Cherry Hood Workshop (part two)

...photo continuation from my amazing workshop weekend with Cherry Hood - Australian Archibald winning painter and watercolour portraitist.  To see Part One

Finished sisters at the end of the workshop, both 108cm x 75cm

Full album of photo's from the workshop thanks to FourFinger Photo

Cherry Hood Workshop (part one)

This last weekend I participated in an intensive portraiture workshop with Australian Archibald prize winner Cherry Hood. An amazing artist I have admired for a very long time, it was a true honour to watch her work and receive artistic guidance from her at her fantastic studio in NSW.

Over the two day period I created two portraits in her style, working with very watery drippy paints on a far larger scale than I have ever painted. For my subjects I chose my own photographs of two sisters - thus further challenging myself to not only paint a good picture, but achieve a likeness as well. 

It was a highly enjoyable experience, and I can't wait to paint in this scale using my own approach and subjects. Seeing her huge studio has made it imperative for me to find my own place in which I can throw some paint around.

For more photo's from the workshop, Cherry's studio and the paintings, visit FourFinger Photo

Time to be a Unicorn

My cute 3-colour illustration "Time to be a Unicorn" is available though the FTAC collective for auction.

With a super low starting bid of just $15, head over and nab this adorable Unicorn Girl before the auction ends in a few days time!

BID AWAY DARLINGS

ps... she's going to become quite famous soon, as she will be included in a fabulous new art zine... but more on that later... for now, the original is available to one lucky bidder!

You're a Gem! Silk Scarf

A while ago I began planning on releasing a line of beautiful silk scarves printed with my tender watercolour patterns. Due to our imminent mass cross-continental move looming ahead, the project has been halted for now. 

However, I do have the first sample kerchief all finished, and am offering it to the first serious buyer! 100% pure silk, and printed with my pink, green and teal gemstone illustrations. There is only one available.

You're a Gem! Silk Kerchief

Perfect for any fan of sparkles and gorgeous gems, for jewellery lovers, gemmologists.....

Buy 2 get 1 Free Print Offer

Hello dearies! As some of you know, my lovely partner and I are currently living in London, but we are looking for the light at the end of the tunnel and straining our ears for the songs of Australian birds filtering through....

In preparation for our eventual big move to Australia in a few months, I will have to sell AS MUCH of my current art as possible (read: ALL OF IT!) We need to raise all the funds we can, and this means the chance to not only help us out immensely, but to do so by buying a beautiful painting at a great price. 

To start things off I am hosting a fab fab fab print offer on all canvas prints in my store: buy two, get a third print of your choice free! This lasts only so long as I have current stock available, as no new prints will be manufactured before our move.

Canvas A4  PRINTS - buy two get one free! 

Simply message me the print you wish to receive at checkout and all three will be posted to you together.

Short Interview

Femme Thou Art Collective hosted a Q & A with me regarding my art, open to followers to pose any question they wished. I'm sharing the "mini interview" here, for anyone that missed it on FB.

Q & A with Monika Viktoria

Q) When did you first know that art was your thing?
A) I was 6 years old, and at parent-teacher interview my teacher apparently told my mum I was "a good drawer". I guess the sheer pride and bursting joy I felt at being praised so by my favourite teacher was enough to secure a life-long devotion for drawing.

Q) What is your greatest source of inspiration? 
A) Oooh,  hard to pinpoint, but I would say Romance and "the forest"... Hopeless romantics, florals, roses, moss... these are my basics. For different series I will find specific inspirations.. anatomy, bones, ghosts, Day of the Dead... etc...
I collect images that inspire me on my blog to view whenever I need a reminder, all can be viewed on: www.thelonglostwoods.tumblr.com

Q) Do you watch or listen to anything while you create? 
A) I sit at a desk un-inspired and brittle unless I have my music playing... songs that take me to another place in my mind... the haunting sounds of Ane Brun, Lykke Li, Coco Rosie, Lana Del Rey, Florence and the Machine.... I have a long playlist!

Q) Why are you drawn to paint the female face and form? 
A) Such a difficult question to answer.... because I find beauty in it. I struggle to answer why ONLY the female form, as I very rarely depict boys.... to me, there is something mystical and mysterious about women.. Something tender and brutal, something soft and strong, something confusing and intangible. I paint the girls I know, that I call my friends... I find worlds of inspirations in them.

Q) What's your favorite color?
A)  Unwaveringly... green. I am obsessed with the colour green, yet funnily enough don't use too much of it in my paintings.... as if it is too perfect a colour for me to depict... nature has done far too good a job. I use a lot of pinks and pastels in my work, shades of the petals of flowers. Pinks are my favourite colour to paint.

Q)Why is green your favourite colour??
A) As a girl I played one particular video game that shaped my inspirations and obsessions... in the Legend of Zelda there is a small elven boy who is dressed in green - the colour of the fields and forests. I fell in love with the idea of a magical forest, filled with otherworldly beings and beautiful lost civilizations. It is an elusive "place" that I try to touch in many of my artworks... I always imagine the girls I paint are isolated inhabitants of this mythical forest - the long lost woods.... the namesake of my art blog!!

Q) Where would you like to see you and your art in five years? 
A) I would love to be BACK in Australia, living in the Blue Mountains, illustrating Books (and have had a few published by then already!)

Q)What are you future goals when it comes to your art? 
A) I would love to get to the stage where I am either having Solo shows as part of a Gallery, or be part of an agency wit regular, paid illustration work.


Q) You use a fairly soft and subtle colour pallet, why does that appeal to you? 
A) I paint in very subtle tones, almost ghost-like. I gave myself the challenge a few years ago to see if I could paint "all-white" paintings, and began working on a series of ghostly reflections. I like the idea of a vision half-glimpsed through fog.

Q) Do your travels inspire your artwork?
A)  I have been travelling Europe for the past 3 years, but they do not directly appear in my paintings - the figures I paint are not part of this world. What my travels do inspire are pages and pages of notes and diaries, collecting the amazing things I see and experience as fodder for a children's fantasy novel I would like to write and illustrate.

Available Original Paintings

I have updated my Etsy shop with  all the original paintings I currently have available - these are beautiful gallery-worthy pieces, some measuring A1 in size, some tiny little postcard-sized. Some are framed with elaborate Baroque frames, some are on loose professional watercolour paper with affordable shipping fee's.

Head to the shop for a browse.... grab a glass of wine and it's like a digital gallery opening ;-)

~browse~

Original Paintings

Pearl - Vote for People's Choice

Hello dear one's! It's time for my annual attempt at being one of the selected artists for the YEN Young Female Australian Art awards. I've not made it before, but they say third time's a charm... right?! 

What I need YOU to do is to please click this link and VOTE for People's Choice - it would be unbelievable if I got close! You don't need to sign up to anything, leave your email address, nothing, just hit the button!!

Vote here!