Back from holiday & back to work

Well. We got back from a fantastic holiday a couple of weeks ago but then everything got put on hold due to various illnesses. You name it, between myself & my daughter we had it- ear infection, sickness, temperature, colds! Not pleasant. But thankfully we are all well again & I'm finally back to work.

So this is what I've been up to. I went to a Stella & Dot party my friend hosted a few days ago & she asked me if I also wanted to have a stall there. I jumped at the chance & I'm happy to say that the evening was a success. Below is one of the framed prints I was selling. I still have one left, so if you are interested do send me an email. And can I just say that if you haven't heard of Stella & Dot, do check out their website, they have such lovely things, I had to treat myself!

I know I'm biased but doesn't this bunny look super cute framed?

 I've also been working on new designs & had to get a bunny in there ;)

Here's a little snippet of a new mixed media painting I'm working on.

New surface pattern in the making

And George has a new friend! Husky the plush dog :)

I'm hoping to be back by the end of the week with another artist interview so stay tuned!

Love & Light

Emma

The Chances We Didn't Take

This quote is giving me comfort today.

I had to think long & hard about my artistic journey & career this weekend. I had to say 'no' to something & that was so, incredibly hard to do- to turn down money. I had so many thoughts rushing through my head like 'Are you crazy? How can you possibly turn this down? We are in a recession Woman!!' or 'You'll loose a contact over this' & even 'You can't pick & choose your jobs, you should be thankful & take it'. My ego rattled on & on in my head but then I remembered an interview I heard at the Creative Thursday blog with Matte Stephens & how he struggled to make ends meet in the beginning, selling his paintings on Ebay, but he carried on regardless. What courage that must have taken. I also then thought of Eckhart Tolle who was very poor for a while & somedays didn't even have enough money to eat properly but still carried on the path he felt he should be on. I'm very fortunate that I'm not in that situation & certainly wouldn't go hungry by turning a job down but still I have this inner argument going on inside of me. It's definitely a money thing. If money didn't come into it, it would be a no brainer & there-in lies the answer. When I said 'no' I felt instant relief, whereas the thought of saying 'yes' made me feel miserable. I'm just going to have to be brave & trust my instincts as who knows what work I may produce in the time I would have lost if I had said yes? Let's wait & see.....

As I write this I have a little bunny sleeping next to me- just too sweet for words- I had to share it with you.

And I wanted to share a mother & daughter collaboration that we finished a while ago. I've had this huge canvas for years & just didn't know where to start on it, so I let my three year old go wild on it!
We put a layer of paint down first, then pens & pencils. She then stuck down paper on top, which is how our Cheetah came to life & I then immediately thought of Africa as we had used lots of hot colours, so we added clouds & a sun & moon with a stencil I made. We loved every minute of it & it now hangs above her little desk in her play room :)

I'll be back soon with some more work to show

Love & light

Em

I'm The Birthday Girl

It's my Birthday today! So I'm going to fill it with lots of loveliness & try to spoil myself.

I am loving this quote today

And because I am feeling happy, here are some snippets of work that are making me smile today : -)

And can life get any better than seeing a bunny smiling in his sleep?

I don't think so!

Have a great day everyone

Love & Light

me

x

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

Rabbit Awareness Week

"If you locked a cat or a dog in wooden box in the garden, it wouldn’t be long before your neighbours complained to the RSPCA, and rightly so – but why should it be any different for rabbits?" RWAF

All this week its Rabbit Awareness Week and this subject is so important to me that I couldn't not blog about it because quite frankly rabbits get a raw deal! When I decided to get my two bunnies- Millie & George, I did do my research and read books and boy did I do the right thing as I had no idea of how much work it would involve. Here are some of the things I learnt:

A rabbit needs a hutch at least 6x2x2ft and an 8ft run.

A rabbit must be able to stand on its hind legs whenever it wants to avoid spinal problems.

Rabbits are physically incapable of being sick so when they moult they are unable to throw up the fur balls like cats which can lead to stomach problems.

They are as difficult to take care of as a dog or cat so they are NOT ideal pets for children.

Most rabbits actually hate being picked up because they are prey animals- being picked up is what happens if a predator catches them.

Rabbits shouldn't live on their own, they should at least live in pairs as they are social animals.

Rabbits are very territorial so if you don't have your rabbit spade or neutered they can get aggressive and will spray urine to mark their territory.

Vets bills are very expensive. Rabbits need regular check ups for their teeth, weight and need various injections every year, so just like cats & dogs you would need to get insurance which you would have to pay monthly.

Unfortunately it's a sad fact that most people just don't have the correct information on how to look after their rabbit/s correctly. The image of a rabbit down the bottom of the garden in a small hutch with a small run (if they're lucky) still sadly exists today in many households. Rabbit Awareness Week was started with the aim to re-educate the general public so that they can take care of their bunnies correctly. I so wish this information & research had been around when my parents bought me my first pet rabbit when I was a child, it makes me shudder now when I think of it living alone in a hutch far too small for it. Thank goodness we can do something about it now!

Please, please, please watch this video and spread the word

To find out whether your bunnies are happy bunnies please click here

And finally, a final plea (as I could passionately talk about this subject forever!) If you know of anyone who is thinking about buying a bunny for themselves or for their children please show them the video above and if they still want to go ahead please encourage them to get a pair of bunnies from a rescue centre as there are so many unwanted bunnies that desperately need good homes (plus the centres are far more likely to give them correct advice on how bunnies should be looked after). Just like cats and dogs bunnies should not be sold in pet shops anymore. Spread the word so that bunnies are given the chance to lead happy & healthy lives which every living animal deserves.

All this week I will be giving 10% of all my sales to the RWAF.

I wish I could be a sleepy bunny.....

Gosh it's been a while since I last posted! And I've missed it- and my design work too. It's all been a bit manic my end- with highs and lows. We've had a leak under our kitchen floor :( and as a result our kitchen now resembles a mud hut and on top of that we may have to move out for three weeks for the kitchen to be restored to its former glory. This makes me sad :( because moving out means moving away from the area, making it much more difficult to take Evie to her play groups etc- something I don't really want her to miss out on.

But don't despair as we've had some fun too! We've visited friends in Sheffield, we started baby swimming which was brilliant fun and Evie loved it- she even went under water! We went to Whipsnade for my Birthday, unfortunately we forgot how cold it is when you get up there as its high up in the chilterns and at 3 degrees it felt very chilly indeed so we were a bit wussy and mainly drove around the park in the warmth of the car!

At Baby Swimming!

Whipsnade Zoo

I've been designing for friends- Christening cards, Wedding Save The Dates and Wedding invites. Desperately need to start my own wedding invitations but at least I've managed to send out our own Save The Dates- I'll show you them in the next post. I've also been frantically trying to get some bits for the wedding organised, cakes, flowers, table decorations. Time is ticking and I haven't even been out to look for a dress!

Anyway with all this busyness I have felt absolutely shattered this week (fingers crossed I'm not coming down with something) I've been going to bed at 9pm and during the day when I pass my two house bunnies who seem to be forever snuggling and snoozing together, I've so wished I could just lie down next to them and have a snooze too! Sigh..........

But no rest for the wicked as they say as I can hear Evie calling me now for her milk so I best dash but I promise from now on I will at least blog once a week! For those of you still visiting me here thanks for being so patient and see you soon :)

It's The Little Things

Everyday I try to notice the little things, as I find it's the little things in life that really make me happy. Sometimes I'm so busy I forget to look but on long, lazy weekends like this I find so many reasons to smile. Here are some of the things that made me happy this weekend- I hope you all had lovely weekends too? What made you smile?

Meet My Bunnies!!

Introducing my two little houserabbits- George (the grey fluffy one) and Millie!

I ADORE rabbits and everything to do with them! But before you start to worry- no my house isn't over run by bunny ornaments and other rabbit paraphernalia....................................yet. Just kidding ;-)

One thing I do get asked a lot though is how come they live in the house. Basically before I adopted my rabbits I did some research and visited a few rabbit rescues and found out that houserabbits display more natural behavior patterns than hutch-kept rabbits and are as easy to train as cats and dogs. Plus I personally would much rather they lived in the house so that I can spend as much time with them as possible. If anyone is intrigued and would like more info. you can visit the Rabbit Welfare Association & Fund or click here to read a houserabbit leaflet. Or if you like your welcome to ask me anything- honestly, I could stay up all night talking about rabbits :-)