Still, like air, she'll rise

Finished my painting this week! It might not look as if much changed, but I still worked a few more hours on it. Took some pictures this morning, and now it's ready to go on my website. My old one that is, since the new one is still not ready. I don't know how other people from my businesscourses do it, but I seem to  always be short in time. And now with the market coming up in 2 weeks, I'm getting into stress-mode ...

So without further ado, here's "Still, like air, she'll rise", because, for me, this painting is about the power of women and the ability to keep going when the going gets tough.

And this is how it all started:

I think there are a few layers on here already ....

cool colours over wam colours

 adding marks and contrast in black and white

covering with transparant colours

well, I went a bit crazy here ....

trying to get order out of chaos

these are the ones that you saw last week already

So I won't show them all again, just the last one from last week

and again the finished one

Now I have one canvas left. I made the backgrounds for 3 canvases all at once, because you can work on one while the others are drying. I kept this one till last because there were way too many marks on it and I couldn't see anything.

Well, actually, I could see one fish and 4 birds. But they were all right in the middle of the canvas and I couldn't find anything else. It drove me crazy.

And then I remembered my own wise advice from 2 weeks ago: turn on the computer and look at the image on your monitor! So I did, turned it in another direction and yesss, right away I saw a dancing figure, first on the left and then on the right:

Do you see them? The left one with the arms in the air, the right one it's mostly the backside that you see.

And then, even though I didn't have time, I couldn't resist starting already. This is what I have so far:

I seem to be into dancing figures lately ;-)

I'm not sure whether I should paint their faces or just leave them without face. What do you think?

Well, I have some time to think it over, because next week will be reserved for my marketstuff. Don't know yet whether I will have time to work on this.

I'm linking this to Paint Party Friday again. Go check out the other artists on there, there's some amazing work!

And thanks again for visiting! Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Artists that inspire me: Hugo Urlacher

Today's inspiring artist is from Argentina. Hugo Urlacher was born in 1958 in Buenos Aires and still lives there. I discovered his beautiful work last year.

Almost all information about him on the internet is in Spanish ...

A language which I do not speak .... (I tried once though, but the only thing I remember is "no hablo Espagnol" which means as much as "I don't speak Spanish" ...)

I LOVE the strong colours that he uses

and the softness and melancholy of his characters

Can you believe he is self-taught!?

I don't know what medium he uses. In close-ups of his paintings you can see that the layers are very thick.

I LOVE this one!

But this one is my absolute favorite. So so beautiful ... Look at their hair!

He also makes really realistic portraits, and sacro-art, but these are all examples of his personal art, which I prefer. Check out his website for more or have a look at his Facebook-page. 


Thanks so much for visiting, and for commenting on my previous post! It seems I really SHOULD get a commission from Moo, ha! Have to check out their site for an affiliate-link. Guess I'm not really enough of a businessperson yet ... I'm working on it though ;-)

See you again on Friday for the PAINT PARTY !

Postcards from MOO !

First of all thank you all so much for all the comments on my previous post. Wow, I'm blown away with it. So nice when people say they get inspired by me! LOVE it!

Haven't been able to visit all the PPF-players, but I'll get to it, promise!

I'm very excited because I received my MOO-postcards! I have been printing my own postcards up till now, because I just couldn't find a place where you can print multiple designs in a small quantity. And I don't want to print 100 cards with the same design. What if no one wants them? Besides, I love making cards, I want to make loads of different ones.

And then I found MOO. Located in the UK and in the USA. And you can print every card a different design! Just what I'm looking for :-)

Here are some pictures:

They are on really thick paper, and the quality is awesome. The only thing I regret is that they're glossy. I always prefer a matte finish. But hey, I'm happy that it's possible to get that many designs.

I made 32 different designs! I will sell them at markets and in my (hopefully soon-to-be....) Etsy-shop.

I also have been playing around with drawing one-line-girls. Lately I'm so stressed for time that I just need to find things that are quick and easy, to do in between other things. I like making these girls and then adding funny quotes to it in Photoshop. Here are two of them:

They are made of one line. So I start somewhere and don't lift my pen until the whole face is finished. Which means I have to go over some lines several times, but that's the fun of it.

Well, it's bedtime once again. I'll see you in 2 days with another inspiring artist. Bye for now and thanks for visiting!

Still a work-in-progress ....

I've been painting a lot this week, I'm getting addicted again ;-)

Actually, I should work on some boxes, but I don't feel like it, I just want to paint.
Next week, I'll probably just finish this painting and then force myself to start making things for my market in September. I really shouldn't leave it all till the last minute, like I always do.

Anyway, this is where I stopped last week:

I've been looking at it for days (I usually paint on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and the rest of the days the painting is sitting on its easel in the livingroom, so I can watch it and try to come up with new ideas).

And it kind of grew on me. So I decided to stay with it and not change the figures on there.
It went through some phases though ....

I decided it needed some lightening up, so I threw some more paint on there and used my spraybottle to make drips. Aaaah, LOVE drips ...

But, being the impatient person that I am: I didn't wait until the different layers were dry, so in the end I created mud. And I hate mud ...

That's something very important that I learned in Flora's workshop: DON'T mix cold and warm colors! Use warm colors (or vice versa), LET IT DRY, and then use cold colors. It's the "let it dry"-part that I'm having problems with .... ;-)

So I tried to lighten it up again ...

Getting tired of the dark I decided to use my foambrush. Too much paint on there for the first stroke, but hey: happy accident, because I suddenly saw a shoulder ...

And this is where I am now. Not finished, but getting there.

And see: a bird sneaked in ... I can't help it. I planned on not painting birds this time, but when you look at the first picture, you can see it's just sitting there. I didn't even have to change the shape, it was a perfect bird. Couldn't paint over that now, could I!?

This weekend I need to clear out my working space. When we were still living in Belgium, I had half of a room that I could use to paint. It wasn't big, but I had all my supplies at hand, and my table was pretty large.
But here, living in a rental place with carpet almost everywhere and not allowed to hang anything on the walls, my "studio" is reduced to a tiny spot at the kitchen table, and my supplies are scattered all over the house and garage. I NEED MORE ROOM!

See what I mean ? I don't have room to spread things out and let things dry. It's one of the reasons I still didn't start painting my boxes. I always work on several at the same time, but it drives me crazy looking for place all the time.

Oh well, guess I should count myself lucky that I at least have this little place, and that my family doesn't complain when my supplies start taking over the whole of the kitchentable ...

I'm linking this to Paint Party Friday. Check out all the other artists on there, almost 100 people are participating every week!

Thanks for visiting! And I wish you all a very relaxing weekend!

Artists that inspire me: Monika Welch

Today's inspiring artist, Monika Welch, is from New- Zealand. It's a few years ago that I stumbled upon some of her art, and I loved it. When I found her website I immediately felt connected to her because of the way she describes painting as her passion and her addiction.

 She is also self-taught, which was a big deal for me at that time, since I was wondering whether I'd ever be taken seriously as an artist if I didn't have an art degree.Seeing her beautiful art made me believe I could do it too, on my own, without degree.

 Her paintings often remind me of stories that are being told. They have a kind of dreamy surreal quality about them.

 She also sometimes uses collage in her art, and often writes quotes on the paintings

 I love the beautiful intense colours she uses.

She has different styles of painting, sometimes more dreamy and melancholic, other times fun and quirky like this one:

There are often a whole lot of things that you don't see at first. It's like discovering new elements all the time.

The way she blends is awesome ....

I think this is one of my absolute favorites. Lovelovelove it!

You should go check out her website or her Facebook-page. Lots more goodies on there!


That's it for now. I've been painting for hours yesterday but not much to show for it yet. It'll have to wait till Friday ... Here's the picture though of my miniature-canvases that I finally finished. Doing the sides after I've painted it (months ago!) is not much fun. Didn't remember which colors I used and whether I used ink of paint.  So it was a bit of hit and miss, but it's all finished now and next time I'll make sure I do the sides straight away ...

See you on Friday for Paint Party Friday! Thanks for stopping by!

Very inspiring blogger award

I have been nominated for the Very Inspiring Blogger Award! That makes me so happy, it was a really lovely surprise! Sweet Candace N'Diaye, whom I (virtually) met in the business course from Leonie Dawson, has nominated me (thanks Candace!).  Candace makes beautiful soul art, a blend of nature and spirituality. You should go check her work out.

Now what does this mean? I have to tell you 7 things about myself, AND I get to nominate 15 other blogs for this award! I like that! Although it's gonna be hard to choose between the many lovely blogs that I follow. So I think I'm going to concentrate on those blogs that inspire me most, meaning blogs with a lot of information.

These are the rules:

1. Display the award logo on your blog.
2. Link back to the person who nominated you.
3. State 7 things about yourself.
4. Nominate 15 other bloggers for this award and link to them.
5. Notify those bloggers of the nomination and the award’s requirements.

Okay, here are the 7 things about myself, in case you're interested:

1. I love reading! When I read, the world around me doesn't exist anymore. Very much to the annoyance of my family. Since I always seem to be short in time, I tend to combine reading with my everyday activitities. I read on the toilet, in bath, while I'm doing my exercises, when the potatoes are cooking, while I'm brushing my teeth, and for a perfect ending of the day: with a flashlight under the covers so I don't wake up my husband ...
2. who isn't really my husband by the way, since we never got married. We are living in sin ;-) in a "de facto" relationship, as they so nicely put it here in Australia ;-). It's just hard to know how to call him. "Partner" sounds so lame, and he's more than just "boyfriend". So I cheat sometimes and call him my husband  ...
3. I hate cold. When we were still living in Belgium I got in a kind of winterdepression every time October came around. Those long wintermonths ahead, how I hated it. As soon as spring came in sight I started to feel alive again. Just a pity that summer in Belgium doesn't necessarily mean good weather. Since we're living in sunny Queensland, I feel alive every single day, even when it's raining. I adore the sun!
4. I am forever on a diet. When I'm not on a diet I am under the impression that I can eat whatever I want. Which I can't. But I do. Until I don't fit in my clothes anymore, and then I have to start dieting again. It's a vicious circle .... 
5. I have a very vivid imagination. Which is an asset when I want to create something, but it can get quite annoying when I start reading the newspapers or start thinking about what can happen to my kids when they do this or that. It freaks me out sometimes. So I stopped reading grisly stories about the horrible things people do to eachother, because for days afterwards I picture the most awful scenes in my head.
6. I get very cranky when someone or something disturbs my sleep. Especially barking dogs. Or inconsiderate neighbours with loud music. But mostly barking dogs. Don't get me wrong: I like dogs. They just shouldn't bark.
7. I am the queen of the todo-lists. I have a gazillion things I want to do, aside from the never-ending tasks of everyday life, and I often feel out of control. So I make lists. Creative todo-lists, household-todo-lists, diet-todo-lists, chores-todo-lists, administrative-todo-lists and so on. I sometimes feel I spend more time trying to come up with the perfect synoptic list than I do actually carrying out all the things that are on the lists.... Procrastination is one of my flaws. I only jump into action at the very last moment. I need stress to get things done.

And now my favorite part: 15 bloggers that I find very inspiring (in no particular order):

1.  Sharon Tomlinson from All Norah's Art. Norah's blog is a wealth of information. When I first discovered her, years ago, I spent hours just looking through all her previous posts and getting the most brilliant ideas.
2. I wrote this for you: a blog with the most beautiful writing. I don't even know whether it is a man or a woman who writes this, but it often gives me shivers reading it. 
3. Jane Davies from Collage Journeys: I only discovered her blog recently, but she is so generous with sharing all kinds of techniques, that I became a follower right away.
4. Empty Easel: I'm not sure I can call this a blog, it's an online art magazine that is chock-ful of information. Really. I have spent hours on there and still didn't read even half of what's on there.
5. Kristen from Art Play Today: another artist who is really generous with sharing her knowledge. I love her art.
6. Dina Wakley from Ponderings: I had come across her name a few times since I started blogging, but it's only recently that I took a good look at her site and became an enthusiastic follower. Inspiration galore!
7. Julie Fei-Fan Balzer: she's one of the teachers of 21 secrets and I loved her workshop (I still didn't get to do all the workshops there). On her blog she recently put up a button with all her tutorials. Very informative!
8. Julie from On the Dot Creations: If you want to grow a small (online) business from your art then you don't want to miss this blog. There is so much information and tips on there, I think I'll need a few weeks just to get through it all. Very useful when you sell on Etsy!
9. SuziBlu: I think Suzi doesn't need an introduction. Most of you probably know her. She was one of the first artists I discovered online, through her YouTube videos. Also the very first online workshop I did was with her. She taught me a lot and has been a great inspiration all over.
10. ProBlogger: full of information and interesting ideas about blogging.
11. An'Angelia Thompson from Angelia's Art journals: I love her intuitive art and she is very generous with sharing her ideas and how-to's. Check it out!
12. Giggles from Happy Tiler: in between pictures of her art, she shares pearls of wisdom about everyday life. I love reading her posts!
13. Michelle Allen from Close2myart: Michelle's art is whimsical, fun and unique. She often shares in progress pics of her art, and there are some cool tutorials too. Her journalpages are awesome. She started a new blog in February, and I haven't been able to find a link to the old one. Which is a shame, because there was so much eye-candy on there...
14. Artodyssey: almost daily updates with pictures from different artists. I have found so many great artists there already. It's always exciting to find a new favorite one.
15.  And last but certainly not least: Christy Sobolewski from Gulfsprite: Christy in another artist who very generously shares all her tips and tricks with her readers. She's also a teacher on Art Geeks.

I would've liked to nominate everyone I'm following but I had to make a choice. I hope you take the time to check out these links. Take my word for it: they're worth it!

I finally finished all my miniature paintings. They had been waiting since forever to get the sides done. Now that's out of the way I can put some varnish on them tomorrow, and then I can scratch it off my creative todo-list ;-) Yesss!
No picture though, because it's nighttime here and I can't make a decent picture with or without flash. That'll be for next time.

Bye for now! Thanks for stopping by!

Let me take you to a secret place

I fnished my painting this week. Although it doesn't look that much different from last week, can you believe I worked for about 4 more hours on it!? All those little details, the sides that had to be finished as well, ... Phew, takes a lot of time!

I called it "let me take you to a secret place". Here it is:

And I started working on another one of my Flora's. This is what I started out with yesterday (I'll show you all the in-progress shots from the beginning to the end when I finish it):

I saw a face on the top right side. So I started painting around it to define it. But there were so many lines on there, I saw all kind of figures but none of them appealed to me. So I decided to turn the canvas around.

And right away I saw two heads and a figure. So I went with that. Here's what I have so far:

And now I'm not sure whether I should've taken this way. Something's bothering me about it and I don't know what. The one face has an odd circle-body, but that is because I already started to paint the other head that I saw. But that's not what's bothering me, I even kind of like it this way. Why do bodies always have to look like bodies, right? It's my painting and I can paint whatever I want. Aaahh, the freedom of that ;-)

But aside from that, I'm still not sure whether I'll leave it this way. I really need to learn to take a look at the pictures on my monitor instead of just diving in and throwing paint around without thinking. Just now, when I saw the first picture, I could see all kinds of different figures in there, and I'm a bit sad I didn't see it before.

Oh well, too late now. I might just treat this as another layer and start dribbling and spraying paint again. Or I might put it aside and start working on the third canvas ...
By the way, I'm linking this to Paint Party Friday.

Now for something else: I have 43 "likes" on my Facebook-page already! I'm so happy! Thanks so much to all of you who have "liked" my page.

And thanks once again for visiting my blog! I appreciate it enormously, and this weekend I'll try and visit everybody's blog again.

For now: I wish you all a great and restful weekend! See you soon! xx