Here are my two latest finished pieces of original watercolour artwork:

‘Untitled’ Original Watercolour Painting 12″ x 9″ © Stacey-Ann Cole 2013

‘Summer’s Evening’ Original Watercolour Painting 11.7″ x 8.3″ © Stacey-Ann Cole 2013

Summer’s Evening took me quite a while to complete because I was trying to deal with the problem of the lady looking like she was floating above the ground.  I came up with the idea of her standing on something but don’t ask me why I chose a toadstool as I’m not entirely sure.  Maybe I thought it went with the slightly whimsical theme of the rest of the painting?  But I think I got there in the end.

It did occur to me after finishing the toadstool that I could have added wings onto her and turned her into a fairy of some sort which could have explained the floating, right?

The first painting shown above was well within my comfort zone and didn’t really take me that long to complete.  I enjoyed adding layers of paint and of course I enjoyed painting her afro hair!

These two paintings may be taken to my newest stockist Art In The Heart in Peterborough, but if not then look out for them to be added to my Etsy shop instead.

In the meantime, any ideas for a title of the first painting above? Figuring out titles for my work is not really one of my strong points…..Thanks in advance!

This time I did some drawings in one of my latest sketchbook swhich is full of lovely Khadi Paper.  I used Reeves watercolour pencils, a Kuratake Zig BrusH2O portable water brush and a black ink pen.

Watercolour Pencil Illustration on Khadi Paper © Stacey-Ann Cole 2013

More watercolour play is going on behind the scenes so I’ll keep posting pics as I go along.  I’m keen to try some new techniques so that might be in the next post

Thanks for following along

I’ve been playing with my watercolours and painting without any agenda.  Here are a couple of small paintings that have emerged:

‘Green Waves’ Original Watercolour ACEO © Stacey-Ann Cole 2013

‘Two Sisters’ Original Watercolour ACEO © Stacey-Ann Cole 2013

I’ll show more soon!

I just wanted to show you a couple of drawings that I created in my sketchbook recently.  I’m trying to create art without any end result in sight, just for the joy of it and to keep honing my skills.

I also would like to learn to loosen up a bit, let go of perfectionism and maybe try my hand at some watercolour abstract art.

‘Brave’

© Stacey-Ann Cole 2013

Watercolour Pencil & Brown Ink Pen on Khadi Paper

© Stacey-Ann Cole 2013, Untitled

Brown Coloured Pencil on Smooth Paper

It’s funny because although I still enjoy drawing faces very much and will continue to do so, I look at the artwork I created above and it feels very safe to me.  I feel like I need to challenge myself more, try new techniques and not be so controlled.

So I will be continue playing and exploring and trying to have fun and hopefully document these experiments here on my blog.

Would you look at the drawings above and think ‘controlled’ and ‘safe’?  I’m wondering if the thoughts I’m having about my art are actually seeping into my work or not so much?

Paypal had sent me a message to say that someone had filed a claim against me accusing me of Unauthorised Access to their account.  What?! Oh no.

I read through all the details and realised that the person accusing me had recently ordered an original painting from me through my Etsy shop and whom I had just posted said painting to a few days later.

Payal was giving me 7 days to try and resolve it and my options were something along the lines of:

1. Prove that I’d posted it and upload/attach that proof

2. State that I haven’t posted it and will be refunding the buyer

3. State/prove that I’ve already refunded the buyer

So I made scanned copies of my Post Office receipt, Etsy Order Confirmation email, Paypal Notification of Payment Received email and uploaded them into the Dispute Resolution Centre in my Paypal Account and then hoped and prayed that those would be enough to prove that I wasn’t being fraudulent.  I was worried because I only had a post office receipt without the customer’s address on it and in some cases, I’ve read, this is not good enough as a Proof of Postage.

I’m glad that I included the other documentation as well to show that the customer did place an order with me through Etsy and paid me in full.  My additional documentation also proved that I had sent confirmation to the customer stating that I had posted the painting on a particular day, what postal service I used (UK First Class) and when they should expect it to arrive etc.

I’m happy to say the outcome was that I won the case, it is now closed and I can keep the money that was paid to me for my product.

But I learned a very important lesson about making sure that from now on I have proper Proof of Postage from the post office.  It may mean that I may have to raise my postage costs to match with Recorded Delivery prices but I will speak to my local post office and try to find a way to avoid this if possible.

I hope that this blog post will encourage all of you business owners, sole traders and anyone selling anything online to make sure that you can prove that you posted something to a customer, because as much as I liked to think that it wouldn’t happen to me, there are some dishonest people out there and we have to protect ourselves as much as possible.

The whole process of resolving my particular case was quite simple and Paypal’s information was very helpful.  Have a look at this link for more info about Paypal’s Seller Protection policy:   https://www.paypal.com/uk/webapps/mpp/seller-protection

Maybe as I go along I’ll talk about a bit about the future but right now, I’m going to take things one day at a time.  I’ve started this year in a really pensive mood but luckily for me that doesn’t mean that I’m feeling low or depressed. It’s just that my intuition is telling me to just go slowly and be fully present in each moment, so I’m listening to that message.

So here’s a quick look at one of the paintings I’m currently working on and a couple of pieces that I’ve finished already.

Here’s the WIP:

© Stacey-Ann Cole 2013

With the painting above, I’m interested in showing her emotions through her body language, the expression on her face and with the colours I use.  So I’m going to go slowly and carefully with this one.

The above is an original watercolour bookmark but I’m thinking of printing several bookmarks from this rather than offering it as an original.  I enjoyed choosing the colours for her hair and her dress as they are deep and a little bit earthy.

The painting above is finished and will be available in my Etsy shop soon but I just need to figure out what to call it!  Any ideas?  What words come to your mind when you look at her face?  I would love some help.

Thanks and speak soon.

Stace

Filed under: Art and Creativity, Etsy, In the Moment, My Creative Space, Watercolour Paintings, WIPs ]]> http://creativesqueblog.wordpress.com/2013/01/16/new-work-and-works-in-progress/feed/ 6 Stacey-Ann Work in Progress, © Stacey-Ann Cole 2013 Original Watercolour Bookmark © Stacey-Ann Cole 2013 Original Watercolour Painting © Stacey-Ann Cole 2013 http://creativesqueblog.wordpress.com/2012/11/01/brand-new-greeting-cards-and-prints/ http://creativesqueblog.wordpress.com/2012/11/01/brand-new-greeting-cards-and-prints/#comments Thu, 01 Nov 2012 17:16:06 +0000 Stacey-Ann http://creativesqueblog.wordpress.com/?p=1490 Continue reading →]]> Hi all,
Just wanted to let you all know that some new greeting cards and some new prints will be available in my Etsy shop very soon

Here are the cards:

As will all of my printed greeting cards, these will come with their own envelope and will be available as single cards or as a multipack.

And here are the prints:

These prints are approx. 6″ x 8″ and are printed on 200gsm watercolour paper using archival inks.  The images are fade resistant for up to 200 years.

I’m wondering whether to offer them framed using a lighter, warmer wood effect frame or unframed.  What do you think?  For those of you who buy artwork, do you prefer them ready framed or do you prefer to buy your own frames?

Thank you for your help!

Original Watercolour © Stacey-Ann Cole 2012

I just wanted to write a quick blog post shouting about the fact that I’ve had my Afro Caribbean Greeting Cards featured in the Vogue Magazine August 2012 issue!

I didn’t really believe it would happen until I received my copy of the mag through the post and saw my cards looking lovely on the page.  Can you spot them below?

There are my cards at No. 6 along with a little write up.  The page is called ‘You Are Cordially Invited To…..’ and is full of products and services that brides to be might be interested in.  Here’s what the full page looks like:

So yay! I’m really pleased and excited and grateful to have gotten this opportunity.

Speak to you all soon.

It probably sounded a bit lame and I’m not sure if he understood but he nodded his head and eventually wandered off after watching me paint a bit more.

So naturally after his question I started to really explore why I do this.  These are the answers I came up with which expand on what I told my son:

Reason 1.

Whenever I try to add facial features to these particular types of paintings, it just doesn’t look right!  The ideas that I draw on paper always seem to emerge with just the shape of the face, the hairstyle and body shape already in place.  Every single time I try to draw in eyes and nose, it always looks weird so I just stopped doing it.  Lips are a bit better as sometimes those add to the personality of the lady I’m drawing.

I remember an art teacher telling me once that I should never try to fit facial features into the outline of a face.  She said that I should always draw the features first and then draw the face around them and it is actually a principle that I do apply when I’m drawing portraits.

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

Reason 2.

The ideas I have for these paintings seem to always have a theme and the figure I draw is an expression of that theme.  It really is mostly about expressing an emotion through the posture, the placement of an arm or leg and the tilt of the head.  The body is saying something specific and there isn’t the need for facial features to express that same thing.

‘Dance & The World Dances With You’ Original Watercolour Painting 5.75″ x 8″, part of the Serenity, Joy Art Series

© Stacey-Ann Cole 2011

So it’s been a good exercise in delving a bit deeper into some of my art and figuring out why I do things in a certain way.  It’s given me new understanding and hopefully I’ve enlightened anyone else who may have been wondering this about my work too!

Any other artists out there who draw figures without faces?  Is there a particular reason?  I’d love to hear your comments below!