Kirsten Bailey: Art

This week’s topic over at Illustration Friday is “acrobat” – here’s my little acrobat:

I used little drops of diamond glaze on the web to make it look like dew.

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I recently ordered from Etsy a set of vintage book pages:

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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I was very grateful yesterday when the overcast sky managed to hold back the rain for The Handmade Expo.

It was a quiet market for me this month, but I really enjoyed meeting the new people who came along to have a look at my little stall, and of course enjoyed seeing my regular visitors.  Many thanks to all of you who stopped by and said hello!

I won’t be at the next Handmade Expo in October, but I’ll be there in November and December – perfect timing for those wanting to grab some Christmas presents!

Me with my newest painting at The Handmade Expo

I’m now enjoying a break from my day job (school holidays!) so I intend to get lots of painting done!  I’m working on a couple of commissioned paintings, so I’ll keep you up to date with the progress of them.

P.S. I’m wearing my brand new Kellie Christie necklace in this pic – I can never resist going and spending my profits at other people’s stalls when I’m at The Handmade Expo (even on days like yesterday when the profits are non-existent)!

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This week’s topic over at Illustration Friday is “Proverb”.

I slacked off last week and didn’t post anything for the “dessert” topic, but I’ve definitely made up for it this week! (Actually I did create something for the dessert theme but wasn’t happy with it so didn’t post it.)

I went a little nuts with this theme, and created not one but 5 paintings!  I’m thinking of doing a few more and making a calendar of proverb paintings.  What do you think?

Great Oaks from Little Acorns Grow

Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder

Bloom Where You are Planted

Variety is the Spice of Life

It Takes Both Rain and Sunshine to Make Rainbows

I hand-wrote the proverbs onto the paintings after the paint had dried, using black ink and a calligraphy pen – one of the old fashioned ones that you dip in the ink.  I was very relieved not to have any major ink-blot mishaps on the paintings (although I got lots of ink on my fingers)!

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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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I think you’d be hard pressed these days to find someone whose life hasn’t been touched by cancer.  I myself have lost family members to cancer, which is one of the reasons why I’m honoured to be participating in a ‘Crop for Cancer’ scrapbooking day next Sunday.

I’m able to combine my love of art with my love of scrapbooking to help raise money for the Cancer Council, in the name of a dearly departed ‘Scrappin’ Sister’ who lost her battle with cancer more than a year ago.  Last year’s charity scrapbooking day raised $1093, and we’d like to top that this year.

To that end, I’m delighted to donate a painting which will be raffled off on the day.  I’ve titled it Field of Hope, and included the daffodils which are the symbol of the Cancer Council.  It’s my representation of hope for a cure.

Field of Hope

If you would like to make a donation to the Cancer Council, you can do so via their website.

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One of the many things I love about creating art is the opportunity it provides me to support more charities. You may remember earlier this year I donated a painting to the Young Variety’s ‘Heart Art Show’.

This year I’ve also been given the opportunity to participate in the Cerebral Palsy League‘s ‘Art for Art’s Sake’ exhibition.  The Cerebral Palsy League is the largest non-government disability services provider for people with a physical disability in Queensland.  Having taught a student with Cerebral Palsy I’ve seen first hand the necessity of an organisation like this, and so I’m very happy to be able to support them.

This year’s exhibition theme is ‘The Joy of Living’, and I am donating the following painting, titled Sunset Joy:

The painting will be auctioned at the Gala Opening and Cocktail Reception on Wednesday 12 May 2010 from 6:30pm, at Waterfront Place, Eagle St, Brisbane.  For more details, please see the Art for Art’s Sake website.

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