Whoa! Googley Eyed Girlies

Hello lovely friends!

Firstly, thank you all for your lovely and thoughtful messages of support and condolence regarding our loss of 'Big Ron'. They have really touched me and so I appreciate all of them.

Again, this week, I have thrown myself into making art and have been experimenting a little with colour. I wrote a while ago about me taking part in Life Book with Tamara Laporte and lots of other amazing artists. One of the reasons I was so excited about joining in with Life Book was the inclusion of Mindy Lacefield as one of the new teachers. I so love her style and particularly her use of colour and I was keenly awaiting her lesson. And, it didn't disappoint - she is such a wonderful and inspiring artist and teacher.

So, inspired by Mindy, I got some neon acrylic paints and incorporated them into some new paintings I have been working on.

Whoa! Look At Me!

Mila is a googley eyed girl that was inspired by my tricksy girl in my painting 'It Wasn't Me'. You may remember I wrote about sketching her out during a recent yucky spell I was having but the right idea for incorporating her into a painting hadn't come to me until recently. I am so pleased with how she turned out. She definitely makes me a happy bunny, hehe!

Googley Eyed Eva

Eva couldn't believe her eyes! What she saw made her eyes even more googley than usual! (I wonder what it is she has seen?? Hehe!!)

          Love 'n' hugs and hope you are all well and happy!

xXx

Love, Loss and Painting

Hello lovely Blogger friends!

Apologies, apologies for not being here for a while. Lots of things going on and I have sadly neglected so many things over the past few weeks.

We lost my father-in-law recently. To say it was a shock would be to understate how we all felt. It wasn't expected and it has hit us like a tonne weight. A hole has been left where this huge man with a big heart stood. You will be forever in our hearts, 'Big Ron'!!

Art has really helped me and, that is actually not for the first time. I managed to take the opportunity for some time alone with my thoughts and I got the time to finish some paintings I had started some time ago. I am really pleased with how these little ladies turned out. Each one makes me smile and that makes me happy!

'Playing With Butterflies'

Chouko loved nothing more than playing with her friends the butterflies. She sometimes felt like she was going through her own metamorphosis and perhaps one day she would be beautiful too. Maybe one day she would have wings to fly.

'Lilia Smiled'

Lilia had been away from home for quite some time. She loved all the wonderful places she visited and the amazing people she met there. But, what she loved even more was coming home. When she saw the familiar things a smile came to her lips and the colour to her cheeks.

'Cara Loves ...'

Cara has such a beautiful soul. So full of life, love and giving. She wants to spread that to everyone she meets. She wants everyone to have a soul of life, love and giving.

All of these little girlies are in my Etsy Shop and have all kept me on the path I needed to follow during this difficult time.

I intend being back with you very soon. I posted some sketches in my previous blog and have also had some time to work on these too. I am really pleased with how they are coming along and will hopefully get to share them with you soon.

Take care everyone - love 'n' hugs xx

Busy, busy week!

This week has been all about painting, painting, painting! Except for a trip to the theatre last night to watch Priscilla Queen of the Desert staring Jason Donovan. You have no idea how much of a girlie crush I had on Mr D when I was younger hehe! Anyway, he didn't disappoint, he was fantastic and the show was amazing. My daughter, Mathilda, got to go on stage and dance with the cast and, as an aspiring actress, she was made up hehe! I must say that she looked mighty comfortable up there in front of all those people!! She has still not stopped talking about it to anyone who will listen - one happy girlie!

And, speaking of happy girls, look what the postman brought for me this week.

Sunny Goodies

How lucky am I?! This box of goodies was sent to me by the amazing Sunny Carvalho because she wanted to let me know she was thinking of me. She is such a wonderful friend and, as many of you know, a brilliant, brilliant artist too! I feel beyond blessed to have someone so fantastic who listens to my nonsense and just 'gets' it! Love you lady! xx

Anyway, I finished the commission paintings which I am really pleased with and managed to start some more girlie paintings for my Etsy shop.

A Beautiful Place To Be

The first is Rosie and she has found a beautiful place because she was having a very bad day, poor thing. She felt much better when she found this beautiful peaceful place in which to spend some time and relax. 

Nellie in a Mess

The second is my little Messie Nellie. I don't know quite why but this little girlie makes me smile. I think it might be that she seems to suggest she has been up to no good hehe! I think Nellie did not know which way to turn. She knew what she SHOULD do but that way seemed dull. She felt all hither and dither between right and mischief. Nellie needs to make a decision ... I wonder if she can?!

And, here is a sneaky peek into my current girlie in progress. She should be ready to show you in my next post. 

Thank you for all the lovely messages you have left for me - have a fabulous week! xx

Oh My Word ...!

Wow, wow, wow!

I have had quite an astonishing and overwhelming week.

Firstly, as I told you last week, I got the kick up the rear I needed to eventually take the plunge and set up an Etsy shop. That was an amazing event in itself really and I felt quite chuffed with 'little ol' me'. To see my work amongst so many wonderful pieces on Etsy (while daunting) also made me very proud. Yeh me!! Hehe!

Etsy Link

Secondly, as if the lovely comments I was getting on the shop weren't enough, I sold my first painting...

and then a second ...

and then a third ...

WOW!!!

In total I sold 7 paintings last week. I am still a little shocked! IN A GOOD WAY! How could it be any other way??!!

Thirdly, I got four commissions! One is already finished and with her new owner (thank you lovely Carolyn!) and the other three are works in progress (thanks so much, Di!) Hopefully I will be able to show you some more next week.

Thank you to everyone who has left lovely messages for me about the shop and my work. Thanks Stacy for explaining how to set tags (I know, I know... lol!!)

To everyone who has taken my little girlies to their hearts and now into their homes, I cannot thank you enough. My 'gob' is well and truly 'smacked' hehe! I am honestly completely blown-away - THANK YOU!! xxxx

Right ... Got My Socks Pulled Up

After my recent lapse in anything constructive or creative, I have pulled up my socks (both metaphorically speaking and literally to keep out this blinking cold) and managed to get back to it this week. Yeh! I am feeling much better and all your lovely messages of support have been so gratefully received. Thank-you! xx

I have been doing quite a lot of sketching and have been loving it. These are a few of the girlies that are in my sketchbook waiting to be finished. Hopefully I will be able to paint these over the next few days.

Life Book 2013 is soooooooooooo fantastic. The community there is so generous and so encouraging I can't wait to show you more of what I have been doing over there. 

But, for now, stay warm (if like me you are in the midst of snow and freezing temperatures!) and thank you all again for being so, so kind xxxxx

Jewel

So, although I did make it into Blogland, safe and sound; it took me a while to make it back! I promise to try harder...

I have been working on both of these paintings for AGES!! They have been my on-going projects for weeks. I couldn't seem to get to a point where I was happy with them. I was picking them up and putting them down - driving myself crackers! Anyhow, today I made a decision - they would be finished no matter what. And, after working on them for another few hours, I am happy. I like how they both make me feel now and I am 'putting them to bed' so to speak!

Jewel

For the best part of 6 weeks, I had this little girlie staring at something with those big eyes hehe! For the life of me I could not figure out what that something should be but then last night I was sketching and this little birdy appeared on my paper. This morning I painted it and then, 'Hey Presto' I knew exactly where she needed to live. It made me smile - that was when I knew it was complete. This is something that my amazing and talented friend Sunny Carvalho taught me. 'If your art makes you smile then you are doing something right!' If you don't know Sunny already, go and have a look at her amazing art and you will no doubt be hooked (you will also see where my inspiration for those eyes comes from!)

Fairy Godmother

I recently took the Fairies class with the wonderful Suzi Blu. One of the Fairies Suzi talks about is your Fairy Godmother. She is the kind of person who will nurture and love you unconditionally - guide you along the right path so to speak. In the class, Suzi's Fairy Godmother is very textured and actually, very different than mine turned out. I wasn't feeling that texture paste on this one, Suzi! I have tried it though and in other projects it works. But with her, I am happy with how she makes me feel calm - she strikes me as a calm and in control chick. I like that!

Before I am away to my bed, I just need to say a HUGE thank you to all you lovely, lovely friends who have got in touch to say something gorgeous about my art since being featured on Tamara Laporte's fab site http://willowing.ning.com/ . I feel so honoured to be featured amongst such established and fantastic artists but also by all the wonderful comments I have received. THANK YOU!