New Watercolour Paintings

Hi everyone,

I just wanted to share some new artwork with you as I’ve been very productive for the last few days.  Here are a couple of watercolour paintings that I’m quite proud of:

‘Rosie Girl’ Original Watercolour Painting approx. 6″ x 4″

© Stacey-Ann Cole 2012

I’ve wanted to create artwork featuring children for a long time but they just never looked right.  So I’ve been practising quite a lot in my sektchbook and now I’m seeing results that I like.  The little girl above was inspired by seeing lots of my nieces and grand-nieces recently but she looks more like my daughter actually! I will of course be doing more of these since it seems like I’ve finally got the hang of it.

‘Mother’s Pride’ Original Watercolour ACEO 2.5″ x 3.5″ © Stacey-Ann Cole 2012

The above ACEO sprung mainly from my desire to create more paintings featuring more than one figure.  I produce a lot of faces and single figures in my work and I wanted to start adding more figures and exploring how they relate to each other.  As I was drawing and painting this piece, it was clear to me that these two were mother and daughter.

I’m still working on more paintings so if you’d like to see some ‘in progress’ pics, keep checking my Facebook Page for updates.

p.s.  To be taken straight to my Etsy shop, click on the pictures above.

Two Blog Awards – At The Same Time!

Hello all,

I recently received two blog awards from Jennifer Edwards of the wonderful Drawn2Life Blog, whose watercolour artwork I find to be really fun and uninhibited.

It’s strange to realise that my ramblings and sharing of thoughts and pictures is actually being noticed and enjoyed by others so thank you Jennifer for the recognition!

The first blog award is the Versatile Blogger Award which funnily enough I’ve received before! The second blog award is the Sunshine Blog Award which is awarded to ‘bloggers who positively and creatively inspire others’ >  **blushing**

I’m going to follow Jennifer’s example and combine the instructions/rules from the two awards into one to make things easier.  The Sunshine Award states that I should  answer 9 specific questions about myself and the Versatile Blogger Award states that I should share some random facts about myself.  Both awards also ask that you pass the award on to other deserving blogs.  So here goes:

My favorite color is….. I don’t have an absolute favourite one but I am drawn to vibrant and earthy colours

My favorite number is…. I don’t have a favourite number.

My favorite drink is     Hot green tea.  I find it very refreshing.

My favorite animal is  I don’t have a favourite animal but I’ve always been slightly fond of elephants because my mum had a set of three wooden ones in the house when I was growing up.

Facebook? or Twitter?   Facebook – because the connections there feel more personal to me, despite it only being a virtual connection.

Getting or Giving presents     I prefer giving presents more because there’s nothing like the feeling of making someone happy or even delighted, especially if it’s a gift that will last a while.  That’s worth much more to me than getting presents.

My Favorite day    Monday – because it’s full of possibilities for the week ahead.  Of course when I was working for someone else it was always Friday :0)

My Favorite flower    Orchid – timeless and elegant

My Passion  Creating my artwork. Sharing and talking about art, design and illustration. Helping others with knowledge I have gained.

So now you should know a little bit more about me although, after answering those questions, I’m now wondering if it’s weird that I don’t have favourite numbers and colours and things….

Anyway, here are the list of bloggers that I would also like to pass these awards onto:

Cabbi Arts

Gennine’s Art Blog

Divine Choice Creations

Sweet Design Diaries

Passion.Fruit

I would have listed more but then I’d be repeating some of the ones I’ve already given an award to.  Thanks again to Jennifer for the blog awards and I hope the bloggers I’ve listed above enjoy receiving their awards too.

I’m just curious, do you guys have a favourite colour, animal, flower etc.?  Or not?  Let me know in the comments below please!

A Class For Artists Who Blog

So, I decided to sign up for the Blog Triage online class which promises to help me maintain a healthy blog.  It is a class geared mostly towards artists who have a blog that is in need of a boost, but I think that some of the lessons we will learn can be applied to most other blogs too.

The class is being taught by Alyson Stanfield of the ArtBizBlog and Cynthia Morris of the Original Impulse Blog, both of whom know a whole lot about blogging and helping creatives to get the most out of their own blogs.

As part of the first piece of homework we are asked to blog about the type of people we would like to visit and read our blogs.  I’ve been thinking about this and although it makes me feel a bit uncomfortable talking about who my ideal reader would be, I’ll have a go anyway:

• Interested in Art
• Interested in Mind/Body/Spirit
• Artists/Creatives
• Bloggers
• Collectors
• Fans

So there is my list, which of course is not intended to exclude anybody and is not exhaustive!  I know it sounds a bit abrupt as well but like I said, it made me feel a bit uncomfortable to specify like that and I guess I’m just scared that some of you may run off because you don’t fit into the categories above!

The second part of the assignment is to think about what I want to get out of blogging.  This part I found much easier to write so here goes:

• To be able to freely share my art
• To provide me with regular fans of my art who like to read and comment
• To learn how to talk comfortably and confidently about my art
• To share my process as an artist
• To encourage others to share their art too and learn to talk about it
• To encourage others on their own creative journeys through sharing mine
• To keep fans and collectors updated about my work

I doubt that the above is a complete list but it’s certainly what occurs to me right now!

It seems to me that some of us may start blogging because everyone else is doing it and everyone says it’s a really good idea.  But I think starting with those questions above is probably a good exercise to complete before launching a blog for the first time.  It may help with finding things to blog about and maintaining consistency if you think beforehand about why you want to blog and who your audience is.  I’m hoping that it will help me in this way too.

If you have a blog, have you ever thought about your blog in this way?  Do you know who you want as an ideal reader and do you know what you want out of blogging?  Let me know by commenting below please!

New Original Watercolour Painting

Hi everyone,

I just wanted to share my latest original painting with you all.  This one is called ‘A Mediative State’ and features an African American woman enjoying some time alone meditating on life:

‘A Meditative State’ Original Watercolour Painting 6″ x 8.5″on Khadi Paper © Stacey-Ann Cole 2012

Click on the image above if you’d like to visit my Etsy shop.

It has been painted on Khadi paper which is handmade in India and has wonderful deckled edges as you should be able to see in the image above.

This piece is no. 9 in the Serenity, Joy Art Series and I’ve noticed that the meditation and spiritual themes seem to run through most of my work nowadays. I’m enjoying creating these pieces because they encourage me to stop, rest and take time out and I like the thought that maybe my work inspires others to do the same.

I guess in a way my pieces of artwork are messages to myself, whispering the lessons that I sometimes ignore and really shouldn’t.

One Thing That Is Making Me Smile Right Now

One of the things that is making me smile right now is quite a simple thing.  It’s just a tiny pot of flowers that my mum bought for me when she was last staying with us.  Despite watering it regularly, it seems a little bit like it’s struggling to stay alive, but I smile when I see it because this little bunch are clearly fighters.  I’ve had to remove several dead petals and leaves and sometimes I worry that it won’t make it, but it’s holding on and I admire that:

Why I’ve Been Absent For The Past Week

Hi everyone,

I just wanted to write this quick post to explain my sudden absence and the closing of all my online shops in the past week. I don’t want to go into too much detail so forgive me if my style of writing is a bit stunted or abrupt.

A couple of weeks ago, I got the news that my Dad had a mild stroke whilst he was in Jamaica.  It seemed initially that he would pull through but then he steadily got worse until he passed away not long after that.  It was all quite sudden for me and before I knew it I was making arrangements for childcare and booking my flight to Jamaica so that I could attend my Dad’s funeral and be with family there.  With my kids to look after, I didn’t really have time to thing about any of it until I got there.

So I’ve been in Jamaica since Thursday last week and it was a bittersweet trip.  It was great connecting with all my extended family, spending time with my sister and brothers but then we would remember why we were all gathered there and it would dampen our spirits a bit.  There was lots of laughter, crying, hugging, supporting, visiting and for a few days after the funeral, we all tried to come down off the emotional rollercoaster and relax a bit before we headed back to our lives in the UK.

© Stacey-Ann Cole 2012, Runaway Bay, Jamaica

I got back home on Friday morning, reunited with my kids and my Mum but everything feels a bit unreal, like I’ve been away for longer than a week and everything I’ve come back to has changed whilst I haven’t been here.  But really I think that it’s me that’s changed, my perspective and my values.  Certain things have become more important than others but I guess that’s to be expected.

So there’s my little summary and it was quite good to write it but now I must get on with things and play catch up!

I hope you all have been well and I look forward to connecting with you again in the coming weeks

New Stockists

Hi all,

I was lucky enough in January to receive enquiries from two lovely ladies who were about to open their own bricks and mortar shops in London.  Each of them were interested in stocking my items and I was simply thrilled that had they thought of me and also by the opportunity to have my products for sale in offline shops for the first time.

I’ve kept quiet about it till now because I didn’t want to jinx anything.  I wanted to make sure that everything was actually going to go ahead and that my stock reached each shop safely before I starting shouting about how I had new stockists!

Now that my products are with them, I’m very pleased to announce that The Step in North London now stock some of my gift tags and greeting cards such as these illustrated ones: 

The Step is a newly opened cafe, bar and gallery on Myddleton Road in North London and is run by husband and wife team Nell and Matt.  Their aim is to kick start the regeneration of this Edwardian shopping street by providing a place for the local community to meet, eat and shop.

My other stockist is The Strange Fruit Shop in East London.  They will be stocking some of my new printed greeting cards, some hand-drawn greeting cards and some of my new watercolour bookmarks too.  Here’s what the bookmarks look like:

Strange Fruit is a greeting card publisher whose aim is to offer a modern and imaginative range of cards that reflect the diverse and colourful population of Great Britain.  The company is run by Denise Rawls who was offered a little shop in the newly opened Wood Street Indoor Market in East London.

Isn’t it exciting?!  I’m really, really eager to see if any of my items sell well – fingers crossed!

So if you just happen to be in either North London or East London, please stop by and take a few pictures of my items in the shops for me – thank you!