Happy New Year

Happy New Year everyone! It's a chilly, rainy 1st of January here in Scotland. I think it's going to be a quiet day at home with lots of chocolate, tea and a little drawing. I'll share some artwork with you...

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pets and Paintings

I thought I'd give you a little update on some new work and I've also realised I've not shared any pictures of my new little cat Effie on my blog. Here are a couple -

 

Effie is a funny little cat, she's not a snuggly cat like Jet but she does like to lie on her back and have her tummy rubbed - sometimes she gets so engrossed in it she slides right off the chair.

 

In terms of work I have been quite busy lately. I've managed to get a fair few giclee prints into my etsy shop and I will have some more soon, here are a couple -

Goldfinch

 

Tree Sparrow

 

 

 

I've also been working on some new ACEOs, I've been having fun with these - I seem to be getting some balance between detail and spontaneity in my work, but these little ladies are pretty spontaneous!

 

 

 

I do notice all the pictures of my artwork look a little grey on my blog at he moment, they are scans so I'm not sure why this is. My old laptop died a short while ago and I never had this problem, I can only apologise until I find out more - they are all very much white!





 

Bird watching

I thought I'd stop by to give you a little update on my work at the moment. I've been pretty engrossed with painting birds and elements of nature just now. I love looking at the feathers on the birds and begin to see patterns emerging, I mainly work from a collection of photos but last weekend I took part in the RSPB big garden birdwatch and I managed to see some up close. I really didn't think we'd see all that many (I took my son and one of his friends) but we counted over forty in the hour and we managed to spot nine different types.

One of the birds I've enjoyed painting is this barn owl. It's now available as a giclee print in my etsy shop. I hope you like it, I was going for quite an airy cheerful vibe (I'm sorry it might look a little grey on your screen, it is very much white).

 

I've been painting out one or two new ACEOs as well, I love working on a small scale now and again and couldn't resist creating some of my little birds in this size - here are a few...

 



I've also reduced one or two items in my etsy shop to half price, so if you want an original art bargain have a peek at my sale section. I'll share some more work soon.

Cooler weather, warmer colours

There has been a big drop in the temperature here the last couple of days and we have snow forecast for the weekend. It did seem like we were getting away lightly so far this winter as it has been relatively mild. I've been cosied up today with a big mug of green tea and been finishing of my ACEOs that I started. Have a peek -

 

This little lady is painted in acrylics on a thick textured canvas style paper. Working in acrylics takes me a bit longer than gouache, ink and pencil. I hope you like her I've tried to keep her expressive and thoughtful. I have also noticed when using acrylics I seem to select a larger variety of colours, in gouache I tend to stick to quite a close palette. I'm undecided which way is best.

 

Here is another little canvas I finished recently, it's a little house in the trees and flowers.

 

 

 



 

 



Holidays, Giveaways and ACEOs

It's hard to believe we are into December already, the last few weeks have zoomed by. This might be rather a long blog post as I have a few things to catch up on. Firstly I had a little city break away in Budapest, it was a beautiful city with all the art nouveau detail on the buildings and full of history. November was a very lovely month to go- lots of Christmas markets were set up and a trip to the outdoor baths was quite an experience! We really covered a lot of the main attractions including the Royal Palace, the Great Synagogue and St Stephens Basilica. There were lots of gorgeous restaurants and cafes and the decoration was quite different to this country- I'll show you some pics.

The Liberty Bridge

 

Detail at the Royal Palace

 

Hotel room- at the Bohem Art Hotel

 

The Philosophers Garden

 

Method of travel round Margaret Island

 

 

Just before I set off on my travels I was very lucky to be a winner of a great giveaway from Jessie Lilac, art and days. I won two original paintings- Facepak and Universe. They are both gorgeous and I've been a fan of Jess' work for sometime, you can have a look at some more of her work over at her etsy shop . Facepak is very appropriate for me as I like a treat from Lush now and again and their paks are great (my son would disagree as he's hooked on the bath bombs!)

 

 Facepak

 

Universe

 

 

In terms of new work I have been creating a couple of paintings in acrylic but I'm not 100% happy with those yet so I'll keep them to myself a while longer. I think you all know how much I enjoy creating ACEOs and here are a few new ones I have made, some quite serious little ladies!

 

 

 

 

These new ACEOs are available in my etsy shop and for the next week, blog readers can get buy two get one free on anything in my shop *cheapest item or item of equal value free*- eg buy two pocket mirrors get a postcard free, or buy two ACEOs get a third ACEO free.... you get the idea, just mention at checkout what you would like free and I'll pop in in with your order, Yvonne x.

 



 

 

 

 

Holiday Break

It's been a little while since my last blog post, no excuses I'm afraid but the summer holidays do seem to have zoomed by and I took a little break from creating. This week is my sons first week at school and I think I will get back into a routine soon enough. He seems to be enjoying it so far, although his first day was a little overwhelming. It feels a little bit strange for me too, he seems to be growing up very fast.

I have done some new work over the last few days and I've also been listing my postcards on etsy. I changed the currency in my etsy shop from $ to £. I hope this doesn't put anyone off my shop but I was finding sometimes with the exchange rate and paypal fees, etsy fees etc it was hard to work out pricing.

I hope everyone is doing well and I will get round to reading blogs and catching up over the next few days and I'll try not to leave it so long until next time.

ACEO - Heart in your hands

Postcard - Be Natural



New abstract work/WIP

I thought you might like to see some of the new work I've been creating this week. These are quite abstract pieces which I feel sit nicely along side my little ladies. I've created a series of ACEOs which are of similar colour tones and patterns. I've just started to work slightly larger on an A6 piece and I'm enjoying the experimenting. I think they look like little universes that have been hiding inside my head.

Easter Holidays

The schools broke up for the Easter holidays here on Friday, two whole weeks for my son off nursery, he only has one proper term left in nursery then it's up to primary one after the summer holidays, the time seems to zoom by just lately.

Last year at Easter I hadn't realised the nursery had told him about the Easter bunny hiding eggs in the garden and this wasn't something I was prepared for - I think this is maybe an American idea that the bunny hides the eggs or I might be really out of touch. Anyhow I managed to hide one in a bush in the garden and he was happy to find it. I'll be more prepared this year and will hide a few smaller ones and send him on a hunt!

As we get closer to the summer I will start working part time over the golfing season, just from April through to October. I thought I would have started by now but there was a little delay. I wouldn't be surprised if the weather caused a few further delays in terms of golfing - today we had snow, I had heard rumours of snow but didn't really believe it, I was wrong - last week sorbet and sun today the snow boots and winter coat were out!

I have been doing some drawings lately but you know me by now and the phases I go through - I like this, I don't like that, my work comes in floods. One drawing I did lately that I like was the little face below, I thought she looked like the moon, or what the moon would look like if it was a girl. I hope you like her too.

I hope you all have a lovely Easter weekend whatever you have planned, here's hoping the sun comes back :0)

Happy Etsy Birthday Giveaway!

Well I have been a bad blogger, bad at blogging, bad at reading blogs. I've been away from the computer for a fair bit lately, just recharging my batteries and working on some personal projects (which I can't say too much about at the moment but all will be revealed in the months to come).

The big news is that I've been on etsy for a year, a whole year tomorrow - I cant believe it. It's hard to say how well I've done in terms of shop success, I seem to have peaks and slumps. I do think promotion is the key to a successful etsy shop and that you really need to be consistent and keep on top of it ( perhaps why February hasn't been the best month for me, ooo er!)

Anyway as a little thanks for following my blog and supporting my work I've decided to have a giveaway- one here and one at my facebook page. Here you have the chance to win the two aceos shown below, just leave a comment under this post and I will pick a winner at random Sunday night. Also for the next 24 hours approx I'm having a birthday discount for my shop with 30 % off (coupon code - BIRTHDAY30). If you are on facebook join me there too and have a shot at that giveaway.

Work in Progress

I've been busy this week drawing out little characters in an ugly, cute fashion- mainly rabbits, cats, owls, little creatures and girls. I've listed one or two items in my new etsy shop- mostly drawings, illustrations and aceos. I'm not planning on opening a Folksy shop for the time being as its one step at a time and I have a lot of work ahead of me. I really enjoy the layout of etsy with the activity information and the system that is set up when people heart you. Most of my work has been in gouache with pen and ink but I'm also exploring using some acrylic. The pictures below show a couple of my drawings.

The photo below shows my working space at the moment. The house is starting to look like a studio and its been a long time since any food has been eaten off the dinner table!