Friday, June 27, 2008

Collaborations and Inspirations

desert spirits

Sometimes we are inspired by others art...sometimes another artist has a piece that jumps out at you saying "collab...collab..." lol.
One of the beauties of being part of an artistic community, such as RB, is the opportunty to do great collaborations is made so easy!
Being one that usually doesnt work well with others myself, I'm also finding the process a good learning curve.
Its always interesting to see how collaborations, and inspired art come together, the many different ideas that take shape and the varying interpretations that bring about results that are often mindblowing!

The Nightmare


Here are some of the collaboration pieces I have done...

- 'desert spirits' is a piece I have collaborated with Damien Venditti, a talented Australian Artist on RB.
I loved his painting, Dream of a hundred thousand years as soon as I saw it, and envisioned butterflies all over it lol, and after telling him so, being the cool guy that Damien is, he allowed me to do come up with something incorporating it.
So, using his painting as the background, I incorporated some of my ink drawings to it, to create the desert spirit and her butterflies.

- 'The Nightmare'
Kristina Kitchingman, who is an avid photographer, and also has a portfolio full of wonderful images on RB (and happens to be my aunt aswell lol) was kind enough to allow me to use some of her photographs in whatever way I pleased. (I love it when people do that!)
So this poetry piece was created incorporating some of Kristina's bones and skeleton photographs, to help add to the atmosphere of the nightmare portrayed.

Amaltheas Enchanted Home

- 'Amaltheas Enchanted Home' is a collaboration piece for a contest in the Live, Love, Dream RB group. The theme for the challenge was ‘Inspiration’ and was to encourage collaborations between artists and inspired art...
Kristina suggested I come up with something with her pictures...
So, using some of Kristinas photographs, my overtired imagination (lol) and self taught photoshop skills, this piece was created.

Unicorns have always been inspirational to me,
As a young child, my favourite movie was The Last Unicorn
I fell in love with the story and the magical beauty that was Amalthea, the tragic unicorn on her quest to free her kind, burdened by unfamiliar mortality, love, and regret that comes from her enchanted human guise.
It was the beginning of my life long love affair with all things magickal, has been the doorway to a world of unending inspiration, and opened my eyes to the beauty of imagination.

The Enchanted forest of AmyLee

- 'The Enchanted forest of AmyLee'
AmyLee, a creative and generous RB artist, sent me some photographs of herself for me to use.
This piece I came up with while going thru public domain images, where I found the gorgeous photograph by Petr Kratochvil titled 'In the wood' that he has generously donated to the public domain! So a little burning and dodging and airbrushing and layering and wings and imagination, The Enchanted forest of AmyLee came to be.

Here is Petrs photograph
'In the Wood'

and to the right,
my other piece created
from it,
Mystery in the woods
which is, save for a colour overlay, the background for the enchanted forest pic



- 'the realm of others' is another competition/challenge piece.
Created for the comp in the Alien Worlds/Landscapes RB group.
The challenge, using the mountains and water provided by AV ...add the sky to make it an alien world landscape.
this piece is what I ended up with..

the realm of others

It was fun this one!
My computer died halfway thru at one stage, and I'd forgotten to save any progress (when will I learn lol) but, It didnt bother me for once, as I was enjoying it, and it just meant I got to play around with it for longer and not feel guilty about the housework waiting for me lol.
Definately be sure to check out the other entries for this comp, as there are sure to be some fabulous art created! The group host, AV has come up with a brilliant challenge!
Also worth checking out AV's portfolio, full of great artwork! I just love his alien landscapes!


serpent of seduction

Serpent of seduction is a drawing I was inspired to do by a poem called Hiss written by RB writer/poet, deliriousgirl.
She has since taken her poem down from public view, until I get permission, unfortunately cannot post her great poem alongside it, but it was an erotic sensual piece of writing that spoke of satin sheets and snakes and desire...

Amphibia Bubblemania

Amphibia Bubblemania is another collaboration piece with Kristina, the background being her photograph Misty Sunset. Sourcing various frog pics from the public domain, I got set to creating the amphibia world, took me a few hours this one!
I grew up surrounded by cute lil froggies everywhere lol... even had some pet ones for awhile, but they didnt get along too well with our tortoise :) so my own childhood was very inspirational in the making of this piece.

So, In the coming days I'll show you some collaboration pieces created by other artists, as I'm currently waiting to hear back from a few great ones!

Hope you have enjoyed these!

All artwork shown here is available to buy as prints, (and some on tee designs too!)
If you would like to purchase one (or many lol) simply click on any of the links under the artwork or click on my RB portfolio link to the right under my profile...



Peace N Luv Trippaz!

All the best!

Monday, June 16, 2008



Give hahpistuff some lovin!

Shannon, aka hahpistuff needs some lovin!

pictured left hahpistuff's current avatar at RB copyright to hahpistuff


Shannon is a brilliant artist who specialises in her own original line of characters, the lighter side of dark, among other fabulous art she creates.
If you would like to see more of her stuff, be sure to visit her hahpistuff RB portfolio, which is full of wicked designs, aswell as her hahpistuff zazzle gallery
And of course there is her official site at www.hahpistuff.com
But our lovely Shannon need your votes!
Isnt it a wicked design!
Hahpistuff has entered a competition to have her design printed on...Doc Martins! ooh yea!
So, above is her awesome design, named Heidi's boot, and if you like it (of course you do!) then here's the great news, you can vote for this beauty every 24 hours!
So get over to Heidi's boot and vote vote vote!
give Shannon some lovin, She deserves it!

and just incase that link wasnt obvious enough, here is another hehehe!
LINK TO VOTE FOR HAHPISTUFF!!!

Your soul will thank you as they say...
But seriously, Shannon is an awesome chick, and apart from being a fabulous artist, She is a really lovely person, and I know she would do anything for her friends,
so go vote for her! You know you want to! :)
Peace N Luv Trippas!
Airbrush
the 'real' kind and digital too!

Airbrushing has always fascinated me!

The very first time I saw an airbrush work I fell in love with the seemingly endless possibilities that the medium promised.

It brought fantasy art to life in a way I'd never seen before...

As the years went by and life gets in the way, airbrushing sat on the 'backburner'... waiting for the time and place to warrant my attention again...
pictured above Gothic Soul

So, having never done any airbrush work myself, a few years ago I splurged and spent the money on an airbrush course...

pictured above - Thinking... completed on day three of the course

Its really really big!


It was a 5 day course with Power Studios, based in Melbourne.
Daniel Power, the owner of Power studios is a fantastic artist! I love his work!
He takes on classes of about a dozen people and over a number of days, takes you thru different aspects of whats involved.
On the third day we were able to produce our first art pieces, of an eye...followed by hand pics the next day, (titled thinking) and on the final day, our "masterpieces" :)
Being pregnant at the time kinda meant after the course I had to not obsess over getting an airbrush set up goin, and more concentrate on changing life around for little bubba to come! star slither two
Fast forward to the beginning of this year, and I get hold of the brilliant program, adobe photoshop CS3...ooh yea!
And I introduced myself to the world of digital airbrushing!

enchantment

Its quite different from the 'real'/analogue airbrushing, but from my limited experience with it, I feel it uses the same basics...
So here are some of my digital airbrush pieces













above is Mushies

pictured above right is Heartbroken Whispers

gothic angel

Exotica

pictured above is exquisite, a close up of Zafyres face in my piece Trikeuphorica

Trikeuphorica progress

Trikeuphorica

Background trees ps brushset "lady Victoire" ps brushes: "source"

I've been meaning to put up the progress pics of Trikeuphorica piece before now but it has been a busy bee week!

(This is the first 'realist' artwork i have done with digital airbrushing)

So here they are!

all done with a generic mouse! yay! :)






















i started with just colour blotching everywhere, then filled it in



















this is with my constantly going back to the reference photo...





then did the details...














finished!
this is the reference photograph above, of my daughter Zafyre on her trike! :)


So, The wonders of airbrushing! Both digital and analogue...
I will, one day, get my airbrush set up, and hopefully I'll remember how to use it!
Until then, I'll continue to do airbrush works the digital way...

Take care now!
Peace N Luv to you all!

Monday, June 9, 2008

Drawing Day o8!
Saturday was World Drawing Day.

The aim was to get 1 million drawings drawn in one day for the sake of art.
And Drawing Day rocked (and keeps on rock'n)

So over at Red Bubble, we had a group dedicated to Drawing Day, hosted by the fabulous thickblackoutline and the wonderful Natalie Tyler
If you would like to treat yourself and check out the works created by our Red Bubblers for drawing day, here is the link.
These are my contributions - the ones I did on World Drawing Day-

A piece I have been meaning to realise for a long time.Inspired by an old wooden cutting, I wanted to portray a conversation of sorts between human and beast.
Can you guess what she pleads about?
My favourite interpretation from a fellow RB artist - Shoes!



She was a fairy princess, who has run away from the kingdom in her quest to find true love.
I like to draw pretty fairies, and mermaids, all those wonderful fantasy creatures that spark the imagination.


Witheld from substance

This is a biro pen sketch of a painting that is a work in progress…

Starved from substance…knowledge, nourishment, drink, light…all substances we need…here our heroine has been captured by an evil wizard who keeps her trapped within his crystal ball, doomed to look out onto all that would nourish her if she were free…


Elegant Transcendence She looks so lovely in this shot I just had to draw her!
Inspired by a friend and fellow artist, BillyLees lovely self portrait photograph Naked Billy
When I saw the photograph of hers I instantly fell in love with it and had to draw her!

She is a sweet thing and kindly allowed me without knowing what it would turn out like lol!

So, in the spirit of spreading the love, I thought I would also post about my favourite drawings of other artists from the day on RB...

"Sketch 3" by Michelle Walker

I really like this pic, it has a lovely flow to it!
Michelle has some lovely work over at RB.

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"She Sees All-IT'S DRAWING DAY!" by Martinz

Martinz drew this from their beautiful model to the music “teardrop” by massive attack, resulting in it being so round and soft yet still strong. A great example of how music can shape our art.
Martinz is a fabulous artist, and poet, I love all his work.
Definately worth checking out his portfolio!

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Below, from left to right - "one baby to another.....", "Kurt Cobain" and "Kurt Cobain"

These are so awesome! Definately great culture art!

Caroline is a brilliantly talented artist, if you would like to see more of her art, her website is blackvelvetrocks

She is a new artist to Red Bubble, and all her work is brilliant!

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And last, but definately not least,
"Feathered Friends" by georgiegirlaww, this is just soo cute!
I love cute drawings, those little pieces of the heart that make you smile!
You can almost hear their little chirping...
georgiegirl has alot of cute pics in her portfolio...

"Drawing Day 08 - My Little World" by Japu

This one is a cute one! on top of the world! I love the perspective on it!

Japu has lots of great pics in thier portfloio!

So, Drawing Day was a success, alot of people drew for the sake of drawing, art was inspired, and shared, and although I dont know if we made that elusive one million drawings worldwide, as with the different time zones it will be a few days before the drawing day site will tally the total, but it doesnt really matter the total of drawings, only that we have been inspired, and that is why Drawing Day was a success !

Want to see more of other Artists faves and experiences with drawing day 08?


Peace n Luv to you all!

Friday, June 6, 2008

Joys of being a parent!


and the inspired art that comes from such a venture....

"Precious Moments"
portrait I did of my daughter and her father.

I never would of imagined that I would love being a mum so much, and that it would be so much fun!

My daughter, Zafyre, is coming up to 18 months now, and every day with her is a new adventure!

But apart from being a gorgeous mischievious angelic child, she is the best model!

"Child of the Sky" - one of my firsts in digital artwork...

I have never been as inspired as an artist as I am these days, and its all thanx to my little girl!

She has made me take a different perspective on life, allowed me to see joy and hope and feel love I didnt think was possible, she is inspirational in all forms of the word...

and she makes the best model!

Here are some examples of art I have made with her as my inspiration and model -

This one above is one of the first drawings I did after having a break from art whilst pregnant and movin house.
Drawn with black pen on cartridge paper, this is a portrait of my girl when she was 1 week old.
She was so angelic looking right from the start....

This piece to the right, I did a little while ago.
We all have our guardian angels, faeries whispering secrets in our ears...

Titled "Believe in Magick"
The poem that goes with this piece-

The fairy whispered in her ear...
“Believe in Us…
Believe in Magick
Believe in fairies
Believe in all lifes joys
Believe in all lifes treasures
Let Belief take your heart
In whatever its form
For To Believe in anything
will make your heart warm…”

"A Mothers Love"

drawn with pencil on canvas sheet...
On the day of her birth, my sister captured a beautiful shot of my girls first feed...
This is my pencil sketch of that photo...

This came runner up in a drawing comp with the theme of a mothers love awhile ago...

(support breastfeeding!!!)

"Daughter of the Skies"

This piece is one of my first goes at using photoshop...
I dont own a graphic tablet or anything fancy, so this is simply drawn with the mouse using burn and dodge tools and some minimal airbrushing (lip colour, hair colour)
I was quite pleased with how it turned out! She's so adorable! (Tho I know I am biased! :))


"magical droplets"

and






"In awe of water"




These two above are part of my "Water Baby" series...
Zafyre loves bathtime, loves the water!

"fairy bubba restin"

Another sketch drawn with pen on cartridge paper...
When Zafyre sleeps, she gets this perfect expression of peace on her face...
an expression I have not seen an adult wear...
an expression with which only those magickal creatures share...

"White Pearl"

Now, my girl was born with a full head of luxurious thick dark hair, which continues to grow very quickly :)
So what would she look like if she were a blonde?

somethin like this I'd say...

Now she really does look like the ethereal angel

my favourite comment this piece has recieved in my portfolio-

"I love the technique you used in this image. It’s soft as a whisper or an angels kiss. Nice work!"



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Being photo crazy and constantly having pen and paper on hand helps alot when it comes to creating alot of my work...Constantly remembering to back up my work on discs is somethin I have to improve on though! The hard drive is overflowing...

Zafyre is already so creative! She loves to try and copy me with scrapbooking and othe rart related ventures, and she has the most respect I have ever seen on a toddler regarding her books and any papers she finds around the house.
So far she has only ripped one book cover, and she got quite upset when she did :)

Although I am leaning toward thinking that she will be more musical than visual in her artistic ventures, as her Dad is a musician, and she loves to copy him and strum on her guitar while he plays.

"Wild Child" is part of my 'Rocker Baby' series

She has an impressive sense of rythm! Loves to dance, spends ages playing either her xylophones, her guitar or the organ, to which she stands on a her tippy toes like a ballerina, trying to reach ther topmost keys...

Definately a very creative little soul in the making!

If you are interesting in purchasing prints of any of my artwork, click on the title links next to the pic.
or click on the link to my RB portfolio to the right.
Also, I am available for freelance work, if you would like a piece created with one of your children, or yourself, leave a message and I'll be in touch!


Peace n Luv to you all!