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 cards

gosh ... i'm on a roll. two posts in one day.  wowee.

thought i'd just upload some cards i made yesterday that i'll have available for sale at my future markets. the backgrounds are cropped parts of some mixed media paintings that i've done.

  

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. 

quick & quirky quote no. 6

cartoons in the garden

the things you see when you're out for a walk .....

i was on my way back from walking the gorgeous one (aka Finn my pooch) and i saw the most amazing sight in my neighbour's front garden.  i thought they were plastic - very cartoon-ish.  perhaps some type of creative garden light.  then i realised they were real. so ran home, grabbed my camera and took photos. 

aren't they amazing? i have no idea if they are mushrooms, toadstools, whatever.  the colours are just glorious and so true to how they are.  they were quite big too, perhaps 10-12cm across. 

does anyone know what they are? i'd love to know.

inspired to paint ... true bloom is for you

no ... i didn't paint this (oh how I wish) - flora bowley did

back here i was mad for signing on to new art courses then found i didn't have time to do them as they overlapped and i was doing other stuff ... i'm sure you know what i mean.  well i am now about half way through the online fantastic-amazing-loving-it-more-than-i-thought flora bowley true bloom online course (fortunately for me the course is available online for six months after the class closes so you can catch up. phew).

even though i am only half way through, i so so so recommend this if you are interested in art in any form.  forget that you can't paint or have never ever tried ... her thing is teaching you to paint intuitively and at the end of the course i know you will say 'yay - i can paint' .  you might even say  'yay i can paint and i just found a new career'.  really.

  flora's intuitive approach is based on just going with the flow and discovering what emerges ... layering paint and laying some more paint.   so enlightening and encouraging and FUN.  i'm only half way through (is that the third time i said that?), but am transformed in my thinking and my approach to painting.

so what i am trying to say is that if you would like to learn to paint, don't know where to start, have never painted before, have been painting for years but love to do art courses, open to new experiences ...... then this is the girl and the course for you. and flora is soooo delightful.

if you check flora's blog you will see some examples of students work from the first ever online class (that i enrolled for but am just getting to).  the next course starts in the next week or so, so get to it if you're interested.

 ... and here is a photo of the the very talented flora in her studio.

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.

paper paper and more more paper

this may seem a bit odd to those that love art, craft and colour (as I do), but my first visit to a scrapbooking shop was just a year ago.

when i entered i had such an overwhelming feeling of bliss that i thought was going to hyperventilate.  it was the papers. the designs on the papers.  the colours on the papers. the papers. all i could think of was how long have these shops been around and why didn't i know about them sooner (still don't know the answers) it was a revelation to me.   i had been into paper shops that sold A4 sheets for invitations and those beautiful japanese papers, but never anything with such an array of colour and design.  I now am obsessed and have a stash of hundreds of sheets.

having such beautiful papers also causes a challenge when I go to use some in my art.  i worry that if i use up the sheet and can't replace it then what will i do as i so love every (well almost every) sheet.  i am the same with cards.  i go through my stash of cards in search of the right one for the right person, then ponder as to whether the intended recipient is worthy of the card.  Usually the answer is no, so the card is replaced and my stash of exceptional cards remains intact.  honestly, i can't believe i do that. i really must get over myself.

here are some that i bought recently.  the papers in the last photo below were from a stall at The Olive Tree Market, the lovely stallholder imports beautiful wrapping papers from india.  i don't think she had a card so i can't tell you who she is, but i will ask her for one at the next market and update this post with her details.

just remembered that i also recently bought a heap of wallpaper samples. amazing.  i will get them out and photograph them.  they are too stunning for words, and will cause a huge dilema for me when i go to use them. if i ever use them.

i won a floor rug .. a glorious floor rug ........ yippeee

i am very very very excited. 

i received an email today telling me that I won a floor rug in a facebook competition from The Rug Collection.  the most beautiful stylish rugs you have ever seen. the best part is that i can choose which one i want.  it's the best part, but also the hardest part as they are all so magnificent.  but i thing i have narrowed it down to the ones below - photos of which I have taken from their website.

 

Do you have a  favourite?? 

I think I am leaning towards the last one as it would hide the red wine spills better.

when did needlepoint get so funky and fabulous??

can anyone tell me??  

just look at these cushions. i first saw these on the always fabulous Cafe Cartolina blog.  the very talented designer is Emily Peacock.  but it gets better .... she sells kits on etsy.

aren't they divine .... almost makes me want to attempt to try needlepoint again.  well, maybe not.  my first and last attempt was quite a disaster. plus it would be a big time commitment to complete one of these beauties. but i do do do love them.  Oh oh oh, just a thought, maybe she could design one that says BLISS... that would be - well, bliss!

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.

a flower is a flower is a felt flower

a few weekends ago we had a blissful time down the coast and stayed at the beautiful beach side village of mollymook - or the mook as the locals call it.  hee hee - love it.  anyway, i bought these glorious felt flower curtain tie backs (yes that is what they are supposed to be, but i am thinking of so many more uses for them) from a funky shop in the nearby town of Milton.

aren't the colours just glorious?  i bought four of them.  i felt (hee hee) it was one of those situations that if i don't grab them now i will never see them again.  and ... the best bit .... they were only $7.50 each.  i had to ask her the price twice as i couldn't believe it.


another of the best bits about them is that the shop selling them is operated solely to support an orphanage in nepal.  love that!  only wished i could remember the name of the shop.  i had a look on line but couldn't track it down.

if you ever  get to milton you MUST have a meal at Pilgrims - it is an a-m-a-z-i-n-g vegetarian cafe that serves the most abundant and healthy meals.  it is always packed, so don't expect to leave there in a hurry in peak times.  definitely well worth the visit.  even the carnivore irishman loved it. (embarrassed and appalled with myself that i can remember the name of a food establishment but not a beautiful shop doing such kind and generous work. i'll ask the irishman - he'll remember).

:: bliss ::

the newest girl in my life

thought i'd try and bring a bit of art into my art blog for a change.

so got my act together last night and finished the painting i was working on.  well i think i have finished it. my original plan was to put a heap of bright flowers on her gorgeous green hat, but now i think her melancholiness wouldn't match a bright flowery hat.  or would it?

man, it took me forever to get her eyes right.  i changed them about four times.  kept layering the gesso over the top and starting again. drove me crazy.

Bliss. xx

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.