Mini cat paintings sold...

I've recently sold these two mini cat paintings, so I will be creating more along the same lines, as I think they are going to be a popular choice for Christmas gifts.

"Casper"

 

"Prudence"

WIP - Kay

I've decided to upload an image of this work in progress that I've been working on for so long now that the intended recipients have probably forgotten about it. It is at the stage now where I just need a big motivational push to complete it, as I was getting frustrated with it at one point and just put it to one side - never a good idea, really!

I need to do a lot more work on the face then do the shading on the tee-shirt, define the hair and tidy the whole thing up a bit, but I thought that if I posted it "to the world"  (or at least, to the 3 people who regularly read this blog) it may spur me onto finishing it at long last.

Kay is a friend who I've known since she was 8 or 9 years old - she's now 23 and her parents commissioned the painting a while ago now. I hope they still want it when it's finished!

WIP - Little Bit of Red

Here's an image of my latest Work-in-progress, a small canvas which will come complete with an easel, slightly larger than my "mini" paintings, but still not as large as the other paintings in this series that I've done ("A Bit of Orange/Blue/Purple/Brown"). The canvas itself measures 16cm x 12cm. Painted using varying hues of red acrylic paint, this is the second stage of the painting. I am currently trying to get back into painting the rest of it after having a bad week of suffering with two migraine attacks. My blog has been neglected for a while, but I plan to carry on as normal from now on, and hopefully post more frequently!

Once finished, you will be able to purchase this painting from my personal website at  www.helendavison.co.uk or on the Rogue Gene Gallery website.

Latest commission

Just thought I'd share my recent commission for a decorated notebook with you. This one is to be given as a gift for a teacher - which, in my (completely unbiased, of course) opinion, is a great present. A very personal, original gift that will also be practical as well as decorative. I hope Mr Crisp is happy with it when he receives it at the end of term this coming week!

New Items On Etsy

I have recently listed two more of my magnetic note-pads on Etsy, which you can purchase there by clicking on the title link of this post. I am taking all of these to the next RGC exhibition on May 16th in Cookham and still have a couple left to decorate before then.

They make great birthday gifts at only £6.75 each (on Etsy everything is priced in US dollars) and they are practical as well as arty!

On the left is "Palest Sprite" and  on the right is "Tartanic".

Mini Art - latest works

I have been working on 4 new mini art works recently, all of which have been uploaded to my Etsy shop, but here's a snapshot of the latest one, along with the matching trinket box I have also decorated. They go well together but are listed separately in case anyone just fancies buying a miniature work of art on its own, or a trinket box as a gift.

This paritcular creation is called Celadonia.

Latest painting uploaded to the web...

I have recently decided to upload one my most recent large paintings to the Rogue Gene Gallery - I will probably add it to my other websites later today, but here's a sneak preview of the painting anyway:

Random thoughts and activities

The past couple of days I have been progressing with some more of my recent mini canvas and easel paintings, which I am also matching with some of my painted/decorated trinket boxes. Hopefully by the end of today I will be able to upload 3 more images of these.

They will be on sale via my Etsy store as soon as I have completed all three:ArtyAitch

One of my Christmas gifts was a set of paint tube squeezing keys - you can buy them in the UK from "The Works" in a pack of 10 for only 99pence: Tube Squeezers

I have been going through my box(es) of paints to utilise these keys, and in doing so decided to paint a sample of each particular colour I have in my store! I have so far done yellow, green and blue. This will help me enormously when I am trying to decide which particular brand of paint I used for an area of colour on a painting if I leave it for a while and come back to it (which tends to happen regularly as I rotate my paintings constantly).

Changing topic completely now, I went to see the new Sherlock Holmes movie last weekend with my brother and husband. It was thoroughly entertaining, well acted and cleverly directed. Robert Downey Jr. was an amusing yet charming Sherlock Holmes and he worked extremely well alongside Jude Law's Dr Watson. I really, really enjoyed it - there were, to be fair, an abundance of fight scenes which i really didn't expect from Sherlock Holmes (and which I normally am averse to)but they were all executed with great panache. I particularly loved the way in which Sherlock's thought process of how to deliver the blows each time was shown to us prior to the actual delivery. Even if you are not interested in Sherlock Holmes, this film is worth watching purely for the relationship on screen between Jude Law and Robert Downey Jr.

More painting is now on the agenda.....

First painting of the year

My first painting of the year was a surprise birthday gift for my sister - a portrait of my niece, Charlotte. I hinted at this project in my earlier blog post but couldn't be specific about it in case my sister read the blog! The painting of Charlotte was based on a photograph I took when the family were here for a meal on New Year's Day - so she is seated in her high chair. I used acrylic, which I favour over watercolour, and completed the painting in approximately 10 or 12 days. On a box canvas, sized 20 x 25cm, I was rather pleased that my sister liked the end result!

Charlotte is 7 months old and really starting to take an interest in the world around her now.

The reference photo I used had a very dark background and a green tablecloth. I changed the background to a colour I thought Rachel (my sister) would like, and the tablecloth colour I altered to a deep red. I think I could have spent even longer fiddling with the painting, as perfection takes forever, but in the end I decided to leave well alone and all in all I am fairly happy with the finished piece of art.

Here's the reference photo I used:

Painting and crosswords

I have spent another day indoors due to this awful weather. I don't really care whether or not it looks pretty out there any more - I am quite fed up of it now. Snow is nice to look at but not so nice to get about in - I tend to walk like an old woman when I have to go out in snow or in icy conditions - each step takes forever and I walk along walls which I hold on to in case I slip!

Driving is out of the question. I am in a permanent state of anxiety about skidding and therefore feel a danger not only to myself, but any other drivers out there, too. From what I've heard over the past 24hours, every journey in a car is taking approximately 5 to 6 times longer than normal due to black ice on the roads and everyone having to drive so slowly! I am thankful that I do not have to go out to work. We have cancelled our usual rehearsals with the Junior and Youth sections at Bilton Amateur Dramatic Society this coming week - only hope the weather improves and we can start again before too long!

Anyway, I have spent the day working on a painting that is, at present, a bit of a secret project. I am doing my best to make it a perfect painting as it will be judged not only on its merit but on the content when it is finished. It may sound mysterious, but all will be revealed in a week or so. I have spent several hours on it during the past couple of days, and will continue to do so until I am completely happy with it. I can tell you that it is an acrylic painting on box canvas, but no more than that for fear of spoiling the secret!

I have been giving my brain a bit of a work-out today, too, with the crossword in "The Week" magazine. This is the only newspaper we get, and it is ideal as it is in the form of a magazine on a weekly basis, covering the main news and events from all the other daily newspapers combined but in a condensed format. The crossword is a cryptic one. Usually Keith (my husband) and I do the crossword together, taking it in turns to solve the clues until one of us gets stuck or bored. I was up earlier than him today so I had the first shot at it.

I read a great article on a fellow artist's blog today, too. It had some great advice about promoting yourself as an artist. If I can find out how to link to it, I will do so, then you can share the advice if you're interested. Oh, I think if you click on this, it will work: peter-williams-art.blogspot.com/2010/01/selling-your-art.html?spref=fb

Well, it's nearly time to do my daily (almost, I've only missed one this week) exercises on my Wii Fit Plus - the good thing about this regime is that it's fun to do as well as keeping me fit. I try to do at least half an hour each day, sometimes up to an hour.

I may write more on here later - I can see me using this as a diary of sorts, but I may get fed up of that, so we'll see!