Clown Fish

I painted this ACEO of a clown fish before Christmas but have only just listed it in my shop.  I love the brightly coloured fish in marine aquariums and the bold markings on clown fish inspired this painting.  It was drawn in pencil and pen then painted in watercolours on 140lb extra smooth watercolour paper.

Ginger

I felt like drawing a guinea pig today... so painted this little ACEO :)

This original pencil and watercolour painting of Ginger the Guinea Pig is available to buy from my Etsy shop.

Kitty

It's been a while since I painted an ACEO so thought it was time I made one!  They're quicker to do than my other illustrations and it's fun to try something different too.  I took inspiration from a cat that likes to visit our garden for this painting.  We don't know what her name is so just call her Kitty.

Kitty first started visiting our garden this spring - she was so sweet and obviously quite young still as she was very playful :)  Now she's grown up she doesn't think we are as interesting to play with any more but she does still stop by our garden sometimes!

Paper Makes...

More makes using my printable collage sheets...  The pretty vintage inspired ACEO above was made using a background from the 'Sepia Handwriting' set and 1 inch squares from the 'Vintage Sheet Music' and 'Flowers' (1003) sets. I also used hand stitching, punched paper daisies, a gemstone, old fancy clockhand and glitter.

I love daisies they make me think of sunny summer days :)  The daisies on this card are from my 'Flowers' (1003) collage sheet.  For this design I layered the photo squares on paper over a background paper and added some ribbon, gem flower and 'Thank You' sticker.

 

Playtime

Time for a little experimentation with ACEOs... I made this collaged ACEO using one of my ACEO backing papers, a copy of an old family photograph, some vintage buttons and fibres.  In the bottom left corner I picked up the flower detail on the backing paper by hand stitching around the outline.  I've also rubber stamped the text 'playtime'.

New Year, New Work

My first post of 2011 - Happy New Year!

Here are a few new ACEOs...

Sammy the Hamster ...

Badgers ...

Panda Corydoras

I have two corys in my tank (with guppies) at the moment. I've been admiring photos of some amazing planted aquariums online and can't wait to get some new plants and fish for mine! When my tanks are looking a bit better I'll share some photos of them :)

These are not macaroons...

I was planning on sharing some photos of my latest baking project from the new 'Making' magazine, but it turned out to be a macaroon disaster! Hopefully I'll have better luck next time... for now though, here are some new paintings instead :)

These budgies and guinea pig are all ACEOs, drawn in pencil and painted in watercolours.

This is Basil, my pet guinea pig, who loves to eat parsley amongst other things! Drawn in pencil and painted in watercolours (a 5x7 inch painting).

I'm currently adding new ACEOs to my Etsy shop and will also be adding listings for pet portrait commissions.

Moo Greeting Cards!

I had a very exciting package in the post today - my Moo order arrived (well the greeting card part anyway)!
I had some technical problems placing the order, but the customer support at Moo was excellent and at last I have received my cards (the stickers will hopefully be on their way soon).

About half the cards feature my animal ACEOs and the other half is mostly Hexley illustrations along with some dragons and elephants.
If you like these cards you will be able to buy them from my online shop very soon (I'll blog to let you know when they are ready!)

Literacyhead

This week my 'Storytelling of Crows 2' ACEO is appearing in the Write StARTs feature in the Literacyhead online magazine!

Literacyhead was created as an online resource for teachers and uses art to help teach different reading and writing concepts. You can view the site here, although the magazine is subscription based they do now offer a free 2 week trial. (If you know any teachers please pass this site on to them!)

Rabbit ACEOs No.32-37

A new set of rabbit ACEOs! All drawn in pen and pencil and painted in watercolours these were great fun to make :)

These are all part of my series started this year and are numbers 32 to 37.

I've started adding these original ACEOs to my Etsy shop, so if you don't see them there yet they should be soon.

Treasury feature

If you're a dog lover then you'll like this Etsy treasury! It features dog art chosen by funretro and includes my golden retriever ACEO :) You can see the treasury here until 18th April.

New ACEOs - No.26-31

It's been a while since I posted an update on my ACEOs so there are several new ones to add!

No.26 Rabbits

No.27 Ring tailed lemur

The next few were made after my trip to Colchester zoo and were based on the photos I took there.

No.28 Giraffe

No.29 Lion (I don't think his face is quite right - he reminds me of the stuffed animals at the Zoology museum more than a live lion!)
No.30 Tiger (I commented that when we go to the zoo the tiger is always hiding up so you can't see him, but soon after that he started walking all around the enclosure so I was able to get lots of photos - they might not be good enough to frame but I can still use them to draw from.)
No.31 Wolf

These original ACEOs are all for sale in my Etsy shop. :)

Treasury feature

I've just noticed that my new tiger ACEO has been featured in an Etsy treasury :)

You can see the treasury in full here, it features work by European Etsy sellers on the theme of cats (the treasury expires on 24th March).

The return of the internet and new ACEOs...

Don't you always find that you appreciate something more when you don't have it?

For half of last week I had no phone line and therefore no internet and it's really reminded me just how much I use the internet! It seemed that half of the village was cut off and the rumour was that it was because the copper cables connecting the village were stolen (again). I hope they catch these people - it's not just an inconvenience, some people who don't have mobile phones rely on the landlines and could need it in an emergency.

I probably got more work done without online distractions though and knowing that if would be off for a few days I could plan around it, but running an online business means that it's important to have the internet as I didn't want to disappoint any customers. At least it's back now! :D

Now that I'm back online there's a bit to catch up on, so here are a couple of new ACEOs:

No. 24 Welsh landscape (pencil, watercolours and acrylics)

No.25 Swans (pencil, watercolours, acrylics)

ACEO 365 - No.17 - 23

Here's an update on more of my recent ACEOs :)

No.17 - Border Collie dog in pencil and watercolour (Sold)

No.18 - Arthur Brown, a resident of Hexley, works at the Climatology Centre and sits on the Town Council. Drawn in pencil and painted in watercolours and acrylics.

No.19 - Chimp in watercolours and Quink with dip pen/ ink line work.

No.20 - Squirrel drawn in pencil and painted in acrylics.

No.21 - British landscape in pencil, watercolours and acrylics (Sold)

No.22 - Hexley pier, pencil, watercolours and acrylics (I'm planning on painting a larger version of the Hexley pier too)

And finally No.23 - Emperor penguins; pen, watercolour and acrylics (Sold)

These ACEOs (unless marked as sold) are for sale in my Etsy shop. I will be listing prints of the penguins and squirrel but if there are any of my ACEOs you would like prints of which aren't listed in my shop please let me know!

The next ACEOs I'm starting are of a swan and another landscape. I always like receiving your comments/ feedback :) - what are your favourite ACEOs or is there anything you think would make a great subject which I haven't done yet??

Treasury feature

This morning I had a nice surprise and found out that I had been featured in an Etsy treasury :)

It includes my new ACEO of a Hexley resident called Arthur Brown. The treasury is titled A Mysterious Death and A Mysterious Stranger, I would never have thought of including Arthur Brown in a treasury like this but it works really well. The items were chosen by jewelryvixen and could be images taken from a scary murder story, I like that you could make up your own story with the items - what was the murder weapon? Is Arthur Brown the murderer or the victim??!

Hexley houses

Here are some more ACEOs from my 365 series. I am using this series as a good excuse for experimenting with different subjects and techniques, so here are 3 ACEOs of houses...

These are the sorts of houses you might find residents of Hexley living in. :)

No.14 Pen on watercolour paper

No.15 Pen and watercolour on watercolour paper (in the distance you can see a Solo Dirigible Balloon in use!)

No.16 Collaged pen drawing over red and gold wallpaper - I imagine that the wallpaper is decorating one if the rooms in these houses, and the garage on the left could be home to a Hexley carriage or is possibly a little workshop for one of the town's inventors!

As usual, all of these ACEOs are for sale in my Etsy shop :)

What's new?

It's been a while since I last posted here so there are a few things to catch up on.

Firstly; the free advertising space on Craft Count. My advert was on the site for about a week (longer than the 3 days I was expecting) and from Google analytics I can see that it led to some extra views in my Etsy shop. This was only 2, 3 or 4 extra views a day though and I don't know of any sales I had from that, although some of those views may turn into sales in the future.

As the Craft Count site is still new that probably affected the number of views I had. So my conclusion is that although it didn't lead to any sales now it was free, so worth a try, and I wouldn't rule out trying fee charging advertising on this, or a similar site, in the future when a more established site could lead to better views and hopefully sales.

I also wanted to share more of my recent ACEOs from the series of 365 ACEOs for the year - which I am quite behind on already :( Maybe 365 was a little ambitious!?

No.8 - An ink (Quink) drawing of the Invisible Man based on a project I did a while ago. This has sold already, but I might do some more on a similar theme. I like how black Quink, when mixed with water, splits into different colours from blues to yellows -it reminds me of the chromatography we did it chemistry lessons at school :)

No.9 - 13 are all kaleidometric patterns (patterns made from circles). When I was about 8 or so I was given a book about these patterns and have enjoyed making them off and on ever since. They are quite time consuming to make - each starts by drawing a pencil grid: drawing a circle with a compass and dividing that circle with other circles and lines. Then the patterns you see here are made by drawing shapes and lines based on, but not restricted to, the grid.

These are all mixed media pieces and I have used them to experiment with acyrlics (which I haven't used much for a long time), watercolours, different pens and ink.

These kaleidometric ACEOs and other ACEOs are for sale in my Etsy shop. :)

I haven't forgotten about my buttons either - they just take a long time to sort but I'm hoping I can post more on them very soon!

ACEO 365 - No.5,6,7

Three new ACEOs, all drawn in pencil and painted in watercolours :)
No.5 (meercat)

No.6 (rabbit)

No.7 (bird)

If they are not in my Etsy shop already they will be very soon!

ACEO 365 - No.4

Just a quick post for now of my latest ACEO; No. 4 in the series...

As with my other ACEOs it is for sale in my Etsy shop :)