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

Candy Floss Muertina

She's finally finished, framed elegantly, and up on display in the store. 

Inquiries welcome, she is available to be purchased.

Candy-Floss Muertina

Watercolour on paper

Image size: 420 x 297 mm

Custom Romantic Portraits

A girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do... and if it means painting pretty portraits of gorgeous girls, then so be it!

Slots now open for custom portraits painted in my "of lace and moss" style.

Le Femme Exhibition

For all you gorgeous Sydney-siders, this girly group show will be opening on October 18th at Kaleidoscope Gallery. Head over for a fix of flirtatious and decadent feminine artwork.

Amongst the wonderful talent on show, I will have 12 of my original watercolour artworks from my "of lace and moss" series on show, and available for sale.

Here's a little peek at some of the pieces I will be exhibiting.... I myself won't be able to attend, as I'll be on the road in Africa with a wild adventurer, gathering inspiration for future artworks!

Hope you can make it!

 "The Consideration"

 "Gossamer Haze"

 "Fleur"

"The Proposal"

"It's been so long"

"Sad songs make me happy"

 

A gorgeous mess of chaos

A gorgeous mess of chaos (and you can see it in her eyes)

watercolour on paper

A walk in the woods

Every morning I venture into the woods nearby. 

On less asthmatic days I run to stay fit and keep my lungs trained, on more asthmatic days (most days) I go for a long walk. On days when my mind is turbulent, the woods infuse me with calm and tranquility, and always fill me with wonder and inspiration.Sometimes I spot shy deer, sometimes a sly fox with his typical loping gait. Today I was surrounded by tiny brilliant blue butterflies that seemed to hover around me as I ran.

The woods have always been a great source of wonder for me - it isn't a mistake this blog is titled what it is!

The photograph of the full work is not the best. I can't wait to get nice scans / photographs of ALL my work once I return to Australia. I hate looking sloppy and un-professional!

Ghost

35.5 x 25cm / Mixed Media (watercolour, pencil, and lace on paper)

I’ve been testing combining my detailed watercolour portraits with elements of collage and mixed media. My first experiment with this technique was BriarRose, and I liked the result enough to try a few more variations. I haven’t yet shared them here, as they are mostly works in progress. I finished the first small ghost though, so I can show her to you!

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........

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!

Grey Skies, Stormy Days

On a rainy day, procrastinating pressing things, I turned instead to the comforts and delights of art....

 I was very happy to complete this piece. With all my art materials packed up in boxes, I completed this with borrowed materials in a friends studio. Similarly deprived of my usual reference material (composed from sketches and photographs from sessions with my models) I used an image from a magazine for the pose and background.

Yes, that blurry mess of a "landscape" took me the longest and most painstaking time to complete. Layer upon layer of carefully mixed colours built up... well... a blurry mess!!
I need a lot more practice :-/

Fireflies Print

Thank You! I had such a beautiful and emotive response after I introduced my latest artwork, “Fireflies in the marsh”.

It was a piece that I really poured a lot of my emotions and mentality into – it was wonderful to receive such touching feedback.

A few of you darlings expressed a deep interest in seeing me translate it into a print of some sorts, and I definitely would like to be able to accommodate!

At the moment I have two print options, and if anyone would like either of these, please let me know. Inquiries can be made directly to me at monimano@hotmail.com, or through an etsy conversation: http://www.monikaviktoria.etsy.com/
A4 Giclee Print – Archival Giclee Inks printed on heavy professional acid free100% cotton paper = $40
A4 Photographic Print – Printed by a professional Photo Lab on matt-finished Photography paper = $20
Postage is $10 for International, or $6 within Australia.


I’m not at the stage where I can afford to just get a stack printed out to have lying around, nor do I currently have the demand. So if you’d like a beautiful print of “Fireflies” (or any of my other artworks) please email me and I will willingly oblige J



xx

Orchid Border

I've decided to try and complete all my unfinished pieces before I start any new ones....

(now stop right there.... I know you were about to say you've heard me say THAT before.... but this time I really mean it!)

I've found that I've slowed right down at the "colouring" stages of my process again. I'm taking a lot of care but pieces are taking days to weeks to complete. Surely if I solely concentrate on the thirteen images I have sitting here uncoloured, and colour all of them, I'll learn a thing or two and even get my speed up a little bit?

So it's a count down. This one was number 13. I finished it today. Twelve more to go....

The problem is I started this piece so long ago (I finished drawing it a year ago and only got around to adding the first dabs of colour a couple days ago!) that there was obviously a use I had intended for it.... but it's long since forgotten.

Any ideas of what I could use it for? It seems a shame to waste such a nice inviting space in the centre......



(I might have to talk to my website designer!!)

Ladies First - Group Show at BSG

 

monika viktoria – of lace and moss

My current body of work “of lace and moss” is a series of delicate portraits depicting transient moments in time.

The girls in my portraits are captured glimpses: a parting glance before a departure, a blink, a sigh, a hesitant decision. They are caught in the brief moment between a breath, a second of silent contemplation before a transformation.

When I think of lace and moss I imagine silent places deep within the woods, and forgotten attics guarding the remnants of a decadent bygone time. In my drawings I try to depict the ephemeral waifs who might equally inhabit both places.

Layers of delicate watercolour washes create a softly glowing space; an achingly fragile world filled with longing and intermingled memories.

For “Ladies First” I will be exhibiting a selection of the latest portraits in the series.

~*~

I'm delighted to announce I will have a selection of my latest artworks on exhibition at Brunswick Street Gallery in late May. I have been drawing and preparing with great excitement.

I even sat down and made the most time consuming - but beautiful - business cards I could. Each little frame I cut out by hand, keeping the pretty ornate silhouette in tact. The delicate tissue paper pouches are all sewn individually, and the precious card slips inside...

Mi Wo Same - The Last Look

Mi wo same - in Japanese: The Last Look, the final image to be burned into your memory before a parting...

I started this piece this time last week, then much to my chagrin, just as I was about to have 5 glorious days off in a row because of Easter, and was preparing to spend them pursuing art and creativity, I fell quite ill. I spent all 5 days, and two more after that, in bed. I haven't had that many days off in a row in a long long time. I was, and still am, very annoyed at this wasted opportunity.

anyway.... I was glad to finish her today. I've seen the preview of the invite for the group show, and I'm excited :-)

I originally wanted to find a nice frenchy sounding name for "The Last Look", as if she was quickly taking a last glimpse of herself before she heads out. My partner told me the Japanese term for it, with a slightly different connotation - a last look before a parting. I thought that fit nicely here, a bit of mystery...

Friday Afternoon

It took me a couple of months to build up the courage to ask my latest model to pose for me :-) Isn't that silly? A new friend that I had made, I didn't want to scare her off straight away. Luckily for me, she is such a sweet, friendly, bubbly, happy girl in real life, she accepted my (attempted) suave-sounding request graciously.

This is an interesting part of my artistic process, though. I have seen girls before that I have though I would love to draw. I am no way confidant enough to walk up to one of them and proposition them. This is probably, at the moment, a good thing. I do not know what these beautiful or interesting looking mysterious girls are like at all.... drawing my friends and the lovely ladies I have acquainted myself somewhat with means I can infuse a little bit of their personality, or a sense of psychology into the artwork.

So I just mentioned this model is lovely, bubbly, happy, and always smiling..... however, she told me some very interesting stories about her life, and I felt very moved at all that she has already accomplished, and lived through. I think a bit of world weariness and reflectiveness has come through in this piece, which I'm happy about.

I hadn't done such a grey drawing in a long time. But I'm very happy with it. I feel a bit like this on some Friday afternoons.

Garden Tea

Slowly, slowly, I am getting back into drawing again. It is a fantastic feeling. I think that's why drawing so small (A5 sized) is really working for me, I get to see results a little quicker, and it keeps my hopes up. 

Even so, finishing a piece like this can take me days (up to a week) as I draw in snippets and fragments after work in the evenings.

This one was a little challenge for me... to try and mix colours varying enough to differentiate between her skin, blouse, and pale hair... the colours are quite different too, but she still fits in nicely with the other drawings.

A little story.... usually the darling faced coquettes I draw are all the lovely ladies and gorgeous girls that I am lucky enough to call my friends. I enjoy drawing the girls I know personally, because I 'm able to infuse the drawing with a sense of their personality and character. It helps me to breathe a bit more life into the pieces.

Even so, sometimes I will draw a girl I have never met....this was such a case.

I came across a lovely etsy seller, Zara Carpenter, who makes the most incredible fascinators... not only were her pieces just the quirkiest, most extravagant designs, but the photography was perfect... and of course.... the big eyed, platinum haired model caught my attention straight away. I wanted to draw her.....

You can imagine my joy when the lovely Zara agreed to allow me to draw inspiration from her images. Her boyfriend took the photographs, and Zara made all the gorgeous fascinators. Do pay them a visit!

 Zara Carpenter "Chatham Girl"  ~etsy boutique~  and  ~blog~ 
Rikard Osterlund ~photography~

The Consideration

It's been a long time since I have completed one of my proper artworks. By proper I mean part of my "Of Lace and Moss" series. 

With a group show coming up in late may, I have been inspired to dally no more! Especially knowing I'll be showing alongside Caitlin Shearer, whom I admire greatly. 

Speaking of Caitlin, let me diverge from my path and talk about her for a little bit. A fellow young female Australian artist, I discovered her work online and have been eagerly following her art and progress ever since. I finally got to met her the other night when she had her works on exhibition in the boutique down the hall from me in the Strand Arcade. I think I was quite boisterous. She was quite overwhelmed. I probably made it worse!! There was free champagne and tiny ice-creams on offer - a deadly combination for my class and eloquence. 

Seeing her incredible paintings in real life was quite amazing... overwhelming in fact. I went home close to tears (I had an emotional week!!!) frustrated at myself. Whilst I enjoy working for Victoria at her beautiful boutique, I was suddenly very conscious of the fact that my most precious asset is my time, and all my time is spent working for someone else. I can draw, and enjoy drawing - but have no time to do so. I wished more than anything that night that I had more time to do what I loved more than anything in the world, that is, to devote it to my art. 

~*~

Anyway, that being said, I was most definitely inspired to focus on my dream and try to scrape together a few hours here and there where I can sit down at my drawing desk and work. Lose myself in this romantic world I like to depict. 

I completed this drawing last year, and like so many of my artworks, left it in an unfinished state whilst I became distracted with other exciting compositions or beckoning side projects. My model was a gorgeous girl who was very inspirational whilst I worked with her during my time at Alannah Hill. Natalia was an amazing young woman, and single handedly started up her own fashion label, "The Last Romantic". 

Curiouser and curiouser

We've all become a little mad here recently...

At the Boutique, Victoria bought three new Alice dolls from Black-Eyed Suzie

The 'Curiouser and curiouser' Alice inspired sterling silver rings are selling fast (all displayed with my 'Falling Alice' design! I can't photograph and list them quick enough!)

....and I'm greatly pleased to announce that I've begun stocking up on different sizes of my Alice T-Shirt, and am listing them on my etsy (let's hear a cheer, and a hurray!)

Speaking of my little boutique, I finally decided to do something I initially told myself I would not, absolutely not do. I've made some prints available.

I am a big fan of Original Artworks. Wherever possible, I always try to purchase originals from the artists that I like. I'd rather save up and buy one beautiful original, than buy ten digital prints.

So with my little prints, I decided to still make them special. I've created a few little "gift sets"
The print comes framed with a cameo-style matt border, and included in the set is one of my whimsical pocket mirrors, and a tiny little badge.

Here are the first two gift sets I have created....

Cameo Portraits and Pendants

With an exhibition coming up in less than two months, of course I am spending all my time procrastinating... it is something I do so well after all, why waste these divine procrastinatory talents that have been gifted upon me?

Allow me to share some little portraits and artworks I have created recently, some available on my etsy

 

Wide-eyed Coquettes

They're wide eyed and bushy tailed... and even if I tried I couldn't deny that a certain Black-Eyed Suzie aesthetic has crept its way into these girls.......

Serious Flora

Stern, steely, serious Flora.
Dressed like an angel, with a glare cold enough to freeze your little heart.

Stephanie

With a very enchanted-doll-esque collar and corset....

Scarlet Romantic

A little lady in red. Her roses have wilted and her letters have been read, crumpled, and tossed aside.