Free Printable Easter Tags

Before we know it, it will be Easter! So I made these cute Easter themed tags for all of my 'Enchanted Ones' (people on my mailing list). Never fear if you're not on my mailing list - you can get direct access to the Easter tags immediately after you sign up to my newsletter here:

• You simply print the PDF.
• Cut out the labels.
• Punch holes in the top.
• String them with ribbon or twine on your Easter gifts!

I hope you like them. :)

"Purple Lotus"

This morning I finished up a new "Purple Lotus" painting I've been working on over the weekend. 

"Purple Lotus"

Side View

I've popped the original painting up in my store HERE.

There are also 8x10" art prints of her available HERE.

I've just had the urge to paint flower after flower after flower lately, and I had saved some really beautiful pics of purple lotus flowers on my computer, so I decided to put them in a painting. They have a really nice meaning also. They are born in muddy water, yet they bloom to be so pure looking and beautiful - giving them a sense of hope and rebirth.

The purples and pinks in this painting really pop!

My mini paintings are proving popular in the eBay store, so I might work on a couple more of them today. If you're after another original painting or a print though, I suggest you buy it through ArtByJaz.com because you will get FREE SHIPPING Worldwide.

I hope your Mondayitis isn't too severe today! ;)

FREE 'TO DO' LIST! (Printable)

There can be so much in front of me some days that I feel completely overwhelmed. One of the ways I overcome this is to have a 'to-do' list in front of me, so that I can get everything down on paper and tick things off as I do them. Ticking that box is SO satisfying. I even write every day things down like "pick kids up from school' and 'make dinner' - just so I can have the pleasure of ticking them off the list.

 

Most days I will scribble out a rough list on scrap paper, but if you are a stationery freak like me, you will appreciate a 'pretty' list.

So today I designed a FREE 'TO DO' LIST for you to print out and get organized!

 

I would love to know if you find it helpful!

This week I've been working on some mini 6x6" paintings. I've decided to put them all up on eBay starting at $1, so everyone is in with a chance. Click on each one to go to it's auction. 



If you're after something bigger, I also have a few original paintings available HERE. They are free to ship Worldwide, as is everything in my web shop right now.
 
*MAKE ME AN OFFER*
If there's a painting that you love, but it's a little bit out of your price range, I would be happy to consider an offer from you. Don't worry about offending me with a price, I would love to have my paintings out of my studio and on your walls. That's why I paint them. Just email me with an offer and which painting you are after. :)

I hope you're having a great weekend!

Much love and paint,

"Flutters of Pink" and "Deep Sea Mermaid"

I finished my "Flutters of Pink" painting!

"Flutters of Pink"

The original has already sold, however there are 8x10" prints of her available (with FREE WORLDWIDE SHIPPING). 

This week I've been busy working on a new painting called "Deep Sea Mermaid". I had an idea for a gothic style mermaid with a creepy cute feel. I love deep sea creatures, so I wanted to add some scary angler fish in, and of course an octopus.

"Deep Sea Mermaid"

If you look closely, you can see the background is made up of hundreds of tiny dots and rain drops...

Detailed view of the "Deep Sea Mermaid" painting

I've popped the original painting up for auction starting at $1! It's quite a big painting at 12"x24". You can go to the AUCTION HERE.

It's very HOT here today in Brisbane, Australia. Hubby's taking the kids to the pool, and hopefully I'll be spending the afternoon with a cool drink and paintbrush in hand!

1st painting for 2015 - "Wattle Fairy"

Good morning! and Happy New Year!

We spent Christmas in Sydney and had a wonderful time with family! This week we're back home and back into work mode, although it is still school holidays, so Miss 6 and Baby A are both at home with me. So let's just say we're back into work/play/chaos mode!

This week I finished off my first painting for 2015. She's called "Wattle Fairy".

"Wattle Fairy" by Jaz Higgins

I can remember walking to school and smelling Wattle along the way. It's smells so pretty and it's like tiny little yellow pom poms decorating a tree! It is probably my favourite native Australian flower.

Wattle flowers.

 

The original is up in my shop for $275, including FREE postage to anywhere in the World. Actually, everything in my shop now has free postage! There are also prints of her available in two sizes HERE.

It's raining here today (which I love) so apart from one run to the post office, I will be painting! Stay tuned via Instagram for regular updates.

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!

Email Address *

First Name

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

Building a new online art store.

We had a lovely Easter break, and now we're home and back in to things.

For the past couple of weeks I've been working on my new store that's going to be part of my website. It means that you'll be able to buy my paintings and art prints directly from me! :) It's taking a long time to pretty it up and get all of the products listed (there's over 150 of them!). For the past 3 days I've almost entirely been sitting at my computer adding products to my store. My eyes are strained and hurting, my wrist is sore from clicking the mouse, and I've had headaches every afternoon, but it will all be worth it in the end! 

This old stock photo is what I look like right now.

Brand spanking new museum quality art prints, new original paintings, as well as postcard sets and other goodies will all be available in my easy-to-use shop! I'm thinking it should all be ready in a few days, but if you want to be the first to know, as well as receive discount codes and special offers - make sure you sign up for my monthly newsletter. You'll be the first to know all the goss!

Subscribe to my newsletter here:

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First Name

Hoppy Easter!

Just a note to let you know that any orders placed over the Easter weekend will be posted when business returns to usual on Tuesday 22nd of April. I hope you all have a lovely relaxing Easter filled with love and chocolate. 

New art prints coming your way.

Although I love my current art prints, I'm always on the look out to improve them, so this week I ordered a bunch of different fine art papers to play around with.

Paper is paper right? It's flat and white and comes from trees? WRONG!

There's cheap paper, expensive paper, thick paper, thin paper, rag paper, micropourous paper, smooth paper, glossy paper, smooth glossy, smooth matte, textured matte, textured satin, satin smooth....130gsm, 310gsm...archival, museum....art paper, photographic paper, watercolour paper, paper made from recycled tree bark that's only found in the South of France and has been stomped on by a herd of exotic elephants...it's a crazy paper world out there!!

 

After gathering as many different papers together as I could find (including very expensive paper that I've been too scared to touch without gloves!), and trying different printing techniques, I think I have finally narrowed it down to a beautiful Canson Infinity Matte paper for my art prints. These new prints are absolutely stunning.

They are going to cost a little more to reproduce, so there is going to be a price increase in my prints in the next month or so, but the result is SO worth it. They will still be affordable for anyone, at around $20 for A4 size, $35 for A3 (because I believe that everyone should be able to add a little bit of magic to their walls) but they will now be super professional, high quality, collectable art prints that will be an awesome investment for anyone who has one.

 I will post links to these new prints as soon as I have them up in my store. Sign up to my newsletter if you want to know as soon as anything new pops up in my store (you will also get discounts and special offers). 

Subscribe to my mailing list here:

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First Name

Until then, my usual glossy art prints are still available in A4 and A3 size HERE. I now have the busy job of updating all of my listings with the new art prints, and I'm also building an online store that you can access directly from my website to make it easier for people to find my work. Tech stuff!! Aaargh.

 Stay tuned. :)

Jaz in the City

Long before "Sex and the City", there was a mediocre show called "Caroline in the City". If you were born before 1990, there's a chance you might remember seeing it. It was a sitcom based around Caroline - a freelance cartoonist who lived in Manhattan.

 I was about 12-13 when the show aired here in Australia. I don't remember following the story line much, but I do remember thinking Caroline had the best job in the World. She worked from her apartment, with an easel set up with her drawings...papers, pencils and art work spread out all around her.

You have to remember, this was 1996 and we didn't even have a computer let alone the internet (kids in my day!!), so the idea of this lifestyle was a dream that seemed only possible a World away - ok like maybe if you were rich and lived in New York.  So the other day I had the random idea to YouTube it, and I realised that my job is now very similar to Caroline's! I work from my little studio under the stairs, surrounded by pens, paints and artwork. Even the 90s clothes are coming back into fashion! Ha. Be careful what you wish for kids, because the Universe listens. It's a wonderful thing.

It's funny when I think back to what I wanted to be 'when I grew up'. I wanted to be an actress or a make up artist, I never really thought seriously about being a fine artist. However, I've always had a love for art - any type of art - and I even remember having a folder filled with big eyed characters scribbled in it on old lined paper. When I think about it, they were very similar to the girls I paint today! While I was studying Commerce at Uni (a stable career move if I ever had one!) - I continued to foster my love for art by painting at every spare moment, going to art shows, and watching other artists make a career from their art. It was then that the seeds were planted, and over time I realised that maybe I could actually do this for a living!

It's funny how when you look back, there are little baby steps that lead you to where you are right now.

What did you want to be when you grew up? Are there any inklings or memories from your childhood that are related to what you're doing today?

 Subscribe to my mailing list for art updates, offers and discounts!

"Easter Fairy Princess"

It's rather late Sunday night (ok 10:24pm, but it feels late!), and I thought I would check in with a quick blog post while the babies are asleep and the house is unusually quiet...

We've been busily working away on getting our house ready for sale. As you can see in the photo below, I got plenty of painting done today. Just white walls though - not the interesting canvas paintings that I would like to be doing! It seems like the longer I spend away from the canvas, the more ideas go swirling around in my head until I just can't take it anymore and need to pick up a brush. Or a pencil at the very least! But for today - it's been boring white walls. I even had to paint over my favourite pink striped wall :(

Boring white wall paint everywhere.

I finished off the fun Easter themed painting I was working on last week. She is aptly called "Easter Fairy Princess" - which is a rather obvious name it may seem - but the painting itself is a bit, well, obvious. She is a beautiful Easter princess - with a love for everything commercially 'Easter'. As I walk around the shops at the moment, I'm loving the fluffy bunnies, coloured eggs and pastels everywhere! This one has definitely inspired me to play with more pastel coloured palettes in the future.

"Easter Fairy Princess"

 

The original painting has already sold, however there are 8x10" prints available HERE.

Tonight I spotted a rainbow moon! It really was magical - and I hope to incorporate it into a painting sometime soon. It looked something like this:

Image © Masahiro Iizuka

It really is now time for bed, 

so I wish you all an exciting and productive week ahead!

Goodnight!

In Bed With Peter Alexander

My love affair with pyjama king Peter Alexander began right back around 1999 when I read a magazine article about how an Aussie man started a mail order pyjama business from his Mum's kitchen table. In 1999, when the internet was only taking baby steps, the idea of building a business empire from your kitchen table seemed like a pretty wild dream. Plus, I was 15, and what did I know about business? Nothing. All I did know was that I loved Peter Alexander's pyjamas (even though I couldn't afford them with my Hungry Jacks job), and I felt incredibly inspired to one day build a fun and creative business from my kitchen table. I realised that there are real people out there who get to be creative every day and make money from it, and it can start with just a little dream at home.

Fast forward to December 2013, while I was doing some Christmas shopping, Peter Alexander showed up unexpectedly to the store I was in! I jumped at the chance to meet him and get a photo with Baby A.

Peter and I with our babies.

 Having a fangirl moment, I told him how I had followed him for a long time, and how inspirational I've found him to be. He was genuinely interested in what I had to say and immediately told me he would send me out his book that outlines his business journey. It's a book that is very hard to find anywhere now. I quickly scribbled my address down, and really didn't expect much at all. After all, he's super busy and probably lost the bit of scrap paper I'd written my address on.

However, true to his promise, in the next couple of weeks this arrived at my door!

How cool is that!? I was very impressed. Thanks Peter!!!

Ironically, I don't actually have a kitchen table to work from here at home. Our place is much too small and my little studio area is where the kitchen table might be. I am busily working on my dreams from there though. Now, I just have to work out a way to get some of my fairy and mermaid designs on to his pyjamas...

;)

"Cloudy Night Fairy"

The past week I've been mainly working on commissioned paintings. Hopefully I will share some with you very soon, once I've got the ok with the clients. We've also been painting our house! This past weekend I sadly had to paint over my chalkboard wall next to my desk and work area. It's been really handy, but we're painting the entire house in one colour, and it was time to paint over it.

Goodbye blackboard wall!

In between commissioned paintings I've also been working on a couple of 8x10" pieces. I finished "Cloudy Night Fairy" on Friday night, but have only just had the chance to scan her in and list her for sale tonight. 

"Cloudy Night Fairy"

I'm loving her batty wings!

As well as the original painting, there are 8x10" prints also available HERE.

 Today I began working on an Easter themed painting. Not an Easter painting in the biblical sense, but rather focusing on the more commercial (superficial?) Easter fluff. Everywhere I go there seems to be bunnies, eggs, and hot cross buns, so I guess it's only natural that I have pastel coloured Eastery dreams floating around in my head.

The beginnings of an Easter themed painting.

This week got off to a rough start with my Dad being involved a motorbike accident yesterday. Thankfully he's fine (mostly!), but it was a scary start to the week none the less. I need to explain to him that he's not 16 anymore. He really needs to cut out the extreme sports antics.

I'm off to get some orders ready to post tomorrow and catch up on The Oscars.

Goodnight!

"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.

"Like a Diamond in the Sky"

Last night I popped a new 8x8" painting up for auction HERE. It's called "Like a Diamond in the Sky".

"Like a Diamond in the Sky"

I had fun painting the detail of the diamonds. I might add some more jewels to paintings in the future! 

Twinkle, Twinkle!

Halloween 2013

For Halloween this year Miss 5 dressed as "Princess Bubblegum" from Adventure Time!

 

While Baby A (7 months) dressed as the cutest jack-o-lantern I've ever seen.

We went trick-or-treating again which was a big success, and we all ate too many lollies (except Baby A of course!), and Miss 5 was dancing around all silly all night, but it was all worth it.



I forgot how cold it still gets in October when the sun goes down though, and we ended up freezing by the end of it. Needless to say, Baby A has a sniffly nose today and I feel like a terrible Mother! Note for next year: warmer costumes.

Congratulations to Julie O'Keefe who won my original "Pumpkinlings" painting!

I had fun doing a competition, so keep an eye out on my Facebook page for more giveaways in the future.

Today is Friday! Woo hoo! I'm looking foward to a relaxing weekend. We are supposed to be going away to the Coast, but I'm hoping bub isn't too sick. I guess we'll see how he goes today. I've got a mountain of housework to do, but beside from that, today I will be working on a commissioned painting as well as a new painting in my Zodiac series. Which sign do you think it is??