Gnome Sweet Gnome ♥

hello chums, I appear to have once again vanished into the unknown and neglected my pretty pastel blog in favour of other delightful pursuits such as binge watching Daredevil on Netflix, bringing my Goodreads reading challenge up to 35 books for 2015, as well as frequent trips to the doctors and hospital for blood tests and various other medical-esque things.

This means i've been spending even more time at home than usual, since I wake up almost every day feeling ill, and it's all getting me a bit down to be honest.

But i'm here now, so that's really all that matters, i'm sure you'll agree!

I genuinely began working on this post about a fortnight ago, but as I mentioned, other things have been happening so I just haven't found the time to finish the post. Well that's not entirely true, i've probably had plenty of chances to finish it, but i'm a lazy swine, so I haven't. Until now that is.

So i'll stop blathering on and get on with it. In case you haven't already seen it on my Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or Tumblr profiles, I recently took time out of my busy reading/netflixing schedule to paint a very small garden gnome to add to the collection of random stuff living on my desk.

now you're probably thinking this is a tad unusual, even for me, and while you'd be right in thinking that, it doesn't really matter because I bought a plain plaster gnome and about a day later I had this candy coloured darling instead!

Don't ask me why but when I saw the 'DIY paint your own gnome' kits, I just HAD to have one! I could already see it painted in candy colours in my head and when I got home I worked on painting it in the EXACT colours i'd imagined until I was left with this happy little chap.

Pretty Paddy

There's something so RIGHT about seeing a garden gnome in non-traditional colours isn't there! I've decided to call him Paddy, and he is the prettiest gnome in all the world! (fact). He's all settled now on my desk hanging out with my mini collections + various other neat stuff.

my desk family

It may surprise you to learn this, but I haven't just been painting small gnome gentlemen lately, i've also been working on a few new paintings for no particular reason other than that I felt like painting some Candy Dolls one afternoon!

colour blocking and blending

It typically takes me anywhere between two days to two weeks to complete a painting, depending on how addicted I am to certain shows on Netflix, how hooked on a new book I might be or just how often I can be bothered to lock myself in my tiny and very cold studio, stick on the Musical/Disney soundtracks and get on with some actual painting!

pastel paint shots

 It's not all doom and gloom though, a new painting means I get to crack out my meagre collection of rainbow spray paint cans and spray, splatter and splash together a colourful background for whatever pastel haired babe i've just finished painting.

an armful of rainbow magic

This time I went for some smaller pieces using a pair of wooden circle boards I've had lying about for about a year instead of my usual 4-foot boards. It was fiddly but fun and although these ladies don't necessarily come as a matching pair, I think they complement one-another rather nicely.

fineliner time!

Eventually, after days (or weeks) of scrabbling at the board with messy decrepit brushes, painfully pricey Posca pens and endless bundles of permanent markers, I will sometimes end up with an actual finished piece, or in this case, two of them.

I haven't come up with titles for either of these yet, so if you have any suggestions or ideas, leave a comment below! I'm currently working on two more paintings but they're a bit larger and have been taking me a lot longer to finish as i've been under the weather quite a bit lately.

in other candy coloured news, if you like seeing my drawings and paintings of rainbow haired ladies, and you think to yourself, 'wow I wish I could be one of those radical pastel babes' well then I have good news for you because YOU can now become an official member of the Candy Doll Club!

membership pack with Baby Pink Rosette

I decided to whip up a bunch of nifty little Membership Cards for all the wannabe Candy Dolls out there! The cards come in special Membership packs, available in the Shop now

a sample of the treats in each Membership Pack

each pack is full of fun signature Candy Doll themed goodies, naturally everything is peppered with pink and dripping with sugary goodness.

membership pack with Hot Pink Rosette

at the moment the packs are available for just £4 each + p&p and the only other place you can get your hands on an official Membership Card is if you treat yourself (or someone else) to more than one item from the Shop

and that's about it for now, I can't think of much else to tell you without going into rambling/babbling territory. So i'll just stop for now.

until next time, that's all folks!