Tales from Wonderlandia: August 2009

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

All pencils are not created equal...

My beautiful new Polychromo pencils arrived at 10:20am last Friday (which was even earlier than I predicted), I met the postman at the edge of my driveway and in my excitement almost took off without signing for them! They were so good looking, all perfectly sharp & the same length... I almost didn't want to use them!

The first to be coloured by my glorious new friends was Benji in his little fishing boat - I did him first so I could compare the results against my old pencils and I am so pleased to say, I am delighted! The new pencils are so much easier to blend and have a smoother and more consistent flow (even on the much more heavily textured paper I chose this time). Also the oil based leads leave no waxy residue on the surface of the paper so the artwork ends up with a much more rich and vibrant finish because it isn't clouded or too shiny.

I learnt alot through completing Benji about working with these pencils and I am really looking forward to completing Elvira now there are a few things I am going to do differently.

In the mean time I am going to add the new Benji to my Etsy store as a limited edition print - there will only be 15 available and it should be up tomorrow.

I hope you love him as much as I do - I'd love to hear what you think!

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Still waiting...

Sadly, I am still awaiting the arrival of my new pencils. I do have a good feeling about tomorrow though, I'm predicting they'll show up around 2pm - I'll let you know how that works out for me...lol.

In the meantime, I've been working on a portrait of another little winged Wonderlandian I met in my travels, named Veronica.

To explain Veronica is a simple charge - she's the most energetic and open hearted faerie I've ever met, I'd even go so far as to say she's the personification of fun. Why, the first time I ever laid eyes on her was when I first arrived at Brandysnap Forest; it was a fiercely blustery day in Autumn and I was a struggling to carry my all my travel bags & keep my footing on the uneven forest floor. I had to squint against the wind while I looked around for someone that could point me in the direction of my lodgings, but of course no one was about; they were all safely indoors wishing summer would come back! And that's when I spotted her.... having a fantastic time riding falling leaves from the big black oaks as if they were magic carpets!

That's Veronica really in a nutshell... she just doesn't know how to be miserable.

Monday, August 17, 2009

Fresh from the sketchbook...

So as usual my sketchbook is just bursting with pictures I have drawn on my travels through Wonderandia... my favourite at the moment would have to be the pretty little butterfaerie Elvira - she darts around so quickly it was almost impossible to see her, but I was lucky enough to meet her - and I must say she is a very interesting character indeed! But more on that later, for now I am going to concentrate on getting the colours just right so you can all see what a lovely creature she is!

Etsy Success!

I am very excited to announce that I had my first Etsy sale yesterday, it is so uplifting when you get that email from "Etsy Transactions" - it made my day!

So thankyou very kindly to my fellow Dust team member and number one buyer FeliciaFairy who also happens to have an amazing store selling handmade dyed and patchwork goodies you can check it out here:

http://www.feliciafairy.etsy.com

Oh and ff you haven't already please visit my Etsy store at:

http://www.wonderlandia.etsy.com

Better pencils required...

So "Gone fishing" is finally complete and I do love it, but I think it lacks a little punch and so I've decided not to put it on Etsy - I am going to do it again.

I am thinking that I need some better pencils, I am embarrased to say that all I have are Derwent Studios and I can't seem to get the punchy vibrant colours that I am dreaming of out of them.

So I've done a little research and decided against upgrading to Derwent Artist pencils due to thier poor lightfastness and instead I've decided on Faber Castell Polychromos which sound amazing! I am so excited about them and I found them for a good price at the Smart Art Club & I am going to get the 120 set - I can't wait!!!

http://www.smartartclub.com.au/shop/scdproducts.asp?CatID=2520

Once I get my new pencils I am going to re-do "Gone Fishing" and post it up here - fingers crossed it will be stunning because these pencils are quite a bit more than my old Derwent Studio's were and I am going to have to really strain my tiny little art supplies budget to fit them in!!!

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Gone fishing... (work in progress)

To express my love for coloured pencils and thick textured papers, I have decided to create some coloured pencil artworks for my Wonderlandia collection...

For my first new addition I am currently working on a delightful piece featuring little Benji.

A very relaxed Benji is soaking up some sunshine in his red dingy, while throwing a line out into the divinely choppy turquoise coloured waters of Wonderlandia's famous Shell Bay.

I am finding that the more I work on this picture the more jealous I am becoming of Benji! Can't wait till it's finished.

I have posted two progress shots above... I'll post the completed one as soon as I am done.