New mini paintings - cartoon cats.

I've been inspired to paint some cartoon styled animals recently - it started with a cartoon dog, which I painted for a donation as a prize in an event at Driffield Showground on Bank Holiday Monday - I went on to paint 3 more of those dogs in a very similar, but not exact way. Then I started thinking about doing cats. I've always thought I couldn't really do cartoon paintings, but having positive feedback has encouraged me to try some cats. A fellow stall-holder at a craft fair (Lynda Mills of Wrapped In Style) suggested that I produced some cats on my mini canvases way back in March, but I wasn't sure at the time - I've now created two and have been sketching out several more in different poses. Here's the two I've now completed, as yet un-named. I will be asking my Facebook fans/likers to help me name them, as it's interesting to see what varied suggestions are thrown in!

Life's Little Ups and Downs..

Life is full of these - or so it seems to me, anyway. I have always thought that you actually need the lows in life in order to fully appreciate the highs.Some low points are obviously worse than others and take longer to recover from than others, but all the same it's nice when you get a high point after a low - this is what happened to me last weekend.

I'd done another event - part of a Family Fun Day - and not sold very much plus received some odd, rather thoughtless remarks about my work. Looking back, it was nothing, really, but at the time I felt quite upset about it. Therefore I was delighted to receive notification the next day that one of my painted wooden photo frames was featured in a blog all about sequins. The lovely Vixxie, who saw the frame on my Etsy site, wrote the blog, which you can read for yourself by clicking on the link Matin Lapin. It may only be a small thing, but somehow when another artisan selflessly promotes your work for you, it means so much. Thanks Vixxie, I really appreciate it!

Here's my painting of "Life's Little Ups and Downs" which was inspired by a series of such last year!

Bin Buddies Blog Spot: Art of Recycling Exhibition

I recently met two of the girls from this team of  LifeStyle members - Katie was on holiday at the time, but I was very impressed with the skills and dedication shown by Evie and Liv so far. Their theme for the project has been recycling and last year they concentrated on making several clocks using materials that were destined for the rubbish bin. They have continued with that idea this year, but also have created some stunning pieces of art using recycled materials. The girls came to chat with me, supposedly to ask my advice on what else they could create for their exhibition - but to be honest, I think they could've given me more advice based on their efforts so far. I did at least give them some materials to use, play around with and some ideas for smaller items that they could possibly sell at the exhibition. Unfortunately, I will be busy myself this coming Sunday, as I'm selling my creations at a Fun Day in aid of HERIB (Hull & East Riding Institute for the Blind). However, I will hopefully be able to see the girls when they start to put their exhibition together at some point on Saturday. Here's the link to their blog page detailing the exhibition.


Bin Buddies Blog Spot: Art of Recycling Exhibition: We are holding an exhibition of art made from recycled materials - this is in aid of Special Smiles, to fund a trip to Honeysuckle Farm for ...