Tag: watercolour

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Field of Hope

I think you’d be hard pressed these days to find someone whose life hasn’t been touched by cancer.  I myself have lost family members to cancer, which is one of the reasons why I’m honoured to be participating in a ‘Crop for Cancer’ scrapbooking day next Sunday.

I’m able to combine my love of art with my love of scrapbooking to help raise money for the Cancer Council, in the name of a dearly departed ‘Scrappin’ Sister’ who lost her battle with cancer more than a year ago.  Last year’s charity scrapbooking day raised $1093, and we’d like to top that this year.

To that end, I’m delighted to donate a painting which will be raffled off on the day.  I’ve titled it Field of Hope, and included the daffodils which are the symbol of the Cancer Council.  It’s my representation of hope for a cure.

Field of Hope - Original Watercolour painting by Kirsten Bailey
Field of Hope

If you would like to make a donation to the Cancer Council, you can do so via their website.

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Art for Art’s Sake

One of the many things I love about creating art is the opportunity it provides me to support more charities. You may remember earlier this year I donated a painting to the Young Variety’s ‘Heart Art Show’.

This year I’ve also been given the opportunity to participate in the Cerebral Palsy League‘s ‘Art for Art’s Sake’ exhibition.  The Cerebral Palsy League is the largest non-government disability services provider for people with a physical disability in Queensland.  Having taught a student with Cerebral Palsy I’ve seen first hand the necessity of an organisation like this, and so I’m very happy to be able to support them.

This year’s exhibition theme is ‘The Joy of Living’, and I am donating the following painting, titled Sunset Joy:

Sunset Joy - Original watercolour painting by Kirsten Bailey

The painting will be auctioned at the Gala Opening and Cocktail Reception on Wednesday 12 May 2010 from 6:30pm, at Waterfront Place, Eagle St, Brisbane.  For more details, please see the Art for Art’s Sake website.

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Illustration Friday – Linked

This week’s topic over at Illustration Friday is “linked“.  Here’s what I came up with:

Entwined - Original watercolor painting by Brisbane Artist Kirsten Bailey

It’s titled Entwined.

I really enjoyed creating this one, and I’m happy with how it’s turned out… but painting the way I do can be quite messy:

I’m so glad watercolours wash off easily!

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Two Happy Stampers April Colour Challenge – Take Two

I recently wrote about participating in this month’s colour challenge at Two Happy Stampers, which involves creating something using the following colours:

I wanted to have another go at creating a painting using these colours, and this is what I came up with:

Early Spring - Original watercolor painting by Brisbane Artist Kirsten Bailey

It reminds me of the shrubs they have around my school which drop white flowers in a carpet all over the ground.  The branch of the tree is actually painted in navy watercolour paint although it looks pretty close to black.

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A Productive Weekend

It’s been a great weekend for me art-wise!

Yesterday I presented a talk and tutorial to the lovely ladies of the Springfield Lakes Art Group.  I demonstrated some of my watercolour techniques to them, and talked a little about my keepsake boxes and promoting art with Etsy.  I was really nervous but had a great time.

This is the painting I did as part of my demonstration:

Spring Breeze - Original watercolour painting by Springfield artist Kirsten Bailey

Today I  finished and delivered the commissioned piece I was working on for a dear friend of mine.  It was very satisfying to see it finally hanging on the wall:

Paula's Garden - Original Acrylic painting by Brisbane artist Kirsten Bailey

As one door closes, another opens they say – well, as I completed this commission, I received a new one – a customer wants a personalised painting similar to a painting I sold titled “When it is Dark Enough”.  I look forward to the challenge of creating a piece she’ll enjoy!

I finished two other watercolours this weekend too, titled Poppy Field and Winter’s End.  I also started work on two acrylic paintings which I hope to include in the upcoming Abundance exhibition.

I got a print done of my Sunset Storm painting for a customer in the US, and at the same time did some 4″ x 6″ prints of various paintings to make into cards.  I also put in an order for some new business cards from Moo.

As you can see, I got a LOT done this weekend – I didn’t get any housework at all done besides cooking dinner tonight, so I owe it all to my wonderful husband that I got so much arty stuff done 🙂

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Works in Progress…

It’s been a productive weekend!

I’ve done lot’s of work on my lastest commission, a painting for a friend:

Paulas Garden work in progress

There is a lot of detail in this one, and it is HUGE (I can only fit one panel at a time on my easel), so it’s taking me a really long time to finish, but I hope the result will be worth it in the end.

I completed another painting this weekend, and thought I’d show you the stages it went through:

Step One: Painting taped down and ready to go. I've also used tape to separate the four panels (as opposed to wrecking another brush with masking fluid).
Step One: Painting taped down and ready to go. I've also used tape to separate the four panels (as opposed to wrecking another brush with masking fluid).
Step Two: Spring colours - I decided on pinks, greens and yellows to represent spring.
Step Two: Spring colours - I decided on pinks, greens and yellows to represent spring.
Step Three: Summer is orange, yellow and green. You can see the paint was still wet when I took this photo.
Step Three: Summer is orange, yellow and green. You can see the paint was still wet when I took this photo.
Step Four: Browns, oranges and reds for Autumn
Step Four: Browns, oranges and reds for Autumn
Step Five: Blues and whites for Winter
Step Five: Blues and whites for Winter

At this point, I left the painting to dry before removing the tape.  I painted a tree branch going across the top of the painting.  Here’s the result:

Four Seasons in One Day - Original Watercolour Painting by Kirsten Bailey

I also made some more art pendants this week, but that’s a post for another day!

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Friday Favourites – Silver White Winter

I know it’s not quite Friday yet, but I thought I’d post my Friday Favourites now as I don’t know if I’ll get a chance tomorrow.

This week’s selection is inspired by this painting:

It’s actually stinking hot here right now, so I’m a little envious of my northern-hemisphere friends and their white winters 🙂  To get me into a cooler frame of mind, I’m featuring beautiful items in blue, white and silver.

First up this week is this sterling silver necklace with interchangeable amazonite and pearl pendants, by Emily Wiser Jewellery.  I love that you can wear just the white or just the blue pendant, but I think they look great together.

You may have noticed that I am very taken with swirls, and they feature heavily in my artwork.  Bearing that in mind, I’m sure it isn’t difficult to guess what caught my eye about this beautiful necklace, titled “Romantic Getaway” by Beach Glass Gone Wild!

The next blue and white beauty on my list is this gorgeous vintage vanity fair robe in periwinkle blue, from Fine Vintage Apparel.  It’s just too pretty for words!

This Silver Snowflake necklace from Inbal Jewelry and Design is just lovely.  It would make a lovely addition to a winter outfit, but I think it is so pretty I’d wear it all year round.

Last, but most definitely not least, is this stunning card featuring artwork titled “Buckwheat Branches” by IsabellaFlora.  The card is blank inside so it could be given for any occasion – it’s just beautiful!

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Inspire Me Thursday – Handmade Holidays

Christmas is sneaking up on us once again!

We put our Christmas tree up this weekend, and I’ve started thinking about Christmas cards.

Last year I painted a Christmas picture and used the image to make my cards:

I’ve finally gotten around to painting something for this year’s cards.  Its a bit different to last years, but I hope people will like it all the same.  I’m going to get the prints made up sometime tomorrow and I’ll post a picture of the cards when I’ve made them.

Don’t forget to enter my giveaway if you haven’t already done so!