The Handbag of Dreams ♥

Welcome to 2017

New Year, New You? or not, whatever.

It's a brand new year filled with brand new possibilities and opportunities. Or in my case, same old, same old...

Except for one little difference that is (so far).

If you missed my last post let me offer a quick recap. It was my annual Xmas wish list post and you can read/re-read it HERE should you so desire. As per usual it was filled with lots of lovely things I'll probably never own but as always, I had a lot of fun coming up with it.

Anyway, the very last item on the 2016 wish list was the handbag of dreams aka an Anya Hindmarch all-over-stickers Bathurst in black.

Well my first illustration of 2017 is a 'handbag portrait' aka an illustration of a handbag flat lay, and it should tell you all you need to know... (disclaimer, unless you love handbags you're proabbly gonna find this post pretty boring so abandon ship now if you want)

That's right friends, all of my handbag dreams have come true because this babe of a handbag is now MIIIIINNNNEEEE!!!!!!!

So naturally I'm now going to blather on about it for a few minutes because honestly how can I not and also because my blog, my rules.

And before you start speculating over who I know that would get me such a magnificent gift, the answer is Me. I would get myself such a magnificent gift, so I did. TREAT YO SELF

Unsurprisingly the bag is perfect. It's everything I hoped for and more, and it smells incredible! And it's soooooooo pretty I LOVE IT! It's so good aaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! 

First of all it arrived in a snazzy striped bag (I will forever love black and white stripes) tied with a red ribbon and a cute fried egg tag. I won't lie, I did a little happy dance around the room when it arrived and I might have squealed. Once. Maybe. Or a few times, who knows.

The 'stickers' design on the bag is even better in person and the detail is amazing. Check out that stripy bungee handle as well! Too lovely.  It also comes with a full length leather strap and you can customize it lots of different ways. Brilliant.

It also arrived all bundled in a cute cotton dust bag/tote bag along with the cutest stationery featuring a sunny smiley face and one of my favourite Oscar Wilde quotes. Just when I thought it all couldn't get any more perfect my new handbag arrived with a card saying "I can resist everything except temptation." (I thought the quote was 'anything' instead of everything but I could be wrong. Either way, I still love it and it was a nice touch).

So why did I draw it you might ask?! Well on January 1st I was sorting out the cluttered cupboard in my room and I came across some of my old art college logbooks and found this Nathalie Lecroc inspired 'Handbag Portrait' from 2010. It's definitely not my best work but I vaguely remember having a lot of fun drawing it with my trusty felt tip pens. Don't get me wrong, I loved working on stuff like this back then but I'm sure glad I know how to use Photoshop now ^_^

To be honest not an awful lot has changed except now I don't need to carry around a digital camera, an iPod, an iPod touch AND a Nokia mobile phone! Now I just need my iPhone.

I also always carry a little case of my business cards with me, because you never know who you might bump into and I like having cards on hand to offer prospective clients and customers.

Also how fun is my new googly eyes purse from Superdrug?! Red is my favourite colour so I had to get this purse and the matching make-up pouch. My best friend Hayley also got me the purse in blue and it matches my blue Lulu Guinness bag perfectly. She knows me so well because I'd get this purse in EVERY colour if I could :)

I always carry a notebook with me as well, for ideas and doodles. My mum gave me this neat little notebook and my dad gave me the lovely fountain pen last Christmas. I personally don't really like using biros to write with. When I was 7 my teacher encouraged the class to use fountain pens and I've used one ever since. 

And a boring ventolin inhaler because like many people, in the winter the cold air can affect my lungs so I keep this handy in case I suddenly find it difficult to breathe. You know, normal winter stuff.

The matching googly eyes pouch is where I keep my contact lense spray (so exciting, I know!), my paracetamol, lipbalm, compact and my forever disappearing collection of bobbypins. If you know me at all then you'll know that I wear red lipstick almost every time I leave the house. 

At the moment I'm addicted to Mac Cosmetics Ruby Woo. I bought a tube for my youngest niece's 16th Birthday and it looked so good on her that I had to get a tube for myself as well! And Daisy, if you're reading this, the lisptick really does look amazing on you and I can only hope that it looks half as good on me!

So in summary, if you're still here reading and you haven't already slipped into a coma out of sheer boredom from my inane ramblings, I LOVE THIS BAG AND IT IS THE BEST FOREVER AND EVER.

THE END.

and on that note you'll be delighted to know that I'll shut up now and stop talking about my new handbag because there are far more important things in life than material possessions but I never leave my house and I'm too scared to go anywhere and actually do anything so for now, material possessions like this sublime handbag are all I really have in life. 

and while that may be pathetic, I don't care and I still love it.

bye!

Now Fight ♥

hello chums, today it's going to be an Illustration post because I FINALLY finished my new 'Babydoll' fanart piece...

for those of you unfamiliar with her, Babydoll is a character from the 2011 movie Sucker Punch.

Now you probably know by now that I'm kind of a big Fangirl and that I often Geek out over all sorts of things (books/TV shows/movies/games/people etc) and that from time to time I like to draw characters from Popular Culture to show my appreciation for the source material. Well that's why I drew Babydoll! Also I really like Emily Browning, the Australian actress who plays Babydoll in the film.

The movie Sucker Punch often gets a really bad rep, it's looked down upon as nothing more than a video-game style fantasy movie for teenage boys. It was pretty much universally panned by critics which is ironic because I would bet money that had the film been gender-swapped, with an all male leading cast instead, it would have done much better at the box office! Just think, they keep churning out films like the Expendables series (who cares?! I DON'T) but heaven forbid someone release a female action movie.

 Anyway i'm getting into RANT territory here. Because if you watch it, and I mean really pay attention, look past the skimpy costumes (which DO make sense within the storyline I promise) and flashy gamer style graphics and what you have is a FEMALE led film about a group of young women working together to fight corruption and oppression.

It's one of those 'guilty pleasure' films for me but in truth it shouldn't be a 'guilty' one at all. I mean it has dragons in it for crying out loud! And pretty girls fighting and generally kicking ass all while looking GORGEOUS. It's completely unbelievable of course but who cares; the leading lady is a tiny girl wearing a sailor outfit. She has tiny cute plastic charms hanging off her gun while she shoots the living crap out of various baddies. How can you not love this film?!

Right anyway, enough about the film. If you've seen it and you liked it... GREAT! If you watched it and hated it, then 'oh well, never mind'. And if you've yet to see it, try not to take it too seriously and just enjoy the visuals! It also has a pretty killer soundtrack, with some brilliant mash-ups and remixes.

Back to the drawing now. I meant to have her finished in time for Halloween but I was so busy with other projects that I only managed to finalize the design a few nights ago. As always she's my take on the character, so she looks like a Candy Doll and she has tattoos.

I was going to add some ombre colour to her hair but I settled for keeping it simple in the end. By that point i'd added so much detail to the outfit and weapons that I figured it didn't really matter what colour her hair was! In the movie her gun and sword both have intricately engraved designs on them, featuring cute characters and flowers. I recreated the design for the gun but the sword was even more complicated so I skipped it. I'm SORRY!

The tattoos are simple but reflective of the film's storyline. The quote 'If you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything.' is one of my favourite lines from the film. The swallow represents her inability to escape from the confines of the asylum, the knuckle duster is there because she's such a badass, and the bunny because it's a symbol in the movie, painted onto one of the girls' weapons.

You can see the texture in the clothing better here. I don't always add loads of texture or detail, sometimes I just keep simple gradients or flat colours but I added in some texture for the skirt and top for this one along with some contrasting stitching which took FOREVER to do.

Am I boring you yet? Anyway, the design is all finished now. I uploaded it to the usual spots online including my Society6 and RedBubble stores.

Personally I quite like the design on the tank tops, they look like the sort of thing a Girl Gang might wear to go out and cause havoc. 

So yep, a new illustration, hop y'all liked it and if you didn't, I don't particularly care! ^_^

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in other news, there are only FOUR days left to enter my mega Instagram Giveaway...



I'm giving away a literal HEAP of cute stuff + extra goodies have been added to the bundle. To enter you must be following me on Instagram + follow the rules HERE

and on that note i'll say au revoir for now, hope to see you here again soon.

bye

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... 

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!

New Painting + Stickers ♥

Hello dearhearts, I've been terribly neglectful lately, in fact it has been over a month since I last posted anything on here. I keep visiting the blog trying to conjure up post ideas but I always invariably end up clicking away without any new thoughts. So this afternoon (while I attempt to write this) i'm going to force myself to pull something together and actually publish a post! For once.

As i've mentioned time and time again, I really don't live a particularly interesting life; I spend almost all of my time alone in my room reading, drawing or trawling the internet on my macbook and if i'm not cooped up in my room you'll occasionally find me painting in my poky studio down the hall or wandering around the garden listening to music. The point is, I usually leave my home maybe twice a week at most for appointments or lunch with friends (if I can talk myself into actually going).

I've thought about other ways I could share content on here, I read a lot so book reviews seem like the obvious choice but i've never been particularly good at writing those, I tend to get carried away with gushing, syrupy comments and declarations of how much I adore whatever book it is I just happen to have read. The same goes for movie reviews.

So instead i'm going to do what I usually do, and recount a little about what i've been up to recently, regardless of whether or not it comes across as boring.

If you follow me on Instagram you might have noticed that I recently went across to Coventry to visit my family for a week (I might even write a blog post about that at some point), but right before I went away I rustled up a brand new Candy Doll painting. 

it's kind of difficult to snap a photo of since it's on a 24x24" board, so excusing the shoddy colour quality this is what the finished piece looks like. 

 as per usual I posted a stack of candy coloured progress shots to my Instagram as I worked on the painting. See, this is why you should really follow me on Instagram if you don't already! I always remember to post stuff on there, even when I forget to post stuff anywhere else!

early painting progress, colour blocking using liquitex and crafter's acrylic + posca pens.

paint shots! mucky brushes and my chosen messy method of mixing colours in plastic shot glasses.

my favourite part! starting to add in the lineart with Sharpie pens and permanent markers.

lineart complete, time for the background. The Lace very nearly killed me but I got there in the end!

after the lineart was done I taped up the painting and used a mixture of acrylic and spray paint for the background to give it a nice contrasting texture to the smoothness of the posca and acrylic I used for the girl. I always like to keep the colour flat on my work and the only blending I do is usually for whatever rainbow hued hair i've given the latest Candy Doll because blending is fiddly and because that's just how I like to paint!

also, as per usual, I completed the digital version of the design first before I began working on the painting. Here's the full digital version...

so yeah, there you have it, a new painting. Fun times! I'm not sure what to do with her yet, for the time being she's perched on my desk to keep me company while I work but i'll probably try and sell her if I can.

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in other Candy Doll Club News, I recently designed a new sticker to sell in my Etsy Shop

Yes they're food themed! So Feast your eyes on these Girl Gang inspired beauties!
Fries Before Guys x 100% Fresh Boy Tears

the stickers measure 69mm across and are currently for sale in the shop at the bargain price of just £1 + postage for 3 tasty stickers! Get yours HERE

I've already sent a bunch of these babeful stickers off to the UK, America, Australia and Japan! So if you fancy a trio for yourself or to share with your best babes, then go grab some NOW.

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and on that note i'll sign off for now, i'm currently on book number 27 of 2015 (an anthology of H. P. Lovecraft stories, if you're interested) and it's calling to me so i'd better go

cheerio chums! Hopefully it won't be a month before I bother to post again...

Creative Cafe #31

hello lovely readers! you'll be utterly delighted to know that it's time for yet another wonderful Creative Café post...

so stop what you're doing (i.e. reading this) and scamper off to grab a drink + a yummy snack then run back and settle down to feast your eyes on some pretty pictures.

in case you haven't the slightest clue what i'm wittering on on about, it's a Creative Café post tradition that is referred to only as 'the drill'. in fact, it's all explained much better here - The Drill

 so without any further ado (or more useless rambling from me), let's get on with the post!

today it's all about very fabulous British illustrator, artist, graphic designer and doodler extraordinaire, Stina Jones

 Stina is a creative based in the West Midlands (though she's originally from Lancashire) who works freelance for organizations and companies all over the place, as well as several local businesses in Birmingham. i first discovered Stina's work via Twitter. i immediately adored her funky style of drawing, i knew i'd have to share it on here with you all

i love her the way she draws, Stina creates lots of fun little characters and scenes both digitally and traditionally. her work is always cute and quirky + often filled with sweet colours and clever little details that make you smile

i'm a sucker for any illustrators that use bold lines in their work so it'll come as no surprise that i'm a big fan of Stina's designs! her linework is gorgeous, making sure that her pictures really pop with or without colour.

Stina also runs a very groovy West Midlands based design agency called Creative Elements, where she works with a few other freelance designers and creatives. all really super duper stuff!

right i'll shut up now and let you have a nice scroll through some more of Stina's sublime artwork and illustration, enjoy...

gorgeous stuff right?! of course it is, i told you it would be :D

right, tis time for some lovely links...

to see more of Stina's work + to find out more about her or to commission her you can visit her website here - Stina Jones

she also has some prints and doodles for sale online - Shop

you can also see many of her projects on her Behance Portfolio - Stina Jones Behance

if you're a tweeter you can keep up to date with her via Twitter - @Stina_Jones

or you could even 'Like' her work via Facebook - Stina Jones Design

All images featured in this post belong to Stina Jones © do not claim, use, distribute, reproduce or copy ANY of her work without her express written consent. All Rights Reserved.


i just want to say THANKS again to Stina for letting me run the feature :) x

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so there you go! a new Creative Café post at long last! i hope you enjoyed it (i bet you did!!!)

right well i have to dash off now because my little cousin Sienna has come to stay and we have A LOT of colouring in to do + A LOT of Hello Kitty stickers to stick to stuff!

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