ElleSee Draws: The Quaranteeny Art Show

I have followed Tiny Art Show on Instagram for a while now (they do tiny art shows in unexpected places that are absolutely fabulous and you must check them out!), and with everything that's going on at the moment I finally had a chance to make my own Teeny Tiny Art Show as part of an at home competition that they are hosting.

My show was inspired by things that I love most in life, and I decided to host it outside on my backyard fence and patio for some local wildlife, as the rest of the world is not able to leave their houses at the moment.

It was so much fun to create these tiny pieces of art, and set everything up. It took me back to the world of my childhood where I would create small things for the animals and creatures living in my room. I loved that part of my childhood, so it was nice to get a piece of that back during this difficult time.

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ElleSee Paints: The Follow-Up to Self-Portraits for a Year

So for my 35th birthday year I planned on painting self-portraits each month as an art project where I would challenge myself to paint over the previous artwork and try new techniques an approaches to painting that I had not done before (find out why here).

While there were several months where I did not complete a portrait (I always forgot about it until the last hour before the beginning of the next month), and I have yet to paint the last self-portrait (the canvas is prepped with white paint), and I didn't really try any new techniques or styles in my painting (in most of the paintings the brush strokes look pretty much the same), but I did try to draw myself in different ways: closer, smaller mouth and bigger eyes, non-human...etc. That helped me to have a different approach to each self-portrait.

Would I do this again? Yes. I think I would. Though I forgot about it until the last minute every time, it was a lot of fun to get outside of my painting box (trees and landscapes) to try something new. What have you done lately that was outside of your regular box?

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ElleSee Paints: Self-Portraits for a Year

One day this Summer I had a rather strange opportunity to see inside the house of one of the board members for my work. She went to art school and even worked at one of our art galleries. The walls of her house are covered in various types of art, and she told me the stories about a few of that I had interest in and where they came from. 

One of the paintings she told me about was part of a project that she had done in art school. The instructor had them do a self-portrait and each week they had to paint over their portrait from the week before with a new self-portrait. This was to teach the students not to become attached to their artwork. She and a friend of hers exchanged portraits at the end of the term, and that was one of the paintings that I was looking at.

I thought it was a fascinating idea, and decided to do a painting of myself every month for my 35th year, starting in October. While I'm sure a lot of the portraits that were being done in that class were in the styles of the painters that they were learning about, I decided to tackle the concept myself (without all of the education). I am an amateur painter, at best, but I'm curious to see how the portraits differ from month to month, and what might influence my work. 

The image you see here is my October painting. I just completed my November painting today. You can find it here on Instagram.

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ElleSee Paints: Purple Birches

Earlier this year I started getting back into painting (after I did some work on this painting that's been bothering me for a while -- update to come). I started small with a 10"x10" piece, but had so much fun that I quickly moved up in size when I purchase this 30"x40" canvas. 

It took me quite a while to figure out what I wanted to do with it. But I was inspired by some artwork I saw in a home decor store, and soon started painting these purple hued birches (birch trees are my favourite tree). Since I completed this painting, I have bought another canvas and have already started another project that I'll share more about next month.

You can see some of the other stages that the painting went through in the photos below. I shared a lot of the progress on Instagram if you're interested in seeing more.

I really enjoyed experimenting with the paint and mixing the different colours for the leaves. It's fascinating how art starts in one direction, but can end up somewhere else that you never intended.

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Our 3 Favourite Stationers

As someone that creates stationery, I am drawn to other people that also work with paper...fellow stationers (I Googled that, it is a real word). I seem to enjoy work that is similar (punny), but also quite different from my own. Some of the artists have a more realistic style to their artwork, while others take on more words with simple images. I hope you will enjoy their work as much as I do!

Fresh Prince of Bel Air

I ordered some Christmas cards from Heather Buchanan a couple of years ago. They were fantastically written puns related to rappers (I gave one to each of my girl friends and they loved them!), and the artwork was incredibly realistic. I have enjoyed watching her work through her Instagram account. Her most recent paintings of people eating food is amazing!

Things That Died Card

Julie Ann is constantly coming up with new, socially relevant ideas for her cards that often have a hilarious little kick in the nuts at the end (raise your hand if this birthday card would be relatable for you or someone you know), and knows how to write it perfectly and succinctly with images that tie it all together.

I picked this card up from an Urban Outfitters for a friend a few years ago for her birthday, and shortly afterwards discovered Seas and Peas online to order some Christmas cards (my father-in-law is a big fan of Christmas Vacation). 

Seas and Peas is puns done right (which, as I'm sure you have figured out at this point, always make me laugh) and, like all the others that have been mentioned, definitely have their finger on the pulse of society and what is popular at the moment.

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The Drama Behind Planting Fruits and Vegetables

I have a small garden that I plant every year, and, because of the size of my garden, I like to do something called companion planting where I strategically plant my fruits and vegetables based on which plants help them grow, and which ones hinder their growth.

While looking through the list of fruits and vegetables on the chart in the link I shared above, I noticed I was writing things like "strawberries don't like potatoes or tomatoes" and "carrots like tomatoes", and it made me think that these sentences would make a funny little book about the drama between fruits and vegetables. 

So, I decided to draw them up, and here are the results. I hope you had as much fun looking through them as I had drawing them and photographing them.

Do you have a garden this year? Have you ever done companion planting?

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Etsy Favourites: Purchases

Rather than just sharing a few of my favourite things that I have found on Etsy, I thought I'd share with you a few of my favourite things that I have recently bought, or have been bought for me, from other shops on Etsy.

Naughty Card

I bought this hilarious card from the lovely shop Julie Ann Art -- have you heard of it? -- for my husband for Valentine's Day. He laughed :)

Fog

This lovely photograph from the shop bomobob can be found hanging on a wall in my bedroom. Although I haven't quite finished my bedroom yet, I have a vision of serenity and calm for it and this photograph fit in perfectly.

I know that I've shared these lovely yellow shoes from the shop The White Ribbon before, but I finally bought a pair of my own and I love them. They are so beautiful and feel like heaven on my feet. They are a new favourite shoe.

These beautifully simply earrings were a gift from a fellow shop owner as part of a fun exchange that we did at Christmastime. They have since become a favourite, and a go-to for any outfit as they are perfect for all occasions. These earrings can be found in the shop Sparrow Grey.


 

Little Wooden Trees

These lovely little trees from the shop Saw It For You decorated my home during the holiday season. They added an extra touch to a Christmas display, and are among my new favourite decorations.

What are some of your favourites that you have recently purchased from a shop on Etsy?

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Etsy: Favourites at the Moment

I love looking around Etsy in search of art and other little items to wear or fill my home. Am I an addict? Well, I wouldn't go that far, but I do love to browse and dream. Here are a few of my favourites at the moment:

I am in love with this little art print. It reminded me so much of what my dog looks like curled up on our bed that I purchased it to hang in our bedroom.

St. Patrick's Day is on it's way, and this little pin would be a perfect way to add a speck of green to your outfit so you don't get pinched :)

The ballet flats from this shop are simply divine. I think I might have to finally break down and purchase this lovely pair. They're perfect for Sping, don't you think?

This hand-built porcelain vessel would be perfect for a bouquet of wild flowers. How can you tell that I'm starting to think a lot about Spring?

 

How precious is this little sleeping fox? Clearly I have something for sleeping animals. I have a weak spot for anything sleeping, really.

Which one is your favourite? I hope you had a great weekend!

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