I’ve definitely been on a water kick lately, I guess maybe because in the last few weeks we’ve finally had some hot summer weather, if of course you don’t count the rain we are having today (although of course that is water too!). I’m really enjoying experimenting with these paintings and reducing the amount of detail that I am including in them…not always so easy given my background in bery detailed and realistic art, but lots of fun none-the-less.

This modern beach painting was created from my imagination, and is 4″x4″ acrylic on canvas.

“View from the Dune”

Currently Available on Art By Us

These two ACEO’s (2.5″x3.5″) were also done in acrylics on mattboard:

“Dune with a View”

“Tropical Sea”

Michelle

Technorati Tags art, artist, beach, painting, seascape, art blog

This is a painting I completed yesterday, another in my flow series, experimenting with different interpretations of fluid motion. LOL - capturing digital images of my artwork is a challenge in itself -no matter what I do I can’t seem to get the images to accurately reflect the depth and detail.

I painted this one horizontally, like ripples in a pond, however when my ten year old daughter saw it she promptly turned it upright and told me I had painted a purple wave. That individual interpretation is what I love about abstract art, and I have called this one ‘Purple Wave’ purely because my daughters vision was different from mine!

“Purple Wave”, 5″x7″ on canvas board, 2006. Currently available at ArtByUs.

Michelle

Technorati Tags: art, artist, artwork, painting, acrylic painting, abstract

ACEO’s are a sub-group of Small Format Art that I also love creating. ACEO is an acronym for “Art Cards, Editions & Originals” - collectable little artwork gems only 2.5″ x 3.5″ in size. Size is the only guideline for artwork to be defined as an ACEO - they can be created in any al all mediums including collaged items, as long as they meet the size requirement, which is the size of a standard sports trading card.

ACEO’s can be framed and displayed on your office desk or walls or kept in a collection in Trading Card Albums/boxes as a mini art gallery for your coffe table.

Here are a few of the ACEO’s I have created:

“Purple Fudge” acrylic Abstract on mattboard

“Frog On A Log” Prismacolor Pencils on mattboard

“Lost in Thought” Prismacolor Pencils on mattboard

More ACEO’s can be viewed in the ACEO gallery on my website

Storm Coming, 5″x7″ acrylic on canvas board

I’ve been experimenting with a new Abstract series based on this concept, this first one, ‘Blue Flow’ is ACEO sized (2.5″ x 3.5″) acrylic on mattboard.

Viewed as Portrait format:

Viewed as Landscape format:

And the first one, as yet untitled, 3.5″ x 5″ acrylic on canvas:

Viewed in Portrait format:

Viewed in Landscape format:

The scanned digital images of these are rather disappointing as they have lost much of the vibrancy and depth of the originals. I havn’t varnished them yet, so will do so and see if I can get better images.

Michelle

Hi and welcome to my new art blog! My name is Michelle, I am a Western Australian artist who specialises in Pet Portraiture and Small Format Art in a variety of mediums, including graphite (black and white), Artists colour pencils, ink, acrylic and pastels.

Small Format Art (SFA) is defined as any type of artwork that has a maximum size of 14 inches (35.5cm) in any one direction. SFA is collectible, affordable artwork that make wonderful unique displays in homes and offices to suit your own personal decor or personality. SFA can be collected by artist, theme, style, color or an eclectic mix to create an eye catching display to suit your own individual taste. They are especially suited for small display areas such as hallways, mantlepieces and desk tops where larger art work would be unsuitable or simply wouldn’t fit.

As an artist with three small chilren, I love Small Format Art because the smaller size allows me to be creative and productive within the limited time that I have available. Although SFA’s can take 50-60 hours or more to complete over many days or even weeks, it is also very rewarding to be able to complete a finished painting in a looser more artistic style in just a day or two!

I love animals and the majority of the artwork I create is animal portraits. As a professional Pet Portrait Artist, my pet portraits are highly detailed and very realistic - if you would like to see examples, they can be viewed on my website http://www.pencilportraits.com.au.

However, with the SFA I create, I find myself drawn more towards less realistic styles that really express my creativity - I really don’t like labels and would prefer at this point in time not to be limited to creating art within the confines of only one artistic ’style’. Many different art movements inspire me and as a result, the SFA that I create is an eclectic mix of styles that might normally be labelled as abstract expressionism, minimalism, surrealism or modern/contemporary with some representational pieces thrown in for good measure! That is my idea ofArtistic Freedom:)

I’ve decided to create this blog as a separate entity to my original blog http://www.petportraitartist.blogspot.com/ for several reasons - firstly, for myself I like the idea of maintaining a visual diary of my work and at the same time being able to record some of my thoughts and emotions surrounding each piece, and secondly the majority of Small Format Art that I create will be available for sale in different venues such as Ebay, Art Wanted, Art Cards Wanted and Art By Us and by listing each artwork here in one place, it will be easier for me to keep track of everything, plus I would imagine it will be a bit easier for those who like to collect my artwork:) If you would like to join me on this journey of dscovery, please add this blog to your RSS feed to recieve notification when new art work is added (simply click on the second orange button on the right that says ‘Feed’ - or if you use atom click the first button that says ‘Site Feed’).

Cheers

Michelle

‘Tall Poppies’ 4″x4″ art squared, acrylic on canvas, 2006

‘Solitaire’ 4″x4″ art squared, acrylic on canvas, 2006.

‘Ginger Kitty’ 4″x4″ art squared, Prismacolor pencils on blue suedeboard, 2006

Michelle

PencilPortraits

Just to be different I have painted several modern/contemporary abstracts which are very different to the more normal highly detailed and realistic animals I normally do. My aim with these was in fact to avoid lots of detail and take the minimalist approach. These are all 4″x4″ art squared pieces, acrylic on canvas. I really enjoyed doing these and have listed two on Ebay to see how they go - they were a lot of fun and in between commissions, I plan on doing a lot more in this small format size.

Solitaire

Tall Poppies

View From The Dunes

Michelle

It really is no wonder that these ACEO’s are taking the art world by storm, they are so much fun to do and I am finding them quite addictive:)

I will admit that it is really difficult to get a lot of detail into a painting that is a maximum size of 2.5 by 3.5 inches (the same size as normal trading cards), I’m finding that they are a really good oportunity for me to experiment with a looser, less photorealistic style.

Here are a few that I have done this week, I might try listing some of them on ebay.com.au and the new art auction at the Art-Cards.Org site (I’ll post an update when they are listed for auction).

The first one is a lovely golden retriever ACEO portrait:

A sweet little Siamese Kitten:

A bird this time, a Pink Flamingo:

and something different for me, a landscape - impressionistic in style?

I do have a few more but I will post them on the new ACEO gallery that I am setting up on my website Pencil Portraits as soon as I sort out an image size problem that I seem to be having.

I’m contemplating opening an Ebay store for my ACEO’s, small format art and art jewellery…if I can find enough hours in the day! I’d love to hear if you think this is a good idea or not (what can I say, I’m a Libran and making a decision takes forever!)

Ciao for now!

Michelle

Well I have finally had a chance after the Christmas rush to sit down and have some fun creating art just for the sake of creating:) There are always so many things to inspire me, I don’t think I will ever run out of inspiration for what to do next. LOL - the only hard part is deciding what I want to do first!

I did want to try something different, and seeing that there is such interest in miniature art - ACEO’s - Art Cards, Edition’s and Originals I decided to have a go at some just for fun. I even had a go at some florals and a bird!

If you have never heard of Art Card Miniature Art, there is a heap of information and a gallery of beautiful examples available at http://.art-cards.org. ACEO’s started as trading cards that Artists world wide traded with each other, and eventually they were sold to the general public - affordable art for everyone! Many ACEO’s are sold on Ebay - just search for the term ACEO and all the listing’s will come up.

The main feature of ACEO’s is that they are the size of trading cards - 2.5 inches by 3.5 inches (yes that is tiny!). ACEO’s can be created from any medium that larger artworks are created from and can be framed in tiny miniature art frames or displayed in trading card sleeves or books. Some people even create special books using decorative scrapbooking techniques. (If you havn’t heard of the craft of scrapbooking, check out http://scrapbooking.com - I won’t go into detail as I don’t really know much about scrapbooking and with my tendency to get sidetracked with new projects I am not going to start looking into it!)

I’m thinking of doing a series of ‘Collections’ with these ACEO’s and selling them on Ebay. I’m still tossing around ideas but I’m thinking along the lines of a series of cards in each of the following (or similar) collections: ‘Midnight Garden’ - for florals on black backgrounds, ‘Fur Babies’ for dogs and cats, ‘Feathered Friends’, for birds, ‘Down on the Farm’ - for farm animals…and other things along those lines. I’d love to know what you think about this idea! I’m contemplating a personal challenge of completing one ACEO for a year. Now like I said I am just contemplating it! It sounds like a fun idea….but a huge commitment all the same. Definitely requires more thought, maybe seven cards per week as I am sure there will be days where I can’t get anything done. Stay tuned, I will decide soon!

ACEO : Pelican in colour pencil and acrylic

ACEO Floral: Frangipani

Anyway, last day of the old year and all that, I do hope everyone has a safe and Happy New Year!

Michelle

http://www.pencilportraits.com.au

Or maybe I should have spelt that jewellery, jewelry or jewellry. LOL who knows, and does it really matter - I’m sure you know I am talking about, no matter which way I spell it.

I thought I would post a few bits of my Art Jewellery, although I have had a brief hiatus from creating jewellery lately, I can feel my muse heading in that direction of late:)

The first photo below is a Sterling Silver, Turquoise and Red Coral bracelet that I made for my Mum’s birthday in June. All the silver work, coiled links and clasp are hand forged. I just LOVE working with sterling silver and gemstone beads.

This second bangle is based on the wire weaving techniques taught by Brazilian Artist Eni Oken, and is probably my all time favourite. As I was working on it, the piece named itself ‘Amazon Sunset’, the turquoise focal bead represents the depths of the river, the faceted amazonite - the endless blue sky, the orange aventurine is the setting sun leading to the black onyx of a moonless night sky lit only by the silver twinkling stars. Its a hefty bangle - not for the faint of heart, but it is this style that I am being pulled to create…just gotta finish the Christmas Pet Portrait commissions before I let myself get distracted!

I probably should post some piccies of the jewellery pieces I have made that have won awards. One day. As a full time mother of three, and with working from home there just never seems enough time to do everything I should be doing. Which of course is why the housework never gets done - or at least it sounds like a good reason:)

I do have a temporary website for some of my art jewellery if you would like to see some more, the url is http://uniquelychelle.dgshosting.com/

Cheers

Michelle
http://www.pencilportraits.com.au

If you have ever tried taking a photo of your beloved pet, you probably already know that it is not always as easy to get the perfect shot. Whether you are taking photos to add to your family album, or a trying to get a great shot to use as reference for a pet portrait, hopefully the following tips will help!

The number one tip for great looking photos is take them from the subjects level - for pet photo’s, that may mean laying on the floor! By taking the photo from the pet’s level, you will avoid the camera distortion that makes some photos look like caricatures.

Use natural light if possible, no flash or artificial lighting. The best outside photographs are taken on overcast days with light cloud so that there is plenty of light. If it is sunny, position your pet in the shade and take the photos with the sun behind you. Don’t take the photo in direct sunlight as this will make your pet squint (not to mention get impatient).

If you do need to take the photo inside, take it near a window that allows plenty of natural lighting, and try to avoid using the flash. Take the photo with your back to the window with the subject facing the window.

Take photo’s from a distance of 6ft or less. You want your pet to be the main object in the photo, not the surroundings, so zoom in and fill the viewfinder with your pet’s image. This is really important if you are taking a head shot, as you really want to see the eyes and facial expression clearly.

Make sure you allow some space around your pet in the viewfinder so you don’t accidentally chop off an ear or a nose!

Take as many photos as you can, a digital camera is excellent as you can keep taking multiple shots in the same pose to give you a good range to choose from.

When taking photos of pets, enlist the help of another person to stand beside you and get the animals attention with a toy or treat. A shot of the head looking forward and slightly to the one side usually makes a more interesting phot enlargement or pet portrait than a full side-on profile pose - try to take the photo from an angle that shows both eyes (for dogs and cats).

Photos that capture the subjects personality and character are important. Be patient and be prepared to spend a fair bit of time, possibly over more than one photo session. Dog’s in particular will sense if you are getting frustrated or grumpy, and this will reflect in their demeanor. Try to make it fun – toys and treats usually work!

Always keep a camera handy and know how to use it in a hurry - candid shots can often truly capture the personality of your pet, but you usually don’t have a lot of time to get your camera organised before the pet moves!

These two photos of Jess are examples of good close-up and detailed reference photos. I took these photos following all the advice I have have listed above - so you can see these tips will help:)

Of course, some pets are easier to photograph than others - I have taken several hundred photos of my own dog Tia, a black Shar Pei (you know the dog’s with all the wrinkles) and only one is suitable for use as a reference for her portrait, so I shall keep trying for some better ones.

Happy snapping!

Michelle

http://www.pencilportraits.com.au