A Painting for Aria

I have to admit that I have been feeling less than creative recently. Everything I do seems like a chore, despite my best efforts at keeping a positive frame of mind. Being pregnant is wonderful, but tiring and uncomfortable. It's all new and lets be honest; a bit weird when you get down to the nitty gritty. You are no longer just you- you're you and someone else. Everything you do affects not only yourself but your little one. And for whatever reason I have been feeling like someone has sucked my excitement and passion for creating right out of me (a scary thought). 

Alisa Burke wrote a great post on getting comfortable with being uncomfortable when her gorgeous little Lucy arrived. And I knew I need to do the same thing right now. Push past being tired, adapt to the new feelings and changes and get on with it. So I decided a good place to start was to work on something that was meaningful to me- a painting for Aria. I knew I wanted it to be bright and colourful, but not ALL pink and pretty. (I am basing Aria's room on this concept of one dark 'feature' wall decorated with bright colours.)

I am so excited and happy with how it turned out. In fact I am going to work on some more but with different animals- the next one being a fox.

Materials: Gesso, Acrylic Paint, Oil Pastels, Chinagraph Pencil, 2B Pencil.
Size: 10" x 12" on hardboard

Rhiannon xx

A look inside an Artists Studio

Today I want to share a peek at where I work each day. Since moving into our own home I have been slowly working on decorating and getting the space set up exactly how I need it. I used to dream of having a studio that I could set up how I liked, with no landlord limitations. I dreamed that it would be drenched in natural light (check), super comfortable (check) and be an ongoing source of inspiration (double check). I still have a board on Pinterest that I add to if I find something that I think I could set up or use in the future.

Below is the desk for today, in all its messy glory. I have been working really hard to create inventory for the launch of my store in less than two weeks. While I'm on that note, if you are on Etsy, pop over here and follow me to be notified as soon as listings go up. Trust me, it's going to be rad!

It is essential for me to create a space where I feel happy and inspired; a place where I can have all my weird and wonderful trinkets on display. The two handmade skull figurines below are gifts from my wonderful mum and aunty all the way from Tucson, Arizona where my aunty lives. They are insanely cool! The bowl is full of all my favourite shells that I have collected this summer, and I sketch them daily as a warm up exercise in the morning before I start my days work.

Another place I store my trinkets and knickknack's is on my bookshelf, which I have nearly finished arranging. I have a little collection of bee things, some of my living dead dolls (from the Alice In Wonderland set), a little snow globe from San Francisco (a gift), a mini big planet figurine, a tacky porcelain cat I bought from a second hand shop for $1, a tiny dinosaur, and a small painting I did for my TLC course a few years ago.

I have also create a small area next to my desk that I store all my crystals, as well as some lavender from the garden. They create such a positive energy in the room and lets be honest, the colours are incredible!

There is still a lot I want to do in here; paint one of the walls, hang (maybe even sew) new curtains, get a better light system set up and build my own desk just to name a few. However they are more long term goals- right now I am making it as cosy and user friendly as possible.

I hope you enjoyed a little look at where I work. Next week I will be sharing a few of my favourite books, and I have some really great ones so until then my lovely readers, have a great weekend!

-Rhiannon

Painting Big: 40" x 30" Canvas

Yesterday I spent the day working on a huge canvas I bought months ago. I bought it to hang in our living room, which currently has very bare, white walls. What I originally began painting wasn't turning out how I wanted so I worked on a plan and began again. I was inspired by this piece and I am so incredibly happy with the result. I don't feel like its 100% finished but at the moment but I can't work out what else to do, so instead of ruining it I'm going to see if any ideas come to me over the next week. If not then I declare it finished. It has taken me 4.5 hours to complete.

Above is what I began with- and I had no idea where it was going so I covered it gesso and began again.
I really enjoyed working on such a large scale (despite how much paint I went through)- it's quite liberating. Its hardly surprising that Connie loves it so much. 

I feel quite proud of being able to pretty much finish something of this scale over one day. I am notorious for having heaps of half (or even quarter) finished projects but this has given me an extra kick of confidence to go back and  finish or retire some of these projects. 

Have you ever worked on a really large scale- I would love to see what you did.

-Rhiannon 

Dream Catcher Inspiration ~ Rachael Rice

As you may have noticed, I have a thing for dream catchers at the moment. So on one of my regular dream catcher inspiration searches, I discovered Rachael Rice.

This woman has made 75% recycled dream catchers that are 75% what I envisioned creating for myself. Seriously~ go and check out 380+ photos of dream catchers she has made! Also have a look at her Etsy shop~ Cosmic American.

I have ideas spilling out of me, and I can't get them all down on to paper fast enough. This is going to be such a fun project! I can't wait to show you my thought process and journalled ideas, but that is for another time.

Rhiannon xxoxx

Design*Sponge

Design*Sponge

i have never been one to blog about interior design or anything of the such, but after catching up on Design*Sponge blogs this morning i came across the most beautiful living room and kitchen.

i am a lover of dark colours - not everyones taste i know. a lot of people much prefer light and airy but i find there is something quite mysterious about darker colours with an injection of bright colour.

[link]

[link]

while im on the subject of interior design and pretty rooms, here are a few more that i have found that i am getting so much inspiration from

[link]

i am a huge fan of animal print too (not real of course) and this little office has a wonderful balance of colour, pattern and practicality.

[link]

[link]

i am loving the giant piece of word-y artwork at the back

thats all for now

Rhiannon xxx