My left hand

I just read a post by my friend Cameron about her "wrong" right hand....Funny thing that a while ago I actually have done a left hand (my wrong hand) sketching excersize ( a "La Catrina" + some writing) in my journal and just this week also a left hand paint attempt excersize (the Unicorn), so I thought I'll share these with you today and link them to her post. Now, I don't know if you have ever tried these kind of excersizes, but how very tempting it is to use your "right" hand when stumbling on with a brush in your "wrong" hand, I had to stop myself a couple of times, but am very proud to say I did these ALL with my left hand and I do want to do this on a regular base, just to keep the dexterity going in the "other" hand. If only to have that ability available if ever needed (my sister recently had a bad accident and broke her thumb joint, makes you VERY aware of how difficult life becomes without your "right" hand) Oh, and DO check out Cam's artistic adventures, follow my linky thing on her name :) she has a wonderful blog and is very creative - and very dear to me too ♥

just a bit of journaling

I have just been journaling a bit, getting some thoughts out and started some classes in the studio too.

More to post this weekend :)

Featured / Published ²

I feel a little proud today, I got featured or published however you want to call it....and then again ! This week I received my copy of the Mixed Media Girls book from SuziBlu. Faster than I had expected, e.t.a. was Mid May ! One of my works ("Shattered") got featured, yay, Thanks Suzi !!!!

 ... and then today I got featured in a local on-line newspaper the "Sun Live" on-line part of the "Weekend Sun" pretty exciting huh ?

♥

Makes my very sore shin a little better. I'll explain: I was carrying this huge box to my studio and didn't take a high enough step up the side walk-veranda kind of thing and crashed with my shin straight into the veranda bit and grazed both my lower arm and my shin, but the knock hurts more now that the grazes do......should NOT be doing this kinda stuff anymore at my age, haha ! Allright, of course I will survive....and tomorrow is a day off here in New Zealand, ANZAC day, remembrance day, so get to rest the leg a bit maybe ? then Thursday I start my "Art Journal group" at the studio :)

Kakariki

Kakariki means "green" in te reo Māori and since I live here and this little doll is mainly green, nature like and earthy, I thought about naming her Jade or something like that, but Kakariki sounds so much more like her with her long curly lock on her left shoulder and her (allthough they are vague) curly fern-tip like details here and there. So here she is, I like her to bits ♥ she is in my shop if you love her too

Gone soft for dolls ♥

 

 This is kind of a long post with lots of pictures (I like pictures) and links about kind of smallish creatures...... ;)

I want to share this other soft spot of mine, my other desire, a possible challenge ? something I really want to give a serious go a little more at some stage. I started the odd project over the years and some of those are still waiting patiently (as if they have a choice ? - see pics of them below-) to be finished .... if I ever will, because by the time I make some time for them I have other ideas about them already. Now, with having the school holiday kids program in my Art studio for the last 2 weeks, I had been looking for something "simple" to do myself and I made up some super simple calico shapes and stuffed them and started painting little faces. The first two born the other day, I gave wings and they became little angels

 

(a little like my Matryoshka dolls I did a few years ago)

  

the last one is a free little spirit and I really dig her!

 

But seriously, I have been admiring very special dolls for quite a while now. I would love to make some of these really really GR8 and amazingly beautiful dolls. I am in love with the out-of-this-world-oh-so-super-gorgeousilistic dolls by Nefer Kane  

and the tender, fine faces by Paulette Goodreau

   

 but also the grungier folky-arty cloth dolls by some dollmakers like Gritty Jane, and the Steampunky ones by Paula Nerhus and there are so many more. 

Tim Burton - dollmaker extraordinaire

  Of course I understand that it takes time and practise and YEARS of improvement, just like painting and sketching and everything else for that matter.  So .... one day .... I guess when my days have 48 hours and my weeks have 21 days and I will be immortal hehe......but before all that, I WILL make some more "simple" dolls for sure

♥

cloth doll wip 1

same doll wip 2

face start

face done ?

not happy with the nose, but ah well

want to finish her regardless

see where she ended up, stuck in a pot with legs up and all ?

this one is even an earlier one, kinda creepy actually....

♥

Gone Wild - GRRRR

Jambo !

Quite a few years ago now (ahem,do we really need to know when ?) Anyway, I was so lucky to take this wonderful camping trip to East Africa! Amongst other wild things, we made amazing photos and I had one of the oh-so good, wild times of my life (yeah I had more than one :)

Then aftwerwards, I made some wildlife pastel drawings for my sister (of course I never made any drawings for myself back then) Now when Cameron was posting all those wildlife images she was doing as part of her Drawing Lab excersizes, I thought I had to go find those photographs I made of those pastel works for myself, and I just did ! So here I am sharing my Black Rhino and the Blue Velvet Monkey portrait. At the moment my little studio shop is driving me wild ! (in a good way though, hehe) First I had the Jazz Festival to paint for like a mad woman and now I am running these holiday programs for kids, so this week I don't get to paint or draw much for myself ....grrr, so it's good to be able to share some old wild stuff with you all then, enjoy ;)

 Kwaheri !

Rhythm of my Art - Volume III

Jazz Singer III

Strings III (Banjo)

Rhythm of my Art - Shop exhibit

The last couple of Rhytm of my Art paintings, this time in sepia tints. They ar available for purchase, if you are interested, contact me HERE. I still have a saxophonist in progress and more ideas, so I will revisit this. But now it is Easter school holiday here and I am running a Kids program during these weeks, see HERE

Rhythm of my Art - Volume II

More music inspired paintings I did - a "Blues-y" set

The Rhythm of my Art - Sax I

The Rhythm of my Art - Strings II

The Rhythm of my Art - JazzSinger II

Rhythm of my Art - volume I

The Rhythm of my Art - Copper II

The Rhythm of my Art - Copper I

The Rhythm of my Art - Strings I

The Rhythm of my Art - Jazz Singer I

The Rhythm of my Art - La Troupe

 

♥ ♫♪♫ ♥ 

Part one of my "revelations" of finished projects I have been working on lately. I call this series "Rhythm of my Art" They are inspired by the Jazz Festival that came to the Historic Village this Easter Weekend. It was wonderful, lots of Live music in the streets, the weather was sunny, the athmosphere great and the living felt EasY ♫♪♫♫♪♫♪♪

Happy Easter !

Wishing you a great day and many chocolate eggs ;)

Getting Ready

This Pippi is working like Rumpelstiltskin at the moment 

and almost exploding with things to show....

just a little while longer, long days and all-nighters ....

The Magic will happen, from straw gold will glow !

 - Soon -

♥

Laughing all the way

 

Okay, so today I am laughing :)

I am laughing because @ April Fools I didn't even need a silly joke to put this a smile on my face :)

I am laughing because I AM going to finish the painting I was talking about in my last post and I CAN because I dealt with the feelings that were hindering me to do so :)

I am laughing because the lady from a Gallery closeby called to say I sold 2 paintings last week :)

I am, laughing because I just had 4 of my girlfriends from Christchurch for a visit, they stayed 2 nights and we had SUCH a great time :) 

I am laughing because I just found this wicked wooden stand on the local market and got the deal of the day ! It's gonna go in my studio shop :)

I am laughing because I painted some cool paintings at my studio this week :)

I am laughing because I am laughing because I feel GOOD !

♥

(btw: up at the top, that flower-power kinda girl, that is me, a while ago, a long time ago actually, will have to double check with Dad to see when exactly, but it looks the way I feel today :)

♥