This and That ❤

hello dearhearts, I know... once again it's been FOREVER since I last made time to post a blog on here!

I'm all out of excuses. It's been a mixture of laziness, apathy and a general malaise that i've been trying to shift for the past few weeks.

things are looking up though, i'm on my holidays in Ireland at the moment; I caught the ferry to Dublin first thing this morning and after stopping off in Cahir, Co Tipperary South for lunch I finally made it to Cork this afternoon. If you're a long-time follower then you'll know how Ireland always cheers me up, if you don't believe me/remember, just check out the Ireland tag HERE.

this year I'm staying in Cork, Carlow and Dublin so i'm looking forward to visiting some of my favourite places and spaces + discovering a few new ones along the way.

so what on earth HAVE I been up to for the last month?! Well, not much really...

Well I say not much, actually i've been up to quite a bit, but none of it is particularly exciting, hence why I've been such a neglectful blogger (again).

I suppose if I had to narrow it down to some of the things i've been up to, this is what I would pick...

1. Brand New Website

Yes, I have a NEW website. I'd been meaning to get a new site sorted for ages (years in fact), as much as I loved my old site, I wasn't able to alter or edit much of it without the assistance of my trusty web designer. This meant that most of the info listed on the site was no longer accurate, my age was listed as 21 (i'm 24 now) and it said that I was still studying (I graduated in 2013).

 I needed a change so after a lot of consideration and online fiddling I spent some time setting up a new site myself. This time around it's quite a bit less cluttered and more streamlined with clear navigation and nice simple galleries showcasing my artwork, it even has a gallery for my painted work. And of course most importantly, the 'about' page is now 100% up to date.

if you're so inclined, you can check out the new website HERE

2. Brand New Painting

That's right, I finished another brand new painted lady for the ongoing (and neverending) Candy Doll Club project! This time it was a painting of the 'Buzz Buzz' illustration I created in September 2014 (read more about it HERE)

 

I often work sort of higgledy-piggledy when I paint a new picture, meaning that I'm often painting and adding finelined detail at the same time. It's not ideal but it helps me to keep track of the outline + work out what needs fixing/tweaking before it all gets finished. 

As always, the most challenging part of each painting is the hair! I usually end up blending 5 or 6 colours together to create the colourful 'ombre' hair. It takes AGES but it's always worth it in the end when it's all finelined and seamlessly blended.

My favourite part of any painting is adding in the outline. Almost all of my artwork has the same bold black lineart and it's without a doubt the BEST part of a new painting. As far as i'm concerned, putting the linework down makes the painting pop and come to life. 

Without the lineart my paintings would just be jumbled and meaningless, but a steady hand and a mug full of permanent markers turns blended colours and splotchy shapes into a neat, ordered design. Drawing the honeycomb pattern on this piece was time consuming but totally worth it. 

Anyway, she was painted in acrylic, posca and spray paint on a 24x24" wooden board and is all finished now, living on my desk with some of the other paintings I have lying about at the moment.

if you're local (in the Isle of Man) and think you might like to see some of my work in person (or dare I say... buy it!) I currently have four paintings in the Isle Gallery in Tynwald Mills. 

 I had some more numbers to talk about but I think i'll save them for another post! 

Hopefully i'll actually put together another blog while i'm here in Ireland, I usually post about some of the AMAZING shops and villages I get to visit, so fingers crossed this holiday is just as fruitful for my blogging habit, or lack thereof.

anyway i'll shut up now, thanks for stopping by, come and visit again soon!

And if YOU know of any brilliant places in Cork/Carlow/Dublin that I should visit while i'm here, leave a comment below or tell me on Twitter or Facebook or Instagram 

bye for now... 

Pretty as a Picture

Hello dearhearts, back again with a brand new illustration and yes, you guessed it, it's another addition to the Candy Doll Club!

so instead of wittering on about it (like I usually do) i'll just go ahead and show you...



Now you might have noticed over recent months that lately i've been heavily inspired by a few of the many lovely ladies I follow via Instagram and Pinterest, in fact this new piece is an illustration inspired by a very lovely British blogger named Megan aka Briar Rose and she is basically a real life Disney Princess!



Look at that amazing hair! WOW! I always enjoy seeing Megan's gorgeous OOTD blog posts and snaps on Instagram, she has the most incredible wardrobe, so she seemed like an ideal 'real life' candy doll to inspire a new piece.

I was actually inspired by the photos from this blog post, and although usually I cover my drawings with candy coloured tattoos and pops of neon colour, this one felt better suited to pretty paler pastels similar to those found in Megan's outfit post.


Although obviously in my version that 'Princess' hair has a few pastel shades thrown in for good measure! But then how could I EVER draw a Candy Doll without giving her Pastel hair?! Also, i'm dreadful at drawing hats, they never seem to translate well when I add them so this one gets a flower crown instead!

I also wanted to have a go at drawing a girl holding a camera, following on from my 'time for a selfie' illustration, so when I spotted the pictures of Megan with her nifty little Praktica camera it seemed like time to get out my pencils and pens!

I had a lot of fun drawing this one as you can probably tell, it's been nice just working on aimless projects these past few months while I take some time off from work, I can't wait to see what I conjure up next (maybe something special just in time for Halloween... wait and see!)  

anyway the design is now available via my Society6 Shop on various items + there's Free Worldwide Shipping on stuff in the shop until October 12th so if you feel like getting some early Xmas presents, go have a skeet!

alrighty then i'll stop babbling now. Hope you liked the new illustration, i'm pretty sure that the Candy Doll Club will forever be gaining new members! So thanks for the inspiration Megan!

YOU can keep up with all of her fashionable snaps by following her on Pinterest or Instagram + here she is on Facebook and Twitter and of course, here's her brilliant Blog

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in other news, I FINALLY finished my two latest paintings!

here they are perched on my desk (along with a recent diddy posca piece) waiting to see what i'm going to do with them next, I haven't a clue where to put them!

I suppose I ought to try and sell them but i've gotten kind of used to having them around now, unless someone else were to grow particularly partial to one of them of course...

 i'll do a proper Blog post about them soon + show you the process snaps of how I got from blank wooden board to finished piece!

AND i'm starting two more BIGGER paintings v soon, I haven't decided 100% what to paint yet but who am I kidding, we all know it'll be members of the Candy Doll Club.

so until next time, that's all folks!

Time for a Selfie?!

Hello my dears, i've spent the last few days pondering what to write about on here and I wasn't really planning on posting anything this week but yesterday and today I worked on a new Candy Doll illustration, so I figured I might as well post that.

So, meet the latest Candy Doll...

Yes she's a candy coloured girl with pastel pretty hair and a princess dress but you may also notice that her pose is that of someone taking a 'selfie'. (in fact, it's based on THIS selfie by the very gorgeous Missi Mouse)

Now i'm going to assume that when I say 'selfie' you all know what I mean. In today's world it's difficult not to pick up on trends flying around the internet and selfies are a phenomenon that i'm guessing you'll have heard of or seen on many occasions, or at least once or twice.

For example, here is a 'selfie' from my own instagram profile, note the camera phone clutched in my hand. (I should warn you, you're going to see a lot of my face throughout this post so if you are personally offended by my face, then bugger off. Leave now if you want, either way it's happening)

In simple terms a 'selfie' is a picture someone takes of themselves, usually reflected in a mirror or by dangling their phone/tablet in front of their face. You don't have to be alone in a selfie, you could snap a photo with your pet, spouse, family or whichever random celeb you've managed to corner, but i'm pretty sure for it to qualify as a selfie YOU have to be in the picture as well.

Now i'm not a big selfie poster but I do occasionally partake in the odd one when i'm feeling happy. I recently spoke to some people i'd never met who had heard of my work (it's a small island) they commented on the content of my instagram and one of them said 'I went to follow you but it's all pictures of you!'. This got me thinking because A) it is so NOT all pictures of me and B) so what if it was?!

Like many artists and creative types, I use social media to promote and sell my work but sometimes it can be good to remind people of the person behind the drawings, I follow so many incredible artists on Instagram and you can guarantee that every so often they'll post a snap of themselves. I also follow dozens of people who work in so many other areas and they ALL post regular photos of themselves, sometimes alone, sometimes with friends and family. In an age where people can share photos of anything and everything, whose to say it's wrong for them to share a photo of themselves.

There are mixed opinions about the torrents of selfies now populating the pages of virtually all the social media sites but personally I think they're a great idea! Hardly new or novel in existence, people have been taking selfies since cameras were invented (see for yourself HERE), so why should they come under fire now for snapping the odd shot of themselves.

As someone who really dislikes having her photo taken, I seem to have no trouble snapping ten pictures of myself posing and pouting in my bathroom mirror. Which is what makes selfies such an appealing form of expression, you are in complete control of the outcome, so it's a very personal thing to stand there and scrutinize yourself and snap a photo of what you see.

Instagram is a great platform for sharing things with the world, i regularly share snaps of my products and creations, books i'm reading, lovely scenery or my friends and family. but I don't think there should be any shame in posting pictures of myself.

For me selfies are a way of sharing my face with the world, or inflicting it upon it, either way sometimes it can be nice to post a shot of the face behind the online profile. If i'm having a particularly bad day, i'm more likely to shun social media but if it's been a lovely day and i've had a smile on my face then sometimes I like to share that smile.

I have low enough self esteem as it is so I think in some ways posting the occasional photo of myself on my instagram or twitter gives me a little boost in the confidence department, which is something I think most of us could do with from time to time. Even if nobody even sees it, just knowing that i've had the courage to share a photo of myself with the world is enough of a boost. Obviously it's even nicer when friends or family (or strangers!) post positive comments or hit the 'like' button.

I don't have many days where I feel truly good about myself, so you can guarantee that I must be having a brilliant day if it warrants a spontaneous selfie!

I first joined instagram in late October 2012 (when I got my iPhone). The very first picture I ever posted was related to Ghostbusters (obviously) but the third photo I shared was a selfie. My first ever proper phone selfie to tell the truth. I took it the Saturday before Halloween, standing in a toilet cubicle at Tesco, because as you know I live a very glamourous and exotic life.

Now I can't remember exactly how I felt or what I was thinking at the time but i'd just been to the cinema with my best friends to watch Ghostbusters so I was probably fizzing over with happiness. I'd dressed up in a big red polka dot swing dress with red lipstick to match + sparkly devil horns (because I fail spectacularly at all Halloween costumes) since that weekend lost of people were dressing up to walk around Douglas, so that was my contribution. And obviously, I felt that I needed to share that with the world, hence the selfie.

I remember getting teased a bit by some friends online, nothing bad but people seemed amused that i'd taken the time to post a picture of myself. So now (all this time later, I know...) it got me wondering why we make such a big deal of it?! It's not a crime, feeling good enough to post a picture of yourself smiling like a dork.

There shouldn't be anything negative about trying to boost your own self esteem from time to time so i'm not sure why so many people feel bad about posting a snap of themselves. You should just do it! Feeling bored? Go ahead and pull a daft pose in the mirror. Do you love your new outfit? Share a pic. Are you having a good day? Share your smile. Did your hair look amazing today? Share a photo so everyone can see how strong your hair game is! Don't be ashamed of yourself, show the world how awesome you are.

This is the most recent 'selfie' from my instagram. I'd had a really nice day out with my family, i'd worn my favourite red lipstick all day and when I got home I was trying to find a new home for my Betty Boop figurines. My lipstick was still neat so I decided to have a go at imitating Betty's famous pout. It's a silly picture, it was frivolous and totally unnecessary but it was FUN. So I posted it.

Now I know what you're probably thinking, crikey Jade you're posting a LOT of photos of your face, you must really love yourself and i'll stop you right there because NO. As i've mentioned, I have a lot of issues with self confidence and self esteem, I tend to have a very low opinion of myself but I am occasionally granted days when I don't feel so self depreciating, these days are few and far between so when they do appear I have to grasp hold of them and ride the wave of confidence. If that results in my shamelessly posting a photo of my own face then so be it, it's better than hating myself constantly, which I usually seem to do.

Anyway you'll be glad to know that that is the last snap i'll share today (hallelujah!) I seem to have forgotten the point I was trying to make but I think essentially what i wanted to say was don't be ashamed of sharing photos of yourself, if you feel good about yourself then let the world know.


I can't help but wonder though, do YOU post a lot of selfies or are you utterly camera shy? If you have access to a camera phone or tablet with a camera, I think you should go and post a selfie. Maybe not right now, maybe not tomorrow, but soon. DO IT! No regrets.

and on that sickeningly positive and upbeat note, i'll bid you all adieu.

If any of you do feel brave enough to post a selfie, please do link me to it in the comments below, I would literally LOVE to see your faces. It would fill my tiny shriveled heart with eternal joy.

So until next time, that's all folks. Thanks for making it to the end of the post, that means you managed to wade through my garrulous ramblings. WELL DONE!

One Year Later...

Hello again, wow i'm really starting to get back into this blogging malarkey, here's hoping the enthusiasm lasts! This one will be kind of a personal post but hey, I never said it would all be fun and games and delicious cakes! Before you start reading the rest I feel I should probably warn you that this post is rather heavy on the old parentheses. (enjoy)

Okay so yesterday morning I got a rather groovy email from a chap I haven't spoken to in over a year (hence the title of the post) but it's nothing overly dramatic or particularly too exciting (at least probably not to you, I mean obviously it is to me or I wouldn't be blogging about it would I) it's just that he bought some big ol' paintings from me last summer and wanted to send me an update on their current whereabouts.

For those of you that follow me on my various social media accounts such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or Pinterest (shameless plugs I know but this is a blog after all!) you might remember that around this time last year I was just wrapping up my BA degree in Fine Art and showing my work in the degree exhibition. 

Although I took a lot of progress shots for my degree file (and for Instagram) I was going through my prolonged 'no blogging' spell so I never actually documented the process on here. Obviously i'm not about to regale you with a whole start-to-finish essay about something I did a year ago, but I am going to at least explain a bit about what I did.

For my final pieces, I produced four large scale acrylic and posca paintings for the show on 1819 x 607mm (about 6 x 2 foot each) boards and in case you missed it last year, this is what they looked like up on the wall in the exhibition space.

 

The paintings were pretty big, a real pain in the patootie to move anywhere and even more fun to actually put up on the wall. But once they were up in the space they were kind of striking enough that people paused to look at them, which is all I could ask for really! If you can't quite visualise the sizes mentioned, here's a snap of one of the exhibition visitors gazing up in adoring wonder at one of the paintings (actually she's my friend Porscha but I did NOT pay her to pose for the photo, honest!).

Followed by the only photo of me with the paintings in existence, a slightly blurred farce of a photo. Unfortunately i'm blinking like a total moron in the pic, but ignore the fact that I look like a bewildered sloth and focus instead on the paintings in comparison to my height (i'm wearing heels by the way). Now you'll understand why they were such a chore to lug about and why they took me so ruddy long to paint (a full week on each board from start to finish in case you were wondering).

Well, since the degree show was held during the TT festival (more about that HERE) in a public space (a local shopping centre) we got all sorts of wonderful visitors from all over the world and as luck would have it, one afternoon I got a call saying that someone had been in to the exhibition requesting to buy my work.

Initially I didn't think much of this since i've had people ask to buy my work before and then I never hear from them again. I mean I was kind of attached the paintings at this point, i'd spent the last month huddled over my kitchen table slaving away at them night and day. I drank so much Red Bull through curly straws during the painting process that I now can't even look at a can without shuddering or immediately thinking of Lana Del Rey (her music set on repeat pretty much fueled the entire month of painting).

I'd coated aforementioned table in spatters of paint and for a solid month my flatmate couldn't actually use the table at all because it was so covered in pots of paint, brushes and massive flipping wooden boards! They were the biggest paintings i'd ever attempted and I wasn't even sure that I wanted to actually sell them. They were, and still are, incredibly personal pieces of work.

Then I began to realise that if I didn't sell them I would no doubt be stuck with them forever. Which means I would probably either damage them by accident or get really angry one night and set fire to one, or all, of them while screaming insults at the flames. 

I have a strange relationship with my work but these paintings were 'my girls' and however much I loved them (and I did) I knew it would be easier if they weren't cluttering up the place. I was undeniably flattered that someone had even momentarily considered buying my work so I got in touch with the prospective buyer and quickly realised that he was actually serious!

Obviously I was SUPER excited by this news, it's nice to know that someone likes your work enough to want to actually pay money for it! A few emails later and the deal was secured (as it were) and a few weeks after that, I shipped the paintings over to England and met the buyer off the boat (yes it was as thrilling as it sounds). Anyway, at the time when I sold the paintings I genuinely didn't know what was going to happen to them. The buyer said he planned to hang them in his house and that he'd send me a photo, but months went by and I had other things to think about so I just sort of began to forget about 'my girls'. 

The last time I saw them all together side by side was about a fortnight after the exhibition came down, stacked in my kitchen the day I packaged them up for their trip overseas. I bought a funk-load of parcel paper as well as 100m of bubble wrap (possibly the best purchase i've ever made in my life as there are literally hours of fun to be had with a roll of bubble wrap that is 100m long) and I carefully wrapped up the paintings ready to set sail for Heysham.

When we docked in England I met the guy that was buying the paintings and just over a month after i'd first set brush to board I handed them all over and they were no longer my responsibility. Which is probably a good thing since they'd have undoubtedly ended up stacked next to my fridge if i'd have kept them, or more likely plonked behind the sofa gathering dust.

Anyway since then I haven't thought much about them, like I said i've had other things to think about. But over the past few days i've found myself pondering over their sale and wondering whatever became of them in their new home in Cambridgeshire. Did they get put up in a house, did they get sold on, were they shoved away in a garage? So in true nosy-parker style I messaged the buyer just to try and find out what happened to them.

 Well as luck would have it, as I said at the start of the post (before I started wittering on uncontrollably) I received an email from the chap that bought them and he sent me this...

and this - "Hello Jade, I'm sorry that I never got around to sending you pictures before so here you go. As you can see they are hanging on the wall in my house. Have had no problems with them, they been very well behaved! I'm very fond of them and will not be selling them."

So now I know, and now YOU know as well. They're safe and sound in a hallway hanging above a staircase. Which is frankly pretty awesome to know! I like the idea of them keeping watch over the stairs, no doubt intimidating people with their candy coloured ferocity (at least I like to think that's what they do). It's kind of brilliant knowing that my paintings are still being displayed, now all I need to do is crack on and start painting some NEW ones.

 And on that sentimental note I think I shall draw this post to a close. Mostly because i've exhausted the '( )' buttons and I can't really think of anything else to say. Lucky you.

It's not really a great ending to a blog, it's not even a very good ending, but it's an ending all the same.

So until next time, that's all folks!

thanks for reading (or if you just looked at the pictures, thanks for that too)

bye for now... 

College Exhibition 2012

hello again, i know, i KNOW... i said i'd post the other day but it was my final HND assessment yesterday at college so it was all a bit 'panic stations' while i sorted everything for that.

the good news is that i have been offered a place for the final BA year next year :) so yaaaaaaaay!

anyway, i thought i might share a few snaps of my actual exhibition. bearing in mind that we all get the same grey or white boards on which to display our work, we're kind of limited to how it's all going to look so it's not particularly glamourous or exciting... but it is mine!

so in case you can't really tell from the pictures, my end of year exhibition consisted of a set of printed cotton Tote Bags (with the handles pinned away) with matching Badges

a series of four acrylic painted canvases...

 

i also had three printed and embroidered cushions... (you can purchase these here)

some postcard and business card bunting + real sweetie garlands (they were so much fun to make!)

 as well as some little exhibition booklets... (available to buy here)

 

there are actually 20 pages in each booklet, they feature ALL of the 'candy pop dolls' as well as matching lyrics pages featuring the song lyrics that inspired each doll + some funky end papers :)

so there you have it! exhibition 2012... done!

in case you hadn't guessed it already, pretty much ALL of the stuff is already for sale

i have prints and postcards featuring the dolls as well

they're ALL available via my big cartel shop RIGHT HERE


and also on my Etsy Shop


(i'll hopefully be adding some badges and totes to the shops soonish as well)

and as if that weren't thrilling enough, there are now even iPhone cases/skins, hoodies, tees, prints, canvases and cards also available via my Society6 shop

they're also available on iPhone cases, stickers and stuff via my Red Bubble Shop

+ you can currently get 15% off ALL iPhone cases with the code IPHN15

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ok i'll shut up about shops now! promise :)

i'm toying with the idea of giving some of this stuff away to one of YOU luuurvely readers but i'm not sure yet, would anyone like to get their hands on a free print + a booklet and some postcards and badges???

anyway, until next time, that's all folks... xX