But that doesn't mean I haven't been busy. Actually my crazy busy behaviour has probably lead to me being run down allowing me to catch said virus from a supermarket or something similar... I blame snotty kids coughing on me... that happened a lot last week!
However there have been lots of colourful additions to my work lately!
Now these were an idea I had whilst searching through Ebay recently, I absolutely love working with wooden shapes so when the idea of making some festive stars with rats in them came to mind I just had to give it a go!
Amusingly the rats were my main idea, I desperately had this idea of cute rats in bright shiny stars and yet the rats have turned in to a slight nightmare for me. As usual I have chosen a big project for this as my rat designs though simple are surprisingly detailed at times! Not forgetting I've barely used acrylic paints in the last ten or so years.
So the rats are coming along nicely but I will only be offering 4 decorations featuring them. I can't manage any more than that, especially when I can't guarantee any sales!
However you might notice in the image above that there is a sneaky design in the bottom left that is most definitely not a rat!
He is however a happy polar bear!
I cannot express the love I have for this guy and his design, to the point where I'm wanting to do a little bear series featuring him!
This star came out so perfectly I just have to make some more! So I will be making another five of them over the next couple of days and hope to have them available to buy by the end of the week.
The star and bear design are painted completely by hand with acrylic paints before having some fun glitter details added, I can't decide whether they're glitter snow or a sparkly starry sky! They will be varnished and come with their own blue ribbons for hanging.
I can't truly express how much love I truly have for this design, he came to life one morning whilst I was doodling when I had an allergy reaction and was up alone at 4am. I had to draw something fun and happy to cheer me up and this little guy slowly appeared. He is honestly a design that I created for myself and being able to incorporate him in to my work is such an awesome thing!
I just hope other people love him as much as I do!
I've also been working on some sneaky things lately. My partner takes part in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) every November where you attempt to write a story of 50,000 words! I used to join in but work has taken over and my mind no longer works when it comes to writing.
But I tend to make him a little celebration package as rewards for every word target he hits and this year I wanted to out do myself.
So a nice wooden advent calendar soon turned in to a celebration box that's filled with goodies and prizes! I spent so much time on this but it has been so worth it!
All I have to do is wait for November to roll in so I can give it to him and kick his butt in to writing all the words!
Acrylics have also popped up again!
I've barely used them for anything over the past few years so it's been interesting using them with the decorations but over the weekend I had an urge to paint with them. I wanted to paint a baby seal (Seals are one of my favourite animals!) So I got the paints and played around.
And oh gosh I forgot how to paint with them!
I'm so used to watercolours that I'd completely forgotten how to paint with them, at first I was using way too much water in my usual habit as a watercolour artist but finally I mastered something... It wasn't how you're meant to paint and it sure wasn't how I used to paint but this is my end result!
Probably one of my favourite paintings now! It's not the best photo, I plan to try and scan him in at some point and might even make a little print of him or something. What you can't see in the photo is that he actually has glitter all over the snow, apparently I have to use glitter with everything at the moment!
So yeah, it's been a fun one lately and this week is going to be filled with me getting as much done as possible before the potential festive rush begins! I really could do with a festive rush, even though I'm doing great I'm suddenly feeling very fretful about my work.
I guess it's part of self employment, you're never sure whether you're doing something well enough and don't get me started on comparisons with other small businesses! Luckily I've stopped doing that!
So back to work for me today! And then some fun Halloween quesadillas and some ghosty cupcakes because I'm trying to get in to the spirit of things (pun intended) and enjoy each day rather than obsessing over the future... did you know it's only 8 Fridays before Christmas!? When did that happen!?
Well before I have a panic over that amazing bit of info I think I shall be off in to the wilds to get my work done! Expect more bears!
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