Monday, January 27, 2014

"Little Green Vine Fairy"

  Over the weekend I managed to finish off another little 5x7" painting. This one is called "Little Green Vine Fairy" and she is up for auction in my eBay store.

"Little Green Vine Fairy"
Do you like her freckles?
We also went on a road trip to visit my Grandparents in Warwick, it's been over 6 months since we've seen them so it was so nice to catch up with them and the rest of the family. Happy Birthday to my Gran who's 89 today!

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Tuesday, January 21, 2014

6 Things I'm Loving Right Now.

1. Getting organised.

Although I'm a Virgo, you might be surprised to know I'm really not all that organised. I live in pretty much what I call "organised chaos" most of the time. I really appreciate clear, functional spaces, but I have a terrible time trying to maintain them. Maybe it's because I'm a tortured artist, or maybe it's because I'm a Mum. Either way - I'm enjoying plotting out my days in my 2014 Frankie journal, and the feeling I get when I do accomplish organisation of some sort.

2.  Handmade toys.

Although Miss 5 is obsessed with Lalaloopsy dolls and My Little Ponies, I do love finding one-off, handmade toys for my kids to play with. I certainly can't make everything myself (I can't sew for the life of me!) but I am always on the look out for fun DIY things to make with the kids. Today I stumbled upon one of Merilee's latest tutorials over at Mer Mag which I thought was pretty cute:


Mer Mag | Stacking House Blocks
 I absolutely love the colours she used on these stacking house blocks!

3. Iced coffee.

Is having at least one iced coffee a day classed as an addiction?

 

My home-made recipe:

1 tblspoon instant coffee powder/granules
1 tblspoon raw sugar
 ice
milk
ice-cream (optional)

Dissolve coffee + sugar in a few drops of boiling water, add ice to cool the water down, top up with milk and add a scoop of icecream on top.

Confession: Lately I've also had a few Macca's coffee frappes. I don't even want to know the calorie content of those bad boys!

4. Vlogs.

In those rare, quiet moments when the babies are asleep - I can get out the paintbrushes and watch trash tv. Lately, I've swapped the trash tv for youtube vlogs. Among my faves this week are:

grav3yard girl
and
dailyBUMPS

I would love to find a full-time Artist/Mummy vlogger. Are there any out there??

5. booko.com.au

Someone recommended this link (via Twitter I think?) the other day and I love it! It gives you the best price (incl. postage) on books or dvds across nearly all bookseller websites.

 6. Art by Daniel Merriam

I stumbled upon this artist on Facebook, and I'm completely in awe of his use of colour and intricate details. Mesmerizing.
 
 art blog - daniel merriam - empty kingdom
 
That's all for now. I have 2 crazy little creatures to attend to. Dinner to make. Commissions to work on later tonight. :) Hope you're all having a nice week!



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Thursday, January 16, 2014

Ramping It Up

I've noticed the trend for New Year's Resolutions this year is to not have one, but rather have a 'word' or 'theme' that you are keeping with for the year. I have a few resolutions in my mind that I've roughly set (the usual - eat healthier, move more, paint more, write more), but my theme for this year is "ramping it up!"

It mainly relates to work, but also a few other areas of my life too. Baby A is nearly 10 months, and slowly gaining more and more independance, and Miss 5 is off to school, so there's going to be a change in routine this year. I still plan on mainly working from my home studio, and slowly ramping up my hours as we go. With Baby A home with me most of the time (at least until he's weaned from breastmilk), I can't go off 'maternity leave' completely, but I think I can dedicate a few more hours to painting than I've been able to the past few months (in between feeds, sleeps & school pick ups!).

I've started taking on some commissioned pieces again, however there's still a waiting list of a couple of months, so if you have something in mind, let me know as soon as you can. :)

Today I've been working on this little guy:


It's going to be a White Rabbit painting for a baby boy! He looks a bit scary at the moment, but it's just the under-painting part. This is only a section of the painting, because I don't want to give too much away just yet, but I hope to share the whole thing once it's completed. Most of my paintings feature girls, so it's fun to work on something with a boy theme!

Speaking of boys, I have a 9 month old one that needs my attention right now. So that's all folks!


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Monday, January 13, 2014

"Pink Party Fairy" and "Little Blue Butterflies"

It's just Baby A and I at home today. So while he's asleep, I've had the chance to list another little 5x7" painting that I finished up a couple of nights ago.

She is called "Pink Party Fairy".

"Pink Party Fairy" Original Painting by Jaz Higgins
 
She is painted on a 5x7" stretched canvas, so it's ready to hang straight on the wall. I've started the auction at $10, so everyone can have the chance to bid. :)

My other auction at the moment is "Little Blue Butterflies", and it ends tomorrow!

"Little Blue Butterflies" Painting by Jaz Higgins
"Little Blue Butterflies" Original Painting
There aren't any bids yet, so this might be your chance to grab a piece of my original art at a bargain price!

I'm enjoying doing these smaller paintings in between commissioned work that I have. While I'm waiting for paint to dry, or on an email reply, I can potter away at these little canvasses, and eventually pop them up for bargain prices. :)

Ok, time for me to go hang some washing out while bub is asleep...
 
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Friday, January 10, 2014

Gemini, Little Blue Butterflies & Movies!

I've had my latest Zodiac painting in the works for the last couple of months, but had to take a break from it while I worked on things with Christmas deadlines, but last night I finally listed this one for sale. It's "Gemini" - one for all of the May/June babies out there. It features the "Twins" holding the symbol of Gemini between them. They are standing amongst all of the birth flowers for this sign: lilac, azaleas and lavender. I gave the background a floaty, swirly design as Gemini's element is Air, and the colour yellow is closely associated with this zodiac sign also.

"Gemini" Painting by Jaz Higgins
"Gemini" Zodiac Twins

If the original painting is out of your budget (or sold by the time you read this), there are also prints available. 




I also have a small (5x7") original painting up for auction HERE. Starting at just $10!
 
"Little Blue Butterflies" Painting by Jaz Higgins
"Little Blue Butterflies" Original Painting
 ***
 

This morning the kids and I went to see 'Frozen'. I had heard rave reviews about it, even one person saying it was "the best Disney movie since 'The Lion King'". I have to say it certainly lived up to the rave reviews (it was a fabulous movie!), but I think that 'Tangled' was better. I LOVE Tangled! :)


"Tangled" vs "Frozen" - which do you think was better? Leave your answer in the comments below.

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Wednesday, January 8, 2014

Hello 2014.

Happy New Year! 

We're back from camping over the New Year's break. It was our first camping trip with the kids and we're really glad we did it!

http://www.campingcountryaustralia.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Charlie-Morelands-Sign.jpg
Photo courtesy of http://www.campingcountryaustralia.com.au

Notes (to myself) for next time:

Get a bigger tent. 
Our tent was a 4 person tent (but can really only fit 2 people comfortably!). Luckily we brought an extra dome style (beach) tent that we were able to store our 'stuff' in, because the floor of our tent was entirely covered with our beds. Which brings me to the next tip...

Get a better bed.
We had an inflatable air mattress, and yep, you guessed it, it slowly went down over night. Our friends that we camped with (more experienced campers) had a mattress that was half memory foam, half self inflating mattress, and I think that might be the way to go next time. Don't skimp on the bedding!

Take a marquee/gazebo.
We didn't take anything for shade at all! I was thinking we would hang out under a tree or in our tent, but it turns out that it was far too hot to do that. Thank goodness our friends brought a pop up gazebo with them, which we stayed under the majority of the time. We even had a little afternoon sleep under it, until I was rudely awoken by a goanna! But that's another story...

We camped at Charlie Moreland Camping Area in Imbil State Forest. It's a beautiful place to be. It really has a "middle of the forest" feel (because you basically are!), with birds singing and lots of wildlife around. There's flushable toilets but no showers, so you're best to have a dip in the fresh water creek there. We were there during hot summer days so it was fine to swim twice a day and the kids absolutely loved it! Talk about getting in touch with nature!
"Little Yabba Creek" Photo courtesy of Greg Roberts http://sunshinecoastbirds.blogspot.com.au

2014 has set in, Hubby is back at work, Miss 5 soon starts school (OMG!) and although Baby A is still at home with me full-time, I'm slowly getting back in to work and plan on ramping up my work time as the year goes on. I have a couple of commissioned paintings in the works at the moment, but I do have a couple of months waiting list, so if you're interested in a commissioned piece for the early part of this year, please let me know asap.

I haven't set in stone any resolutions for this year (yet?) - rather just ideas spinning around in my head. Getting away from the little studio under the stairs and sleeping out under the stars has left me feeling rather inspired! 

What are your resolutions for 2014?
 
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