painting

i worked on this painting {and lots of other things} this weekend. it started out as a fun 'loose-limbed' approach to the paint. not my usual thing, but i had fun experimenting and just letting the colours happen. i'm usually much more controlling over the composition, and often wish i wasn't!! usually i have a general idea of the composition with landscapes ~ which seems to work well with short blocks of time and getting ideas out. i'd love to have more time to play and allow things to develop a little more freely/intuitively!

hope your week is getting off to a good start :)

** the image is looking a little fuzzy in blogger. if you click on the image it'll take you to flickr, where it'll look clearer!!

saturday shopping list . it's officially winter next week!

1. miner's vest . rosetung
2. ocean pier original abstract landscape . brianelston
3. recycled red rubber bangle . lianakabel
4. sashiko sampler dark indigo asa no ha pattern . feltcafe

**images from shops listed.

happy etsy shopping!

my creative space

figuring out what i really want to work on . . . lots of things started, waiting for me to make the next move.
feeling kind of scattered and exhausted after the first half of the week which was all about tantrums and naughtiness {think two and a half!} and sickness {home from school}.
remembering that painting is just the therapy for this side of life. i wonder why i actually forget this and don't get straight into it when i can . . .

happy creative space day! pop over to kirsty's for more spaces :)

diamonds and flowers

i used anna's method {from thursday's post~ see comments} to clean up then coloured this one today. i have to say thanks anna! big time saver. the fuzziness needed to be around 100 to keep the pencil detail :)
hope you are having a fun weekend.

saturday shopping list

1. sterling silver scalloped ring . raissabump
2. 4 notebooks/geometric no1 . pawling
3. WD981 mixed media on paper . mplandis
4. gray leggings with black spandex trapeze patches around . malu7

**images from shops listed.

happy etsy shopping :)

my creative space

still going on the digital colouring . . . this is an older drawing i decided to work on. i spent hours and hours cleaning up the paper reflection/glare/yellowing around the lines of the drawing! i still haven't found a quick way of doing this! playing with the levels seems to jeopardise the soft quality of the pencil lines, which i want to keep. so, i ummed and ahhhed as to whether or not i really want to spend that long making these and thought i'd re-evaluated after finishing one. the possible colour combinations are endless!
i also tried drawing with pens on smooth paper ~ much easier to get rid of the background. but the lines are flat/mostly solid colour ~ see second pic {a quickly made example}.

some feedback from our art-teacher friend who was holding the original drawings and standing near the computer: 'i don't want to look at that' {the computer}!!

i'll keep weighing up the options :)
to see more creative spaces or play along, visit kirsty here.

:: a shop called Milton is having the official opening tonight from 6-9pm at 153 greville street, prahran. come along if you feel like it. i'm hoping to get there by 7 :)

crochet update

i'm getting there with my hex blanket ~ it's going to be a 3/4 length, one person couch blanket!!
modelled by the littlest boy.
the last pic is the first draft . . . i did my usual jump in, think later thing. i couldn't picture this design working with just these colours, or even with the addition of another colour. it was way too complicated!
the blue ones are 2 different shades, which is a bit hard to see in this light.

** ooty has made this sushi plate based on my work, so chuffed :)

new treasuries

i made 2 treasuries this morning! love treasury east, so much easier to make.
:: click on image for a better view.
hope your week gets off to a good start :)

saturday shopping list . the power of suggestion

1. macarons and cupcake 5x7 print . photobird
2. mini creamer in cinder . pigeon toe ceramics
3. attache case . sketchbook
4. town in the hill, large limited edition . yoote

playing {+ having fun} with the new etsy feature: suggested shops, which can be found on your favourites page!

** images from shops listed.

happy shopping :)

my creative space . sketches

my sister gave me a box of beautiful silver pencils for passing my driving test and i finally got them out and sharpened them! they are the mercedes of pencils!

i think i'm going to work on these drawings to make digital pieces. i think! i have a hard drive full of scans of drawings that are just sitting there waiting for me to work on . . . the thing that has stopped me is not wanting to spend more time on the computer! but, after what feels like too much thought about how these pieces need to go {i like them as drawings but would like to make more of them}, about different possibilities medium-wise, digital keeps coming up as the answer. there are many ways they could go once things become digital, so i really hope i can keep things intuitive and natural!! will see!!

do you find it hard to find the balance between intuition and 'deliberate intent' with your work?? surely there is a clearer way to ask this question too! . . . see, too much computer time hurts the brain!

for more creative spaces or to play along, visit kirsty here.

** thanks so much for all the comments last week re the painting for my dad, i really appreciate the feedback. will post the finished work any day now :)

saturday shopping list

1. emdash necklace . dotoverdot
2. mid march in the appalachians quebec canada . fournierpainter
3. forest floor collage made with discarded envelopes . snphillips
4. all things considered mini earrings trio . melaniefavreau

** all images from the shops listed.
happy shopping :)

a little inspiration: jennifer sanchez

i've featured work by jennifer sanchez here before, but as is the way with inspiring artists: new work = excitement and more inspiration!!
i love her colours, layers, and loose and at the same time tight composition.

:: ny1004 . mixed media on paper
:: ny1001 . mixed media on paper

available through the beholder. jennifer's blog.

happy friday :)

my creative space

i making a painting for my dad's 60th birthday present, which is coming up this month.

the view of these hills overlooking the river is what made my parents decide to move to the north coast of new south wales {many years ago!}.

when i see this kind of landscape in the flesh, i think it's beautiful too, but i don't generally feel an urge to paint it! but when i took a photo of the family and saw this view in the background through the window behind them, all blurred and slightly washed out ~ suddenly, it clicked for me. this is what i wanted to paint. the blurred, semi-abstract version.

hoping dad likes it. i have to remember to refrain from adding orange so as not to give him a headache.

for more creative spaces visit kirsty.
happy thursday :)

this post made me happy!

cool, don't you think? it made my day!
thanks hilka :) {click to see festival details!}

i also won an interesting giveaway on evelyn's blog, sumiko shop ~ the prize is an ad spot.
thanks evelyn!
+ thanks to mrs french for hearting my tents on monday

. . .

the skirts so far!

i've been busy making these skirts {i really should have ironed the bottom one!}. the top two are from a wrap around a-line pattern. i also made a dark denim one. i got tired of the tie after making 2 and decided to use a band and some adjustable closure 'things' instead.

as with almost all patterns and shoes, i'm not one of the specified sizes, so i had to play with the measurements a bit ~ even though its a wrap around! i also had to trim the 'corners' of the a-line at the bottom as they ended up pointy ~ not sure if it's worth fixing this issue on the blue one, as i have a thing for raw edges and don't want to cut it.

the bottom one is a shortened version of a favourite wrap skirt i bought years ago from monkhouse. i hope they don't mind me copying the design {of course for personal use only!}.

i was really happy with the fabric i bought from duckcloth {the top one}.

happy monday :)