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.

ellaCute sale!

Sale now on at our etsy store ellaCute. Just add the code 'surprise' when purchasing your visual treats and receive 10% off until Friday the 13th.

Also for those of you within NZ there also a free shipping code too 'shipfree' which is valid until the end of April. I am not sure if you can use both at the same time, it would be interesting to find out though :)

Timorous Beasties

'Fawn' closeup

It has been a little while since I last did some water-colour painting. After a bit of encouragement from Alice I finally painted these wee guys just in time for Easter :)

'Fawn' framed

The image of 'Fawn' was wonderful to work off as it really showed the detailed patterns that occur on it's little face and around it's eyes.

'Sparrow' unframed

'Sparrow' was so much fun to paint. I think that I might need to paint her a few little friends to hang out with the gang.

'Rabbit' with a real daisy

'Rabbit' has a cheeky little grin as he snacks on a daisy. As you can see they are very cute by themselves or they also look fabulous hanging out together.

'Timorous Beasties'

Better photos will come as the weather clears up and you can view them in detail on Felt or Etsy. Larger Glicee prints are arriving shortly!

You can also check them out this weekend at the Silo Night Market and Cinema, Amelie is playing. Also we will be at Kraftbomb this Sunday from 11 - 2 pm

Hila

The source of inspiration for the Aquatic Arctic Beasties

Old newspapers are quite useful when you are an artist. To be honest it is not very often that I read them, unless something of interest leaps out at me. I had spread out some old paper on my working surface and this is the article I discovered that piqued my interest.

Some words and phrases in Inuktun

Languages are something that I am fascinated by, especially how poetic ones other than English can be. The notion that 'consciousness' has the the same word as that used for weather is one that appeals to me.

Beluga Whale (its actually a dolphin)

I had the aquatic arctic beasties completed for a couple of weeks when I was thrilled to see them on Frozen Planet , the latest series to be presented by Sir David Attenborough. It is a must see is you have an interest in animals, dramatic landscapes and the environment. 

Narwhal

When I first heard of narwhals, I honestly thought they were a creature of myth, rather like the unicorn. As you can see they are as real as you and I. Trying to find images of them to paint was actually quite tricky, but I was stoked when I discovered this one.

Both have fascinated zoologists for many years and here is a gorgeous old illustration that I came across that I loved. Unfortunately I am not so great at documenting where I source images (my bad), but this one was too good not to share.

If you would like to see the completed water-colour illustrations they can be viewed on ellaQuaint on Felt

or ellaCute on etsy

The Art of giving Cards

my work space in it's typical state . . . no sign of hoarding here

Ever since I was a kid, I have been a terrible hoarder . . . probably as a reaction to my mum being a stream lined, efficient non-collector. One of the things I have always had issues parting with has been cards, there is something about them that brings out my sentimental tendencies. Sometimes it was because of the images on the outside of them, other times what was written on the inside but mostly who they were from. I have shoe boxes filled with them!

experimenting

Over the years, what with our dependency on the internet and social networking sites, the art of sending physical mail or cards has subsided. It is such a treat to get something that is not a bank statement or bill in the post. That is where I really like the idea of producing carefully crafted, hand-made ones, ones that people would really want to keep . . .

work in progress

or even possibly frame . . .

as they really are little illustrations in themselves.

As you can see there is a slight February-esque theme to some of them being produced at the moment. They are available for sale on either ellaCute on Etsy
or ellaQuaint on Felt

Bunny Valentine

ellaCute

Happy New Year! We hope you have all had a fabulous start to your 2012. 

The start of new years are the perfect time to progress with new endeavours, we have decided to get super serious and kick-start a store on Etsy. Unfortunately our name ellaquaint was taken but someone else for their store so we adapted, as we clever kiwis do, and decided to call our new shop ellaCute, but we are still ellaQuaint everywhere else.

Now that  procrastination has taken place in the form of redesigning the banner, I figure I had better finish some of the real new projects now. Here is the link to ellaCute