According to the seller they are from 1889 and 1899, so I was very excited to receive them in beautiful condition!

I finished my first artwork featuring one of these vintage pictures today.  The title “And Spring Arose” was inspired by the following poem:

And Spring arose on the garden fair,
Like the Spirit of Love felt everywhere;
And each flower and herb on Earth’s dark breast
rose from the dreams of its wintry rest.
~Percy Bysshe Shelley, “The Sensitive Plant”

And Spring Arose

I really enjoyed working on this piece, and I look forward to seeing what I can come up with for the other pictures.

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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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Today I’m delivering a commissioned painting to its new owner.  I’m looking forward to seeing it on the wall!

I have been working on a large triptych for a friend, and doing a few watercolours.

“Summer Field”

“Bright December Day”

“Growing Family”

Hopefully in the next few days I’ll be posting up some new wearable art pendants too

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You would think that now I’m on school holidays I would have gotten my act together and had my Friday Favourites published on time… but you would be wrong.  So this is more like Saturday Favourites (but that doesn’t have the same ring to it!).

I’ve been busy working on a commissioned piece so that’s my excuse

Next Friday as you know is Christmas day, and I will be busy cooking up a storm (or setting things on fire) in the kitchen – so I won’t be posting a Friday Favourites.  So this week I’ve decided to do a Christmas themed set of red and green items.

First up this week are these beautiful Christmas Cards by Moonmum (who is a fellow Aussie!).  I love the fact that these are something a little different to what you normally see on Christmas cards.  The birds are cute and the stitching really adds another dimension.

I know it’s probably a bit late to be thinking about Christmas cards now, but Moonmum has lots of other cards in her shop for all occasions which are just beautiful, so make sure you check it out!

Next up are these cool Amoeba Kelly Green earrings by Under Glass.  These unique earrings would be lovely for any time of year, not just Christmas!

Time for another red item – This wonderful bracelet titled “Blooming Garden” by Blue Dove Studio.  I think this bracelet would go perfectly with my red Christmas dress – but like the earrings it’s not Christmas themed so would be pretty at any time of year.  I just love the antiqued brass branch charm in this bracelet.

Next up in my little red and green pattern (did you notice?) are these lovely Green Holiday Earrings by AZ Bead Girl.  I just love the little diamantes!

Finally, I have to break my red-green-red pattern because I just couldn’t resist including this beautiful soap by Aniselle Bath & Body.

Isn’t it just gorgeous!?  Would be wonderful to have in the bathroom as a handsoap around Christmas time when guests come around.  The soap is Sage and Pomegranate with Olive oil and Goats milk, so it sounds like it would smell and feel as lovely as it looks.

Well that’s it!  My last Friday Favourites for 2009!  I should be back with another blog post before Xmas though – I’m hoping to do a painting for Monday Artday if I get to it in time.

Have a lovely weekend!

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We put our Christmas tree up this weekend, and I’ve started thinking about Christmas cards.

Last year I painted a Christmas picture and used the image to make my cards:

I’ve finally gotten around to painting something for this year’s cards.  Its a bit different to last years, but I hope people will like it all the same.  I’m going to get the prints made up sometime tomorrow and I’ll post a picture of the cards when I’ve made them.

Don’t forget to enter my giveaway if you haven’t already done so!

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This painting was inspired by one of my favourite quotes:

“In the depth of winter I finally learned that there was in me an invincible summer.”
~Albert Camus~

In other news, I have posted my first fan special on my KL Bailey Art Facebook Fan Page.  If you’re not already a Fan, become one today – I will be posting weekly specials on paintings!!

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I don’t really need an extra excuse to paint trees, and was planning to paint some trees this weekend anyway. I think I’ll be contributing more than one painting to this weeks theme!

My first painting:

What I wanted to do with this painting is to represent the fact that beauty does not mean looking like everyone else.  Being an individual and being yourself is more beautiful than becoming a carbon-copy of the ideals projected by the media.

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I typed “Spain scenery” into Google, and this is the first image that I really loved:

Scenery Near Arro, Ainsa, Spain

This photograph was taken by Graham Pritchard.  You can see some of his other photographs here.

I used this photograph as inspiration to paint a watercolour of this beautiful scenery.

Scenery Near Arro

As you can see, the painting is not exactly the same as the photograph – I used the photo as a jumping-off point, and let the painting develop in whatever directions felt right to me.

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