Halloween weekend

I had a yucky start to this week with some kind of fluey bug thing, I just ached everywhere and couldn't get on with anything at all, I am still achey all over but nowhere near as bad as I was, so I am on the mend, thank goodness :o)

I managed to get these 3 ladies painted to canvasboards they are all available in my etsy shop now, if you wish to purchase or look at more piccies :o)

The keeper of secrets:

Let the wind carry you:

Run away home:

This awesome mail art package arrived in my letter box the other day from the delightful Harmony, she has been having a mail art swap on her blog and these are my goodies from her, I can't tell you how much they made me smile on a very grey and drab day, they brought a little bit of sunshine into my life, Thank you so much Harmony you rock!!

My daughter ready for her halloween school disco (putting on her most serious face)

Not quite so serious now lol ;o)

Whatever you get up to this weekend I hope you all have a wicked halloween

Best witches

Micki x

Gel medium transfers

This week was a busy week, my kids were on school holidays, hubby was painting our bedroom and my little doggy went in to the vets to be neutered, so I didn't have a lot of time on my hands.

 I had some girlies sketched in my moleskine and decided to gel transfer them onto some pre-prepped canvasboards rather than my usual sketching straight to canvasboard.

 I hadn't done a soft gel medium transfer in years and forgot how easy it was, it only took a minute to do and saved me a lot of sketching time. (for those that don't know what this is i've tried explaining it in the 'comments' section)

2 of these girlies are from the same sketch but painted up differently, I am really happy with how they turned out.

I hope you like them :o)

As always they are now in my etsy shop ready for a new home :o)

Quiet Moments:

Listen To Your Heart:

Lost In A Dream:

Curious: RESERVED

Before I toddle off i'd like to give some linky love to 2 people

 First of all to the lovely Jo of Art by JoJo who after a looooong time of not blogging has just stepped back in to blogland and i'm sure you would all love to visit her :o)

And second of all to the uber talented Katie Rose Clausen who has just opened up her etsy shop and is filling it with some gorgeous goodies, I am mesmerized by her paintings as i'm sure you will be if you go take a peek, hint hint ;o)

Happy weekend

Micki x

The Big Fat January Mail Art Swap

Grab a drink before you read all this otherwise you’ll be gagging for one by the end its loooooong!!!

I’m afraid I’ve had to come up with some boring rules for this mail art swap.

As I am not a wealthy woman and cannot possibly send free art to the whole world (as much as I’d love to) I had to be quite specific about some things sorry folks, I know rules are horrid but here they are:

Rules:

First things first this mail art swap is open to ‘bloggers only’ (that includes typepad, wordpress, squarespace etc too) I absolutely love my blog and blogland and as January also happens to be the 3 year anniversary of me joining blogland, I wanted to keep this as a special way of thanking those who take the time to comment (and those that ghost too)

I will not be offering this swap to people who are only on flickr, etsy, facebook etc sorry!!

** IMPORTANT BIT:

You can contact me at any time from 2nd January till 8th February 2012 via the 'Mail art Email Me' button that is in my sidebar at the top of my blog and I will send you my home address via return email…. it won’t be in instant response but I will get back to you asap ;o)
I think this will be the safest way for me and will also let me know how many people want to participate.
The swap will still be starting on January 8th though; I just wanted people to get plenty of time to get all the details sorted out :O)

When you email me I will need you to give me your blog address (so that I know you are a blogger) and your home address for me to send you a piece of mail art in return. (I will respect your privacy and will not pass on your details to anyone and I ask you to do the same please)

For those of you that have either purchased from me in the past or whom I have purchased from or even swapped with before, you may already have my home address (and you’ll be glad to know I haven’t moved house in the last 7 years so it will still be the same) I would still like you to email me though so that I can get your home addresses and know how many people will be participating in the swap :o)**

Ok on with the more fun bit:

Here are some piccies and info on what you will be receiving from me in this swap :o)

I will be sending my art on a 5 ½ x 4 ¼ inch piece of chipboard which is 1.5mm thick, I love these, they are really sturdy and hold up to all my messy mixed media stuffs :o)

The card has been punched with holes at the top and metal rivets put in place (by my lovely hubby) so that you can hang it up rather than frame it (I have not supplied any ribbon/string/wire hangers though, I will leave that bit up to you)

The chipboard will be coated in 2 layers of gesso before painting and gloss varnished to finish it off so it will be well protected.

 I will be painting these chipboard pieces and trying out different types of art/girls as well as my usual style.

Anything goes, so don’t be shocked if the art you receive looks nothing like my usual art, or looks similar to someone else’s art style, they will however all still be made with the love they deserve :o)

Each piece will be numbered, signed and dated on the back.

After the painting is varnished it will be put into a cello bag for protection and then into the C6 sized board backed decorated envelope ready for sending.

I will not know which painting is in which envelope so the art sent to you will be completely at random.

The envelopes will be decorated/painted/stamped but not with a girl or anything too detailed, just something fun and pretty :o)

The mail art swap will start on January 8th (first posting date) and will end on February 8th (last posting date) any mail sent after February 8th or before January 8th will still be gratefully received but will not get a piece of art in return, I have to have a cut off time I’m afraid (sorry)

Phew that was a lot to take in, I hope you guys are still with me after all of that?

_______________________________________

As for what you send me in the swap?

Some of you have asked what you should send me for the mail art swap and some of you have even said that you didn’t know if your art work was ‘good enough’, ‘worthy’ or even classed as ‘art’.
Well this is what I have to say about that:

Anything you choose to make for me is ‘good enough’, you are an artist if you make ‘stuff’ it doesn’t have to be a painting, if you are a knitter then knit, if you paper mache then get your gluey on, if you make jewellery, bead away, if you make all of the above or none of the above and want to try your hand at something new, then now is the time….Seriously guys the fact that any of you want to swap with me is enough, do not worry about what to send or whether you have ‘good enough’ skills,
Micki says “Just get happy and make something” as long as you make something with love then it’s all good :o)

I hope that is more than enough information for you all but if you do have any questions feel free to ask them in this post and I will answer them (if I can) in this post too :o)

Now I’m off for a well deserved coffee break, it is waaaay too much effort for my little brain organizing rules for things ;o)

Happy Arting folks

Micki x

cold weather, birds and mail art :o)

I know last week I mentioned that I would post details of the mail art January swap in this post but I still haven't sorted it out yet :(

My daughter has been off 2 days this week because she hurt her knee and I have been having issues with getting the supplies I need too, so the mail art details will have to wait a while i'm afraid....sorry guys, I will post details as soon as I have them though and I will probably make a seperate post about it rather than lump it in with my weekly update.

__________________________________

Now on to this weeks work :o)

As always available now in my etsy shop:

My daughter had a letter home from school about a film club after school hours where they will get the chance to watch all kinds of different films from other cultures and times, it got me thinking about black and white films and old black and white photos and then before I could blink this little lady popped onto the canvasboard :o)

Nostalgia:

I'm a little bit in love with this lady, she looks kinda spooky but nice at the same time, she seemed like she had a lot to say so I called her.....

The Storyteller:

I'm having a bit of a 'thing' for big hair at the moment especially big hair with 'stuff' in it.

first it was little red with the wolfie in her hair and now it's this lady with birdies in her hair, hmmmm I wonder what else I could put in hair ;o)

Birds: SOLD, THANK YOU!!

Well it has finally started to get colder after the big heat wave we had last week, it was suddenly time to get the warmer coats out, what could be lovelier than a big furry collar in cold weather?

This lady does it with style ;o)

 Drama Queen:



Until next time :o)

Micki x

Is it really October?

It sure doesn't feel like October here in the UK at the moment, we've had super hot weather all week and I've had to force myself to go towards the painting table instead of the garden ;o)

I didn't get any big paintings done this week they are all A5 size or smaller.

Patterned backgrounds were the main objective this week, I have been loving the look of gorgeous flocked wallpapers for some time now and wanted to create something similar using stamps for my girlies backgrounds, I hope you like them :o)

As always these paintings are available now in my Etsy shop :o)

This little lady is feeling a bit foxy, she's put on her favourite fox hat and now she's ready for anything ;o)

Eloise:

Ready for Autumn with her new green coat this girly is all dressed up and ready to go to her new home ;o)

Freya:

Rosa has a big personality and loves her rich sumptuous colours, she's not the only one ;o)

Rosa:

I was still in the mood for hoods after doing my little red's last week but this time switched to black ;o)

Jane:

Last of all is Ida, she loves the Autumn and is all set in her gorgeous purple coat:

Ida's autumn Walk: SOLD, THANK YOU LISA :o)

That's all for this week, i'm off to enjoy the last of the gorgeous hot weather, check back next week for details of my January mail art swap and some more gorgeous girlies ;o)

Micki x