Art

Eternal – Abstract Art

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My latest piece Eternal, I think, is one of my best abstract pieces. I loved creating it so much. It brought joy to my day, even if it started out terrible. Now that I have finished it, I don’t feel sad that it’s over. I feel excited. Excited to put it out into the world. No matter what anyone’s reaction is. I’m endlessly proud of my work and it’s the closest to perfect I’ve managed to obtain this far in my new found love and appreciation for abstract art.

Above: The first stages of creating Eternal.

Most people see an abstract piece and think “well that must have taken all of 2 seconds to slap the paint on.” But let me tell you, Abstract art, a good piece takes hours. It takes mastery of techniques that most people don’t think of as techniques at all. When the only map or blueprint you have is in your head it is incredibly difficult to transfer that on to a canvas. It also takes a skill that I’ve been finding the hardest to master so far and its probably the most important……. knowing when to stop.

In the picture above I am introducing some deeper colours and shapes with green, blue and purple. I love soft blends and cloud like shapes. I love adding the deeper colours to give the piece more drama.

The texture of paint is what I love, using paint brushes and palette knives to create depth and interest in the piece is something that is new to me. I am really loving learning about how the palette knives work and the interesting shapes you can make using them.

Above: Eternal – the finished piece.

With my new found fascination for soft blends and dramatic depth of colour I think I will be creating many more pieces similar to this one.

If you would like to follow me on my art journey come and follow my Instagram or Facebook pages. Want to own one of my pieces? That’s easy, go to my Etsy store to check out what’s available!

Cheers,

Chrissy xx

One year Anniversary – where on earth has the time gone?u

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I have now been an Artist for just over a year. I am shocked at how far I’ve come in one short year. I’ve made so much progress and I’ve been able to address some of my confidence issues.

Above is one of my very first sketches……. 🙈🙈

As an artist you are forever being judged. So many people think you don’t actually “work” and that it must be easy to throw some paint on a canvas. There will always be someone sniggering behind your back, sometimes even to your face. But you know what the best thing I’ve learnt this year is? Is not to care or listen to the armchair critics. The quicker you learn to ignore the ‘know-it-alls’ the better off you are going to be.

Above is a short video a start of a puffin sketch. It turned out really nice. It just shows a little bit of effort every day over time is totally worth it.

I have enjoyed so much about the last year. I’ve loved that many people love my art and that lots of my pieces (prints and originals) are making lots of people happy. I’ve loved learning new skills and learning how to perfect certain techniques. I’ve even enjoyed finding myself lost and not sure how to move a piece forward. I have also enjoyed being able to put those pieces down, move to something new and then coming back to the old piece and knowing exactly where to go.

Learning that I don’t have to force myself to be creative and enjoying the fact that some of my better pieces were created when I threw the rule book out the window.

I learnt to TRUST myself. Trust that I am actually good at this. It’s wonderful that after many years, several different jobs and career choices that I have finally found something I love. And yet I still have SO much farther to go. The road may seem never ending, but holy moly I am going to enjoy strolling off down the winding dirt path with the fairies.

Keep up with my progress and all my new pieces for this next year by following me on Instagram and Facebook. If you would like to see what original pieces and prints I have on sale at the moment check out my Etsy Store or my Redbubble Site.

Norbert the Dragon.

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Anyone who knows me, knows I love Harry Potter. I especially love drawing the magical creatures in the movies. My most recent piece that I’ve drawn is Norbert the Norwegian Ridgeback. It took me a long time to get all the details right. I hope you all like him!

First Stages – sketching out his shape and making sure all the proportions are accurate. I chose to draw him on A3 size 110gsm sketching paper.

The first few layers of the wings were tricky. Using my graphite pencils and my pencil eraser to try to get the texture right.

My next major challenge was the texture in the wood of the table he was on. Inserting the shadows underneath Norbert gives the 3D affect to my graphite sketch.

The final stages are a little tedious sometimes. You can see the end, it’s so close but it’s not quite perfect yet! This stage probably took the longest time to complete.

After approximately 5 hours of work, here Norbert is! I really love him. Now I get to choose another beast to draw! If anyone has any suggestions drop you choice in the comments.

Now, as Norbert isn’t my original creation he won’t be for sale. I do have many other animals, flowers and landscapes available to purchase in my etsy store. Here’s a link to one if my small dragon sketches! Dragon Art Print

If you would like to keep up to date with all my art sketches and paintings please check out my Facebook or Instagram accounts.

See you all soon,

Chrissy xx

Nail art

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Some more cute nail art I’ve done. The Christmas nails are probably part of my all time favourites. I love Christmas, it’s my favourite time of year! Gathering around with the family. Christmas in Australia and the UK are so totally different. In Aussie we wear flip flops and swimmers to a BBQ. More than likely we’ve been swimming at the beach already in the morning. In the UK, obviuously we have the fire going and lots of food in the oven. It’s a lot more stressful in the UK I must say, it’s more of a production. I do miss an Aussie Christmas but dare say once we move home I’ll miss a UK Christmas too!