Mini Striped Painting

Here is a mini striped painting in Lemon & Lime colours I completed last night.  It's on a 6" x 6" (15cm x 15cm) canvas and stands happily by itself and is also ready to be hung.

More Stripes - Sherbet this Time!

Did I tell you I liked stripes?  Well, in case I didn't, I do love stripes!  Here is a striped painting I finished last night.  It's on a 12" x 12" (30cm x 30cm) square deep-edged canvas and painted in the colours of sherbet - orange, pink, red, yellow, white using vertical stripes.  The sides of the canvas are painted yellow and the top and bottom edges are a glossy red colour.  It's very sunny and will brighten up the room for the person who buys it.  It's for sale in my Etsy Shop if you'd like to buy.

Stripes!

I've just finished a striped painting.  I've done quite a few of these - I love stripes!  This one is red, black, and white and 12" x 12" on chunky canvas.

Addicted to Canvas

I have just ordered some more canvas.  I prefer chunky/deep-edged canvas as it doesn't need framing before hanging and I like to treat the sides as just as important as the front of the painting.  It gives a bit more dimension in my opinion and there's something really satisfying about catching a glimpse of the little extra details on the side of the canvas.  I also prefer to sign my paintings on the side as that way I take nothing away from the actual painting.  I can't wait to get my hands on them and start covering them in gorgeous colours!  

Teaching Someone to Drive - Recipe for Divorce?

So I'm going to be teaching Kieren (my husband) to drive.  I've told him to book some lessons too but going on his general laid back approach to things, I doubt that'll happen any time soon.  I've insured him on my car, all we need now is some L plates and an empty business park.  Is it a good idea?  We tried working together and that ended in disaster as he HATES being told what to do!  Oh well, we'll see what happens.  I suppose he can't be any worse than Maureen from that TV show Driving School!

Hot Tub!

We got a new hot tub delivered at the weekend - one of those inflatable ones.  Yes I know it is the epitome of utter naffness but it's fun and it's actually pretty good.  My stepson who is 6 adored it.  He jumped in and called out, 'Hello Ladies'!  The problem is that the weather doesn't seem to want us to use it.  It's been raining every time we've wanted to use it.  Time to put the gazebo up I think!  It'd be good if it was a hot tub time machine though - we could use it to go back to when summers were actually sunny!

50% off all work on Etsy

As I'm a new seller on Etsy, I've decided to offer 50% off the list price of my paintings in order to get my first few sales and some feedback.  When buying, simply use the code INTRO50 and it will take 50% off.  Can't say fairer than that I don't think!

New WordPress Theme

So I've installed a new WP theme that's a little different to the default template.  Still not entirely happy with it - I prefer to do my own templates but I just haven't had the time!  I will get round to it eventually though and this one will hopefully do for the meantime! You might want to visit the guys who designed it - http://www.freethemeforwp.com/.

New Etsty Shop

I've taken the plunge and opened an Etsy shop.  It's the first time I've tried to sell my art online so I'm not sure how it'll go.  I've started with low prices to encourage people to buy and leave some feedback.  I don't really like to shout about it too much to people I know as I'm a bit nervous of their feedback!

If you're interested, you can browse here.

Getting started

Welcome to my new blog.  My name is Louise and I live in Reading with my husband and two extremely demanding cats.  I love to paint and draw, acrylic on canvas is my favourite for the freedom it gives although I am experimenting with other mixed media as you'll see from forthcoming works as I post them!

I've done a few blogs in my time but this is the first one as just me, myself, and I!  I wanted a place to show my paintings and artwork and discuss works as I'm creating them, inspiration etc.  Looking forward to updating you soon!