Giveaway! (Motivational friends and family included)

Here it is and I'm really happy with it.

 

So I would love to give this piece to whoever wants it! Just leave a comment and I will announce the lucky lovely via a name draw on Monday 12th of October. However I don't know how to go about packaging this piece! I feel like such a hopeless so and so, and even more so that I'm asking for help (pleaasee) for the second time (the sewing machine dilemma). My artwork has taken me to so many different places mentally, both bad and good (i won't tell you about the bad places..but lets just say it involved being up till 3am with a blank notebook staring back at me...enough said) Anyway as you can see in the picture its a relatively small piece on watercolour paper. I bought a cardboard folder and some jiffy bags, but I'm not sure if that's going to be enough to prevent it from bending. I have also heard about these art/mirror boxes but was wondering if there was another way of doing it. Help!

A dull grey morning

But I tried to brighten things up with lashings of yellow. Despite the sad looking lady. I like where this latest piece is taking me. Each day it seems to transform into a new picture, beyond what I visualised it to be. I like painting in this way, when there are no set plans as such,and everything just develops at its own pace, surprising me along the way. I would like to do a giveaway shortly just as a thankyou to all of the artistbloggers that have inspired me and as a way to give back a little something to the universe*. It may indeed be this piece but I will keep you informed about the when and how.

*friends and family might come in helpful here!

 

p.s sorry for the blurry shot. Too much coffee I think.
In the meantime, I wish you a wonderful Wednesday

ohh to be well read

books books books. If they came in the form of blankets I would wrap them around me on cold nights, and let mindless worries drift away into my earl grey. I am one of those odd individuals who panic at the thought of how many books there are outthere that i have not read and may never well get round to reading (the apparently innocuous title '100 Books you must read before you Die' springs quite painfully to mind). Having spent this Monday afternoon browsing the Guardians top 100 books of all time (no mention of death in this list thankfully) I've come up with my own list of a manageable 10 that I really really should have read by now. Audiobooks will be an almighty help when it comes to my painting sessions too.

1 To the Lighthouse, by Virginia Woolf



2.1984, by George Orwell


3.The Golden Notebook, by Doris Lessing


4.Wuthering Heights, by Emily Bronte


5.Madame Bovary, by Gustave Flaubert

6.A Dolls House, by Henrik Ibsen

7.Anna Karenina, by Leo Tolstoy

8.Collected Fictions by Jorge Luis Borges


9.The Man without Qualities, by Robert Musil


10.Midnights Children, by Salman Rushdie

Little misfit

I loved sketching this. It started off as a random doodle to practice face features, but I found myself unravelling a story about a girl who loves to dress up and has arms like a string puppet.

 

weekend sketches

I feel that alot of my sporadic slightly off the wall ideas are starting to come together now. In this picture I think I have really improved on my drawing techniques without bieng too technical. I want to explore the theatrical and eccentric side of femininity. My work up until now has been exploratory in nature which I had a hard time dealing with since It felt as though i was merely jumping from one idea to another with no real 'togetherness' in my work. But now I realise that theres nothing wrong with that, and in fact it has been a revealing exercise in itself, giving me an insight on how my style of work keeps changing. Hopefully for the better. My future concerns lie in the quality of material and framing practice. Decent art materials are just so expensive, especially when I have a weak spot for Clinique make up and shoes. October is certainly going to be a month for prioritising.

 

Look what I unwrapped this morning

a belated birthday gift worth waiting for. The little doors open to reveal a mirror inside. A welcome addition to my dressing table. Thankyou Natalie for the lovely gift.

 

There are only 5 more minutes of summer left, my flowers out on the verandah are making their final push of colour. I will have to unpack my pullovers and other lint covered woolly garments which haven't seen light since April. But there's still a beautifuly lingering light over the river Tejo. Now that the beach season is over I'm looking forward to enjoying more weekends in the city, enjoying this light, visiting museums and having some tango lessons as promised by Mr T in Lisbon.

I'm in the mood for yellow

Trying to loosen my wrist a little more here, and not be fussy with details.

 

To my dearest Nats

who's leaving to teach in Mexico City on the 26th. She has been a great friend over the years and the biggest fan of my artwork, good and bad! If it was not for this funky lady I would never have thought about blogging or taking my artwork to the level that I want to take it to . Heres to you Nats on your fabulous adventures across the globe and your viva la vida' spirit!

When my mother was my age

this is how I would imagine her to look. My mother does not have any photographs of herself as a young woman. Back when she lived in Bangladesh, cameras were seen as a luxury and there were plenty of rural superstitions thrown in for measure too. A big shame really, because it has meant that a huge part of my heritage is literally clouded in mystery. Only memories shared once in a while. Thats why I absolutely adore Mr Ts parents for their love of collecting things. From his mothers old school books, kitsch postcards to the wedding albums of his grandmother, all of it leaves me overwhelmed with gratitude. It also makes me appreciate how tough it must have been for my mother to leave her homeland.

 

Aborning

This is a little portrait I made of my friend Goroart. It looks nothing like him, but I think I've managed to catch his spirit.It's in there somewhere.

 

Just when I thought I was all alone in this crazy world

we call the internet, the other day one of my myspace friends Goroart sent me a message to tell me he had just completed a piece using a photo from my myspace album. Hes a fantastic and prolific artist, devoting alot of time to what he loves.
I couldn't believe it| I was touched and thrilled at the news and was even more so when I saw it. Mr T gave it a proper thumbs up. Surprises like these are what makes my day, my month, my year in fact. Blogging has opened me up to so many sources of inspiration and wonder, but it has also allowed me to witness acts of kindness and generosity, none more so than in Kirsten and Elsitas giveaways and the blog award that literally came out of nowhere! My dream to indulge every weekday morning in scribbling, painting, poking,sewing,stuffing, twisting has come true. And it really doesn't phase me one bit when I burn toast, forget to put the milk back in the fridge and have my usual roadrunner dash to work. As long as I remember not to drink the aforementioned beverage, life feels quite bloomin nice.

Heres the lovely picture. I hope you like it. I love his use of colours and expressive brushstroke. If it were left to me I would have probably turned it into a kind of minestrone of splodgy colours. Best to leave this amount of paint to a person who clearly knows what they are doing.

my first framed piece

I bought this frame last month from one of those stores where they sell everything from bathmats to birthday cards and I decided to use one of my old sketches for it. Its amazing how different a drawing looks once its framed. I almost couldn't recognise it! I'm so happy with the finished look and I'm definately going to buy a whole stash of frames to put a few more of my sketches up in our home.

 

Elisa

Im really proud of this one. I love her 60's librarian hairstyle and jewelry, and didn't I tell you I would restrain myself with the colour? Black and white all the way.

 

Love is all around

and I got some of the love thanks to the lovely loveliness of Oiseaux! I have seen these popping up around blogland but did I ever think I would be blessed with this coveted title? No silly, of course not. Ive only been around for a year and a bit and my art still sucks. Well, it sucks less than it used to. Okay it doesnt. Enough of the self depricating blabber already.
Ill tell you what does suck though. Forgetting that there are alot of lovely people out there who might want to leave a comment and couldnt because silly old me only granted this wish exclusively to those who are gmail account holders. I have since changed my comment settings so there shouldnt be any more problems.
I also promise here and now, to be less sloppy with my punctuation. I must embrace apostrophes more.

I am now going to spread the love. According to the rules I must select seven blogs that I have enjoyed and ooohed over recently, but most of all, have given me oodles and oodles of inspiration. There are countless others, most of whom are on my link list. But I have alot of updating to do as there are so many great blogs out there.
Drumroll please. The award goes to....

1.Kirsty Hall: This blog gave me so much advice and modes of perspective on all things art related and life inspired. Its a no nonsense approach to blogging with less of the bling bling and more of the real thing..(ooh i really liked the way that rhymed..)

2.Amanda Blake Her work just thrills me to the core.

3.Elsie Marley A sewing convert, with great tutorials and ideas. The things that she has managed to rustle up with her trusty sewing machine makes me want to mentally repeat to myself; sewing machines wont kill you Khairun over and over and over...

4.Rosa Pomar: Drool over her beautiful selection of dolls. But not too much otherwise that would be gross. Its all in Portuguese but have no fear, the Google translater is there! (ok ok that was bad) Nevermind me, go and have a look. And see how long it takes before the doll making bug gets you. Seconds I tell you...SECONDS.

5.Dirt Silver and Gold : Her colour pencil drawings are heavenly, ethereal, soft... and they probably smell of talcum powder too.

6.Katy Horan : Lovely, imaginative artwork. Her work reminds me of Bosch (not to be confused with the washing machine...you know who I mean Mr Heronymonyhony..) plus she wants to learn how to play the banjo. That takes multitasking to a whole new level...

7.Swallowfield : Beautifully intricate and detailed drawings. Her work could look great on any surface.

Thankyou once again Shelley for including me in your list of chosen blogs.

Have a lovely day people!

xxx

Sweaters and hot chocolate

Getting prepared to say goodbye to the sunny days albeit on and off, and hello to red leaves, snug boots and writing in my diary. I tend to feel a little low this time of the year but Ive decided to embrace the coziness of more nights spent in, cooking,watching old films with Mr T and having more ME time. I have just started to learn how to crochet-yeahh!! and I made my first plush toy thanks to this fab tutorial courtesy of sugarshiva. A task and a half to say the least. But I felt so proud, even though I havent got round to sewing up the little hole where I stuffed it rather too enthusiastically. It feels more like a brick than a soft squishable toy, but hey, at least I tried.
This month I really want to sit back and take stock of all the things I have created and continue to create. I have alot of ideas but I want to start scaling things down, hone in on what makes me tick! So that hopefully and very soon I can go about starting my etsy shop!
So heres to a wonderfully warm and positive September! I know it can be a difficult month for many but keep smiling!