Cameo Brooches - Now Available!

I'm delighted to finally be able to show these off!!

I have made a small selection of unique wearable brooches, feauturing my illustrations, and am so pleased with how they turned out. I wear my one all the time, and have been floored and delighted by all the compliments I get... it's nice to hear such feedback!

I adore the vintage Victorian feel to them.... I like to pin my one through a lace scarf of velvet wrap around my neck... it makes me feel very elegant, haha! ^_^

They're available in my etsy shop, but I'll also be taking them with me to the Art & Design Markets I have lined up this summer. If they sell, well I might make more, otherwise these are the only ones that will be made
(ie: guarantee of a unique, individual one-off piece!)

I think they're utterly delightful... I hope you do too!!!

Available NOW in my Etsy Shop!!

To the market!!

I must admit this great shame....I am a bit of a market virgin. It's true... I've fantisized and even dabbled and experimented a little... but I've never really had my own arty market stall, with my wares up for touching and for taking ;-)

After pretty much a whole year of saying, "We must do it!" with another arty friend of mine, we finally took that first step (well... she did, anyway) and booked a stall. A tiny little simple stall to be hosted at the Glebe Markets on Saturday the 25th of September.

We're both scrambling around realizing we don't have essentials like sand-bags to keep the tent from flying away.... or even a tent for that matter.
With such serious things to still consider and source...I spent the day doing something so much more fun... working on packaging!!!!

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". 

Doll Portrait: Esme

Something I wanted to share :-) As you all know, I am a huge fan of Sarah Faber's Dolls (aka: Black-Eyed Suzie)

When her last shop update happened I was beaten to the draw by a very nimble-fingered friend. There is a reason we call her a comment ninja... she has uncanny powers of posting comments on drawings and photographs before you've even clicked the submission button.. it's truly amazing.

Not realizing she'd adopted the doll I had my eyes on, I sent her a very childish message full of moaning and wailing. Oops. Wasn't I embarrassed?! To show her I harboured no hard feelings, and was infact, overjoyed for her, I drew this little portrait of the doll, Esme.

And Annina's photograph of her:

The beauty of an original #11

I only recently discovered Sarah Faber's dolls, but let there be no doubt that it was love at first sight.

Giddy, aching, obsessive love. The sort of love where you want to be sitting at your writing table, with candles burning, dressed in a silk gown and lace shawl, writing detailed and lengthy love letters on ageing parchment with an ostrich feathered quill pen. Then you sprinkle scented parfum on those letters, seal the flowery envelope with wax and deliver by carrier pidgeon. Then you wait all night, by your window, staring into the deep night.........

too excesive? I'm sure you get the point, but that's how I feel about Black-Eyed Suzie dolls. The tattered Victorian in me fell helplessly, utterly and irrevocably in love with her characters and the stories she creates for them.

 Her dolls are all beautifully hand crafted. Tattered bits of lace and torn silks, whispy hair styles, pouting downturned cherry lips, and oh, the eyes. Beautiful, big, melancholy eyes she makes herself. I think it's definately the eyes that snagged me so.

So far I've survived two of her shop updates. By survive I mean waiting expectantly infront of my computer screen for the exact second her shop update happens, the heartwrenching process of choosing, the incredible self restraint not to click "purchase" on each little urchin that tugs at my hearstrings.

Before I gush any more and embarrass myself for life, let me introduce these little wild girls from the woods, shall I?

Black-Eyed Suzie (Sarah Faber)

Cecily & Philomena

~*~

please do visit her :-) at etsy or at her blog

Philomena's Portrait

As I’ve been thinking of the art-dolls that I’ve been adopting lately as muses, I like to put them to work as soon as I can.

This little Victorian urchin is a portrait of Philomena, my first Black-Eyed Suzie acquisition.

I find it interesting though challenging to try to capture a portrait likeness of not only a doll, but also of someone else’s artwork and style. Not only is it a little tricky to keep the portrait style in my own vein of work, but also to keep the figure looking like a believable character rather than a frozen “doll”. Well, the latter was not such an issue here, as Sarah’s dolls are so full of emotion and brimming with expression. In fact, much more so than my humble depiction of her, I just couldn’t quite capture that exquisite melancholy gaze!

One of the most lovely things about Sarah’s dolls is there expressive hand made eyes. There is such depth to them, to which no watercolour drawing on paper can compare.

The muse and the resulting artwork:

Etching in progress

A few weeks ago I mentioned a mysterious work in progress. (As well as attempting to promise myself to not start any new art-projects but instead try to finish all the half-begun pieces... a promise which failed miserably..)

I had begun work on my first intaglio etching since completing my Bachelor of Fine Arts over 2 years ago.
Before I unveil the final piece, and talk about the figure and the inspiration behind it a little more, I'll share some of the progress shots so far :-)

The final revised sketch and transferred onto the etching plate....

Various staes of completion. The image is being drawn with an etching scribe - scratching away the coating of bitumen, letting the copper shine through.

Ps. To my dear fellow enchanted doll fans, yes, she is obviously inspired by Marina's work. And no, she's not my birthday-entry. She was done before that announcement was made, simply to keep with my decision to do an inspired piece from every art-doll / muse that I collect :-)

Coquettes

I have been shamefully quiet on sharing my own work recently...  mainly because I've been doing more art purchasing than art making!! So I thought it was about time I introduced some of the little watercolour coquettes I've been working on recently.

Without an internet connection at home, I've been struggling to find the time to update my etsy shop/s. These girls will all go on there once I get my act together (to save up to buy even MORE artworks... I'm terrible!!)

Without further ado, let me begin the introductions.....

Little French Olive

Hesitating Mauve