Painting 4

Sooooo much fun with this one! I think I'm drawn to the colours & the overall cuteness of it. I experimented with Posca Paint Pens, gel pens, tissue paper, stamping, transfers, pastels, pencil & acrylic paint. So far my favourite supplies are my white gel pen, tissue paper as I like the fact its super thin & pastels. I hope you love this little guy as much as me!

The original is available to buy here & shipping is free to the UK.

And you can also buy prints (available in 3 sizes) here.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone.
Love & light
Em

Painting 3

So here is painting 3 of my 30 painting project. I really experimented with this one! I built up quite a few layers & used lots of mediums- acrylic paint, pencils, pastels, patterned paper, doilies, book paper and I also scratched into the piece using a blunt pencil. When it was finished, I sealed the painting with a matt medium but then added a gloss medium to the rain drops to make them shine & shimmer :-)

Tip: For anyone just starting out in mixed media my advice would be not use a stretched canvas frame if you want to use collage. This was the first time I tried it & it really does make life harder. Reason being you don't have a hard flat surface when sticking, so ironing out bubbles & creases in your collage paper is super tricky. On the other hand you may like the thought of adding texture with bubbles & creases so then it's not a problem.

I titled this painting 'Mr. Fox's Dream Tree' & it was inspired by a fox that would visit my parents garden everyday. He was such a joy to watch, he looked like a wise fox & I pretended he was guardian of our trees. I hope you like it.

The original is available to buy here.

Art prints are available to buy here.

Projects On The Go

Few little snippets I've been working on. It's been great fun working in a mixed media style on my computer. I will be back tomorrow to show you number 3 of my 30 painting project. See you then :)

30 Painting Project

I have been challenged by my mentor & friend Mati Rose to get 30 paintings done by Valentines Day! Eeeeeeeek! She is going to try & paint 30 elephants & I am going to paint 30 (can you guess?) yes bunnies of course ;) Although I've already strayed & may pop in another animal now & again. I'm not sure I can paint 30 but I'm going to give it my best shot. I also thought I would use it as a way to try different techniques too, which I will share throughout the project.

So here we go then starting with painting number 1 & 2!

Painting One

This was where I got to try out my new Gelli Plate for the first time! I was playing with it, with my daughter & then grabbed some paper for myself & got printing. So much fun!

Tip: If you are a Mum & struggling to get in any creative time, break out the paints with your little ones, you'll be surprised at what you can get done & they love it too. I like to do my backgrounds as I don't really need to concentrate on them, I just have fun.

 Adding more texture & colour to the background

Adding white to the background as I wanted to create a little home/cave for my bear.

The finished painting

Painting Two

Gelli printing, stamping & papers on the background

Drawing my bunny

Adding texture & detail with more stamps & pretty papers

Et voilà!

Painting 3 will be revealed soon!

Love & light

Em x

A New Journey Has Begun

Last year was a good year but I never really got to fulfil a new passion I discovered as fully as I wanted too. In fact I got nowhere near! I spent a lot of 2013 making & shipping orders- obviously I'm not complaining about this- it is an amazing thing to earn money from your art but it got in the way of creating- which is what drove me to work for myself in the first place. I think any entrepreneur will go through this sort of thing & you have to re-prioritise & really look at what you want from your business- is it bringing you joy? Are you following your bliss? Have you strayed off the correct path for you? Can you delegate work out yet? Where can you save some valuable time?

I definitely strayed off the path- I had become a manufacturer rather than an artist. I think this will always be a problem for any creative souls- you create work- you put it out there- it sells- so you have to make it & ship it. I then had a few choices, keep going the way I was but accept that my creative time would be minimal, change my products or employ someone to help with the making & shipping. The latter one would be costly as I would need to provide equipment & being a perfectionist I would want to scrutinise everything before it was shipped. Was I making enough money to go down this route? Not sure. Changing the products I sell sounded like a better plan but in order to do this I would need to stop selling most of the time consuming products to allow me time to create new ones. This scared me A LOT. It meant I would loose this income for the foreseeable future, an income I have worked hard for. I think that's why it took me a year to be brave enough to make a decision!

Late 2012, I took a course in Mixed Media & I found my calling. I now believe that this is the one thing that was missing in my work. I've always been searching for a style to call my own or an area of design I could focus on but nothing ever stuck. I realise now that I was looking at it the wrong way. I just needed to put my stamp on what I created, to make it genuinely me & it all came together when I took that course. Of course now I look back at my journey as an artist, it was always staring me in the face. When I studied Interior Design, I always tried to include texture but the thing that brought me the most joy on the entire course was creating some mixed media coasters! I tried to add texture to my gift wraps & cards when I worked full time for the Greetings industry, but time was always an issue & so I had to revert again & again back to flat colour art work. This is true of the toy industry too- cost is an issue- flat colour is cheaper. If I look through my college & university work, my favourite pieces had texture, paint & pattern. Mixed Media was always there- I just didn't realise it had a name! 'Mixed Media'. And although some of my teachers encouraged me forward in that area they never pushed it enough or told me about the art of Mixed Media itself. Why, oh why did no-one say you work well in Mixed Media- you should study Mixed Media.......Ughhhhh! So frustrating! But hey, no worries, I've found it now & I'm so excited to share my new passion with you.

I have decided that I will devote 2014 to Mixed Media. Let's see where this new adventure takes me. I will share techniques I discover, supplies I love. Art I create. Interviews with my favourite artists. Amazing art that I discover and hopefully videos of my processes too.

If you want to come with me on this journey- perhaps you have just discovered Mixed Media also or your passion is painting & illustrating, you can follow me here at my blog by clicking on the category 'My Journey In Mixed Media' (in case you don't want to miss any posts). You can find my categories in the panel on the right of my blog under 'Visit My Friends'.

I have Mixed Media boards for inspiration here on Pinterest.

I'm also on Twitter, Facebook & Flickr, lets be friends :)

You can also sign up for my newsletter here for special offers & free goodies or to get first dibs on original artwork.

I hope you will join me- it's going to be so much fun!

Love & light Emma x

Doodling & Creating

I'm still working away on projects, doodling, sketching & scanning.

The house is warm & cosy again (new boiler successfully installed), the sun is out & I have a little, fluffy bunny lying at my feet. All is well with the world :)

Sneak Peek

Wanna have a peak at what I've been up to? Here are some snippets of a couple of projects I've worked on.

Trying to keep warm today as we are having a new boiler fitted & it's so cold outside, I struggled to get my car door open this morning as it had frozen shut! I don't do cold :-( However I soon cheered myself up with a latte & chocolate twist! "TUT" says my inner voice..........& thighs........hope you are keeping warm wherever you are.

Todays Inspiration

"Never give up, great things take time"

I'm loving this quote today.

Never give up on your dreams & the life you want to live.

Don't base your worth & happiness on the amount of money you have, it doesn't work.

Instead find your joy & don't let go.

Well Hello 2014!

Happy New Year! I hope you had a wonderful break & that it was relaxing & joyful.

This year is going to be a year of discovery for me. At first I was a little bit scared to take the plunge but now I just feel ridiculously excited- a feeling I always take as a knowledgeable wink that I'm on the right path. I hope you will join me on my new creative journey. I will share more soon.

Last year was a year of reflection (yep took me a whole year to summon up enough courage to change things for this year). It was a great year though with many achievements & without those experiences I would not have grown as an artist & forged a new path for this year.

Goodbye 2013, we had fun & I am so very grateful for.....

The teachings of Eckhart Tolle.

Finding out that my work will be published in 2014!

Travelling to France & Portugal for glorious days in the sun.

Seeing my designs on wooden toys & furniture in well known shops.

The meditations of Deepak Chopra (how did I not realise sooner how much I missed meditating!)

That one of my Christmas card designs was actually number 1 on page 1 of the Christmas card section on Not On The High Street! Eeek!

For my VERY supportive family, without whom none of this would be possible.

Treating myself to new art supplies & art courses.

Finally realising the missing link I've been searching for with my work.

Meeting some truly inspiring & lovely artists online. Mindy, Juliette, Danielle, Mickey, Sarah & Mati.

Letting go & creating work that makes me feel happy.

Achieving record sales this year.

For my little bunny George. Here he is having a snooze :)

For my beautiful niece Rose.

Watching my little girl growing up & all it means to be a mother. Cuddles on the couch, crying on the couch, conversations, milestones reached, re-learning the art of patience (I always thought I was a patient person- but now I've learnt it on a whole new level- she is my teacher), letting her bring out the inner child in me, jumping in puddles, playing hide & seek & catch me if you can, sitting around campfires, singing together, being creative together, blowing kisses & catching them, dancing, laughing & holding hands.......

It's been a wonderful year & I wish you all a new year of joy, abundance, peace, health & happiness.

I'll be back very soon sneak peek of what I've been up to so far in 2014 & to share more about my year of discovery.

Love & light Emma