Time to celebrate with a giveaway :-)

Thanks so much all of you for the well wishes with regards to my market last Friday. I wrote about it in my previous post here. All went well and I sold quite a few pieces.

The last few days I've been working on my experiments with the gelliplate on canvasboard.
Remember these?

These were drawings that I made into a stencil. Wasn't sure how to continue so I've been looking at it for a few weeks.

I have been experimenting on and off with these, but I completely forgot to take pictures. These are the only in-progress pictures that I have:

I collaged a dog on there, and then saw a second figure and a bird and brought them out. Because the faces were so small I decided to collage 2 of my faces on there.

It's a pity I don't have any other pictures from the one on the right, because she went through quite a few transformations hair-wise :-)

Next time I won't limit myself to one hairdo, I'll just make the stencils without hair.

These are the finished pieces:

They both measure approx. 20x25cm (8"x10") and are made on canvasboard. I will attach a string so it's possible to hang them. And guess what? One of you can win one of these! The other one will be for sale in my Etsyhop. I'll explain the rules at the end of this post.

I've been adding  some new original art to my Etsyshop. These are now for sale, and I'll be adding more in the coming days.

And I've also been experimenting with fabrics that I painted on my gelliplate. Made a little pencilcase and learned a lot.

At first I was disappointed, because it was too thick (I had put some filling in there that wasn't at all necessary for a small bag like this), and there were some other things I didn't like, but then I needed a small pencilcase for my most used black markers and it ended up being perfect for that. So I'll sure experiment some more now :-)

Okay, now for the rules of my giveaway. Only if you're a follower of mine you have a chance of winning one of these paintings.
Following me can be done in different ways: either follow this blog (with RSS, Bloglovin', email (links are in the sidebar)), follow me on Facebook, subscribe to my monthly newsletter (link in sidebar), or follow me on Pinterest. One of these is enough, but of course you can follow me everywhere, don't feel as if you have to limit yourself ;-)

By the way: the giveaway is to celebrate that I have reached over 200 followers on this blog, and over 400 likers on Facebook!

If you are a follower of mine, let me know in the comments, and also let me know which one of the 2 paintings you would like to win. Just say "one girl", or "2 girls", that's enough. Or you can add the quote.

That's all! I will be announcing the winner next Friday night (May 2nd), so you have a whole week to add your comment!

I am linking this to PPF, the weekly party of artists all over the world that everyone can join in. Thanks for visiting, and I hope you are enjoying your Friday and will be looking forward to a restful, relaxing weekend! ♥ ♥ ♥

Rest ... And an award :-)

Well, things have calmed down a bit and I’ve enjoyed a warm relaxing Easterweekend with my family. Today school started again, and I’m working in the gallery all day.

The market on Friday went well. Sold a few rocks, a few minipaintings, a few magnets and wooden plaques, some notepads and some cards. So all in all it was okay.

Here’s a pic of me in my stall:

 

It was the most beautiful place I’ve ever had a market stall. The ocean behind me, on a grassy field with all kinds of festivities around me, live-music, dancers, stilt walkers, a sailboat race in the distance, and the most perfect weather.

Not sure whether it was worth all the stress though. I have a bit of a love-hate-relationship with markets. It’s a lot of hassle, getting things ready in time, making little price tags, make sure you have enough packing-material, practice your table-setting, packing everything and getting over there, unpacking everything, sitting there the whole day, hoping people will buy and then pack everything up again …. It’s pretty exhausting and at times verrrrry boring. Not this time though, because there was so much activity around us.

The nice thing about markets is that you get to see the people who buy your art. I had quite a few people come up to me to say they knew my work from the gallery and had bought things from me. That’s always nice, because usually I don’t know who buys my things.

The biggest advantage though is that I finally get my ass into action and start making things. When I don’t have a deadline I tend to procrastinate immensely. It really irritates me but I can’t seem to shake this habit. Now, thanks to the market, I have a whole bunch of new stuff to sell on Etsy or in the gallery.

These are some of the rocks, that I didn’t share a picture of yet. I’ll put all of them on my website soon. They are now for sale at the Seaside Artists Gallery in Redcliffe.

 this one (above) is sold

 this one is sold as well (above)

 Just to give you an idea of the size ...

My small doodle-painting sold, so I’m making some new ones. Because it’s all markers I can easily do them while sitting with my daughter on her bed every night. Still a bit frustrated by the small size though, maybe I should start making some bigger ones.

Looks a bit dark on here. My scanner seems to pick up things that you can't even see with the naked eye ...

Well, this post is getting pretty long, and I still have to answer my questions from the Liebster Award, that Karla from Poetic Postcards gave me. Thanks so much Karla, I always feel honoured when people think of my blog. It keeps me going :-)

These are the rules for the Liebster Award:

1. Link back to the blogger who nominated you.
2. Answer the 11 questions given to you by the blogger who nominated you.
3. Nominate 11 other bloggers with less than 200 followers.
4. Go to the blogs you nominated and notify them of your nomination.
5. Give your nominees 11 questions to answer.

 Here are the questions I had to answer:

1 - Who is your favourite writer and why?

I have several, but at the moment Linwood Barclay is becoming more and more my absolute favourite. I love his writing-style and dry humour, and his books are just unputdownable (if that even is a word). If you like thrillers without all the blood and gore, try him!

2 - What makes life beautiful?

Sun, sea and happy people, and having time to do what you like most

3 - What is your biggest fear?

Becoming blind. I wouldn’t be able to paint and read anymore, my two most favourite pastimes … And of course, when you have children, there’s always the fear something will happen to them.

4 - What's your favourite song and why?

Hmm, that’s hard. My favourite songs change depending on the mood I’m in. So I’ll just name some favourite singers: Heather Nova, Sarah MacLachlan, Loreena McKennitt, Jim Croce. And, oh yes, there’s one song I always love to hear: "For bitter or worse" from Anouk. So beautiful ….

5 - If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be?

In a wooden house on a sunny beach somewhere, far away from traffic, where I would always be able to hear the waves crashing on the shore.

6 - Are you where you hoped to be at this point in your life?

I tend to not really plan too much for the future and just take things as they come. And I guess at this moment I’m exactly where I was meant to be.

7 - Tell me something about your country that makes you proud.

Hmm, that’s a bit difficult, since I’m Belgian but living in Australia right now. We will be moving back to Belgium though, so I’ll answer this for Belgium. One thing I’m proud of is the progressive laws we have in Belgium, regarding euthanasia and gay marriage. We even have a gay prime minister and nobody’s bothered by that.

8 - If you had super powers, what would you like to change in the world?

Turn the hate between people to love, or at least acceptance of the other’s differences. Put an end to religious fanatism. Stop the destruction of the planet.

9 - What do you like doing in your free time?

Painting, reading and wandering through galleries.

10 - How important is your blog in your life?

Important but not all-consuming. I love getting in touch with like-minded people, sharing ideas and helping each other figure things out. The online art community has a big heart, and I love how supportive everyone always is. I would certainly miss it if I wasn’t part of that community anymore.

11 - What is Art in your opinion?

Art is anything that is made from the heart. Something that you put your heart and soul in. Something that you have to do because it’s in you and it needs to come out. I don’t like art that’s made to shock people. To me that’s not art, that’s just plain attention-seeking.

Wow, this is quite a long post. I’ve decided to change the rules of the Liebster award a little bit, I hope that’s okay. I’ll nominate 5 blogs and ask 5 questions. Because I know everyone is really busy and a lot of bloggers don’t even accept these awards anymore because it’s too much work.

The blogs I nominate here: please don’t feel like you have to accept the award, it’s totally okay  if you don’t. I’m not gonna bother with the number of followers either. Sorry, I’m not one to follow rules too closely, obviously …  ;-)

Moongirl: got to know her during the 29 faces-challenge and really like her drawing-style
Karin: love the bright and colourful cards she makes

Laila: just got to know her through PPF. Interesting and colourful work.

Lee: her posts always make me smile

Sarah: crazy and multi-talented
Ann: companion of Sarah, just as crazy and multi-talented ;-)

Okay, yes, that's 6 blogs .... Doesn't matter, they all deserve it (and so many more out there ....)

And the 5 questions are:

1. Which kind of art do you like and why?
2. Is there something you really want to do in your life that you haven’t done yet?
3. How would your best friend describe you in one word?
4. Do you do any kind of sports? (just want to see where I stand compared to other people ☺)
5. Do you sell your art, or would you like to?

Okay, time to end this very long post. Thanks for visiting, and don’t forget to come back on Friday, because I’ll be doing a give away! Yes! Celebrating the 200-followers mark and the almost 400 likers on Facebook. If you like me on Facebook, I might even get to 400 by Friday ;-)

Another quickie ;-)

Have been finishing stuff all week for my market tomorrow. We also went to the coast for 3 days with the family, so that didn’t leave much time for making more. It was good that I had prepared a lot of things already, they just needed some finishing touches.

Here are some of my miniature-paintings:

 

If I don’t sell these at the market, they will be for sale in my Etsyshop.

I experimented with a doodle on a mini-canvasboard (10cm x 10cm – 4”x4”), which gives a nice result I think, but it’s really small for a doodle. I like making doodles with lots of things to see, and there’s not much room for that on these small boards. But it was fun nonetheless.

 

I also experimented a bit with collage on a mini-painting. And that was so much fun I’ll certainly do it again. I took a face from one of my paintings and glued it on a painted canvasboard. I then painted a neck and changed the background a bit, gave her some long eyelashes, and added a quote, and she was finished! Quick and easy, I like that (certainly when I’m short on time ☺). Here she is:

Painted some more rocks, but didn’t take pictures yet, so I’ll show them next time.

 

And had fun with these little wooden leftovers that I put quotes on:

Made more magnets:

And finished my boxes:

And that’s about it. The weather is looking good for tomorrow, so there should be a good turnout. It’s the first time I do this market and I have no idea how it’ll be, but let’s hope I sell some things ….. If not, they’ll either go to the gallery or I’ll sell them in my Etsyshop.

I will be linking this to Paint Party Friday tomorrow. Be sure to have a look over there to see the work of approx. 100 artists linking up every week. It’s worth it!

Two more things: Sweet Karla from Poetic Postcards gave me the Liebster Award. For this award I need to answer some questions and nominate some people, but I’ll do that in my next post, otherwise this one will be too long. Thanks so much Carla, I feel honored!

And lastly: be on the lookout for my post next Friday, since I’ll be doing a giveaway, to celebrate that I have reached the 200 followers-mark on this blog, and almost 400 likers on Facebook.

Okay, getting ready for bed now, the market starts early and I had some (very) late nights this week. Don’t want to fall asleep sitting in my stall ;-)

I hope all’s well with you. Thanks so much for visiting my blog, and I hope your  Easterweekend will be full of joy and spring! ♥ ♥ ♥

Quick post

Still in the middle of a gigantic mess trying to get things ready for the market, so this post'll be a quick one...

Yesterday I worked on these boxes:

They're not finished yet, the front ones will get a quote on top, and I need to do the inside and bottom as well, and varnish them. They're a bit different from what I usually do, but I really had fun working on them, and figuring out which patterns to use.

I also started preparing some rocks:

And painted the wooden pieces that I'll be putting quotes on:

I just got back from doing the groceries for this weekend, and on Fridays I never cook (it's leftover day today ... ☺), so that means from now on I can just keep going. Yeah!

I also received word from Jessica that my painting arrived safe and sound in the USA. So happy and relieved. First time ever I posted a (bigger) painting and all went well. Good to know ...

And for those of you who don't know yet: there's another sale in my Society6-shop, until midnight April 13. Free shipping and 5$ off (almost) every item in my shop! If you want to take advantage of this, you'll have to go to my shop through this link.

Okay, can't wait to get back to my worktable, so that's it for now ;-)

Linking this to Paint Party Friday. Thanks for being here and leaving your lovely comments. Hope you'll enjoy today, and the coming weekend! ♥ ♥ ♥

Preparing for the market

First of all thanks so much for all the wonderful comments I received on my previous post. They warm my heart ♥

Next week Friday I'm participating in another market. I hadn't really planned on doing another market before December, but I was asked to join a collaborative market initiative during the big Festival of Sails in Redcliffe on Good Friday. So okay, why not.

But as always with markets (and this is driving my family nuts) (and myself too, come to think of it ☺) I think I have enough time to prepare. Meaning: I don't really prepare until there's only 2 more weeks to go and then I start to get into a slight panic. So I start working on 10 things at the same time and my worktable explodes and spreads out over the entire kitchen....

Sigh .... I really need to change this ...

So amidst the explosion, these are some of the things I've been working on today:

New mini-paintings, new boxes, and that pile of little wooden pieces will be painted and turned into something like this:

Oh my .... I hope I'll manage, because it's also school-holidays and we might be going away for a few days. It's a good thing I'll only have a teeny tiny table at the market, so I won't have to take too much :-)

Meanwhile, I got a message from Society6 that they're having a promotion again: free shipping and 5$ off each item in my shop. If you're interested, you'll have to use this link to get to my shop.

The promotion expires on April 13 midnight.

I also got a message from Grace over at Redbarn Studios whether she could post about my doodles on her blog. She wrote a wonderful post about doodlers that inspire her. She is a bookbinder and makes beautiful journals and notebooks. Have a look over at her blog.

And last but not least: Sandra from the Woven Tale Press asked us to share a new weekly contest they have on their site. The Woven Press is a montly e-magazine with the best of the creative web. You can read all about the weekly contest here.

Okay, high time I went to bed, have to work tomorrow ... :-(

See you on Friday for the Paint Party. Thanks for visiting me!

This broken world

I finished my painting! I really enjoyed this one, no frustrations (well, almost none ☺), no blocks, everything went smooth from start to finish. Aah, I like that :-)

While I was painting, I was listening to music, and one sentence jumped out to me. I immediately wrote it down because I knew I would forget, and I'm so glad I did, because in the evening I couldn't remember the exact phrase. Don't remember what song it was from, but it fitted this painting so perfectly (in my opinion). "This broken world".

I knew right away I wanted that as title for this painting. Why? Well, I had been reading a lot about the climate changes and the predictions for the near future, and it scared the hell out of me. I knew it was bad, but it seems to be going much faster than anyone expected. And everytime I saw a date mentioned, I calculated what age my kids would be, and they would still be so young... It saddens me so much to think of what they'll have to deal with because of our stupidity.

And here in Australia we have a new prime minister who keeps saying that we have no influence on the climate whatsoever. Worse: there IS no climate change. How can anyone be so ignorant? So utterly STUPID?

And sadly enough he's not the only one. It makes me so angry. And scared. And helpless. And while I was painting, I saw the ball she has in her hand as our planet, bruised and battered and bleeding. And the women as if they're discussing what we can do about it.

Anyway, that's my interpretation, that's what I see in it. You might think something completely different and that's okay too :-)

And as always when I've finished a painting: here are the steps from start to finish (beware! there are a lot!):

Would you believe I did the first 2 layers of this canvas in 2012!? Dont' know why I waited so long to do something with it, I think I was afraid of ruining it, because I really liked the background.

Some selfmade foam stamps and of course some dripping ;-)

 

 contrastcolours ....

 some more colours and drips

 making marks

working around the marks

 finding figures

 found a third figure

 and 2 birds that I wasn't sure whether to use or not ...

 bringing out the women

 painting the faces

 decided I wanted birds on there but not these. Too big and in the wrong place ..

 also decided on bringing in a tree, since it's about the earth :-)

 felt like making some circles ...

 working out the tree

 almost there

decided to add a flower as a final touch

And then it's finished! Except I saw when I was looking at the picture that I forgot to put a highlight in the big bird's eye. So I'll have to make new pics. No time for that now though ....

  "This broken world"- acrylics on canvas - 70 x 50 cm (27,6"x 19,7")

I'm linking this again to Paint Party Friday. Trying to get to everyone this weekend :-)
Thanks so much for visiting me, I really enjoy reading your comments! Hope you're having a fantastic day and enjoy your weekend! ♥ ♥ ♥

Painted the whole day today!

Well, I started at 10 am and stopped at 3pm, so it wasn't exactly the whole day, but it was a long time ago that I managed to paint that long. The hours flew by. I thought I would have it almost finished by now, but nooo. I'm always surprised by how long it actually takes.

I worked on the other woman today. I also decided what to do with the birds. I know I wanted birds on there, but the birds that I saw in the paintmarks were too big and not in the right place. And while I usually go with what I see on the canvas, I now decided to paint "my own" birds ... ;-)

This is what I had:

And this is where I am now:

I also decided on painting a tree. Because for me this painting is about our planet, and the sad state it's in today because of us humans.

Can't wait to work on it again, hopefully on Thursday....

I finally listed some of my original miniature-paintings in my Etsyshop. I want to start selling originals there but first had to figure out a way to make it affordable to ship. These small paintings are on canvasboard, which makes the posting and shipping price a LOT lower compared to the stretched canvases I normally work on.

These are the ones that are currently for sale:

I have 2 more that I still need to do the backing of, all the other ones were sold at the Christmasmarket. So I'll have to make some new ones...

Okay, time for bed! Thanks for being here, I'll be back on Friday for the Paint Party :-)