Who Stole my Ladder
12x12 inches
Coloured Pencil, Inktense pencil, black Promarker and
White ink highlights on Wooden Art Panel

Make a Wish
8x10 inches
Coloured pencil and Faber Castell Pitt Pens on
Watercolour canvas

A couple of more Trompe L'Oeil pieces and some big learning curves. After attempting and discarding Make a Wish 7 times, using a range of mediums, I finally decided that I had better complete at least one and move on. As you can see the black background is blotchy and whilst I had hoped that an application of varnish might resolve this issue, it actually made it worse. So what did I learn from all this trial and error and exasperation? I need to take a different approach and avoid doing large areas with black background, and this lead me to working on the wooden art panels, and this proved so much more satisfying and less frustrating, so I think this might be the start of a series. Hope these put a smile on your face :)

A little bit of Trompe L'oeil

The Scribe
8x10 inches
ballpoint pen, Faber Castell Pitt Pens and Promarkers
on Ampersand Claybord. 

I have always had a fascination for Trompe L'Oeil artworks and thought I would revisit this genre, by redoing an older piece of mine. I am loving working on the Claybord, but unfortunately the coloured pencils do not come out with level of vibrancy that I'm after when working on this surface and so it feels a bit strange for me to be completing artworks without even reaching for a coloured pencil. The background was underpainted using the Black Promarker and I then went over this with the black ballpoint pen for a nice consistent black. The rest of the squirrel was done combining the ballpoint pen with the Faber Castell Pitt pens and also using a blade and fibre glass brush and blade to scratch into the Claybord surface for more realistic fur. 

Reference photo for the squirrel provided with kind permission by http://www.flickr.com/photos/mandj98/1924302163/in/set-72157594327779035/. The format for this artworks was inspired by the beautiful artworks of Marina Dieul:)

You Make Me Smile

You Make Me Smile

8x10 inches

Watercolours and acrylics on Canson Mi Teintes Tex Card

I really should have been working on a commission today, but sometimes the urge to be creative overwhelms everything else and I really had a compulsion to have some fun and play with colour. I took a litter of 8 little baby mice off to the pet shop on Monday, and so before Mum and Dad get too busy with another litter, they kindly indulged me with a bit of modelling for a photo shoot last night. Somehow, my art always comes back to the theme of mice - I just love drawing and painting them and their endearing little faces. I hope this brings a smile to your faces :))

4th Little Pig - Making Daisy Chains

Little Pig's Bliss - Making Daisy Chains

5x7 inches

Coloured pencils on drafting film

This is the fourth little pig in the series and I'm not sure if I will do more. Sometimes I start so enthusiastically with projects and ideas that enter my head, but then self doubt creeps in, when the image on the paper doesn't quite match what I visualised. Either way, tomorrow marks the start of the two week school holidays, and my husband also has a couple of weeks off, so it is time to devote some time to my wonderful family and to give the art a bit of a break. I will still pop in to see what everyone else is up to, but probably won't be making many contributions myself.

Thank you so much to everyone who takes the time to view my blog and especially to those who leave comments - Hugs to all of you!!! :))

3rd Little Pig's Bliss - Soaking in a Hot Tub

Little Pig's Bliss - Soaking In A Hot Tub

5x7 inches

Coloured pencils on drafting film.

Today, Sydney shivered through it's coldest June day in 60 years (which probably isn't that cold compared to where many of my internet friends live around the world), and on these chilly days (which I love), there really is nothing more blissful than soaking in a nice hot bubble bath. I wasn't really happy with the face on Little Pig here, but couldn't seem to get it right - you get the general idea though!! :))

Flower Folk - Hydrangea

Hydrangea

6x8 inches

Coloured pencil on drafting film

Hydrangeas are round, jolly folk with gentle natures who like to come out with the warmer weather of spring and then hang around all summer, only to disappear once the cooler weather of Autumn drives them away. :)

Flower Folk - Thistle

Thistle

6x8 inches

Coloured pencil on drafting film

Flower Folk are very cheeky little characters, who are basically quite shy and can pop up unexpectedly in your garden at any time. Thistle can be a bit prickly, but she loves nothing more than to put a smile on your face. Watch this space as I introduce you to more of the Flower Folk.

"Mirror Image" ACEO Acrylic Painting

Mirror Image ACEO

2.5 x 4.5 inches

Acrylics on Colourfix Paper

Here is my latest ACEO. I must say I find doing the acrylic paintings much slower than the coloured pencil on drafting film, but it is always good to try new mediums. I am interested whether visitors have a preference for one medium over another with my art. I find it easier to get a crisp, bright image with the coloured pencils on drafting film, but I feel sometimes those buying art value paintings more. This little painting is available to purchase from my ebay store.

Cheers to all :))

OSWOA - Muhali, Baby Gorilla

Muhali, Baby Gorilla

4 x 6 inches

Acrylic on Colourfix paper

On Monday, we took our youngest to Sydney's Taronga Zoo, and one of our highlights was this eight month old gorilla, who stole our hearts. It was fascinating to watch the gorilla's behaviour and the parrallel's between them and we humans. With four sons, and three of them in their teens, I was amused to watch two adolescent gorillas wrestling with each other and struggling for dominance, whilst their silverback father looked on with mild interest. I lost track years ago of the number of times we have asked our boys to stop wrestling in the loungeroom (usually just as the news started!!!)

Latest ACEO - Bubbles & Blessings

We have a long weekend for the Queen's Birthday, here in Australia, and sadly, all the boys sport has been cancelled due to rain :) - so that just means more time for art - don't know how I'll cope!!! This is my latest ACEO - the main inspiration here was my urge to try to draw bubbles. I have attempted it a couple of times this week and all works have ended up in the bin. I worked out in the end, that it is much easier to draw bubbles on a darker background than to try to create bubbles on a white background - I guess it should have been obvious. This was my final attempt and the best of a bad lot, so I then proceeded with the rest of the painting. You can purchase this ACEO in my ebay store.

Latest ACEO - Butterfly Kiss

One of the dilemmas I always have trouble with, is whether to do a background on my ACEO's. This week I have had fun experimenting with mediums and backgrounds and finally came up with a combination I was happy with. The effect I was after was something like airbrushing without actually using an airbrush. This background was done on the back of the drafting film. After doing the initial sketch on the front, I turned it over and coloured roughly with Faber Castell Pitt Pens in a range of shades. This was then smudged gently with a tissue. The pitt pens are not permanent on the drafting film, but a spray of fixative solved the problem. I was then able to turn the film back over and work happily from the front. I was quite content with the result! This ACEO is available for sale in my ebay store. Have a great week :)

Latest ACEO - Room for Two?

I had a lovely photo session with our new pet mice yesterday - they were so obliging. I loved this shot of one seeming to beckon to the other to join her in the crib, so couldn't resist drawing them. They really are the cutest animals. I watched one of them yesterday who was so busy for ages moving all the bedding material from different parts of their enclosure to this big mountain that she was creating. I would love to know what goes through their heads. We actually have one tan, one black and white and one pure white mouse, but I adjust the colours to suit the picture. This original ACEO is available to purchase from my ebay store. A wonderful day to all of you and hope no-one is close to the bushfires in LA :).

Latest ACEO - Shabby Chic Cat

I seem to have the artistic equivalent to writer's block at the moment. Sometimes I can't get to sleep at night with all the ideas flowing through my head, but at the moment, it is kind of the opposite, where I feel like I have come to a dead end. Hopefully this is just a phase and the creative juices will start flowing again soon. I am interested to know if other artists have the same blank phases, and how they become inspired again. Thankfully, this little ginger cat caught my eye, and I couldn't resist drawing him. He is available for sale in my ebay store.

The Art Student

Well we bought our three little mice: Milly, Molly and Mandy (three girls so we don't get babies!), and they are a source of delight for the kids - until the novelty wears off. Here is the first artwork featuring Milly in amongst some pencils. Your challenge is to see if you can find the tiny paintbrush I have hidden somewhere in the picture. It took my husband and kids ages to find it, but I suspect it may be easier on the computer screen. This ACEO is available to purchase from my ebay store.

Latest ACEO - Hide and Seek

This is my latest ACEO - had so much fun drawing little mice, that I thought we might add to our extensive family pet collection to get a couple of mice, so I have ready little models - hope they don't smell too much, but they are very cute.

I was interested, and I must admit, a little disappointed to see the Innocence ACEO did not sell on ebay, so have moved it over to Etsy. That is the first of my ACEO's not to sell in a while, maybe because it was too much like a portrait. I have always started my ACEO prices from a reserve of between $20 and $30 aud, so thought I would try something different with this latest one and start the bidding at 95 cents, to see if it attracts more interest. I guess there is always a risk in doing this, that it does sell for only 95 cents, which really doesn't make 6-8 hours of work worthwhile, but will be an interesting process. This ACEO may be purchased from my ebay store.

With Love

Here is my latest ACEO which is now available to purchase on ebay. Some of the animals I love to draw are not available here in Australia, such as hamsters, and so then I rely on the generosity of photographers on sites such as flickr to allow me to use their images as reference photos. I would like to dedicate todays blog to one of those photographers "Pyza" whose reference photo http://www.flickr.com/photos/chmurka/2837700806/in/set-72157604318432847/ I used for this artwork, and several of the pieces I have done that include hamsters. It really is worth checking out her photostream to see her gorgeous little hamsters and the delightful photos she takes of them. She obviously adores these little animals like children, and I cannot view her site without breaking into a big smile. A big thankyou to her for allowing me the honour of drawing her little pets.