inspiration . maria dimanshtein

love the wildness combined with pattern~like steadiness.
check out maria's etsy shop: fantazerova

:: urban mystery 230
:: urban mystery 305
:: urban mystery 303

* all images from fantazerova

my little art collection

a couple of really exciting packages were waiting for me when we got back from holidays - the beginning of my etsy art collection :)

> as they were . leah giberson
> near you {one} . leah giberson
> break your heart . brandi strickland

i just love them! and i can't wait til i'm rich enough to be able to buy the pieces i fall in love with whenever i feel like it!! my otherwise fairly contained materialistic streak comes right out when it comes to art :)

brandi strickland/paper whistle

when i first started gretchenmist on etsy last march i was incredibly inspired by brandi strickland's collages and drawings. to me her work is fresh and unpretentious/raw. i completely get her collages – i feel satisfaction and post-production wonder {that i imagine to be the case for brandi} when i look at them! her mixedmedia paintings are great too.
1. cell wall 2. fox 3. you know 4. yellow 5. break your heart
images sourced from her website and blog, flickr, and etsy shop
: go see )

beach weather

it's nice to hear about all your christmas fun - it's also reassuring that people are starting to blog again! {i know it was only a couple of quiet days!!}.
. . . a new print which is like a small tribute to the fact that it is finally summer here, well for today anyway . . .
i am looking forward to having some extra time to create over the holidays {between family visits}. i was really spoiled this christmas with gift certificates for art supplies so i'm going to branch out!

opposite oceans

the top one: mostly drawing and a little painting and collage. the bottom: sunny :) pencil with block print and painting and collage. will be listed soon . . .

original ocean

these are original block prints with painting and collage added! they are so much brighter in real life . . . one of the greens is almost fluro and the orange is also light and almost fluro {well not fluro but bright and rich}! it's tricky when things are 'out of gammet' and rgb! there are 2 more which i will put in a separate post cos it will look better that way :)
happy start to the week.

mini feelings

i first 'met' mitsy {artmind} when she included me in a treasury on etsy not long ago. then again through twitter! i thought i'd share some of her gorgeous ceramic creations – mini feelings {images all from her flickr site}. each piece is a representation of her feelings in the form a russian doll. i really laughed at the hate one :) you should read her perfect explanations with each image on flickr. and check out her shop.
1. silly 2. ambitious 3. hate 4. mean.
also, thanks to estasketch for including my 70s snow feeling scarflette/neckwarmer in her gift guide post today :)
enough links now, time for a little print-making!

new mist

i finished this one {night mist} today. how nice it was to sit and paint! a relief after the stress of the last few days. i'm still not completely set up computer-wise – i still have to grapple with upgrading lots of things and setting up the time machine 8)

i posted too soon!

i realise now that my last post was way too soon! it turns out that my mac was suffering something far more serious than memory problems :(

so yesterday i bought a brand new one :) and it is very beautiful! the screen is so clear that it feels like i've just put on my glasses – i can actually see the pencil marks in my work even in the tiny picutres on etsy! i wish everyone had a new mac!

before the mac issues happened i sorted out all of my artwork into 3 neat folders and i came across quite a few pieces that i had forgotten to list . . . {eg above}.

i will list them when i get a cable to setup the new mac with previous settings, programs {photoshop desperately needed!} and backed up files.  

life will hopefully get back to art not computer stuff soon, am hoping . . .

modish feature

a big thanku to jena for this feature on modish – a blog i really enjoy, especially the tours through studios and workspaces. {the articles on marketing are also extremely helpful and a great support to the creative online community}. it's very exciting to see my work here!

groundwork

these new works by danna ray {groundwork} are on my wishlist.
1. a grand discovery
2. in passing.
they are so great. i love the natural colours with the little bursts of intense bright colour, plus the character and humour.
:)

jennifer sanchez

i've recently discovered the incredible work by jennifer sanchez, it is so good. i love the colours and 'drips'. i admire her ability to use colour in the most unlikely combinations {for me anyway}. even though i love my greens and muted colours i'm also secretly right into fluro orange and pink mixed on bright white!
here is her website if you can't get enough of them :)

jessica gonacha

i want to thank jess gonacha for posting my work on her blog. i love her work and have found her to be a very lovely and helpful person :)
and if by chance you haven't seen her work before, i've included 2 of my favourites from her etsy shop .
happy friday night!

1973/modern

my show and tell for today! i know that printing on text/book pages is not an original idea but i just couldn't resist. i have a copy of an art magazine from 1973 and i thought that the combi looked perfectly at home on this article. and, the juxtaposition {not to mention the crazy angle} of the 'modern sedan' seemed right too. am still enjoying the block printing and have plans for these ones that include a re-make of the first combi design. now all i need is a little more time . . .

design for mankind

a big thanku to erin for this post on designformankind, one of my favourite design blogs, this morning. erin is such a positive and supportive person and i really appreciate the help in finding a little business know-how. i've recently read this great book: craft inc by meg mateo ilasco and think now is the time to apply some of the concepts to my 'business'. so far i have been really happy to be producing the work and getting it into the shop, but have reached the point where i need some idea of the bigger picture to see where i can fit in! i find with some of the important decision that are to be made i am thinking and thinking but the more i think the less sure i become! so the next step is to ask someone experienced in the industry . . .

landscapes

2 new ones . . . made with pencil on printmaking paper.
here is a landscape artist that i admire, joanna logue.

prints!

i have been working on a few designs and colouring some drawings to make prints for my shop! here is the first one which will be in the shop v soon.
happy weekend :)
ps. it looks a little like it is underwater here. the blue is a subtle colour and the lines are quite fine but possibly this is due to converting a cmyk illustrator file to an rgb/photoshop jpg!!?

fresh ocean colours

this collage is part of an ongoing series called 'little piece of the ocean' which i feel could be endless! oceans provide me with a constant source of inspiration for a few reasons: the colours resonate with me and will always be my favourite and my mother's ashes were scattered into the waves of a beach on the north coast of new south wales almost 20 years ago. i guess the later detail is most significant yet also alive somewhere in the back of my mind – i don't really think about these things as i work . . .


i love the colours and cool freshness in this treasury curated by enhabiten, thanku – my grey ocean drawing sits proudly among the others.

art imitates life

i've had fun recreating some of the characters my son and i have been building with simple wooden blocks. the pink/red one is for his room – he insisted they weren't real if they didn't have a mouth! the others will be in the shop gradually . . .
my favourite came out with a flaw that will need re-working, more on that soon.

orange on etsy front page

orange mini had a stint on the front page sometime lastnight, thanks to TickledPinkKnits for including it in the lucky treasury.
i'm enjoying a sunny melbourne day, the 3rd of spring . . .