Meet Gertie - Big Big Hat Girl

Gertie was created when I gave myself permission to create whatever I liked in my new art journal. I bought some watercolour paper - 300gsm, hot pressed, smooth, Fabriano - and created an art journal.  Then I decided to create a big, big hat girl using the full length of the paper as opposed to a page.

Gertie

Watercolour Art Journal,  38cm x 56cm

Mixed Media - watercolour paints, watersoluble crayons, pencils, pens, acrylic paints, Gelli® prints.

I chose the name Gertie after someone mentioned Dr Suess!

Gertie was awesome fun to create and I have so many more ideas for big, big hat girls that involve feathers, birds, nests, leaves and flowers.....

Have a great day!

Painting for Arts Festival

BlogtoberFest 2014 - Day 27 - Painting for Arts Festival

Here is my painting for the local arts festival which I will deliver this afternoon.

Funky Flower Power, Acrylic on Canvas, 51cm x 51cm, 20" x 20"

Here is the other one I painted but didn't like it. I will paint over this or I may add a layer of gelli print collage.

What do you think?  Any thoughts?

Spring has Sprung

BlogtoberFest 2014 - Day 4 - Spring has Sprung


It is a beautiful spring day here in Perth, Western Australia. The temperature is 24C/76F and we've been out in the garden pulling weeds, raking leaves, mowing the grass and pruning.

We have a combination of native plants and non-native plants...

These are at my Mum and Dad's house - five minutes away...

Hope you are having a great weekend too!

Funky Flower Power

Over the past few weeks I've been creating flowers.

Flower Power, Acrylic, 60cm x 60cm, 20" x 20"

Here are some evolution pics...

 

This one I added gelli print flowers to the canvas and I had some trouble with it, threw a tantrum and then covered it with white gesso, the painted over it and wiped back some of the paint and the gesso...sigh....It's not how I wanted it to turn out...I wanted to show off the gelli prints but didn't like the ones I'd chosen....

 

I grabbed some old canvases to experiment with my Funky Flowers idea...

 

This one has had many transformations from Nice Girl to Poppies and then to Funky Flowers...

 

This one has also had many transformations too from being part of a four some abstract landscape to more Funky Flowers....

 

This one too...

So I had to make a flower stencil for the gelli plate!!

 

And it all started when I made these postcards for a swap...

So I've been busy this month painting flowers...which is your favourite painting?

BF2013 Day 17 Colour in the Bush

Spring has sprung down under and our native flowers are blooming.

This afternoon I took a walk around our block to photograph the beautiful flowers, the Marri trees flowered in March and cause many of us to sneeze. The little orange rocks below are nick named pea gravel and can be very slippery, larger rocks of it are called coffee rock, there is also a lot of granite rocks in the hills whereas down on the flats/plains the ground is very sandy.

Coral vine, grevillea, kangaroo paws, leschenaultia....

Pink and red bottlebrushes, Geraldton Wax.

Marri trees....the new growth is reddish brown on the smaller trees....

English garden.....

I wanted to photograph a stem of purple flowers up near my letterbox but couldn't find them - I think someone has them in a vase in their home! They've been stolen! How would you feel if your artwork was stolen and put onto products without your permission or compensation - read Lisa Congdon's story here - this could happen to any one of us!!!

Update - Cody Foster is also stealing from Abigail Brown and here's a link to a flickr page full of other artists they have stolen from.

Reminder that I'm having a giveaway - if you'd like to win one of my heart pendants then leave a comment on Monday's blogpost!

BF2013 Day 10 Feeling Sick

How are you? And how's Blogtoberfest going for you?  Welcome to those who have joined us lately, great to have you here.

I'm feeling headachey and nauseous today, had to lay down with a bucket so today's blog will be short and sweet...

Here's a beautiful daisy I saw today.  I loved the white of the petals, and the dark centre with yellow contrast.....

Here are some more flower photos from Chartwell House, Winston Churchill's residence in London.

Shells' Sunday Snippets

My week in photos...joining in with {tinniegirl} and  {sunday snippets} A collection of photos from your week. No need for words. Let the pictures tell your story.

Malmalling Vineyard Art Show 2012

It was a great weekend at the Malmalling Vineyard Art Show.  I displayed 25 paintings along with my friend June Stevens, a traditional, oil landscape artist and Inge Giebeler, who creates great metal art. On Saturday the weather was warm and sunny and we had around 50-60 people come visit whilst on Sunday an unpredicted storm hit around lunchtime and we had to grab our paintings and put them under cover.

 

I sold this painting to my friend Claire....

Later in the week I will blog about my two new pieces - The Birdbath and The Birdcage - with some close up shots for you too.

Shells' Sunday Snippets

Busy in my 'studio' yesterday finishing off some paintings for the Malmalling Vineyard Art Show next weekend!!!

Green Confetti Tree - not finished

Flower, acrylic, 12"x12"

Flower, acrylic 8"x8"

Art journal work with new supplies and digital manipulation.

Art journal work with new supplies and digital manipulation

Pendants for sale

Pendants for sale.

Looking for a bright, colourful calendar for 2013?  Check out my calendar printed through Red Bubble:  http://www.redbubble.com/people/shellsinthebush/calendars/9464822-shells-in-the-bush-calendar-2013

Playing along with {tinniegirl} and {sunday snippets} A collection of photos from your week. No need for words. Let the pictures tell your story.  Why don't you join in?

May Flower Challenge

My friend Lori Moon is having a May Flower challenge and I decided to be part of it so I collected some frangipani flowers to photograph but then my car broke down and needed a new battery and I left the frangipanis in the car which went back to the dealer to be diagnosed and my flowers died.

So I took some photos of the flowers at my mum's house earlier this week:

Pincushion Hakea

Pincushion Hakea

Bouganvilleas

Lavendar

Hibiscus