finally ..... originals for sale

i am regularly asked if i will sell my originals and my answer is always no. 

 i don't need to think about it, i just say no. 

 it's a mix of loving them so much so not wanting to part with them, and them taking me so long to create (up to 20 hours) due to the layers and layers, and the working forever on the elements to get them just right - that they really become unaffordable as i would want to sell them at a price that i feel they deserve and i don't think anyone would pay. hope that makes sense.

so - i am now learning to create some paintings that are only taking me a couple or hours or so.

 

I can now sell some originals. 

yay.  

i am really happy about this.

.... here is the first one of very very many.  the reproduction isn't that great unfortunately as it wouldn't fit on the scanner, so took photos of her and the colours and textures aren't showing up as they look on the original.

hope you like her as i really really enjoyed creating her ....

there's a new dog in town in need of a name

i thought for a change, i'd start a series of  animal paintings ... and here's the first.  

anyone that knows me knows that i am a little obsessed with dogs.  so i figured it's the best place to start.

new card for next market

i quite like my new card design.  if it looks familiar it is because i designed the background as a badge (see left) to promote my markets and thought i'd make it do double duty as a card. 

inspiration please ...

well. here is the whimsical girl of the moment. what do you think?

i think she is related to Prudence as she has the same wild hair, and perhaps also to Milly as she very pretty violet eyes.  but what is her name?

i really need some help with suggestions for a name.  i'd love to send a print or a set of cards to whoever comes up with the most suitable name.  so if you are inspired by a name when you look at her please let me know.

leave any suggestions below in the comments section, or on my facebook page.

... and thanks for taking a look at the new girl, she'll be thrilled to know that you're interested in her.

i will have prints of her at the markets this weekend, and plan to have her in the shop in the next day.

 

p.s. :: almost forgot.  i should have another gorgeous girl finished for next week.  so far she has very short dark brown hair, luscious lips, emerald eyes, and is a tiny bit sophisticated. i've got a feeling she may be a hit as her background colours are really quite wonderful.

quick & quirky quote no. 6

artwork

had a great afternoon today just playing around with some new artwork.  

really love the colours in both of them.

more more and more paper

as i constantly mention,  i love colour and i love paper.
i recently acquired some wallpaper samples in the most amazing colours and designs.

they are the most fabulous papers that, although i want to use them in artwork, i can't bear to cut them up as they are so special and delicious.  is anyone else like that?

a little aside story .......

before i started selling my own cards i always had a huge stash of cards in an attractive box so i always had an appropriate card to hand for whenever i needed one.  my challenge with having this stash of cards was that when i needed to choose one i would question whether the recipient was worthy of the card.  seriously.  mostly i would say - no - i don't think they are worthy and that divine card would be sent back to the stash.   so, now that i am selling my cards and prints of my designs i get a lot of comments from people saying that they like to keep a stash of special cards so, like me, they always have cards to hand.  well i told a customer one day of my feelings that my recipients were often not worthy, and this person said they were exactly the same in parting with their card stash. yay.  i now mention it alot and guess what ......there are lots of card crazies out there that hate parting with their fantastic cards.  lots. love it.  although not good for business if you sell cards like me is it.


anyway, back to wallpaper ....... here is a selection of some of the samples i obtained from this most fantastic wallpaper outlet.

The Divine Miss Emily

i have the most dee-vine wee niece ever made.  glorious she is.  anyway she recently turned one so i made her a personalised bunting painting. here it is. i quite like it.

its layer upon layer upon layer (remember those sara lea ads, or is it only me that is so old??) of vintage and new papers, and paint that has been painted on, rolled on, stamped on and dripped on. 

layer 'pon layer 'pon layer ....

i thought it turned out so well i'd put the design up in my Blissful Bunting shop in case someone else would like one for their wee one.  you can see it here.

Bliss.

to market .... to market

very very very excited.  i have booked into the Bella Vista Artisans Market!  yay to me!!!  i know it's not that big a deal, its just that I have been thinking, talking, dwelling on it for so long I can't believe that I have actually gotten off my fat behind and done something about it.

so now, apart from panicking, i am madly painting away.  have decided to sell some canvas paintings that I am surprisingly loving in every way.  i am loving making them. i am loving the end result.  really loving. and they are so different from anything i have ever done before as they are not my usual girls of varying descriptions.  i think it is the colour i enjoy the most.  as well as the two in the colour scheme below, i have also done a couple of pink-ish ones, but the canvas is larger and they won't fit on my home scanner so can't upload them.

as i am not working at the moment and want some extra money, i wanted to produce some paintings that i believe will sell that are aimed at the target market of the market, which i think would be women with small children.  i have come to that conclusion as that is the prominent demographic in the area where the market is.  hope i am right as i think these paintings would look great in a kids room .... gee i really hope i'm right! think i need to test them with some friends with small children ... great idea Jenn.

i decided on bunting as a theme as when i was researching how to make bunting in a non-laborius way (as i wanted to make about ten metres of it to string up around my market stall) I thought - hey, what about painting some as well.  and i quite like the result. and they are relatively quick to make unlike my girls that seem to take days to get their eyes and skin right.

wish me luck ..... bliss

Hippy Hippy Shake

what was that song from the 60s about wearing flowers in your hair?  all I can remember is "are you going to San-Fran-sisco ......."  anyway I have a new girl and she has flowers in her hair.  I quite like her I do! 

the scan is not so great though, it didn't totally fit on the glass so is a little blurred unfortunately.  will have to go get it professionally done in the next day or so. but you get the picture (pun intended) hee hee.

who's that girl in the (really) big hat??

have spent the last two days - or was it three - obsessed with this painting below.  i don't mean i have spent all my time working on it (truly i didn't).  but here it is.  i think it still needs a bit of work - the face i think, the colour and shading and detail isn't quite right.  need to walk away from it for a few days and then face it again and see what i see.  anyway ..... shes a beautiful girl and i like her style. cool chick maybe?

whilst selfishly indulging myself with the hatted girl, i have been also obsessed with the the floods up in queensland.  they are just so unbelievable and horrific.  i can not imagine what it would be like to be in the middle of something so catastrophic.  especially up in toowomba where a river appeared down the main street without warning. Climate change eh??!!!  Really ??!

the art of silliness

i have just signed up for another art course - The Art of Silliness.  can't wait. and it's just what i need at the moment - a daily dose of fun (and it's wonderfully silly). 

and where else do you get 30 lessons for US$25 ??!!!

bring on 5th january and the first lesson.  

bliss

thankyou Miss Blu ...

today i was just sitting here thinking about how much my life has changed this year in so many ways.  the most positive is that i am now totally absorbed in art and so so loving it.

earlier this year i decided that i could no longer not do art, so i decided to start from the basics again and do a drawing class at the local community college.  mistake. big mistake.  the teacher was woeful. woeful. i won't bore you with the details, but basically she didn't teach, just put an object in front of us and said draw it, whenever a student asked for guidance she seemed quite taken aback.  odd.

i wasn't giving up.  so I turned to the good ole internet in search of instruction and found the divine miss Suzi Blu.  what an inspiration. what a teacher.  what a wonderfully kooky girl. what an artist!! her art is unique and magnificent.

i have learnt so much from her classes apart from art that I can't begin to tell you.  mostly though i learnt that yes, i am an artist (suzi says so).  suzi has also given me the confidence to open an etsy shop (no one has bought anything, but that doesn't matter, i opened an etsy shop!!!! yay to me!).

suzi taught me to paint backgrounds and beautiful girls. how to blend to make their skin look divine, how to make their eyes pop and their lips luscious.

not long after i started my first suzi class one of my friends had just been diagnosed with cancer and was looking to do some art, i sent her suzi's website and she too enrolled in suzi classes. we spent many an hour talking about how much we enjoy suzi and how much we love painting the girls! also how much we felt encourage by suzi and how much confidence she instills, and i think that is the key to suzi, she is genuine and authentic and truly wants you to succeed in your pursuit of blissful art.  i know i might sound like some crazy groupy nutcase, but she really is wonderful.

i really thank suzi for re-igniting my creative spirit and i hope that one day i can meet her and give her a big squeezy hug and say 'thanks suzi blu - you're great!'. 

so if you want to be an artist, a suzi blu class is the place to be!


here is one of my first girls, just love her ....if i can do this after a few weeks, so can you. Bliss.

musical trees and curly trees :: loving trees

i am still trying to find MY style of painting and collage.  i do love my Wilhelmina, Millicent and the gorgeous Prudence, i really do .... but i am finding great bliss in trees also.

here are a couple of my latest tree paintings.  think i'll keep going on the tree collage theme for awhile and see where it takes  me.  what do you think??

i will get prints into my etsy shop soon and hopefully someone will love one enough to purchase. Bliss to all!