watercolor – Page 3 – Kirsten Bailey: Art

Posted on June 7, 2017June 7, 2017 by Kirsten

Abstract watercolours

I love painting in watercolours – it’s definitely my favourite medium. My watercolours are a bit unusual compared to many I’ve seen, as many of them are abstract or naive in style. I love making abstract watercolours because it gives me a chance to let the paint have a ‘mind of its own’.

Many of my favourite abstract watercolours are inspired by science, like my ‘Moons of Jupiter’ series:

Some more ‘space’ inspired works:

Red Planet - abstract watercolour painting of Mars by KL Bailey Art — “Red Planet”

From the very big to the very small – some of my other abstract watercolours are inspired by microscopic images:

"Filtered" red and blue abstract watercolour painting by kirsten bailey — “Filtered”

"Needle" - original abstract watercolour painting by kirsten bailey — “Needle”

But I think my favourite overall is this one – it’s only a tiny painting, but it has a lot of detail:

Subterranean - original abstract watercolour painting by Kirsten Bailey — “Subterranean”

Posted on June 3, 2017June 6, 2017 by Kirsten

Don’t Forget to be Awesome

So I haven’t posted here in a while, for a lot of reasons – I haven’t had much time for creating since I had my kids, and I’ve had even less time for the more tedious aspect to having an art business: promotion. I’ve completed a few paintings since I last posted, but just didn’t get around to putting them up here. I’m also hoping for a long-overdue overhaul of this website, but I’ve decided not to wait until that’s done before I start getting organised again.

My latest painting is called DFTBA, and I think it’s very fitting that this is the beginning of my creative revival. I hope you like it!

Don't forget to be awesome - space painting by KL Bailey Art — Don’t forget to be awesome

Posted on March 14, 2014March 21, 2014 by Kirsten — 1 Comment

Painting for Baby

Today I finished a painting for my son’s nursery. I’m very happy with it! Not least of all because he smiled when he saw it 🙂

I haven’t had a chance to scan it yet, so this is just a picture from my phone and so not the best quality, but I don’t plan on making prints of this one anyway – it’s a special painting just for my little boy. The blue and yellow trees represent my husband and myself, and the little green tree represents my baby boy. I chose these colours specifically to show that he is a mix of the two of us. Inside the blue and yellow trees are green hearts, to represent that he is always in our hearts.

While I won’t be selling this painting or making prints of it, if you like this idea for a baby nursery, I can create a custom artwork for you. You can choose the colours of the trees, their positions, sizes, etc.

I think this would make a lovely gift for a new baby – my son’s painting has a personal inscription on the back of it from me. I hope that when he grows up, it will be something he treasures.

Posted on April 13, 2010April 13, 2010 by Kirsten — 7 Comments

Illustration Friday – Linked

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!

Posted on April 12, 2010April 13, 2010 by Kirsten

Two Happy Stampers April Colour Challenge – Take Two

I recently wrote about participating in this month’s colour challenge at Two Happy Stampers, which involves creating something using the following colours:

I wanted to have another go at creating a painting using these colours, and this is what I came up with:

It reminds me of the shrubs they have around my school which drop white flowers in a carpet all over the ground. The branch of the tree is actually painted in navy watercolour paint although it looks pretty close to black.

Posted on April 5, 2010April 5, 2010 by Kirsten — 3 Comments

Two new works

I love holidays! I get so much painting done 🙂

Here’s what I’ve been working on:

“Sunset Joy”

I’m hoping to donate this painting to the Cerebal Palsy League’s ‘Art for Arts Sake‘ charity auction next month (it has to be accepted first so fingers crossed!)

“Evening Song”

This one is going to be sent to someone special 🙂

I’ve also been working on some new canvas works – I’ll post details here soon. I hope everyone had a lovely Easter long weekend!

Posted on April 2, 2010April 2, 2010 by Kirsten — 1 Comment

Illustration Friday – Rescued

I’m *really* late with posting this Illustration Friday painting – the new topic is due up sometime today. It took me a while to get the idea straight in my head.

Here’s what I came up with for the “rescue” topic:

A heart’s rescue.

Posted on March 11, 2010 by Kirsten — 3 Comments

Creating “Brave”

As promised (OK, a little later than promised, but still!) here’s my step-by-step for the creation of my latest painting, “Brave”.

Creating "Brave" - step 2 — Step 2: Using masking fluid, I masked off the edge of the paper and created three separate panels.

Creating "Brave" - step 3 — Step 3 - Colour washes for the background. Here I've done the first two. I tried to give a feeling of the day passing - using the colours of sunrise, midday and twilight.

Creating "Brave" - Step 4 — Step 4: As I wanted to convey the idea of the same tree and bird changing over time, I wanted my tree to look the same in each panel. I usually paint my trees freeform, without sketching them first. This time, I sketched a tree in pencil first, and transferred it to the 3 panels so each would be the same.

Step 5 - 3rd background wash. I did this panel a little later as I was waiting for the masking fluid I used to create the stars to dry. Step 6 - The tree sketch transferred onto each panel of the painting. Step 7 - Trees and birdies painted in. Step 8 - Masking fluid rubbed off, painting completed!! Hope you liked learning about how I created this painting 🙂

Posted on February 10, 2010February 10, 2010 by Kirsten

I’m a writer!!

I’m excited to announce that I’ve been invited to write for Handmade Spark.

The site is designed for sellers and buyers to connect. Through the blog sellers wil learn about marketing, blogging, how tos, and much more. Buyers will find new shops and items through the handmade features posted by me and a group of writers. Handmade Spark is also a directory where sellers can submit their links, like Twitter, Facebook , and blogs.

I’m really excited to be involved, and I hope I can bring a little something different to the website as I’m so far the only Aussie writer.

My first post is about ACEOs. I was inspired by the fact that I made my own first batch of ACEOs this weekend. I love the way they look on the little easel! If you’d like to find out more about ACEOs, you can read my post on Handmade Spark.

aceos

In other news, my painting Two Hearts, One Love has been featured on a Valentine’s Day post at Calico & Co., the Indie & Handmade Blog. There are lots of other pretty things there too! 🙂

Posted on December 6, 2009 by Kirsten — 1 Comment

Inspire Me Thursday – Handmade Holidays

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!