Big Magic!

Last Thursday night, I was lucky enough to see one of my favourite authors, Elizabeth Gilbert, and one of my fave bloggers, Mia Freedman speak at the Brisbane Writer's Festival. One thing that really stood out (among many things!) was when she said: "People wait their whole lives for inspiration to show up. But inspiration is there waiting for you (to start doing the work)." This is how I feel about painting. I can sit an look and think about a blank canvas all day long, and no matter what I have planned for it, once I begin to paint - it has a mind of it's own. For instance - I recently started out painting a "Day of the Dead" themed mermaid. I had it sketched out, planned out and started painting it on to the canvas. However...as it evolved, I realised what I was actually painting was "Snow White"...and along came the seven dwarfs with her. Except they weren't dwarfs at all - they were fish. Which eventually turned out to be "Snow White and the Seven Fish" (and the original painting is now up for auction, starting at $1 here!) There is a sense of mystery when it comes to inspiration and creativity - you just have to follow that little niggling of curiosity and see where you end up! If you're excited about living creatively - I highly recommend Elizabeth Gilbert's book "Big Magic" (and no, this isn't a sponsored post, I truly loved it.) With Easter coming up - I've put five of my bunny themed prints up for sale for a limited time only they are just $9.99 (normally $14.99)! For the collectors, I have a bunch of original paintings available here. Be quick! There is only one original painting of each, so once they're sold, they're gone. That is all from me for now. x Follow along with me ↓↓↓ Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ArtByJaz Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/JazHiggins Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/ArtByJaz

Februfairy!

FEBRUFAIRY is here!

Every couple of days this month I'll pop up a new small fairy painting for auction HERE.

So far we have:

"Love Birds"



and
"Purple Dragonfly Friends"

 

Each auction will start at $50, so this is your chance to snap up an original piece of art at a great price!

Watch them as they flutter in every couple of days. Keep up to date on my Facebook page, or through Instagram.

Also - if you haven't already, jump on my mailing list to grab your FREE February colouring in calendar:



 

"Little Pineapple Princess"

Hello!

Today has been the typical work-at-home-Mum (WAHM) duties...school pick ups, cooking, and in between working at my desk, making and packaging art prints, taking them to the post office etc. 

Now that that's out of the way I've had time to scan in and list a new mini painting. This one is called "Little Pineapple Princess":

I've popped her up for auction starting at $1, so everyone is in with a chance.

The other little painting I have up for auction at the moment is "Purple Vampire Fairy". As I write this the auction is up to $7.50 with just under 3 days to go, so you might be in luck to grab a bargain original painting!

"Purple Vampire Fairy"

      

 That's all for my eBay auctions, however if you pop over to my website, I still have FREE WORLDWIDE SHIPPING on everything, so if you're interested in an original painting (other than the ones for auction) you will be better off buying it direct from me and saving on shipping. 

That's all of my art news for today. I'm off to bath the kids!

P.S. Sign up to my mailing list below for special offers and secrets. If you sign up today you will get a FREE pdf of printable Easter tags!

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"Blessed Mermaid"

Hello Monday!

Our weekend was mostly filled up with catching up with friends and family. The weather is still HOT here in Brisbane Australia, so I would've been happy to sit at home in the air con all day, but I'm glad we got out and about. :) We went to Wynnum yesterday for lunch and the kids loved playing on the whale park.


On Saturday morning I finished and listed a new original painting "Blessed Mermaid" up for auction in my eBay store, starting at $1.

"Blessed Mermaid"

 It's 15cm x 30cm on stretched canvas, so it can hang on the wall or sit on it's own on a desk or side table.

It looks like the week ahead will be filled with lots of painting with a couple of commission requests coming in this weekend. It's fun to do custom paintings now and then. When I'm painting I can have a million ideas running through my head, and I never really know where the piece is going to end up. Sometimes I can start painting a mermaid and it turns into a fairy. But with a custom piece, I am working with someone else to bring their ideas and dreams into being. It's really a team effort!

Even if you don't want to commission a painting for yourself, I would love to hear any ideas you might have for paintings. Feel free to message me anytime on Instagram or my Facebook page.

Here's to a great week!

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"Midnight Purple Fairy"

We spent the weekend away on the coast. It was nice to get away and have a change of scenery, but it seems our kids always get sick when we travel. Always! This time was no different, and Baby A decided to throw up last night at midnight all over our hotel bed, and there was no spare linen. Great. So we spent a restless Saturday night sleeping on beach towels! 

Thankfully, it was only a 24 hr thing and he was fine the minute we returned home. I spent Sunday afternoon taking some pics out in the backyard of a new painting "Midnight Purple Fairy". As you can see Baby A decided the photos needed a bit of turtle power...

 

This one is an 8"x8" painting of a little purple fairy with golden coloured wings on a midnight purple background. She is now up for auction HERE in my eBay store, starting at just $1!

"Midnight Purple Fairy"

I like the thick sides on these smaller paintings because you don't have to hang them on the wall, they will sit up by themselves on a desk or side table if you want to display them that way as well.

Side View

I'm pretty sure that now I have caught whatever bug that Baby A had on the weekend! I'm trying to spend the day resting up and getting better. I'm so grateful I've got Hubby home today to help with mailing out art orders.

Ready to take to the post office!

Hopefully I'll be able to get some painting done tonight, if I'm feeling up to it.

Hope you are well! 

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An (online) shop of my very own.

You know how I was testing out millions of different types of papers? Well I've found the perfect paper for my art prints. The colours look stunningly vibrant. It's matte and beautiful to touch. This paper is made in France (ooh la la!) and it's museum quality, so it's perfect for art collectors.

I've organised my prints, and they are up in my NEW shop!

Yep, it's now OPEN!

 The old version of my art prints will still be available for the next month or so, in my eBay and Etsy stores, just to clear out current stock, however after that I will be converting all of my stores to the beautiful new prints.

This month I'm also offering FREE (Worldwide) postage on all of my new art prints, postcards and ACEOs in my new shop. All you need to do is sign up to my newsletter below and I will send you an email with the FREE postage code!

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Now I'm off to make dinner for this hungry family of mine.
Hope you had a great weekend!

"Mystical Garden Fairy"

Today it has just been the kids and I at home while Hubby is at Soundwave, so I've been able to potter around and get some tidying up done, as well as a little bit of painting too. Thank goodness the weather has been cooler today than the heatwave of the last 2 days!

Last night I listed a new painting called "Mystical Garden Fairy". It features a fairy with big purple eyes and pinky purple wings. She's in a mystical garden of flowers, and has a crysanthemum, hippie inspired headband.

"Mystical Garden Fairy"

The original painting sold within an hour! Before I even had time to blog about it. If you want to be the first to know about any new paintings that I have, be sure to follow my Facebook page or Twitter account, as I update those as soon as I have one for sale.

If you love it, but missed out on the original painting, there are still prints available HERE in my Etsy store. (or HERE in my eBay store).

My eyes are a bit blurry and I've got a headache (probably from flicking between looking at the computer, my painting and the kids), so I think it's time to take a break. Hope you're having a nice weekend!

"Little Blue Bubble Mermaid"

It's 10pm and I haven't even picked up a paint brush today! Some days are simply all about running errands, other 'art business' like emails, social networking posts, updating products etc, not to mention all the Mummy stuff, that I don't actually put a brush to canvas. It's ok though. It comes with the territory. :)

Last night I put another 5x7" painting up for auction! This one is called "Little Blue Bubble Mermaid". She's got a little shell bow and pearls scattered through her hair.

"Little Blue Bubble Mermaid"

"Little Blue Bubble Mermaid" Original Painting 5x7"

 At the time of writing this, it's currently at $10 with no bids, so this might be your chance to grab a bargain!

You might notice in the listing, I spent a couple of hours last night creating a new 'banner'. I'm still not 100% sure about the font I used though. I liked that it looks like a paint brush type, but I'm not sure that it's my style? What do you think? 

 

I'm no graphic designer. I may have to get my friend Tabitha from Wrappd Designs to help me out next time!

 "Like a Diamond in the Sky" is also still up for auction - ending on Sunday night at 8:30pm AEDST.

It's officially a 'school night' - and while I'm tempted to start painting now that the babies are asleep, I think it's also time for me to catch some zzz's as well. I need to get my brain ready for some serious painting tomorrow! :) Goodnight.

The Watch Flower

Last night I listed a little mini painting (4"x4") up for auction here. It's an eye study I painted over a few nights last week and I decided to add a few petals around it and create my first "Watch Flower". It reminds me of something Alice might find in Wonderland.

 

Side View:

I've signed and dated it on the back.

Back View:

At 4"x4" it is tiny so it would look cute sitting on a desk, or in a little nook somewhere.

I've had a big day today - ending with Miss 5's preschool graduation. Yes, complete with cap and gown and all! So incredibly cute. I'm going to bed one tired but very proud Mumma. 

Goodnight!