Sunshine Award

I have been awarded this award by the very talented Gabriella Buckingham at Moobaacluck .  She paints the most gorgeous pieces of art and wooden decorations.   This is a lovely award which I am very happy to accept.

 

 

Now for the technical bit…the rules……..

‘The rules for accepting this award are:-

Put the logo on your blog or within your post,

Pass the award on to 12 bloggers,

Link the nominees within your post,

Let the nominees know they have received this award by commenting on their blog,

Share the love and link to the person from whom you have received this award.’

I award this to these bloggers for their creativity, and because it is a pleasure to sit and escape and read their beautiful blogs.

My nominees  include……

Moobaacluck

who nominated me…..and

The Vintage Artist

Designer Jots

All-About-Eden

Heart Felt Handmade

Raspberry Cupcake

 Handmade Heaven

Dots and Spots

Tori Jayne

Chalk Hill Studio

TipTop Toppers

 

shhhh…it’s 11 don’t tell. ;-)

Amanda

xx

 

 

 

Bath – A weekend break away!

Just last weekend my lovely hubby and I went to Bath in celebration of our 10th wedding anniversary.  Tin, apparently, well I didn’t get anything tin but I was treated to a weekend break in Bath.  We’d never been before, but what a beautiful place, full of architecture, history and great shops.  The weather was glorious, not typically British and not like when we got married.  The photos I’m sure speak for themselves and it is a place I will definitely be going back too.  We enjoyed a lovely meal on Friday night, I had lobster ravioli and have since vowed to have a go at making ravioli myself.

Saturday morning we headed into Bath again, and had a mooch round the shops, not the big High Street, ‘we can find them everywhere’ shops but the small indie shops.  After yummy lunch we visited the Roman Baths,  and where we were wowed by the history and story behind them. 

Roman Baths

 

Bath Abbey taken from inside the Roman Baths

Off next to have a delicious and very large strawberry ice cream and then off to Victoria Art Gallery to see a large collection of paintings and sculpture done by the Bath Art Society. Some were good, some not so good.  I voted for my favourite, a paper art piece using lots of white paper butterflies.  Interestingly hubby voted for a paper art piece too so our tastes aren’t so far apart.  Although it later become apparent that we weren’t going to agree on a piece of artwork to buy.  We agreed to disagree and I’m going to paint my own memory of Bath at a later date.

Royal Crescent

 

These lions were super and doted around Bath.

Sunday was finished off with a trip to Avebury circle and then home to our two lovely children who were being expertly looked after.

A great adventure and a definite ‘must go back’ place.

 

I came home to an order too, so it was all good. 

Personalised Flowery Childrens Art Work

If you are looking for a Christening gift, birthday present or new baby gift then look no further.  This hand painted canvas is all flowers, pattern and a very happy butterfly, especially for a little girl.  It is extra special because the hand painted wooden butterfly gives it a special twist.  Some of the flowers are outlined in gold and the name is written in gold also.  

This design, Full o’ Flowers can be found here and is part of my collection of hand painted canvas art  at www.colourart.co.uk It can be painted in a variety of sizes.  In a short time it would be ready and to you within 7-10 days, perfect for a special gift……

….and for those of you who read my blog regularly I have not yet mentioned my new and updated website. Colourart has under gone a transformation, bringing a more contemporary look and a site which is easier to browse around.

I know I say it nearly every time but thank you for reading I’ll be back in touch soon.

Amanda

xx

 

Childrens Book Illustrations A WIP

I am on the final stretches of a very exciting project and I’m sure that the recipient of these paintings wont mind me writing a little blog piece about them.

The illustrations are to go with a sweet childrens story about a woodcutter and a squirrel. It has been a pleasure developing the ideas for each page and painting them up. They aren’t quite finished yet but wanted to share as they are nearly there.

There are 14 paintings at the moment and the 15th will be the cover. Each has been developed using CAD and sketches but the final pieces are painted in acrylic onto paper.

I’ll post all the finished pieces when their done.

Thanks for reading, see you soon

Amanda

xx

Handmade Easter Cards

I have made a couple of Easter Cards this morning for my little ones. Hope they like them. (I’m sure they’ll enjoy the chocolate more however :-)

One for my little girl……

and

one for my young man…

….Happy Easter to you all!

Amanda

xx

Cutey Garden - A Commissioned Painting

I was recently commissioned to paint an alternative arrangement to one of my current paintings. Originally in a square format, I was asked to paint it in a landscape format instead. So here's the story as to how the painting went.

The Original

CAD layout of new design using Photoshop

Work in Progress

Finished design

So there you go, anything is possible. This one will be off to its recipient very soon. I love painting commission work, it's good to paint some a little different. Please check out some other commission work I have done here and check out www.colourart.co.uk which is full of paintings to have a look at.

xx

Tigerprint Competition Final Design

Wishing I had more time, but sadly only had a few days to put together a design for a Surface Pattern Design competition with the Tigerprint Blog. This is my entry for the competition.

The brief was to create a design which was for a female for Spring/Summer 2011. There was a colour palette attached to the brief. I thought I'd show you how my entry came about.

It started with a computer generated image of flowers, then I drew and scanned in an image of a swallowtail butterfly.

I put the two together and played around with different colourways until deciding on my final submission.

If you want to check out all the entries have a look here , there are many lovely entries.

Wish me luck

xx

A Hand Painted Christmas

I'm getting into the spirit of Christmas slowly. I have made Christmassy my blog and I have some hand painted decorations to show you including some Gingerbread Men.

They are lovely hanging from a tree to give a more natural primitive style......

.......or you could wrap a parcel with brown paper and ribbon and use one as a gift tag. The tag could then be used on the tree.

I have also painted snowflakes, snowmen and Christmas bauble shapes.

Take a peek at my Colourart Christmas Shop www.colourart.co.uk/Christmas_Shop.htm to see these designs and few more I'll be adding soon.

Amanda

xx

Technorati Tags: Christmas,decorations,tag,gift tag,xmas,hand made,hand painted,gingerbread man,shabby style

More Paintings and a few thank yous

I've been a quiet blogger, but after being a featured blog on the WAHM site I am inspired to write a new post. So thanks for featuring me WAHM and for giving me the push to write this post.

I exhibited my work at the Designer Baby Show earlier this month and I was pleased with how my nursery canvasses were displayed. I usually have them on a table but this time I hung the paintings so they could be seen as they are meant to be.

The collection included a few new paintings which I would like to share with you.

I love Russian Dolls, and I thought that my collection needed a Russian Doll canvas. Cue another thank you, as Mrs Jelly at Jellybelly-Jellybrain suggested that it would be a good idea to paint a Russian Doll, so I did just that.

www.colourart.co.uk/Russian_Doll_Enlarged_Canvas.htm

Here she is:

I also painted a new version of the Teddy Bear painting which I think is great for new babies especially as its neutral tones mean it could be an ideal gift for a boy or girl. I think it would be great personalised. You can find Teddy Bear here: www.colourart.co.uk/Teddy_Bear_Enlarged_Canvas.htm

If you want an original Christmas present which is can be personalised there is still plenty of time to order in time for Christmas www.colourart.co.uk

Back soon

Amanda

xx

Technorati Tags: nursery art,canvas art,wall art for children,kids wall art,teddy bear art,Russian Doll painting,hand painted

Designer Baby Show is here

This Sunday I will be exhibiting my nursery paintings collection at the Designer Baby Show in Berkshire. I will have over twenty original nursery paintings exhibiting, where I will be offering a 10% discount. I will also be offering a free mystery gift with online purchases between 16th and 30th November 2009. Please enter 'Designer Baby' in the special instructions at the checkout. Please come and visit us at stand C80 on Sunday and if you can't make it then check out my online store at www.colourart.co.uk

I look forward to seeing you at The Designer Baby Show this Sunday, 15th November 2009

Ballerina Canvas Art

This design is inspired by the some of the meadows in France, they were stunning, full of flowers and butterflies, and dotted between the sunflower and maise fields. Having travelled 1800 miles through France during the summer we saw a few of the meadows, so what better way to record them than by putting paint to canvas.

Ballerinas in Meadow is my latest design and celebrates dance. I have never painted Ballerinas before so this enhances my existing range. Its available in both of my stores.

Ballerinas in Meadow is available to buy now in my art store Colourart

I hope you enjoy the painting, I will be back soon with more Colourart news.

Yo! Ho! Hand Painted Pirate Canvas

In honour of National Talk Like a Pirate Day, I wanted to show my hand painted pirate canvas.

Perfect for little boys who'd love life on the ocean. It comes in various sizes and can be personalised with name and date.

He can be found here or for the personalised version here

Cupcake Paintings for National Cupcake Week

It National Cupcake week - how exciting. Here at Colourart we have made plenty of cupcakes over time, and not just yummy ones to eat. I have painted some too! These two cupcake paintings are available to buy here and here

To celebrate the cupcake or fairy cake why not buy a slimming one to decorate your kitchen, dining room or child's bedroom. They are hand painted, and very gorgeous. The soft sweetie colours make these mouth watering cupcake paintings a lovely gift idea. There are two designs which work well as a pair or on their own. Hand painted onto gallery wrapped artist canvas, these original pieces of artwork wont add to you waistline but they will add a touch of style to your home.

I hope you enjoy National Cupcake week no matter how you chose to celebrate it.

Technorati Tags: cup cake,national cupcake week,hand painted,art,design,acrylic,painting,fairy cake,sweet

Errr WHY??

Don't ask me what I did at school pleeeassseeee.

I sometimes wonder why I take an interest in my kids school days, although sometimes other than the standard, learnt at birth, phrase of 'I've forgotten' I do get a laugh out of asking.

The conversation with my youngest after her day at school went a little like this:

Me: So tell one good thing that you did at school today.

Little Miss: I held a snake.

Me: O..K

Little Miss: It bit me.

Me: R..i..g..h..t

Little Miss: It was pink and white stripes

Me: of course it was

Little Miss: Oh and I held a lizard too.

Will I ask again? yes probably and will Little Miss tell me.....well probably not, but its always worth asking.

Just for those of you that are still with me.....

Here they are first day back.

Amanda

xx

Buy Unique Art Gifts

I have opened a new store with an online boutique called Zazzle.com I have created a new store of my own www.zazzle.co.uk/colourart where you can buy gifts and accessories made using my own artwork.

I have a small selection of items at the moment, including magnets, cute vests for babies and mousemats.

Here's a taste of what is happening in the new store.

make custom gifts at Zazzle

Please pop over and check it out.

Handmade Teachers Gifts

Both of my kids are moving classes this year, so it was time for them to say goodbye to their teachers. As a special 'thank you' I made each teacher a shopping list clipboard each.

I designed the paper, laminated it, decorated the front and then stuck them to boards I had painted. Finished of with a bulldog clip and a note pad. I hope they liked them.

They also gave them a bookmark from Paperchase and some choccies of course..........

.......and Evans teacher told him she liked GOGO's so he drew her some on the envelope of her card.