The end to a very busy first week of 2016! Gosh that one went fast didn't it!
Well this week has mostly been full of organising, budgeting and paperwork so that's been lots of fun as you can imagine. But I have managed to squeeze in art work and got my first work of the year done!
I decided to play with new coloured pencils I got for Christmas from my awesome mr... I was ever so slightly spoiled with my first experience of Faber Castell pencils.
Now I do a very good go at playing the starving artist. I don't really have that much spare cash and when I do have it... I tend to spend it on silly fun things or takeaway (typical 20 something artist I believe!) so I've never splashed out on this brand because they tend to be a bit more costly than what I'm comfortable with. So getting gifted these was a wow moment, I want to say I was completely gobsmacked when I saw them and the feeling continued when I started to use them.
I can't believe how soft and blendable these beauties are! I think I definitely converted whilst colouring this highland cow!
I have been told that this is a slightly amoosing (get it!) self portrait with the fluffy hair and crooked smile... It wasn't meant to but my loving mother decided to claim it was... I guess I do share similarities with these awesome cows :P
Next on the list has been a new little project I started. Before Christmas I did a small watercolour painting of British garden birds that I really enjoyed working on. The style is a lot more fun than my others and it was something I really wanted to explore more so I found a small square sketch book that I've had lying around for too long and dedicated it to being filled with British bird illustrations. This will probably turn in to birds of the world at some point but for now I'm focusing on the British variety or at least the species that spend time in this country.
First of was my chirpy little wren. I drew a draft of this cheeky chappy back in December and have been meaning to expand on the idea so it only seemed right to draw him first. It turned out much better than I'd originally planned!
I used watercolour and coloured pencil here and the outcome was exactly what I wanted.
I liked it so much I decided to get started on the draft sketches for three other bird species. This time the Kingfisher, bullfinch and fieldfare. I just need to get painting them next week! So four down so far! Next will probably include the iconic winter robin and maybe a blue tit.
In other news! I've joined the Etsy Resolution programme! (Anyone else in the UK who is considering Etsy but lacking the confidence/wants to learn as much as possible I can highly recommend joining!) This is a four week programme with mentors and help with setting up a shop, a nice little boost for those just starting out like myself.
I'll admit at first I felt quite nervous and skeptical but you only move forward by taking steps so this is my step. Maybe this time life won't get in the way of opening my shop!
I'm also coming very close to hitting 100 sales on Redbubble which is actually quite exciting! Thanks to the lovely people out there who've already made orders with my designs this year! That was a lovely start to the year for me! Hope you enjoy your goodies!
I now have a busy few weeks getting products created for my Etsy shop! I will keep this updated with that little adventure along with my other adventure... I'm going to be making my own fun little bird book filled with illustrations similar to the above! This is obviously going to take a lot of plotting and planning but it's going to be worth it in the end!
So much going on right now it's becoming difficult to fit it all in to my organiser! Nice having my life becoming a fabulous whirlwind! Unlike last year I'm in control and loving every moment of this!
Keep your head up, this too shall pass... and you are wonderful!
