Kirsten Bailey: Art

"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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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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This week’s topic over at Illustration Friday is “linked“.  Here’s what I came up with:

It’s titled Entwined.

I really enjoyed creating this one, and I’m happy with how it’s turned out… but painting the way I do can be quite messy:

I’m so glad watercolours wash off easily!

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I love holidays!  I’ve been getting so much done

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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Christmas is sneaking up on us once again!

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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Yes, I have even more trees!

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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This week’s inpsiration topic over at Inspire Me Thursday is “Tree”.  Well, I love trees too much to just stop at one!

I’ve actually done several tree paintings this weekend but I thought I’d space them out a bit.

This one is called “Silver White Winter”.  I did the silver detailing with glass paint.  It keeps its shine and gives the painting a textured feel.

It’s a weird painting to do at this time of year, as it was stinking hot here today, but I am listing it in my Etsy shop and hoping that it’ll be picked for a winter feature, as it is winter in the northern hemisphere where most Etsy buyers are from!

More trees to come, so stay tuned!!

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This weekend I’ve been working hard on a new venture – wearable art.

I’ve made a few pendants already.  Each one features an individually painted work of art.

If you’d like to purchase any of these pendants, they are available at my etsy store.

I’ll be making more of this type of pendant, so stay tuned!

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This week’s prompt on Inspire Me Thursday is “Spain”.  Having never had the opportunity to visit Spain, this was a tricky one for me – I was forced to resort to Google.

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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