Kirsten Bailey: Art

I’m excited to be involved in a few special events over the next few months.

Next weekend on Saturday 11th September, I’ll have a market stall at Soulful Spring Sounds.  I’ll be selling my handmade jewellery and original artwork – although I must admit it will be a challenge staying with my stall instead of wandering around listening to the great music and drinking wine!  I’d love to see you there – I’m sure it will be a great day.

I’m also really excited about participating in the Summer Salon art exhibition at the Richard Randall Gallery, Mt Coot-tha Botanic gardens on the 6th and 7th of November.  It’s a wonderful historic gallery with great character and charm, and I’m exhibiting with 4 talented artists whose work I really admire.

I’ll be at the gallery in person on Sunday the 7th of November, where I’ll be working on my latest painting (whatever that is at the time).  Come on down and say hello, I’d love to meet you!  As the gallery is situated in the beautiful Botanic Gardens it’s easy to make a day of it.

In the meantime, you can see me at The Handmade Expo on Saturday 18th September, Saturday 20th November and Saturday 18th December.  Unfortunately I won’t be able to make the October market, so if you can’t wait for the November market, send me an email and I can post your goodies to you!

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This week’s topic over at Illustration Friday is Immovable.  The first idea that came to me was stone – but then I got to thinking that even stone isn’t really immovable.  Sure, it might take a long time but even stone is worn away by weathering and water.  So that was my inspiration for this painting – stone being worn down by water:

Please forgive the horrible photo – I took it at night without flash so it’s pretty grainy.  I’ll try to upload a better version when I get time to take a good daylight photo – but that probably won’t be till the weekend and I didn’t want to miss out on Illustration Friday!

One of my favourite books of all time is First Light by Richard Preston, which is about the Hale Telescope (and is a fascinating read for anyone interested in astronomy).  One of the passages that stuck with me was this:

“There is a saying among those who polish astronomical mirrors for a living that an optician never finishes a mirror – you take it away from him.”

I think that pretty much sums up how a painting like this is for me – I can’t guarantee the picture above is the final version because every time I walk past it I think about adding another brush stroke here or there, another layer or another detail.

I managed to remember to take pictures as I went for this one – here’s how it looked as it progressed:

What do you think?

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"Spring Trees"

Because, seriously?  I’ve had enough of winter.  I’ve always been more of a warm weather girl.  I love the way everything seems to come alive in the warmer months.  The sun is up longer, people are out longer, and I get to wear nicer clothes (I get heartily sick of covering up everything in a big coat in the winter time).

So, even though it’s not *quite* spring yet, and the winter westerlies are still blowing strongly and sending the kids at school crazy (what is it with kids and wind?), I though I’d share with you some Spring Etsy favourites:

From left to right and top to bottom:

1.  Inspired by the new green leaves and fresh buds of Spring, this pretty necklace is called “Spring Talk“.  It’s one of the many beautiful jewellery designs from KuroNeko - I couldn’t resist adding several things to my favourites list!

2.  These pretty pink and green earrings from Treasured Lily Designs are called “Spring Kissed Me Bang” – the name is inspired by the following quote: “I stuck my head out the window this morning and spring kissed me bang in the face.”  I’m definitely looking forward to a big old smooch from Spring!

3.  I have a thing for little tins and boxes.  I have more of them than I have stuff to put in them, but I find them hard to resist!  These 3 Mini Tins in “Spring Field” paper from Annie Howes Keepsakes are just gorgeous!

4.  Who says stubbie coolers are just for the boys?  I would love to bring out these Preppy Pink and Green Can Koozies by Pink Gasoline at our next BBQ!

5.  This Poppies Pleated Bag by A Touch of Stardust would be the perfect accessory for that spring outfit!

6.  I’ve discovered a new favourite artist with Bit O’ Whimsey.  This gorgeous print of an original mixed media painting is called “Springtime Meadows” – be sure to click on the link because I couldn’t fit the entire picture into my little collage!  Like me, Kandy from Bit O’ Whimsey makes wearable art pendants from her work, so if you can’t afford an original or a print (or like me you are running out of wall space!), a pendant might just be the way to go.

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I recently started work on a new canvas piece.  I was hoping it would be ready for last week’s Handmade Expo, but the details are taking a while to do!

Here’s what it looks like so far:

Eventually it will be a painting of three of my swirly trees in Autumn colours.  Usually I do this style of painting on a small scale in watercolours, but this one is a larger canvas painting (20″ x 24″).

You can see I’ve started the swirls on the left hand side tree – eventually all the trees will be covered in swirls.  I’m also using a textured gold glass paint on this painting.  I will add the trunks and branches of the trees last.

I haven’t thought of a title for this painting yet – any ideas?

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Here’s my submission for this week’s Illustration Friday topic, ‘Atmosphere’.  For once I’ve taken the topic very literally, and I’ve painted a picture of the Earth’s atmosphere:

The weekend just past was super-busy for me.  I had a stall at The Handmade Expo, which was great fun as always.  We had a great turn out this month with people out and about voting.  A big thank you to all those who stopped by my little stall!  After the Expo we visited family and then the next day attended a birthday party.

With a weekend like that, I was very pleased to be able to get a few evenings to myself to get some painting done!  Of course, sleep is overrated

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I was delighted to discover that this week’s challenge over at Illustration Friday is “Star Gazing”.   I was recently requested to paint something similar to my “When it is Dark Enough” painting, and was part way through it when I found out about this topic.

Here’s the finished product – I’ve titled it “The Stargazers”:

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Yesterday I spent my day at The Handmade Expo, and had a great time!

Me with my artwork at my Handmade Expo Stall

It’s so much fun getting to meet my customers (which I don’t get to do when they buy from Etsy).  People were lovely and I sold some pendants, rings, cards, and an original painting

Another thing I love about meeting my customers in person is that I get an idea of which designs are popular, and what people would most like to see.  For this market I started selling rings:

Some of my ring designs - I hope to have more made for the next market

At the next market I’m hoping to have some earrings made.  Of course I will still have my most popular item by far, my pendants:

Many pendant designs!

Thanks once again to all those wonderful people who came by to meet me at my stall!

I’m looking forward to the next market on Saturday 21st August

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I recently had a request for a painting featuring owls – I’d never painted an owl before until a bit over a week ago when I painted Satellite and Sage.  Now I could be a little addicted!

Here’s my latest creation – I’ve titled it “Midnight Meeting”:

Midnight Meeting

I’m looking forward to this Saturday’s Handmade Expo, where I will have my original art, keepsake boxes, jewellery and cards for sale, including some owl-inspired pieces.  Brand new to the market will be my wearable art rings, featuring prints of some of my most popular paintings.

I’ve still got a week to make new pendants and rings – are there any designs you’d just love to see on one of my jewellery pieces?  Let me know and I’ll make sure I have them there.

Hope to see you there – stop by and say hello!

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I’m looking forward to creating an artwork for the Two Happy Stampers July colour challenge soon.  In the meantime, I thought this beautiful selection of colours would be a great inspiration for my Saturday Selections this week:

1.  In “Concord Crush”, this beautiful Handknit Scarf by Crickets Creations.  I just love the different textures and shades of purple in this gorgeous handmade scarf – the title says “fit for royalty” and it certainly looks it!

2.  For “Poppy Parade”, I’ve chosen these vibrant Red Chiffon Flower Hair Pins by Nomsa.  I love their simple elegance – what a wonderful finishing touch to your outfit!

3.  In “Very Vanilla”, we have this gorgeous looking Paradisi Body Butter by fellow Queenslander Rhasdala.  This creamy moisturiser is perfect for soothing dry skin, and features a blend of soft vanilla and refreshing grapefruit scent.  The Paradisi scent is one of Rasdala’s most popular, and is also available in soaps, bath salts, lip balms and many other body and beauty products.

4.  I love the warm, dark colour of “Early Espresso” – I think these Smoky Brown Quartz Wire Wrapped Earrings byAngelene (anothe QLDer!) capture the colour perfectly.  These two high-quality smoky quartz briolettes in a rich coffee colour have been spun with sterling silver wire to create this beautiful pair of earrings.

5.  This Pear Canvas All-Purpose Pleated Bag by Tippy Thai matches the “Pear Pizzazz” colour perfectly!  It is made from high quality canvas, and features an adjustable strap as well as plenty of compartments for all your essentials.

I hope you liked this week’s Saturday Selections.  Which is your favourite of the five colours above?  I can’t decide between “Concord Crush” and “Early Espresso”.

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