I thought I would experiment and paint an ACEO – Art Cards Editions and Originals. They are rather small, 2.5 x 3.5 inches. These were fun to paint but they did take me some time, more time than I would like to put into such a small painting…
The first one is a blanket flower from a reference by Len Swanson. The little pig is from a reference by Caz Theologo. Will I paint more of these little cards? I don’t know, never say never!
Artwork of ‘Soldier Jims’ and ‘Red Foxes’ are now available to purchase as prints, pillows, t-shirts and a variety of other items. They look amazing on all the products available! Little Jimmy is such a little shining star!!
To see all available products just click on the names below of both paintings…
Fridge magnets of the Red Foxes are also available, more magnets are available on this website – look under artwork for sale – magnets. Buy one magnet or save and buy sets!
Not only do I have a crazy white bully but I also have 2 little Jack Russells who adore each other. Jimmy is my little man, in fact I call him manees. Another name I call him is my little soldier.
He’s going on 13 years old this year and throughout his life he has been a Daddy and also experienced losing other dogs we have had. He is a real sweet little guy, I love him dearly!
I have been wanting to paint him again for some time, I have an amazingly clear sharp photo of him. To represent the little soldier he is I am putting a soldier silhouette in the background and colours surrounding will be similar to the army. Here are some progress, watercolours on A4 hot press…
I am using two round brushes, no. 2 and no. 12 for the whole piece
Below is my setup with printout of the photo I am working on …
… and here is the final artwork ‘Soldier Jims’!! Bless his little soul!!
I have a couple more designs available of my artwork printed onto magnets. If you would like to see the full range of 35 designs, pop over to the Magnets submenu under Artwork for Sale.
1 Magnet = $5.50
3 Magnets = $15
5 Magnets = $22
Postage within Australia is up to $2.50 for 5 magnets
Slowly my Fields of Whirl shawl is coming together. Pattern by Frostvirka – free pattern on ravelry.com. I’ve had a break from it over the last couple of weeks because I was working on other things but have picked it up again recently. Finally I’ve hit the pink in the whirl, now I can’t wait to get the other shades of pink. I love the colours on this one, I love black and when it comes to pink I like softer shades which is why the Watermelon Hellraiser whirl really stood out to me.
I’m up to row 46 now, only another 18 rows to go but they are longer rows the more I go along so they take longer to do. The popcorn rows are very time consuming. I only do a bit at a time to keep my hand happy.
When I first got my Scheepjes Whirl I was surprised at how small it was – thinking it was going to be a lot larger in order to make a whole shawl. I can now see that I should have enough to do entire shawl. Onwards we go …
Happy Australia Day my fellow Aussies! I am very proud to be an Aussie!! Australia Day took on a whole new meaning for me 18 years ago when I was impatiently waiting to become a first time mum. I was overdue, rather large and not feeling the best, little did I know that I was in the early stages of labour. My son decided to arrive the very next morning at 9.27am, this is when my life changed forever!! Nothing can describe the amazingness that comes with becoming a parent, I am truly blessed!! I couldn’t wait to meet my little surprise. As much as I didn’t know what I was having I had a feeling I was having a baby boy.
I am so proud to be a parent and I am super proud of my son Raine. Thanks mate for choosing me to be your Mum, can’t wait to have a drink with you tomorrow young man!!
Here is a photo of a heavily pregnant me, 18 years ago!!! This was about a week before Raine was born…
Each artist has their own way of doing things and I thought I would share my way of keeping my pencils sharp. When I first started playing with pastel pencils many, many years ago I started sharpening them with a Stanley knife. I learnt pretty quick how much they actually chew up the pencil and for the price of a good pencil this would hurt my soul! For me it was a trial and error thing and it was when I tried metal sharpeners I knew I had found what was right for me. I’ve wasted money on specialty sharpeners – brand names and plastic ones only to find that nothing works better for me than the trusty metal sharpener.
Metal sharpener are very cheap, I purchase them from the local supermarket, the cost me 50c each or something like that. Small price to pay for something that does the job well every time!
To create fine detail work I like my pencils to have a very sharp tip. To sharpen them this way I just use the very tip of the pencil itself on the blade and sharpen to a point. I find this saves a lot of life in the pencil and I sharpen the wood of the pencil away a lot less.
My little tip for anyone out there who loves using pencils, it may or may not work for you but most certainly does for me. Here are some photos of me sharpening a pencil so you get the idea …
