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)!
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 GrowAbsence Makes the Heart Grow FonderBloom Where You are PlantedVariety is the Spice of LifeIt 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)!
In the meantime, here are some beautiful items from around Etsy which fit into the colour scheme:
1. I’m happy to say that we’re moving out of scarf weather here in Queensland, and into beautiful spring! But for those of you in places which are still a bit frosty (or moving into the colder weather), this gorgeous scarf would be perfect! I’m tempted to get one for myself and stash it away for next winter. Very feminine and pretty, it was hand crocheted by Ayca in gorgeous pear-coloured mohair blend yarn.
2. I made the mistake of searching for “vintage” in my quest to find a really great chocolate brown item for this post. I don’t know why I do it to myself! I invariably find gorgeous shoes that DON’T FIT ME. I swear I found about 6 pairs of shoes I absolutely loved but none of them were in my size! My favourites of all were these vintage chocolate brown suede heels from Folie A DeuxVintage. Trust me I would be buying them intead of posting about them if they were in my size! Incidentally, Folie a Deax means “a madness shared by two” – although I think more than two of us share a madness for vintage!
3. I love butterflies, so I couldn’t go past these beautiful Burgandy Victorian Butterfly earrings by Tigerfli. They’re quite large earrings but would still be very light to wear. Big and bold yet still dainty and feminine. They look fantastic on, check out the pictures in the listing.
4. These South Sea Shell Pearl earrings by Realisation Creations are most definitely pretty in pink! Elegant and pretty, they would make a beautiful accent to any outfit. I love the little extra touches in these handmade earrings like the pretty gold swirls on the earwires.
Many thanks to Heidi and Adriel from Two Happy Stampers for providing the inspiration for this post! Stay tuned for a painting using this colour combination… I’m thinking about combining it with this week’s Illustration Friday topic, “Dessert”. Hmmm…
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!
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:
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!
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.
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 🙂
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”:
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 🙂
