Saturday, January 31, 2015

My art blog has moved!

I'll keep this little blog running for my dog bickies and sharing of non art related goodness..

But for my art blog, you can check me out here

Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Soul Mates - a Work in Progress



It may seem a little weird
(but that's ok, cause I'm a little
coo coo ka choo sometimes)
... but I like to share
the process of my paintings from
start to finish. 
And also my inspiration
for why I painted a certain
painting.

So here's the story, I was running
along one morning, kind of meditating  on a
commission piece, I had been asked
to paint. 

My friend wanted red birds
in the painting and she didn't mind
where they were or what they 
were doing, she just wanted
red birds. 

AND BAM, This happened ---->




so now I had my inspiration,
I was off on a mission.


Beginnings of the background


More colour to the background





A close up of the finished birdies





and the finished product

"SOUL MATES"

24 x 36 inches

and there you go, sometimes
inspiration happens in the weirdest of places.





Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Love Tree

Just a quick post to share my latest
painting and a few before photographs.

In an effort to always keep thinking
outside of the box but to keep my
own artistic voice loud and clear,
I tried a new technique for this background
which I just LOVED.



First Layer above




adding the tree



and the finished product

LOVE TREE

10 x 12 inches

and perfect for that
special somebody for 
Valentines Day


as always thank you for popping by

xx

Sunday, January 18, 2015

Serena - a DO OVER or RE-WORK

7 months ago, I painted the first version of "Serena"


at the time I loved her so much
and was lucky enough for a lovely
lady who owns a clothing boutique
to reach out to me to ask it would be
ok to hang her in the shop.

7 months on and it was time
to bring Serena home. After
not having seen her for that long 
and my tastes having changed so
much in that time, I felt like 
Serena needed a do-over.

So here's a few progress photo's of 
the re-work in action.



So above is the 'cover up' period ;-)

the beauty of acrylic paint is 
that if you don't like something
you can paint over it. I have ZERO
experience with oils, so cannot 
comment on whether or not it is easy to
paint over a piece you don't like.


Extended her hair
fixed her face
added a head band
changed the background
and most importantly
added a MONO BROW!
and phew I felt like
it was a huge difference
already


A little more work




and the transformation is complete!

I love the Take-Two Version
of 
Serena 
now!!

As always thanks for popping by

xx

Saturday, January 17, 2015

Introducing Rosie ----->>

So I have been working on a little side project for a few months now. It has involved making my own dog biscuits/treats and dog food. I have enjoyed this process so much, that I've started sharing a few recipe's on here for my friends/family and anyone else that happens to stumble upon this blog.

I thought it only appropriate, that I share a photo of my beautiful Rosie for anyone that has not met her in real life.





She is a 7 1/2 year old  King Charles Cavalier. She snores very loudly (and I mean rattle the tiles on the roof loud), has big floppy ears, loves the beach, adores my children, but most importantly ---> she loves whatever I cook for her!

Currently I am looking at a natural flea spray (still trialling it), and ways to combat her bothersome bad breath (without me having to brush her teeth twice a day).

So watch this space :-)

Friday, January 16, 2015

Rosie's Seriously Scrummy Dog Treats

by far my Rosie's 
favourite recipe yet!




Rosie's Seriously Scrummy

Dog Treats


160g Rolled Oats 
50 g Olive Oil
1 1/4 Cups of Boiling Water
1 Tablespoon of Vegetable Stock (**See note below**)
185g Peanut Butter 
1 Egg
300g of whole wheat flour (I used Atta Brand)



** I made my own vegetable stock in the Thermomix using the recipe from the Everyday Cookbook - page 23


Instructions:
  • Preheat oven to 150 degrees.
  • In a large bowl, combine rolled oats, oil, vegetable stock, and boiling water. Let stand 10 minutes. I used the Thermomix to weigh and measure all of the ingredients and let it sit in the bowl.
  • Next thoroughly stir in peanut butter, whole wheat flour and egg. If using the Thermomix, blitz together on speed 7 for about 10 seconds.
  • Knead with your hands until you have a smooth ball of dough. I used my Thermomix to do this process which was quicker and kneaded for 2 minutes. 
  • Take a rolling pin and flatten out the dough to about 1/2 inch thickness. Use a biscuit/cookie cutter to cut out fun shapes. If you're feeling lazy, you can just leave the dough as is and bake it like one whole biscuit. You can always break it up after it's cooked. If you want a shinier looking biscuit, you can also brush on a thin coat of egg whites before baking. 
  • Place your dough onto a tray with a non-stick baking sheet and bake for 15-20 minutes (depending on your oven) or until golden. 
Let your biscuits cool completely. Store in an air tight container for up to a week (if your furry friend let's them last that long!). Remember these are fresh ingredients with no preservatives, so they will not store as long in a container as a commercially bought brand of biscuits would. 

Thursday, January 15, 2015

Alice & The Fawn


My latest painting
"Alice & The Fawn"
20 x 24 inches


Commissioned piece
for a very special 
little girl named Alice



As always
thank you for 
stopping by

xx


Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Follow No One...

With all of the information out
there on Social Media and 
just readily available
via a quick Google search,
it is really really hard
to find your own voice
and not want to follow 
everyone else. Especially if they
are successful in their own field.

BUT no matter the temptation
there is only one YOU!

So follow your own voice.

xx







Photo taken by me (via Iphone)
Quote created on Canva


Friday, January 09, 2015

Deer Frida - From Start to Finish

I like to share the journey of a 
painting on my blog for two reasons

1) As  a record for me personally to 
go hey, it started looking like a hot mess
and evolved into either a bigger
hot mess, or something I can
be proud of.

and 

2) To maybe serve as inspiration
to other artists out there that
maybe get a little thrown off
by the way a painting first
starts off. My tip is to 
just keep going, until your
gut says it's happy!



First layer of papers


Frida and the baby deer
sketched in.


a little more sketching and development



A close up of the texture


and the deer



Side view





and the end product

Deer Frida
20 x 24 inches




As always
thank you for
popping by

xx 

Thursday, January 08, 2015

Carrot, Banana & Apple Dog Biscuits ----->>> shhhhh dogs with hips look away


Round two...

Rosie approves...

But then again

She is a guts on legs

But shhhhh

don't tell her these

are low fat and

better yet

good for her!!



Carrot, Banana & Apple Dog Biscuits

1/4 cup of natural applesauce (**see note below**)
1 cup of shredded carrots (**see note below**)
1 medium rip banana
1/8 cup of water
1 1/2 cups of whole wheat flour
1 cup of rolled oats (** see note below**)


** I made my own applesauce in the Thermomix using the recipe from the Everyday Cookbook - page 42
** I grated my own carrot in the Thermomix on speed 8 for about 10 seconds
** I blitzed the oats in the Thermomix on speed 8 for about 10 seconds

Instructions:
  • Preheat oven to 150 degrees.
  • Mash the rip banana in a small bowl.
  • Grate the carrots and mix with the banana.
  • Pour in applesauce and water.
  • In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour and oats. I used the Thermomix and blitzed together on speed 6 for about 15 seconds. 
  • Knead with your hands until you have a smooth ball of dough. I used my Thermomix to do this process which was quicker and kneaded for 2 minutes. ***note*** this recipe is very sticky!
  • Take a rolling pin and flatten out the dough to about 1/2 inch thickness. Use a biscuit/cookie cutter to cut out fun shapes. If you're feeling lazy, you can just leave the dough as is and bake it like one whole biscuit. You can always break it up after it's cooked. At this point I also sprinkled on a little extra cinnamon on the top of the biscuits, but that is just an option. If you want a shinier looking biscuit, you can also brush on a thin coat of egg whites before baking. 
  • Place your dough onto a tray with a non-stick baking sheet on top because as mentioned above this recipe is very very sticky!
  • Bake for 15-20 minutes (depending on your oven) or until golden. 
Let your biscuits cool completely. Store in an air tight container for up to a week (if your furry friend let's them last that long!). Remember these are fresh ingredients with no preservatives, so they will not store as long in a container as a commercially bought brand of biscuits would. 

Sunday, January 04, 2015

Oprah


How beautiful is this photo
taken in Broome Western Australia.
My friends daughter took it
and I didn't apply any filters!

WOW right.

And thank you Oprah Winfrey
for your inspiring quotes.
What a woman!



Saturday, January 03, 2015

Frida Kahlo - I Paint Self Portraits

Frida Kahlo
I am obssessed!





Quote by Frida Kahlo

Art by Natalie Briney

As always 
thank you
 for popping by 
xx

Thursday, January 01, 2015

Always Remember

The sheer beauty of seeing this family of swans
moving along as one unit, 
stopped me in my tracks this morning
while running along the beach.
I just had to stop and 
take a picture.

The quote just sums it up
beautifully.




FOCUS


FOCUS


Follow
One
 Course
Until
Success

because I'm very much a
 "wow look at that shiney object" 
kind of gal 
and find it hard to stay on track.

This will be my 2015 mantra