Playing with water colour

Time to get my watercolours out & have some fun. I have never taken a class, I just haven't had time to squeeze it in, apparently these things happen when both kids are at school!
Experimenting is my only way to play, & I look at other accomplished artist's work, & look on you tube for technical inspiration.

I decided to have a go at painting some hand drawn lettering.

The initial sketch was the easy part.

Then I tackled the back ground. I got all of the colour on there. getting into tight spaces prove to be more difficult that I thought.

Adding some colour was so much fun & it started to become something.

Getting there.

Done! I added some white dots in acrylic to lift areas of it. I actually wanted to outline some of the letters in while, but my brush was a little large & too soft. I will need to speak to my art supplies about that as I am not sure how to tackle it. I also feel I need to work on my background. It looks a bit blotchy & uneven. I am not sure why, but no doubt it's all technique based. 

Regardless I found the whole creative task really calming.

A bite of rainbow fun

Sunday morning always says to me, yummy breakfast. My kids love pancakes so this morning I decided to make them a little more fun....add some colour & make them rainbow pancakes!!

A basic pancake base & some food colouring make life so exciting for my kids.

Needless to say they were a success.

Have a great Sunday.

Rediscovering Hand Lettering Typography

I was asked a couple of days ago did I draw a lot at school. The answer was not a great deal. I did a little graphics in high school, which was quite architect & technical based & was completely hand draw. Nothing truly inspiring. My parents I have mentioned before, were far from artistic so it was never encouraged.

Talking about this with a friend actually brought back some memories which I had completely forgotten about. In primary school I was very into decorating my school books, like most if us. One thing that came as clear as day was the joy I had with creating letters by hand. I loved creating my name in hand drawn fonts. When we had assignments the heading was always drawn like bubbles, or straight & square. Inside the letters were always patterns. I always drew spot, stripes, birds, flowers, hearts & stars around the letters. The I loved to create borders. I am finding it quite interesting how I had somehow forgotten my joy for this, I think it's because when I did start drawing seriously again it was all clothes due to my job, & now children's icons. 

Obviously my subconscious knew how much I enjoyed it due to the current pieces I have created quite recently here, here, here & here. I have been quite drawn to it lately, even a little obsessed, it's all about finding my unique style which I have been woking so hard, & I am really enjoying it. 

Again I find myself doodling away & have come up with these two in the last 48hours. They still need to be coloured, & I can see a lot of work has to be done. 

And this one...

It's been a lot of fund incorporating the letters with my own style. 

Lets see where it will go, I love the whole unknown part of this process.

Have a great Friday xx

Pinning Water Colours

I love water colours, there is something so soft, gentle, & peaceful about them. I love how colours bleed into each other, it can have such a refreshing effect. With spring shining here at the moment, it has me feeling inspired to create.

Here are some gorgeous finds on pinterest I have found.

Source 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

I hope these designs & such beautiful colours inspire your day.

farm inspired fun

Playing with repeat patterns, SO MUCH FUN!!

A bit of farm inspired fun.

Oink piggy on  forks

Nine piece farm fun collection.

Lovely windmill, some fallen apples & a blue bird.

The idea of an alternate lifestyle

I live in Melbourne & I wouldn't call myself a hard core city girl, but I do love being in the metropolitan area. Before kids I dreamed of living walking distance to all of the very cool hang outs of Melbourne. Nothing excited me more knowing I could walk to the closest pub for Sunday drinks at the beer gardens, or to the hip restaurants. unfortunately my budget never allowed that lifestyle, so I lived about 20mins out & public transport & taxi's were used.

I find myself very happy in the burbs. I live in a great estate, I am very close to what's important to me & my family, & thats all that matters. I do find myself some days thinking about moving out further to suburbs with larger blocks of land, with more tree, a fairly super semi rural life style. I dream of sitting out on a big timber deck, working in the sun, having a hammock to relax in, swimming in my pool, pottering in the garden, & my neighbours fence being in the far distance.

What a cute little house & so much space - source

Hammock heaven - source unknown.

Just a bit of privacy would be great. I am not talking acres & acres or a farm, just an acre maybe two. Enough room to even have some chickens, how lovely that would be to have really fresh eggs? A huge veggie patch would be nice to.

I think about the space for the kids. They can't ride their bikes outside like I did growing up, too many cars & too much dangers. To kick & throw a ball with all their might without it going over the fence. Sprinting with the dog until they run out of breath & without backyard obstacles to consider.

source

Sounds good doesn't it. I honestly think about it all the time. But there is always an element of doubt & fear in my mind.

DO I LOVE THE IDEA OF IT? OR DO I REALLY WANT TO DO IT?

I just can't work it out at the moment. It's something I am not actioning any time soon. I wonder if I will get to a point when I consider it seriously & look into it. The thought of that makes me very anxious, but in the same thought so calming.

Who knows??

My website is live

After weeks of planning my website is now live. I am so happy with it.

Today I found myself checking it out constantly :) I even got my husband to place an order to make sure everything worked. For those living in Australia all postage in capped at $10.

My shop is full & up to date. I still need to get in their & add images of drawings for my portfolio, additional information, & also concrete the details for my design service I am now offering.
More info on that soon.

I am one very happy girl.

www.tigesandweince.com

What do you think? Make sure you sign up to my newsletter, as I am going to be having an grand opening treat.

feeling rather rejuvenated

I have just come home from my trip to QLD, I had a great time but kind of feeling like I need a holiday from the holiday if you know what I mean. Being on the go every single day is very tiring, especially on the legs, theme parks really take it out of you. However a great feeling, & I have to admit I am glad to be back. There is no place like home.

On a positive note.....I am feeling rather rejuvenated. I tried very hard to not really do a lot of work, except the essentials like answering emails & so forth. It was lovely to just be, & go with the flow. having a break from the structure of life is very healthy.I did get a change to do a little bit of sketching, with is not work to me I really love it. I just love to sit there with my pencil, eraser & black marker. It's a form of freedom to just start & see where it ends up. With the beautiful warmth of the sun, I was inspired to draw this.

I am looking forward to adding some colour when I get a chance.

So now that I am back I am feeling the inspiration I crave in my belly. The last couple of  months that feeling just wasn't there. I think it was just being emotionally tired & in need of a break. We are all human & can only push ourselves so much.

I have a lot to do with Xmas pending. My Christmas range is ready to release...YAY!! I have pretty much finished my website, & need to get that baby live....EXCITING!! I start the next instalment of Lilla Rogers MATS course in October, which I am feeling anxious about. On top of that I have some new ideas floating around I would like to action.

Stay tuned....

In QLD

OK, so I haven't blogged for a few days, but I think I have a pretty valid excuse.
I am having a holiday on the sunny Gold Coast in Queensland. It's been absolute heaven.

We have been here 5 days already, & the sun has been shining, & the weather has been so warm. Its been a busy few days, we have been swimming, visited the beach, played tennis, eaten ice cream, been to Movie World & Sea World as well as visiting a friend in Byron Bay.

I also haven't been able to get any wifi which has made me feel a little anxious. Although I am on holidays, I still have to check in work wise. After a few days of not being able to connect to any type of wifi here in the resort, I made a complaint about it on my FB page & I was told to use the hotspot on my phone. Who would have thought??? So easy...incredible!! So I am back on line feeling a lot better.

I have a few photos to share with you.

Some fun at Movie World.

Rides & superheros.

Sea World

 More ride & lots of fun.

I hope to have some more photos in couple of days, we are having a great time.

Door Decals - 24hr Shopping Opportunity.

I have been working on new decal designs & have finally managed to get them all loaded into my shop. These designs are a lot smaller than the wall ones, & are specifically designed to go on your child's bedroom door, or in a smaller space.

The size of them is based on an A4, 21x29cm. The decal designs fit perfectly within those dimensions.

They are petite, beautiful, & there are more designs in my shop.

For every reader I am offering a great deal of buy 2 & get a 3rd FREE!!

It's that simple jut place your orders & advise which FREE decal you would like upon checkout. A great opportunity for early Christmas buying, or pending birthday gifts.

Don't forget to advise the names you would like on your designs.

This offer is for 24hrs only, & is worldwide. 

Please share with friends & family I would love everyone to benefit.