ANOTHER PAINTING

Here is another painting I have just finished today. I am really liking painting on the black background and using the black as the outline. I think it really high lights areas. I also like using the technique of gluing tissue paper onto the canvas to give it texture and movement.

This is done on an 8"x10" flat canvas

PENDANTS, A NEW ART PIECE AND AN AWARD

Hi everyone,

I have been trying hard to get some new stuff done in my art room this week. I just thought I would pop on and show you what exactly I have been up to.

First of all I have finally started making some art pendants with prints of my own artwork. I really like how they have turned out, but I want to get in and paint some more paintings to give me a bit more of a variety.

Here is one of the pendants I made.

I have signed the back and it is completely sealed.

I am having a bit of difficulty getting good photos of them all. The sun keeps going behind clouds today and taking away my natural lighting. So I can't put them up on Etsy just yet :(

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I am also trying out a new style of blending and painting at the moment. I am trying to loosen up a bit with my strokes. Which is pretty hard cause I am such a perfectionist.

What do you think?

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I was given this award by Shelley Szczucki at The Charming Place. Thank you so much Shelly for this wonderful award :)

Now I have to tell 7 facts about myself and then pass it on to 7 people. So here goes -

1. I love the Twilight book series.
2. I love listening to music while I paint.
3. I am loving the new series of 'Glee' on TV (all the single ladies, all the single ladies, put you hands up. LOL, too funny!).
4. I would love to go caravaning around Australia one day with my partner Alex.
5. I love the beach.
6. I am 5'6" tall.
7. I drive a Holden Barina hatch back.

the seven people I will pass it onto are -

1. Melissa
2. Serena Lewis
3. Micki Wilde
4. Genie Sea
5. The peanut butter bandit
6. Micah Holden
7. Autumn Davidson

MIXED MEDIA MAGNETS

Just wanted to pop on a show you these magnets that I have just painted. They are done on a 4"x4" flat canvas.

I also wanted to let you know that Alex and I got the house we applied for which I am really, really happy about. It is a lovely little town house, it is so much closer to my family, and did I mention I also get my very own art room all to myself!!! I can't wait to move into it! I guess I will be packing all next week as we move in next weekend. I can't believe it has all happened so quickly. So if I appear to be a bit absent from my blog next week, you know where I'll be :)

MIXED MEDIA PIECE COMPLETE AND AWARDS

This week has been crazy busy. I have been trying to get some artwork done but things just keep popping up each day to stop me.

I did however manage to finish this piece on Tuesday. I will be putting prints of it up on my Etsy store later today. I think it turned out well. I love how the tissue paper gives it texture.

8"x10" flat gallery wrapped canvas

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I also received a couple of blog awards from the wonderful Annette Quirke. Thank you so much for these awards Annette. If you haven't seen her blog yet pop over and check out her wonderful artwork, you won't be disappointed :)

For the Kreativ Blogger award I need to list 7 things that I love -

1. Painting
2. Roast Dinners
3. Newly washed bed sheets
4. My family and Partner
5. Art shopping
6. My morning coffee
7. Day's at the beach

For both of these Awards I would like to give them to all of my followers. I appreciate all of your supportive and encouraging comments. You all mean a lot to me :)

You are not obligated to take these awards if you don't want to. It is just a fun way of spreading the love.


Have a great day everyone!

TRYING OUT A NEW TECHNIQUE

Hi everyone,

I have been busy trying to look for houses to rent this week. Alex and I are moving, which I can't wait for. I hate the area we are in now, and I want to be closer to my family. We have put a couple of applications in, so fingers crossed we will get one. I hate house hunting, so I just want it to be easy. I have a really good feeling we have found the one though.

In between calling around and viewing houses I have been doing a little bit of art. I am trying out a new style that Julie-ann from Heavenly Art has been kind enough to show us. I love her art and thought I would give it a go.

Here are some progress pics -

I am having heaps of fun with this one, and can't wait to do more. Thank you so much Julie-ann for sharing this technique with us. You are truly a wonderful person.

MERMAID PAINTING IS COMPLETE

I think I have finished the Mermaid painting I showed you a couple of posts back. I have added a few little fish to it but, I keep thinking it needs something else, maybe that's just me. It would be great if you could let me know what you think, or if you have any suggestions.

MERMAID MIXED MEDIA WIP

I haven't had much time to get out my paints due to a lot of appointments lately. I have mainly been sketching and getting some ideas onto paper. I hope to scan a few and get them up on here in a few days.

Anyway, I just thought I would quickly share with you a mixed media piece in progress that I was working on a couple of weeks ago. I haven't yet been able to finish and was almost about to give up on it until I received some kind feedback about it from my family who was over visiting today.

I have been wanting to try a mermaid painting for a while now. I still have to do more work to it and add a few little fishes (as my Brother Beau suggested).

Have a great night/day everyone :)

BOOKMARKS

I have been busy painting some new bookmarks yesterday and today, and have finally finished (the painting bit at least). I plan to make prints of them to sell in my Etsy store. They will be laminated and have a tassel at the end.

work in progress

my original sketches with the finished bookmarks

I will be adding words to most of them as well

I hope you like them :)

PROCRASTINATING, DECORATING, AND ANNOYING WISDOM TEETH

Boy oh boy, where do the weeks ago. I can't believe it is the end of July all ready. I have been pretty bad this week in getting motivated to do some art, actually I have been pretty bad the last couple of weeks. I just keep putting it off and being lazy instead. I keep thinking about stuff that I want to do in the future, and I let it distract me from concentrating on the here and now. I know I am doing this but I find it hard to pull myself back sometimes. I think I might go somewhere nice this weekend to distract my crazy mind. Hopefully next week will be a better one.

I have managed to do a little bit of art in between my laziness though, but not as much as I could be getting done or want to be getting done.

I have been preparing new canvases to start painting, and sketching some ideas for bookmarks that I want to make

I also managed to paint two canvases too, though I was just experimenting with backgrounds

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DECORATING

My Mum, Serena Lewis has been redecorating her bedroom at the moment and got me in the mood to do a little myself. I felt like bringing a bit more colour to my bedroom, so I took advantage of the end of financial year sales and bought a few more bed linens and cushions to brighten it up a bit. It's not a huge change, but it's big enough to make me happier with it.

My bed before

and my bed after
I really like the colours orange, aqua and chocolate together. Most of my house is decorated in these colours.

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ANNOYING WISDOM TEETH

I have also been dealing with a pretty inflamed wisdom tooth that has been annoying me for about a year now, and I have had enough of it. I had to get x-rays done yesterday to see whether the tooth was too close to the nerve in the gums or not. Luckily it's not to bad and they can take it out without to much of a risk. Though it is still attached to the bone so I will need to get some of that removed to, eep!! I am not the biggest fan of going to the dentist, but I guess it has to get done before the problem gets worse. I also got my very first filling done while I was in there which wasn't a pleasant experience. That needle almost gave me a heart attack! My jaw is so sore today and I still need to go back to get one more filled :(

SMILE!

LATEST MIXED MEDIA PAINTING

I have finally finished the mixed media piece I have been working on for a while now. I have had a lot of distractions that have kept me from finishing it, but I sat down yesterday and got it done.

When I first started this piece all I had was a blank canvas and no idea what it was going to become. I just started building layers with the background and adding stamps and different textures, and it went from there. If it looks familiar you may have seen the sneak peek of it in progress in my creative everyday post the other day. I am happy with how it turned out in the end. What do you think?

ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY - CRAVING

This is my first entry into the Illustration Friday group. The subject for this week was "craving".


She craves to be on a tropical island as she does the housework

It is a mixed media piece done on a 5"x7" flat canvas. I used Acrylic paint, card stock, pages from an old book and gel medium.

Thanks for taking a peek :)

!!!GIVEAWAY!!!

Yay! My very first giveaway!

I am so excited to be giving away four of my original hand painted mixed media magnets. Each magnet is a separate giveaway so you have 4 chances to win something.

All you have to do is leave a comment in this post to be in the draw.

They were each created using a flat 4x4 canvas, acrylic paint, card stock, gel medium and a magnet. They have been fully varnished for protection and are signed on the back.

I will be drawing the 4 winners at the end of the month - 30th June 2009

I am happy to post anywhere in the world so feel free to spread the word. The more the merrier!

These are the four magnets

MIXED MEDIA WIP CONTINUED

Here are some more photos of my work in progress from my previous post. It is not quite finished yet as I have been only able to do small amounts of work on it each day because Alex was home for a four day long weekend, and we have been busy with other stuff. Hopefully I will get a chance to finish it this week.

CHANGES AND MIXED MEDIA WIP

I am so obsessed with mixed media art at the moment. I live and breathe it. Which is a bit scary sometimes when I can't get to sleep because it's all I am thinking about. I know it is definitely something that I want to pursue and hopefully make a small business out of someday. You will probably notice a few changes around my blog and my Etsy store as I find my feet and try new things. My blog name is no longer Raggedy Ruckus but, Dolls-n-Art by Michelle. You will probably notice a few changes with my artwork as well as I find my niche in this crazy, fast moving art world. I am so excited about these changes and can't wait to begin my new journey.

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I have been working on a new mixed media piece and thought I would show my work in progress. I am quite happy with how it is taking shape so far. I am even a little nervous to continue just in case I wreck what I have already done. I will keep going though cause it obviously needs to be finished.

Stage 1 - I glued down different designed card stock with gel medium and then seal with the same gel medium

Stage 2 and 3 - I painted the background using washes of acrylic paint and then started painting my design onto the piece

It is an 8"x10" flat canvas and I am using card stock, acrylic paint, and a graphite pencil.

BLESSED

Here is another mixed media art piece that I just finished. I am really happy with how it turned out. Hope you like it too :)

I had a few people commenting that they like seeing the progression pictures so I thought I would share a couple with you.





©Michelle Eaton

REACH FOR THE STARS

Here is another mixed media piece that I finished yesterday.

It reads - Reach for the stars

I feel I am learning something knew with every piece I do. Figuring out what I like and what I don't. I feel like I am actually starting to go somewhere I want to be with it all.

and...

SOME BUDGIE MADNESS!!!

Annie decided to come join me in my artroom yesterday when I was working on the above piece. I quickly got out my camera and took these shots while she was exploring my desk.

It kinda looks like she is dancing, he he!

She had fun trying to rip that cotton bud to pieces

She then decided to fly into the bathroom to continue her adventure.

Here she is climbing all over the floor mat that is hung over the shower

Where is she going?

Back on her cage with Iggy

MONDAY PHOTO OF THE WEEK

So for this weeks photo of the week I thought I would show you some progress pics of the mixed media painting I have been working on for my friends baby shower.

I actually had know idea what I was going to do when I sat down to do this. I only knew that it was for a babies room and that I would be using pink and white. I started by gluing down some different types of overlapping card stock in the middle of the piece leaving a border.

After I painted the background and added some stamps, I drew a lady off center and decided she would look nice with a bubba in her arms

I then painted the border (leaving it slightly raggedy), and cut out some card stock into circles and added them around the border

I then added the words - "You rose into my life like a promised sunrise, brightening my days with the light in your eyes"

I am happy with how it turned out. I just hope my friend likes it.