Custom Rainbow Fairy

Custom Rainbow Fairy, a photo by Chel Morning on Flickr.

My latest custom fairy. People are gearing up for Christmas and starting to place orders for gifts now. I'm so excited. I'll be making a large batch to take to the gallery soon. I know they're probably out. I haven't taken any in since Val was about 3 months old. I was hoping to be able to get more time in to do them, but he was not much of a scheduled sleeper and wanted to learn too many things to sleep longer than half an hour at a time. I can barely pull out my art supplies in that time let alone make fairies. It'll be nice to get back into selling at the gallery. Val's on a nice sleeping schedule which frees up time for me to work during the day and that allows for me to do some much needed crafting time at night! YAY! My brain has been in need of some creative outlet for awhile.

In Process

I'm in fairy mode again. Something's in the air and the fairies are appearing left and right. This one will shortly be up for grabs in my shop for personalization. I think she's turning out ultra cute! She's got a lotus style crown (don't know where that came from, it just appeared) and an adorable face. She''l be holding a sign, and the grass will be colored in. I just couldn't wait to share her though!

I think I'll be starting some watercolor fairies soon too. Watercolor is a lot easier to pick up and put down while chasing an adventurous little boy. Those are the kinds of things I need right now. I need a bit of creativity. I'm starting to feel lost and aimless. The sewing machine has been calling me for about three months now. Unfortunately it's buried in the craft explosion in my craft room. It's so far buried that I can only see a peek of it behind some canvases and other crafting debris. Hopefully one of these days I'll be able to start digging out. I need to get started on stock for the Art and Things Nice event in the end of October. That's not too far off in terms of crafting time.

I've got to spend some time in the coming week updating photos of all my ACEO pieces. I've got images of them but I mistakenly thought putting them on a beautiful cabled knit was a good idea. Not so much! They washed out the images and colors or just made them all look sad and depressing. I want the vibrancy to show through and really pop! So I'll be spending time resetting the photos and taking much better images so I can post and sell them.

My new custom fairy names

Here's the new design idea for the custom fairy names. I think they're really nice! I liked the old style with the block lettering, but think this is ultra cute. It also affords me the ability to make a piece of art to sell and then customize at the customers request. I can build up stock and not have to worry about people not buying because they're unsure of how the fairy will look when completed. These two will be off to their new homes on Tuesday.This one is one of the open custom pieces. It's the first one I've made with the sign blank and will be the very first listed on artfire or etsy.
We'll be heading out to Charlotte in the coming week and I hope to have a chance to take some paper to work on more. I'm still working on a boys version of this idea. Haven't quite nailed it down yet. I'd better get to work! I feel bad not having an outlet for boy names (especially having a boy myself)

I'd love to hear ideas on what kind of art you'd like to see next! I love taking suggestions and seeing what happens when I put pencil to paper! It starts getting the creative juices flowing and I usually end up with four or five pieces based on the original idea. Leave me a comment and tell me what YOU'D like to see!

New fairies going to be listed

I've had a few new fairies for awhile now, but just haven't had time to list them on the websites. I've got a box of about 30 that just need dressed out and finished, but I just haven't had time. We're still digging out from under the estate stuff from my mother-in- law's passing and when I'm not on baby duty, or doing my actual money making job, I'm doing packing and clean up.

So without any further whimping and whining on my part.... here are the fairies.This is Amelia,
AudreyTrulie,

I've got a few more, but don't have good shots of them. I've got to get my last two fairy names scanned and send off. Then I'll be all caught up. I've been itching to do a good amigurumi (crocheted toy) project. I was going to dolls for all my girl nieces for Easter, but missed that deadline. I think I might post some questions to the Viridian Muse Designs Facebook page and see what people are looking for in Ami. I'd love to try something new and interesting.

So slow in getting new art out there.

So here's my latest pieces...not very exciting, but it's a start. Little atc size Kawaii Little Red and Big Bad....

I've been working on more fairy names as of late. I haven't got new images yet, but they'll be coming shortly. I've changed up the format a bit and will offer both options in my shops. The one I'm currently doing will be a bit easier to sell I think. I'm starting with the fairy image, and then leaving a sign blank that I can fill with the requested name. This way, the person knows the fairy they are getting and won't have to worry about getting a fairy they might not like as well. I think this will be a lot better in shows rather than just taking special orders. Then I can pop the name in right on the spot and just have a back up of fairies to choose from. I think I'll look for a nice flip book to store them all. They'll be protected and people can flip through them to choose. I'm looking for a few new shows to do this fall and winter. I've only done one show regularly in the past, and need to start broadening it out a bit. I'm going to do a few word fairies with words like "Love" "Peace" "Courage" but I'm not sure if they'll be a good seller or not. I really need to get more of my artwork selling. Granted I don't have a lot of free time currently to do a lot of custom orders, but I need to start doing more art. I feel so disconnected if I'm not doing some kind of art project at least once a week.

Val's starting to "draw" it's ADORABLE. Though he's more interested in eating the crayons rather than drawing with them. He's made a few "pictures" that we're sending off to people. Daddy got the first crayon piece. Grandma got the second finger painting piece. The finger painting doesn't go quite as well as the coloring does. He just wants to eat the paint, not paint with it. I'm looking forward to the days of art projects and the never empty box of creative recycled bits to play with! Patrick will think I'm nuts, and call me "Eliza" (inside joke) but I don't care. Some of my best memories are of doing art projects at home with non-artsy materials. My mom was queen of the crafty art projects.

Well it's late and I should really be in bed. Been burning the candle at both ends a bit too much lately. Thankfully it hasn't yet reared it's ugly head in sickness yet...so I'd best watch it! New art to follow this weekend.

A new multi media piece.

I might have posted this already, but I'm not sure. I did this for a swap awhile ago. I've been working on some ideas for some cute whimsical paintings, and a few more realistic paintings. Val needs some new art in his room and I figured why not paint it myself, though I've been spying on some pieces I might have to get in the future!

This peacock turned out better than I thought it would, but not quite as good as i had hoped. I should have done it all in watercolor, but ended up adding some sharpie to it to give a bit of detail. I love peacock colors.  So in the next few weeks I'll be putting together some cute whimsical animal paintings. I'll decide if I want to keep them or perhaps offer them up to the gallery. I wonder if they'll want my sort of kiddie whimsy style art? I never really asked when I've offered up other things if they'd be interested in them or not.

 

I also have a few more fairie names to work on. I'll be uploading more pictures of names as soon as I complete them. I've got a Madison and a  Christianna to do. I missed taking pictures of the Alayna fairy.

More art completed.

I've been really loving watercolors these days. I never thought I'd be able to say that so many years ago. I've had very little time to do much art, but what I have done has been in fits and starts. I really need to fit in a bit more time. I feel so much better when I've done some art for the day. It really clears my mind.

This project was called the "Magical/Miracle Hand" we had do draw a hand and decorate it and then send it as a postcard. I was inspired to trace my own hand and Val's to celebrate what my hands do as a mother. I was just going to decorate his and mine in blue and pink, but once I got his little hand decorated, I was inspired to write a message to him. I really should have copied it down though I think I can read most of it in the high resolution photo. I love the way it turned out, and I think I'm going to do this for his first birthday invites. Do another with his changed hand size. I think for the next six months, I'll be tracing our hands together so we can see how much it changes in size until he turns one.

I've got a lot of trading card projects in the works and a few handmade postcards too.

I've been missing again!

Boy! I didn't realize how long it had been since I posted last. We've been spending so much time watching Val hit baby milestones that I've been remiss in keeping my creative life updated. I've been doing a few small swaps here and there in the hopes of keeping my mailbox at least somewhat happy. I get so sick of seeing bills and junk mail.

Unfortunately with work and baby life, my creative life is almost nil. I still squeeze in a bit here and there by staying up waaaaay too late into the wee hours of morning. I seem to be doing that at the moment now. I should be in bed rather than doing an update, but if I don't do this know, come tomorrow i"ll forget all about it.

So here are a few of the things I've done in the past month swap wise.
My Barn Owl watercolor atc. I love the way this turned out. I had the intention of leaving the background completely white, but instead decided to put the green in. I think it really makes the owl pop.
This is a book mark with a crow and poppies. Also in watercolor. You know for a gal who HATED watercolor ooo so many years ago..it really seems to be my go to paint these days. I think I'm getting more used to manipulating it to my desire. I was so used to using pencil or marker that water color was just too loose and unpredictable for me. I couldn't control it enough to ease me "perfection of detail" obsession. I really like it now though.

I've got more in the wings, stay tuned for another burst of project photos. I'm getting too sleepy to stay up much longer and need to clean up the craft/art bomb that has exploded all over my kitchen table.

O