Red Shoes and Resolutions - part 2

In a previous post, I mentioned this year's New Year's resolution - to buy something handmade at least once a month. See that post for the inspiration behind this resolution, and for the first of January's purchases - a print from Champignons which I had been coveting for a while. To continue the red shoes theme from that print, I wanted two more prints, the first of which was this beautiful Ruby Slippers piece from Quite Contrary, which I also bought in January:



This month, I was also able to afford to buy this gorgeous print from Linda Boucher:



The two shoe prints above continue the symbolism that was there in the Champignons print. Although her print is called 'Alice in Wonderland', and is about when Alice grew tall from eating cake marked 'Eat Me', the fact that she is wearing red shoes makes me think of The Wizard of Oz, and Dorothy's ruby slippers. Also, the fact that Dorothy and Alice's clothing are very similar means that this figure could be either of these characters. Plus, there needed to be three prints not only because things look better in threes, but also because Dorothy says "There's no place like home" three times while clicking her ruby-slippered heels. Therefore, the hanging of the Alice/Dorothy print with ruby slippers either side seemed quite natural to me. I searched for red-shoe themed prints from UK Etsy sellers, and found the perfect ones. All three prints now hang in my bedroom:

Size Does Matter - ACEOs vs huge paintings

Excuse the slightly clichéd title, but this post is about size, in part at least :) Lately, it has occurred to me that I'm painting smaller and smaller paintings now. What's made me think about it is the fact that some of my ACEOs have migrated from my DaWanda shop to my Etsy shop (as will the entire contents of my DaWanda shop over time).



Looking at them has inspired me to create more of these miniature works of art. There seems to be something very appealing about making something so small.



The fact that they're cute is I suppose the simple, rather girlie, answer to what I find appealing about them. Another reason is that it's a challenge to paint something so small, and therefore detailed. Don't get me wrong - I love large works of art too, but not all art has to be huge.

It's occurred to me lately that, while I now paint tiny things, my art teacher actually spent a lot of time trying to make me paint larger, which is funny in a way. At school I was told to paint on larger paper, for what reason I don't remember. She need not have spent so long trying to make me paint larger anyway - with all the life-drawing classes, Visual Studies and other art classes I went on to do at college, working on larger paper was a natural progression. She also said I should work more in 3D, and she was actually right there. Back in school it was all about trying to work to a brief set by an exam paper, which was what made me afraid to experiment (with sculpture) back then. Leaving school and coming to a rather different environment like college triggered more experimentation in my work, not least because there was so much more to try there. I specialised in three-dimensional pieces towards the end of college, working in ceramics and then metalwork, finally going on to uni to study Crafts. Again I specialised in metalwork there, also dabbling in ceramics and other media.



The main theme running through my work there was organic shapes, including metal sculpture such as copper trees. After uni I continued with these, finding my way back to painting via the trees.



Now it was on my terms - I didn't have to paint some incredibly detailed thing to try and pass an exam. It was liberating really. And now, I can paint tiny little things if I want. Now that I've come back to painting, outside of an educational context, I have developed my own style, which is a lot simpler than anything I ever painted at school. In the past few years, through both education and experimentation, I've developed my own style in all of my work. I don't doubt that my work will change in as yet unforeseen ways in the next few years too.

Sneddoniart

I have a new shop for my paintings. Find it at sneddoniart.etsy.com

I currently have paintings for sale - some are mini canvases, some are larger pieces. I will soon have ACEOs and more for sale, so watch this space:

Etsy: Your place to buy & sell all things handmade Sneddoniart.etsy.com

My DaWanda art shop still exists, but it'll be the Etsy shop that gets updated most often.

I spy with my little eye, something beginning with ... S

Is it Sneddonia? Is it Superman? Is it soup?

Nope:



Now do you know what it is? No, Boris doesn't begin with S. Try again, maybe Rosie can help you:



Now you've got it! Here's another one, the lovely Charlotte:



And another one, the glamorous Astrid, who has woven beads into her web:



Talking of webs, how about some cobweb necklaces? Click the image below for some:



Or maybe a cobweb sculpture or two?





These are great actually, because you can also hang your earrings and things from them:



Thanks for looking :D

Batty Moon - a mixed-media painting on canvas

In the end, I didn't add bats to that sketchbook piece, but I did draw this, using charcoal pencil and normal HB pencil, to get an idea of how the painting might look:



So, using the above sketch and my previous moon painting as inspiration,



I painted this piece, Batty Moon, using acrylics, silvery poster paint, liquid watercolour and blue glitter glue. It depicts a cloud of bats, silhouetted against a bright full moon, in a dark blue night sky:



The dark colours of the sky continue over the sides of the canvas on which this is painted, as do the shimmer of the blue glitter and the bat detail, to give one continuous block of colour. This means that this piece does not need to be framed. This square box canvas measures 15cm square by just under 4cm deep.



Find it for sale here.

UK Street Team on Etsy

I'm a member of Etsy's UK Street Team, (although I really don't do enough promotion!). Some members of this street team are doing a trunk show at Etsy headquarters in Brooklyn, New York. To raise funds for this show, and other events, they've opened a UK Street Team shop. Click the banner to go there:



There are some amazing items there, including beautiful jewellery by Kalicat, BlueMarmalade and Sakurajewellery, a cute little zip-up bag by Urbanknit, fantastic collages by Rosehip71 and Bunny, a pretty little pin cushion by Bombus, a gorgeous felt flower brooch by charlottenarunsky and an ace Little Mr T by Kezzaroo :D