs are called “Spring Kissed Me Bang” – the name is inspired by the following quote: “I stuck my head out the window this morning and spring kissed me bang in the face.” I’m definitely looking forward to a big old smooch from Spring!
3. I have a thing for little tins and boxes. I have more of them than I have stuff to put in them, but I find them hard to resist! These 3 Mini Tins in “Spring Field” paper from Annie Howes Keepsakes are just gorgeous!
6. I’ve discovered a new favourite artist with Bit O’ Whimsey. This gorgeous print of an original mixed media painting is called “Springtime Meadows” – be sure to click on the link because I couldn’t fit the entire picture into my little collage! Like me, Kandy from Bit O’ Whimsey makes wearable art pendants from her work, so if you can’t afford an original or a print (or like me you are running out of wall space!), a pendant might just be the way to go.
