A little teaseer before I sign off

I'm nearly all packed and ready to head off to Melbourne on wednesday...all my paints, pencils and printing tools have been sent on ahead...fingers and toes crossed that they don't get lost along the way!

Fortunately the flight over is under and hour..but I really hate the lead up to getting to the airport. Once I've checked I relax a little until I'm in the plane...I really dislike the taking off and landing bit...the in-between bits are ok.

I'm still doing a bit of sewing, I'm going to miss my machine but I've a heap of things to keep me busy. Apart from painting I'm even going to take some of my long lost UFO knitting projects, there is not TV there so I need to do something at the end of the day in front of the wood fire.

I wont be connected to the internet for a bit so till then, if you haven't already sign up to the giveaway get in there and do so! Thank you to all those that have and put my 'giveaway button' on their page...Good luck!

I'll see you all in a couple of weeks time if not sooner!

little Alice GIVE AWAY

I promised I was going to do it, its been a while and I know many have been waiting....so without any further a do...This is my little give away and yes she is little..and she isn't quite finished....'Why isn't she finished', I hear you say! Because you must tell me something first!

But before you can play...

1. Become a follower of my blog, if you are not already, it's easy!
2. leave a comment under this post.
3.If you already follow my blog then leave a comment under this post too.
4.Lets just say that you won this painting and you wanted to hang it in your favorite room, what colour background would work the best to match the colours in your room?
5. Save my giveaway button, its the one on the top right corner, add it to your blog with the link back to this page!

A name will be drawn on the 7th of May

Now for some specs about this painting
It is.5 x6 inches..a little mixed media, acrylic, art pencils, cloth, plywood, wax and found objects. unframed.signed and dated on the front.

That's it now get to it!!

Little Red Riding Hood and Little Wolfie

.Who's afraid of the big bad wolf, the big bad wolf....maybe all of us but when he is this little Not even Red Riding Hood is scared!! I've had this doll on the back burner for a while until finally I couldn't stand the pleading to 'finish me, finish me', no longer! My handy partner cut out the stand. They are huon pine.  I beveled, sanded stained and varnished them. On top I glued down whats known as 'grass train table' to model train enthusiasts!
She is all hand painted, sewn and knitted, stuffed and needle felted by me!
Signed and dated on the bottom. She is up for sale on Etsy today...go hop along and take a peek at more photo's of her!
Tomorrow I will be putting up my little give away so stay tuned!!

Contact me

Hello all my lovely followers thank you for the terrific comments about my recent paintings.
Look at the column screen right and you will see a link to 'contact me'. Ive been wondering about this all day about putting my email up to make it easier for people to contact me about my work...well yes why not I'm in the business of selling my work!! So if you are interested in buying or commissioning a paintings, prints, bunnies, elephants and art dolls now it will be easier to get in touch! I will from now on when I post a new painting or what ever I'll have whether it is for sale or not. If the painting is not but you just can't live without it then get in touch and I'll let you know about commissioning me to paint a similar painting just for you!

Petit Marie, SOLD

Marie was sold last night and is on her way to a place not far from here!

Thank you so much for everyone's comments...there will be more paintings comming soon!

Petit Fin

Petit Marie

Phew, I've nearly finished all my paintings for Suzi's class, this was one of the hardest but ended up to be quite fun. At first I didn't know what my interpretation of Marie Antoinette was going to be. my first thought was of her meeting Madame Guillotine! Suzi suggested to watch the movie Marie Antoinette, so I did and even thought the story and acting was a little on the dull side visually it was spectacular! The colours, costumes and pastries were just beautiful.

So my interpretation is totally fairytale, a bit melancholy and 'a midsummer nights dream'.
detail of shoe
detail of face

My favorite bit in the painting is the poodle, she might be deserving of a little portrait painting of herself one day!detail of pink poodle

I've extended one of my painting classes so I don't have to rush I now have to September to finish my last painting, yay!

Angels in Love!

Look up in the night sky and you might see them! Dancing among the stars, this pair only have eye's for each other. I'm not sure I'm that happy with this one. I love the little girl but I wished I didn't touch her wings with a blue pencil. I couldn't get rid of it with out ripping her wings off and starting again! Hell I've been know to scarp nearly finished paintings back to the wood before it doesn't scare me to start again...mmmmm.
Thank you to everyone who's been leaving wonderful, blushingly lovely comments on my work.

I'll be winding down shortly as I'm off to a artist retreat for 2 months. It's a place I've wanted to go for years and years! I now have a wonderful opportunity to go, thanks to my brother Andrew who has been staying there for several months working on his music and independent documentary. He is off over seas so I'll be minding his place while he is gone.I'll take my camera and laptop, paints and lino and cutting tools, some of my mixed media stuff but alas no sewing machine:( I will take some knitting though and a book...any suggestions?
So before I go I will be having a give away so watch this space!!

Painting update

Hi all my 142 followers, hope you are all well, happy and creating !!!
Busy, busy week ahead for me I have to finish three paintings before the end of the week so I will be on track for when I leave on the 28th of this month....I'm not going far but I'm doing something that I've wanted to do for years...but more about that later!

here is a little peek at Alice

oh is that the Red Queens head lying there by Alice's feet? I think it might be.
Apart from my Alice project I've been painting flat out to try and finish my paintings for the online course I'm doing at Suzi Blu's. So far so good. Today I finished my "Day of the Dead" painting. It's about my little orange kitty that passed away 4 years ago. Lots of images, found rusty objects and wax.
Last week my wood burning tool arrived so I got to work on another 'Petit Angels' in love.
A bit cute, I know but you see I have to balance both sides to my nature.....

my Goth Angel!! Took me a while to work out just what I wanted in this painting and I think now I'm happy with my idea. Better run, wish me luck on my quest of finishing these three...or 4 or 5 paintings!!

resurrecting something old

with all this Alice In Wonderland art happening just about every blog you go to I thought I will show you this project I started in 2006. Actually the conception started many years before that and I will post some of my sketches up soon. It's a good time to try and finish this work as my Arts Doll group have organized an 'Alice in Wonderland Challenge'. It's open to all doll makers not just those in our group. To find out more CLICK me! Keep checking on the ADO blog for details or on their Facebook page!
Now that I have announced it....you can follow me down my rabbit hole and watch the progress of my soft sculpture instillation...fingers and toes are all crossed that I can get this done before I go away..(more about this later:)

playschool at home

I love days like today, gray, the smell of rain on its way and warm enough to do some gardening outside and a lot of play time inside!
I've been looking forward to spending time in the garden, it's been rather neglected although still productive. So today was the day of weeding,pulling out old plants, sowing punnets of lettuce and kale, tidying up of compost heaps, laying down straw, preparing beds for garlic, snow peas and spinach. All this done before lunch!
So as a reward I went to play in the studio, I've had some ideas for new paintings plus Suzi Blu sent us a little present in our mail...a little template for us to play with over Easter...and I have a few paintings on the go that I need to work on. Here is just a little peek at Little Black Crow's adventures in play land!

Playing with my pencils, memories of colouring my golden books!

She looks a little sad, because she lost her way in the woods. The little animals are helping her to find her way back home...if only she would listen!

A close up of little bunny girl

detail of the bottom of the painting, can you hear those birds chirping?

Oh! What will I find inside when I pull this ribbon?

TDA!! This is the most awesome pencil roll in the world! Made by my friend Marita from Loopy Designs. She uses the best fabrics and has a terrific sense of colour and pattern combination's. I'm going to have to get myself another one or commission her to make me a really long one! this is going to be great for my travels in a few weeks time, (more about that later).

And here is a big peek at my wip for a painting of Helen Bonham Carter as the Queen of hearts in Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland. I saw the movie last week, what it lacked in story line it certainly made up for it visually.

Leia, little chocolate coloured poodle girl, cotton reel doll

I love the gorgeous brown cotton on this spool but unfortunately it was too vintage and broke easily. Fortunately though the colour had not worn and it was the prefect base for a new little cotton reel doll. I really, really wanted to make a a hair style with two buns and and her face to have a little smudgy dog nose. So here she is Leia, the little poodle girl1...She looks like a poodle doesn't she?
She is up for sale on my ETSY site take a peep there are more photo's of her there!

Ghost Girl and Friends

Ghost Girl is a cotton reel doll. Inspired by Mark Ryden's painting 'Ghost Girl'. She is also my little project for the Art Dolls Only group, Monochromatic Challenge.

A little while ago my mum gave me all her wooden and plastic cotton spools, I remember these as a kid. Most had hardly any cotton left and what was left broke easily.
I noticed a few people on Etsy turning them into dolls. What a great idea, lets see how I can make these my own. The heads are paper mache, the features are drawn with artist pencils and fine art pens. A little bit of paint and either gloss varnish or wax to coat the finished head.
And finally I get to use my collection of bottle tops!
I took my first ones to the market and they proved to be quite popular and sold a couple. I've listed 'Ghost Girl' in my Etsy shop, go take a peek there are more photo's of her there. I'll only be making a these until I run out of wooden spools!