Gossamer Haze

Have you ever... and I mean EVER seen me upload three drawings in two days?

Let alone an A4 sized piece?! (all the others are just A5 :-)

In all honesty I wasn't sure if this one was finished-finished... but I liked the hazy pastel softness, like a setting sun tinging the landscape with a bruised golden light.

I had imagined this one to be much more defined, but unfortunately when the bottle of liquid masking fluid tells you to not leave it on the paper for more than 24 hours, it should also say to REALLY not leave it on there for six months...... ooops.

Another long awaited piece finally completed. I'm slowly getting there. And after visiting the Norman Lindsay Gallery today, I know what my next challenge will be..... bigger artworks. Much bigger........

Norman Lindsay Gallery

With my day of hatching arriving closer, dear friend and talented fellow artist Angela Rose of Butterfly Bones drove me out to the Blue Mountains (I know, she has the worlds most beautiful name!)
We were on a mission to ogle the beautiful grounds of the Norman Lindsay Gallery - mutually our favourite artist.

 

If you haven't heard of Norman Lindsay and you're into art representing beautiful women... boy, have you missed out.

Norman Lindsay was a prolific Australian artist (February 22, 1879 – November 21, 1969)  who worked in a variety of media including oil painting, etching, watercolours, and sculpture. His women are always strong and incredibly womanly, and considering the times, flamboyantly erotic. He was a genius, I adore his work.

The Gallery and grounds are located at his former property, and walking through them we met with many of his bronze and cement sculptures

 

 

I had a good, and very inspirational day :-)

The Botanist's Daughter

Bereft of a more poetic title, I imagine the girl to be the daughter of a botanist, spending time in the green-house... imagining instead she was in a tangled and untamed jungle, free and wild.

Last year I mentioned my determination to finish colouring all the pieces I had previously started. This piece is another small victory in that mammoth task. I think I have 7 left now.
Drawing comes much quicker to me than the colouring stage. I will often feel colouring a piece I am either fond of or fear to be complicated very daunting, and have been known to put off finishing those pieces for years.
I am happy to have finally finished this one - I drew it about a year and a half ago!!!

Blossom

Inspired by the ephemerally sweet porcelain dolls of Higher Delights

Delighted to own one of her first, little Blossom has indeed been an inspiration. I like to draw pictures of the art-dolls that find their way to me, and this little darling was no less enjoyable to portray.

Kelly is incredibly talented, and it has been such a pleasure watching her creative process right from the start. She herself has blossomed into a talented and inspirational artist, and is really only in the very beginnings of this fruitfal path she has chosen. I look forward to watching her dolls evovle and grow.

Leveche - Gift Exchange

Recently I participated in an online Secret Santa style exchange of gifts on a particular forum I frequent.

I was delighted, as the person I received is an incredibly talented artist in her own right, Terri Abel of Paper White, who creates exquisite porcelain dolls. I knew at once I wanted to depict one of her otherwordly dolls, my favourite...

Leveche - daughter of the Wind

 

Jewellery Illustrations

I created this little illustration to feature alonside one of Victoria Buckley's delightful sterling silver pendants. The theme for this little Bunny is in celebration of The Year of the Rabbit, 2011!

And here is one of my earlier illustrations for her, "Falling Alice", for more of an Alice in Wonderland theme...

 

Both pieces are available on Victoria's Etsy account - www.victoriabuckley.etsy.com

Art Theft - Postcard heist

I'm not talking someone copying your drawing and calling it their own, or even literally copy pasting on the internet... I'm talking literally...

One of my beautiful models, who also happens to be a very dear friend of mine, was celebrating her birthday earlier this January.  As a little present for her I bundled up a couple of my postcards, particularly the ones featuring illustrations she had posed for, and those of our mutual friends.

She is an exquisitely beautiful girl, and a very sweet soul.

 

A few minutes ago, she rang me in sadness, to tell me her neighbour brought over the shredded remains of the envelope and the letter I had written to her, wishing her a very Happy Brithday. He had found them tossed on his front lawn, the postcards were however, gone.

To the theif who decided that $3.50 is too much to spend on my art, but none the less admired it enough to steal it....  thanks for liking my work, but a real shame you were low enough to rifle through someone elses mail and steal it.

For future reference, you can find my postcards for sale in my Etsy Shop

You can buy them individually, in packs of five, or in packs of ten.....

Etsy Sale!

After much deliberation I have decided to host a little sale on my etsy, and have listed some of my dear watercolours at very low prices.

The originals that were already listed and are a bit older have also all received discounted prices, and base postage costs (ie, just the cost of one stamp, if it costs more to post, then I'll take care of it).
Some of my originals are now close to the price most sellers ask for digital prints.

I'd love to see them find new homes :-)

 

Give me the words...

I like poetic titles. But I am stuck on this one... the song that was playing as I pondered what to name this piece sang to me softly: "give me the words....that tell me, everything..."

How appropriate... Please help me find the appropriate words to title this piece... what story do you cypher?

Part of my ongoing attempt to finish all the drawings that I started and never completed. I drew this one well over a year ago, and was too trepaditious to colour at the time, as my watercolour skills were still utterly feeble. Very very happy to have finished it!

In a Forgotten Room

Another very very old drawing that I felt compelled to paint and finish, for peace of mind.

Frustratingly the paper I had drawn on was very resistant to my watercolours, almost as if it had a greasy or slippery surface texture - it didn't behave at all like the beautifully absorbent paper I use now. Painting this one was hard and time consuming, but I got there in the end :-)

Sketches and Scribbles

For Christmas I bought myself a nice scanner, with the highest scan resolution I could find.

I used to just use some cheap and nasty printer/scanner combo... but so far, I'm convinced the quality was better before :-/ I must be doing something wrong, because the new scanner is reading the colours all wrong, and I'm not photoshop savvy enough to know how to post-edit.
Until I figure it out (wish me luck) here are some little watercolour sketches I've been doing recently to keep ''in practice''.

Year of the Rabbit

2011 is a time for new beginnings as well as the year of the rabbit!  According to Chinese tradition, the rabbit brings a year in which we can catch our breath, relax and create a safe and peaceful lifestyle so we can calmly deal with any problems that may arise.

Being born under the year of the rabbit myself, I feel this must be a special year for me. I know I certainly need some calm and peace right now, and I have always known that I will only ever achieve happiness in my art. I am happiest when I am creating. 


So, here's to a year of creating. Creating calm and peace, finding tranquility in our turbulent souls, and creating beautiful art :-)