☆ After an enforced Break...[Art on Friday]

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I am always surprised by creativity. How it ebbs and flows. How when I have had to have an enforced break, I now have a huge well of ideas bursting forth, clamouring to be painted.

I was also surprised how cranky I was becoming - beyond just being in pain, I was becoming a grade a bitch. And I realised how important self care is. 

How a walk clears my mind + centres me. How painting releases me and centres me. How playing creatively with the girls makes me + them feel connected + happy.

So in the end being confined to the couch was a blessing, and I have been given a new perspective on my life - the routines, the ebbing and flowing of family, of creativity, of life. And of how I can squeeze some more time out of my day!

Thank you everyone who stopped by to leave a lovely message of support + well wishing. It meant a great deal to me. And with the support of my family + an awesome chiropractor, I am well on the way to having a healthy back again!

[by the way - I emailed a replied to every comment left, but I noticed that many of you had noreply-comment@bogger as your contact email. To see if you have a noreply-comment this is a set of really easy to follow instructions on how to fix the problem! I think I have sorted mine out, but let me know if you notice I am a noreply-commenter too!]

So onto this weeks painting....

Wild Flower

Bug (our middle child) has her third birthday this weekend + has requested a mermaid birthday cake, so as well as catching up with comments, blog reading, housework (OMG the WASHING piles!) we have a forecast of 100% chance of rain on her birthday, 20 three - six year olds, and a mermaid cake to organise. 

It's going to be another busy weekend - I hope yours is more restful!

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☆ Featured - MagicalArtCreations

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This month the featured section is dedicated to some seriously amazing talent + beautiful etsy shops from people who have signed up for Denthes May Etsy Promotions. My fifth + final featured artist is Magical Art Creations + her beautiful paintings.

(all information is from Magical Art Creations shop)

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I started painting with my father. I wish I had photos of us painting when I was little! He taught me how to hold my paint brush, how to mix paints and not to work my brush strokes too much.

 These are the little details I remember. His guidance growing up proved to be very important to me. 

I opened this store to share with you my Original Art. A little bit of me and who I am. I feel that my pieces of art hold a little bit of my soul. A little Magical Creation!

More here:                          Facebook   ~   Website   ~   Twitter

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Don't forget that I want to feature YOU here! Yes you! Click here to find out more - it is super easy to join in (but don't hesitate to email me with any questions!)

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☆ How do you get your monthly does of AWESOMENESS?

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Just a quick shout out to let you know that the LilliBean Designs June specials, news + freebies email is  coming out this weekend.

This is a monthly email from me, with a free downloadable desktop calendar (a new piece of art for your desktop every month!), discounted paintings for subscribers + of course your free 'Gratitude Angel' for those days when you need a pick me up.

How do you get this awesomeness once a month?

Just click on this symbol here or in the side bar

Have a great day!

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☆ Featured - AmhalchyJewelry

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This month the featured section is dedicated to some seriously amazing talent + beautiful etsy shops from people who have signed up for Denthes May Etsy Promotions. My fourth featured artist is Amhalchy Jewelry + her beautiful designs.

(all information is from Amhalchy Jewelry's shop)

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I love making Jewelry. My name is Aicha and I started making jewelry when I came to USA. I love creating Jewelry and see others wearing what I have created. 

Each piece is full of energy, peace and love, which are the feelings I want to transmit through all my creations. Like many crafted artisans, I take my time ensuring that each piece is carefully crafted. I also make custom order.

AmhalchyJewelry is a shop where you find Handmade Hijab Pins and Jewelry for Girls and Women mixed with Moroccan design. 

I hope you enjoy looking at my items as much as I enjoy making them for you. I would also love the opportunity to make items where you can be the designer. Send me your design ideas and I will try to make your own special item in your favorite colors and materials.

 
You will find more articles here :

Google   ~    Website  ~  Facebook  ~  Twitter  ~  Pinterest

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Pop back Wednesday for my fifth and final shop spotlight for Denthe's Month of Promotions. 

Don't forget that I want to feature YOU here! Yes you! Click here to find out more - it is super easy to join in (but don't hesitate to email me with any questions!)

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☆ Life Interrupted [friday art]

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I was so excited to start my idea for this weeks Friday Art - I had planned to re paint an old marker drawing 'Asleep'. I also planned to catch up on a few Lifebook lessons.

But life always seems to have a way of making me slow down and take a rest. And 'lucky' me these enforced rests always seem to take the form of an illness, a sprained ankle and this weeks life interuptus is my back.

I have never had such an agonising pain, I can't imagine living with this full time, and my heart goes out to any one who has chronic back pain. 

Luckily I managed to get an appointment with a chiropractor, and after taking x-rays + realising my back is f*ck'd (or will be if I don't treat it now), I am so much better. 

And having a week on the couch has been frustrating, boring + just what I needed.

So in between episodes of Smash (LOVE this show!!) and reruns of bad 90's sitcoms (step by step anyone? I loved this show when I was younger!) I have been sketching in one of the many sketchbooks I have laying around.

Instead of dragging up all my art supplies from the studio to the couch, I found these brushes in my stash + my water colour pencils.

Mr Mac was pleased I wasn't dragging my paints up stairs, but I was saying to him, it has been five years since I have seriously played with my pencils + it was kinda fun!

So having my enforced break has been good in some ways, I have sketched heaps, have heaps of ideas,  and my back is much better.

I would love to hear how you cope with enforced breaks from life, do you struggle against it (my normal way of coping) or go with the flow?

[LINKING TO PAINT PARTY FRIDAY]

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☆ do YOU know how awesome you are? [downloadable art]

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If you had an angel of gratitude, what would she tell you right now?

A friend + I were talking one day about how hard it was being a mama, and how sometimes, as much as we loved being at home with the kids, working away from home was very appealing.

And when we talked about it some more, we decided it wasn't because we had a burning desire to go back to work.

It was because, at work, you have constant feed back - you know if you are doing a good job, you know if you are doing a crappy job, you know if something you did today was awesome because there are people at work who would tell you.

Sometimes you just need feed back, good or bad, as loving human beings we need positive messages for our self growth.

And when you work from home, for your self, are a full time carer, or are a mama raising children, you don't necessarily know if you are doing a good job. 

And so, this is for you.

Maybe you are having a really tough time at the moment, and just need to remind yourself you are awesome + it will be ok.

Maybe you need to remember why a particular goal was so important to you, like loosing weight, or creating every day.

And so, this is for you.

Some times you need your very own angel to give you positive messages of support + loving.

I have designed this Gratitude Angel so that you can write your own messages of support, of love, of bravery and hang her up in a place that will remind you daily of your awesomeness.

There are two ways you can grab your very own copy of the GRATITUDE ANGEL.

*You can pop over to my etsy shop - LilliBean Designs and you can download it immediately for approximately the price of a medium latte ($3.50)

* Or you can sign up for my monthly news + specials email.

Once you sign up, I will email you a pdf file (with in 24 hours of sign up).

So here she is your very own gratitude angel, yours for the taking + yours to remind you that you are awesome, amazing + beautiful!


If you had an angel of gratitude, what would she tell you right now? I would love to hear what she would say. (And if you have used your gratitude angel? I would love to see how.)

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☆ FEATURED - Natasha May

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This month the featured section is dedicated to some seriously amazing talent + beautiful etsy shops from people who have signed up for Denthes May Etsy Promotions. My third featured artist is the amazing Natasha May from NatashaMays Art world

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(information from Natasha's Etsy Store)

My name is Natasha and I live in Slovenia, Europe. I’m a self taught mixed media artist. You can also find me at my blog.

Are you looking for Original Mixed Media paintings? Here you can find whimsical pretty faces on mixed media backgrounds made by mixed media artist Natasha May.

 My mixed media paintings portray whimsical pretty faces on layered backgrounds using acrylic paints, colored pencils, collage and tissue paper to name a few.

Every painting of mine conveys a certain emotion and has its own message even though I don’t usually write any inspirational words on it. I like to leave that interpretation open for the audience to make up their own stories and ascribe their own feelings regarding the subject. I feel like I’m leaving blank spaces for you to fill in. This way the painting is just as much yours as it is mine. Enjoy!

Natasha also has an amazing looking course available called 'cotton candy girls' which I would love to take one day. You can find out more about Natasha + her amazing art here.

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Don't forget that I want to feature YOU here! Yes you! Click here to find out more - it is super easy to join in (but don't hesitate to email me with any questions!)

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☆ Friday Art [clockwork geisha]

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The best thing about going away to the city for me is being out of my habitual life. 

As a family, we are very (very!) routine. We have our dance classes, play groups, mothers groups, morning tea at nan's and school days. 

And I often wonder if we lived in a city if we would be as structured, or if we would be more spontaneous, and jump on a bus to somewhere.

Anyway, as I was saying, the best thing about going away is seeing things that I haven't seen everyday, and therefore, do not see anymore - do you know what I mean? 

Like beautiful graffiti on the train tunnels, like the mist covering the harbour bridge, or like the vibrant colours of a 'nemo' + 'dorie' fish.

So on Sunday we went to the markets in The Rocks, and I love these markets. They are a mixture of touristy items (like opal jewellery + australian animal puzzles) + and beautiful + original art + crafts.

One of the stalls had amazing steam punk jewellery, and if I had had more cash on me I would have bought lots from this stall, (thank goodness they have a website!!), but I was reminded how much I love steam punk - the clothes, the gadgets, the contraptions, and I remembered that I had a few old watches in my studio.

So with my hammer I took apart all these old watches (so. much. fun!) to find the elusive gold cogs to use in future projects, and I decided to use some in this weeks painting. 

Clockwork Geisha

(So she is not very geishaish, but I decided that the steam punk genre is all about being traditional, in non traditional ways!)

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How cute are those cogs? If they were bigger I would have stuck them on a bobby pin for my hair!!

I was tell my nan about my day of destruction, laughing at how I took my hammer to the old watches, and her face was priceless, (I don't think she ever thought that some one would pull watches apart for parts to use in artwork!) She then told me she had a few old watches from my Poppy in her special box, that would have some cool parts, but I knew that she wasn't offering them to me for destruction!

Have you pulled apart something for art? Just because? I would love to hear your stories. [And feel free to send me your old watches!! ]

Thank you everyone for your awesome comments on my post - I am sorry I couldn't visit as many of you as I liked, but I will this week!

[LINKING TO PAINT PARTY FRIDAY]

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☆ Are you the WINNER? [may 2013]

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Sometimes you just need to know that there is an angel (or something) watching out for you, making sure that eventually everything will be ok.

So I am super excited to send this lady off to her new home. 

So with out further ado this months winner is:

Kimberly S

If you email me your address I will pop her in the post shortly.

Didn't win her? Don't despair, pop back in June 6th and a new give away will be up for grabs.

Thank you so much everyone for entering. (And your lovely comments!)

Your support means so much to me

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☆ Featured - DENTHE ARTS

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This month the featured section is dedicated to some seriously amazing talent + beautiful etsy shops from people who have signed up for Denthes May Etsy Promotions. My second featured artist is the amazing Denthe herself!

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(all information is from denthe's etsy store)

If you like wild abundant colours and paintings of women and birds, if you like poetry and quotes, more specifically in combination with art, you’ve come to the right place. In this shop I'll offer prints of my original paintings, poetry cards and original art. 

“denthe” is a derivation of Denise Thewissen. I’m a Belgian artist currently living in sunny Queensland, Australia. I started painting in 2004. I have been drawing all my life, but painting was something I considered too difficult to do without having a formal education. So for years I planned to go to artschool, because the urge was certainly there, but with my full-time job and then 2 kids it never happened. 

Until my friend’s hubbie took me to a painting club at his work. He worked for a company that employed disabled people. One night a week they could come to a big studio and do all kinds of crafts under guidance. My friend, who is a gifted artist himself, guided the people who wanted to paint, along with some other people that painted in their free time. So I started going there every week, helped them out a bit, and in the meantime learned a lot just by trying things out and getting great tips from the artists there. 

And I was hooked! Utterly, completely in love. I looked forward to Thursday night all week. I went there straight after work and painted for 5 hours. It was always too early to go home. I didn’t know anything about painting, and when I see work from that first period I sometimes cringe …. I learned so much. I soaked up every little bit they could teach me, and experimented with all kinds of techniques. In 2008 I quit my job to have more time for the kids and started to become more serious about my passion. I started going to markets to try and sell things, entered some art shows and had the opportunity to participate in some exhibitions. 

In 2011 I emigrated to Australia with my family, and I had to say goodbye to that wonderful group of people. I will forever be grateful to that friend for taking me along, otherwise I’d probably still be dreaming about painting one day ….

Isn't her work amazing? I love seeing her wildly brilliant paintings pop up in my rss reader, or her zentangle prints. This is only a small selection of her work, but if you are not familiar with her work, I urge you to follow the links below to see more.

 www.denthe.blogspot.com - www.facebook.com/dentheART - www.denthe.com - www.etsy.com/shop/dentheARTS 

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Don't forget that I want to feature YOU here! Yes you! Click here to find out more - it is super easy to join in (but don't hesitate to email me with any questions!)

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Finally today - don't forget that the chance to win this months Free to enter give away is close to ending. To enter all you have to do is leave three little words on this post here .

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☆ ESCAPE [friday art]

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Just a quick on tonight - the Mac Clan are going to Sydney for the weekend, we are catching a bus + the train, which the girls will love, but it requires a bit of strategic packing and planning - which is slightly stressful.

I am slightly concerned about entertaining Bug + Bean, and the wee Beastie has be so unsettled since her four month needles (It was worse for me I think!) Having Mr Mac with us will definitely help, but it does mean that we will have to be on the top of our game which is slightly daunting considering how tired we both are.

I will let you know how we go but I really wanted to share this new painting with you. (and anything to take a break from packing!!)

'Escape'

I hope you all have a great weekend - I will be a bit late visiting everyone this week, but can't wait to see all the gorgeous art out there!

I am off to try an figure out what art stuff I want to take versus, what in reality I will use!

I would love to know your absolute must take art supplies - I figure I won't need the paints or markers this weekend, but definitely a sketchbook + pencil. The girls + I want to do some sketching at the aquarium.

By the way have you had a chance to enter this months give away? It is free to enter + so easy to do so.

Have a great weekend. I will be back Tuesday with another Featured Artist (and if you want to be featured quick! Hop to it!)

[LINKING TO PAINT PARTY FRIDAY]

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☆ Bottoms Up! [Lifebook 2013]

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This weeks lesson was from the amazing Aimee Meyers Dolich from Artsyville.

Aimee's blog was one of the very first I started reading + she was so inspiring for me when I was just starting out.

I love Aimee's bright colours + inspiring prints, so I was so excited that she was teaching a lesson for Lifebook this year.

So Aimee is know for her bright, fluro like colours,  and as you probably guessed, I prefer the greyer  side of the colour spectrum, so it was a challenge to find a beautiful bright colour for my background.

But in the very bottom of my stamping box, I found this bright yellow ink pad (and surprisingly it wasn't dried out!!)

Aimee had included a some in depth questions and in the end my page became more about my favourite things. So I am not sure if I did the lesson as per Aimee's purview, but I know that she wouldn't mind too much!! 

And do you know it is really nice to have a list of some of my favourite things on such a beautifully bright page.

Do you know your favourite things? Have you written out a list or is it in you head? I would love to know your top five fav things!

By the way have you had a chance to enter this months give away? It is free to enter + so easy to do so. Just leave a comment on this blog post. See simples! 

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☆ Featured - CAROLA BARTZ

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This month the featured section is dedicated to some seriously amazing talent + beautiful etsy shops from people who have signed up for Denthes May Etsy Promotions. Our first featured artist is Carola Bartz (all information is from Carola's Etsy Store)

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Carola makes handmade cards and tags for all occasions; unique handmade journals in two sizes; mixed media paintings, both originals and art prints; as well as beautiful and atmospheric landscape and nature photography as prints and notecards.

Southwestern Owl Print of Mixed Media Painting

I am a native of Germany living in Northern California. Photography has always been a passion of mine. Starting out with taking pictures of landscapes and architecture I now also love to document the little things in life and give them my personal view.

After I had moved to the US I re-discovered the artistic side in me that had been dormant since 10th grade. I started out with scrapbooking, quickly adding stamping and have now moved on to mixed media art.

Carola has some amazing paintings, cards + tags in her store + it is well worth a quick visit.

Visit her Etsy store here: CarolaBartz

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Don't forget that I want to feature YOU here! Yes you! Click here to find out more - it is super easy to join in (but don't hesitate to email me with any questions!)

Have an awesome week!

P.S.  Have you had a chance to enter this months give away? It is free to enter + so easy to do so.

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☆ Friday Art [Whale's Song]

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Thankfully this week wasn't as crazy as last week, so I was happily shut away in my studio yesterday for as long as the wee beastie would let me.

Now that she is four months old, I don't have quite as much time to myself while she sleeps, but luckily I have two really good chunks of time, while she sleeps, before I have to pick up her sisters from school.

Anyway, I have had this idea for a painting for a while, a painting of a girl sitting against a wall that had a mural on in. but I wasn't keen on painting a brick wall - the level of detail that would require, well, lets just say painting bricks is for me like counting the leaves on a tree, not fun at all.

So I was on pinterest (And who doesn't like a good pinterest session) and I was reminded of the modge podge transfer method. So I found my brick wall and glued it down, and the next day I rubbed it off.

And I loved the result - It isn't perfect, but some how I managed to achieve the rustic, falling down wall, and fading mural that I wanted.

I love when a something just goes as planned!

'Whale's Song'

Have you tried a creative technique that went just as it was supposed to? Have you had a disaster? I would love to hear your tale!

By the way have you had a chance to enter this months give away? It is free to enter + so easy to do so.

Make sure you pop back Monday - there is another wonderfully creative soul featured. And if you are interested in being featured - I would love to feature you! Here are more details for you

Have a great weekend

[LINKING TO PAINT PARTY FRIDAY]

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