Summer Bears

As you might be aware, I often infuse my work with some underlying concept, based upon a love and concern for the environment and the beasties that dwell on our planet. My recently released 'Summer Bears' series was no different. Habitat loss and increasing temperatures threaten many species around the planet.

Black Bear 2013
ellaquaint

The series was partially inspired by my cat, who has hyperthyroidism. The first summer, just before she was diagnosed and put on thyroid medication, I noticed that she wasn't coping with the heat particularly well. Placing ice-blocks in her drinking water seemed to alleviate her discomfort.

Panda Bear  2013
ellaquaint

From that spark of an idea, I started thinking about what could be done to help other animals, who were used to cooler climates, to cool down. It was here that Summer Bears came about. These particular bears are not in the wild, as you can see by the cushions they are sitting on.

Sun Bear  2013
ellaquaint

Each have been given a frozen treat to help them to cool down, away from their natural environments and in climates that they wouldn't naturally be found in.

Photo essay from the NZ Herald

My mum and a friend of mine drew my attention to this cute photo essay in the New Zealand Herald. Rio Zoo has been coming up with similar solutions to help the animals cope with temperatures of up to 48 degrees. Again an example of how similar we are to our animal cousins.

Happy New Year!

This gorgeous image is by Griottes

I hope you and yours have all had a wonderful Festive Season. My little family and I have had a lovely time which involved far too much food and wine and lots of rambling conversations and catching up with other family members. As you might have guessed, one of my (many) New Years resolutions is to get back into blogging again. As well as being a useful means to convey some of the concepts that surround a new series of illustrations, I find that it can help me to clarify some of my own thinking process and ideas. Hopefully you as a reader, find some of my posts interesting too. If not I apologise :)

sorry, original source for this image is unknown 

It seems that many of us exhaled a collective sigh of relief as 2013 ticked over into 2014. I had seen a few images like the one above, asking for 2014 'to be good'. It wasn't until a friend on facebook made the connection that so many people commented that 2013 had been a terrible year for them; I know that has been the case for quite a few of my friends. Is it to do with our subconscious being superstitious at the number of the year? Have many people found it tough floundering through yet another year of recession? Or did many people have events that were sad and significant occur? Hopefully you yourself had a good year in  2013.

Woodhill Forest

One of my missions this year, is to make the time to get out in nature more. When life gets too busy, it can be so easy to bury yourself in work, forgetting about doing the things that you love and that inspire you. Getting out at Woodhill on my mountain bike was a fabulous way to start the year. Sadly it has been so long, that my family members whose butts I normally kick, kicked mine. I am determined that that shall never happen again!

Coastline at Mount Manuganui

Another thing which I aspire to do this year, is being grateful for all of the positive things that happen in my life. Not only on a grand scale but also all of the little happenings that occur daily. Some people go as far as making gratitude jars, I aim to just make a mental note at the time of the event or a little quite summary at the end of the day. For me I aim to balance out the frustrations that occur in daily life by focusing more on the positive and to consciously count my blessings, which are many.

A sunset sky at Matakanaval

Hanging out with friends and getting to see some of my favourite bands live is also something that brings me great joy. Starting the year dancing to Fat Freddies Drop and Shapeshifter for me is now mandatory I think. What makes you happy? How to you like to start your year?

So far 2014, you have bought me fun, good people, laughter and a truckload of ideas to explore in my painting. It hasn't even been a week yet, but already I like you a lot!

Snow Beasts

image from Advocacy Britannica

There is something rather amazing about animals that have evolved to survive some of the most extreme conditions on the planet. The Arctic and other similar environments have influenced the evolution of such creatures as polar bears, arctic wolves and snow leopards. Like many folk who are aware of the increasing issues associated with global warming, how these stunning creatures will continue to survive in altered climates is a something that is of concern to me.

image fromThe Guardian

Sir David Attenborough is one of my biggest heroes and I have so loved watching the programme Frozen Planet that was screened earlier on in the year. Like many of his documentaries, it has been the source of inspiration for my latest series; 'Snow Beasts.'

'Polar Bear' 2013

This series was attempting to explore notions around how animals who are dependant on arctic conditions could potentially survived in an environment where the temperature has increases. Already places are having issues with wild animals hunting / foraging closer to inhabited areas, due to habitat loss. Animals who are domesticated face a greater chance of survival.

Peruvian Llamas

Peruvian llamas as pictured here are marked with coloured tassels on their ears to note their bloodlines and ownership. This inspired me to experiment with similar adornments on wild animals who live in cooler climes.

'Snow Leopared' and 'Arctic Wolf'  the initial idea

This was my initial idea, but while painting them, I started thinking that conceptually it was a great idea, actually having these amazing wild beasts with their ears pierced like cattle made me cringe. Also there was that 80's association . . .

I was not about to add war paint.

So in the end I edited out the ear tassels and I am very pleased with the results. It still alludes the ideas that I was exploring without being lost to 80's pop music references.

'Snow Leopard' 2013

'Arctic Wolf'' 2013

The limited edition giclee prints of these, both in A3 and A4 format will be available for purchase at the Auckland Art and Craft Fair. It is this Saturday the 29th of June at the Edge in the Aotea Centre.

If you can't get there, they will eventually be available too.

celebrating and shaming . . .

We all love our pets regardless of the rotten deeds they might sometimes perform. One of my favourite places online for a giggle is Dog Shaming . . . here is one delightful miscreant below.

'Is it cold in here or is it just Zoey?'

Another site to make you snigger is My Cat is a Dick. Sometimes a picture really is worth a thousand words.

I hate to think what this furry fiend was plotting.

Because my own feline at times lives up to her name, I decided to share her latest shining moments with you. 

Normally she is not this appallingly behaved, but just going through an adjustment period . . . I hope!

Now that you have seen a few examples, I am sure you can think of some misdeeds that your furry pal has done. Either that or you might have a hilarious photo that doesn't need a caption at all.

You mission  . . .

Is to email me a photo of your favourite beastie, either caught in the act or with a description of it's trick placed next to it.
It must be your own photo or one that is taken by family member or friend.
Entrants must be one of the fabulous folk who is a liker of the ellaquaint facebook pg.
Only one entry per pet.
I will then post the picture on my facebook pg over the next week and a bit of the school holidays. The photo with the most number of likes WINS.
The competition closes Sunday the 5th of May at 8.00pm. The winner will be announced at 8.30pm.

Up for grabs is two archivally sound giclee prints worth $70.00. They have been professionally printed on William Turner paper. The winner gets to select them from the ellaquaint range on Felt :)

email entries to ellaquaint@gmail.com

Thank you you darhlinks! x

Spring Markets

So we are starting to build up to the Christmas season and already applications are being taken for markets all over the place. Here is a list of some of the markets we are confirmed to be attending . . .

  Do stay tuned for an updated list :)
 

This coming weekend Crafternoon Tea celebrates their 3rd Birthday. Come and join the celebrations!

and the winners are . . .

It was such a tough decision, I had to get my flatmate and my mum to help me to decide on our winners. Thank you so much to everyone who entered, it was just wonderful reciving such fabulous pictures daily in my inbox.



please get someone to email me through your choice of A5 animal print :)


 

The Junior Section really was a knockout! So many talented young folk out there who are obviously inspired by animals too.

Some of my favourite are works were

'Birdies Outside Our House' by Ruby aged 4

'Oscar' by Josh aged 7 3/4

'Kea' by Tasmyn aged 7

Enough of my rambling, the winners are . . .

 

 

 

'Sparkle Tiger in the Feather Jungle' by Luca Gribble aged 3 3/4

'Cuttlefish' by Caleb aged 12



'Panda' by Toni Liberona

Two of our winners were in the same family, how awesome is that? Again thanks so much to everyone who entered. It was so much fun and I think I we will have to do it again sometime. Enjoy the rest of your school holidays :)

To Celebrate . . .

 

the fact that there are now over 400 of you fabulous folk who take an interest in ellaquaint. It really helps to inspire and motivate me so thank you :) Also it is the school holidays! That is another wonderful reason to celebrate, though for some of you it might be a mixed blessing ;D


Please read the competition guidelines below . . .

 

There are 3 catagories . . . so 3 prizes up for grabs!

 

If it goes really well I might add another prize too :)

 

an ellaquaint giclee print

RRP $50.00 each

 

for the winner of each catagory

 

which are . . .

 

Junior 0 - 12
Teen 12 - 18
Adult 18 - infinity

Junior Artists

To draw or paint your favourite animal, it might be real or imaginary.

Please make sure you have provided your
Name
Age
A description of what the animal is
Which print you would like to win

Teen Artists

To draw or paint or enter a photograph that you have taken of your favourite endangered species.

Please make sure you have provided your
Name
Age
What the animal is
If it is a photograph, the date and place it was taken
Which print you would like to win

 

 Adult Artists

To draw or paint or enter a photograph that you have taken of your favourite endangered species.

Please make sure you have provided your
Name
Age (only kidding)
Media
If it is a photograph, the date and place it was taken
What the animal is
Which print you would like to win

To enter

Have a look at our ellaquaint Felt store to decide on what print you would like to win.
Please email your entries to ellaquaint@gmail.com and include all of the appropriate information.
I will then post the pictures to my facebook pg. Please tag or share the images so that I know they are connected with you :)
Also if you would like to be added to a mailing list please let me know, otherwise don't worry I won't add you to it.

Conditions

You must be closely connected to a 'liker' to the ellaquaintnz facebook pg or a 'follower' to the ellaquaint blog.

One liker or follower = one entry per entrant

of course there can be more than one entrant per family :)

 

One liker and follower = two entries per entrant

of course there can be more than one entrant per family :)

The images must be done by the entrant and without assistance.

The competition closes Wednesday 10th October at 7 pm and winners will be announced on Thursday 11th October at 7pm on the ellaquaint facebook page.

By entering you allow ellaquaint the right to post the images and to post them on both the ellaquaint facebook page and the ellaquaint blog.

No bribes will be taken, no matter how yummy the baking or cute the puppy is.

 

 

Summer Beasties

Ummm yes it has been a wee while, I do apologise.

So I am sure many of you have been enjoying viewing the 'Spy' series that is currently on TV 1 on Tuesdays evenings. This latest one has just been delightful, such amazing footage derived from some very ingenious cameras designs. 'Tiger - Spy in the Jungle' reminded me of when I was fortunate to capture a glimpse of a trio of tiger cubs in Ranthambhore National Park, while I was on holiday in India. It was one of the most fabulous experiences in my life so far.

One of my better photos of the tigers.

As you can see, it is fortunate that I quickly realized my ambition to be a National Geographic wildlife photographer was not a feasible one. Yes my images are a far cry from the excellent footage that we get to see via elephant cams and rock cams and the like. The tigers themselves were so similar to what we saw this evening, as cubs they are quite hilarious creatures. One minute they were in plain sight  play fighting and as soon as you got the camera focused they would duck down to be camouflaged by the undergrowth. It was as if they were trying to foil our attempts to document them.

Seriously, there were the best two shots.

So I had been wanting to do a series based on large cats for a while and this latest wildlife documentary helped to inspire me to complete the sketches I had started. Unfortunately the lion had a mishap and ended up being like the Essex Lion, basically a thing of myth. It is unfortunate when a painting gets stuffed up. When compared with oils or acrylics; with watercolours if you make a mistake, there is not much you can do to hide it. Watercolours are a very honest media. I will have to do another lion as they are such stunning and majestic animals.

'Summer Beasties' in progress

Cheetahs have amazed me since a kid, the fact that they can reach speeds of up to 70kms an hour is astounding, even if it is just for a short span of time.

'Cheetah' 2012

As for the tigers, they really are my favourite big cat. The contrast of the orange against the black stripes and white under belly is just gorgeous. 

'Tiger' 2012

Soon I will get a new lion completed. Watch out for listings of the original watercolours and gilcee prints on my Felt and Etsy stores. Enjoy watching next weeks episode and I am so hoping that there is a happy ending after tonight's episode.

It's still my favourite cap :)

Auckland Art and Craft Fair

Along with a whole plethora of other fabulous vendors, guess where we will be tomorrow?

If you would like a sneek peek as to what you might expect from our stall, have a nosy at the interview posted on the official site here ellaquaint interview or you could look at some of the pictures that have been and will be posted on our facebook page here ellaquaint on facebook.

Matariki!

We have just had our 50th sale on Felt over the weekend so to celebrate . . .

If you love surprises now is the perfect time to pop on over and have a nosey at our store on Felt.

Pink Ribbon Breakfast

Yesterday in little ol' Kingsland we had a fabulous time at Crafternoon Tea, partially due to the delightful company and wonderful browsers and customers. I think that the scrummy baking that lovlies like Emma from The Little Card Factory, Alice from Absolutely Alice and Kylie from Broken Bits (whose excellent idea it was), might have had something to do with it too.

Yes we had cake for breakfast!

Well I can bake, however not consistently. It is not a skill I aim to develop as I seem to end up eating it all which does not do fabulous things for the figure. Instead I decided to do what I am good at, and paint a pink animal. The first thing that sprung to mind was a pig, which are cute, but not necessarily what people would like to have on their walls. The next idea was of course, a flamingo. They have such a lovely retro feel to them, combined with their stunning colour, I decided they would be the beastie to paint.

Their gorgeous hue is derived from the krill they eat.

Here is the final illustration here, which I framed using a pink ribbon and reference old copperplate flourishes. 

It is painted on 300gsm water-colour paper and available on Felt

From this water-colour I did a limited edition series of 25. There are still 15 at this stage left which I would love to move quickly so as I can get the funds to the NZBCF. There are available to purchase too, just follow this link to ellaquaint on Felt

Little A5 digital prints on 185 gsm watercolour paper.

This poor blog has been so neglected this year, in part due to the number of markets I have been doing and I fear that it will stay a little quiet due to the fact that I am back in the class room again too. Hopefully I won't neglect it entirely but my apologies if it gets even quieter.

OnceIt

If you have not been introduced to the fantastic sales that appear on Onceit, you might like to join up as some cute and quaint things are about to emerge on there.

They specialize in designer brands and fabulous artisans whose wares include jewellery, fashion, accessories, home wares and more

I only have a limited number of invites so . . .

Invitation to Onceit

 . . . and I hear there might be some manu on there too.

Road Trip!

Yay! So excited! ellaQuaint will be venturing outside of Auckland and joining the handmade, crafty fabulousness that is The Little Big Markets. 

That will keep me busy over the next week or so, trying to come up with some fresh visual treats to bring with me as well as some of the old favourites. I will try and keep you posted on new items as they are completed.

For more info on The Little Big Markets click on the name to follow the link to their facebook page :)

Latest Hi-Jinx

It has been a wee while but finally life has settled down again and I am able to get caught up on things. ellaQuaint has been busy creating new designs for handmade cards. The 'Warm Fuzzy' range has expanded to include robins and cats.  They seem to resurge when the weather cools, something about the association of warmth that felt brings with it I think.

Some of these have been sent off already :)

Some fresh colours have been added to the ellaQuaint palette which has worked wonderfully with some old favourites. There is something rather meditative about the process of hand embroidering things and the contrast of the matt card against the lustre of embroidery silk is very effective.

Chevron Hearts in fresh hues.

Part of the reason I have been focusing so much upon cards lately, as well as the advent of Mother's Day is because I intend to put together a catalogue of some of my favourite designs and go and attempt to sell them to stores.

I love masking tape. 

Sometimes you have to fix or even remake old templates. Today I got to make some new ones which was exciting also. The perfect activity for the shocker of a day we have had in Auckland.

I really love masking tape.

The old maps that I use can be problematic to cut so lining them on the back with tape allows for a cleaner edge and makes them less likely to disintegrate.

A fresh design and one that I think is pretty special.

Maps are so evocative of travel and that sense of freedom and adventure that comes with it, which is why I have been so selective with the imagery that I have chosen to collage on the cards. Many folks think that it is bordering on madness to hand-cut such intricate designs but when you end up with a result that you are happy with and that people might treasure for sometime to come, then in my belief, it is worth it.

Two old trusty designs one of which has had a bit of a make over.

Some of these are already listed on ellaquaint on felt or ellaCute on etsy should you be interested in seeing the designs in better detail.